What do you think about hybrid cars?

Question

Personally I think they're a step in the right direction. But I'm not sure what's out there / what the prices are / are they worth considering at the moment because they're quite new / if they'll just be a fad?
I saw one recently which looked really nice but it started at about £30k-ish.
Does anyone reading this own one? What's your opinion?

Answer 1

Hybrids are over-rated. The claimed mileage is way higher than people are getting. There was a recent comparison done that says making and using a Toyota Prius does more damage to the environment than a Hummer.

A relative of mine has a Toyota Highlander hybrid. The claimed highway mileage is 30. He admits to getting 22 mpg. A battery box sits under the second row seat. I was told that passengers complain the seat is too high and the batteries give off heat.

Acura has quit making it's hybrid. No buyers.

Answer 2

Absolutely pointless, the carbon foot print is at least the same if not larger than the average petrol driven car when you take into account the cost of the electric to charge this thing up if it hasn't been used in it's self charge mode,which even then puts a phenomenal load on the petrol/diesel engine which then means it is working harder than if it was just normally driven.
Then take into account the production costs and also the repair costs should anything go wrong(we aren't seeing this impact yet as these vehicles are still pretty new but when they get older this will come to light.
Then there is the cost of scrapping these things when they come to the end of their lives,so all in all if people opened their eyes and didn't just take what the government said for granted then these things wouldn't have been invented in the first place.
Bloody Chelsea tractors!!!

Answer 3

Hybrids use less fuel in town as they do not keep the engine running. They are very - very - thirsty on motorways and use overall much more fuel then a diesel.
The claims for Prius's consumption are some 40% lower than is actually achieved in practice!
The real way to reduce fuel consumption is small diesel engines and light cars but then the neighbours might laugh!
Call-me-Dave Cameron's non-congestion charging hybrid motor AVERAGES 27mpg - is that supposed to be green?

Answer 4

They are, as said, bad for the environment due to the manufacturing costs of making two power plants, batteries,copper ect. They are a short term fad. Diesels make more sense, The ultimate car will be hydrogen powered, but and a BIG but,,we will HAVE to invest more in Nuclear energy to be able to get hydrogen on an economically feasible scale from water. Getting from Natural gas as now just puts more CO2 in the air.

Answer 5

If you are worried about the usage of a finite resource (oil), buying a hybrid is a clear sign to car manufacturers that the public wants more fuel efficiency. (This is similar to the US, where the growth of SUVs in the early 00's showed that buyers didn't care much for fuel efficiency, and manufacturers responded by building bigger trucks, sorry SUVs.)

And can we knock the myth that the Hummer is more environmentally friendly than the Prius over its lifecycle? See the link below that demolishes this myth.

Answer 6

I think at the moment the energy used in manufacturing them is far higher than any ecological benefit from them.
They are a good idea though and hopefully the cost of manufacture and ecological benefit will improve.

Answer 7

I think they're great. Now if we could get a hybrid that runs on an alternative fuel instead of petroleum.

Answer 8

I had a hybrid, it was a cross between a camel and a dragon. It held lots of fuel but kept setting fire to the petrol station

Sorry, I couldn't resist!

Answer 9

I dont like em 2 much because they have a weird shape to it

Answer 10

i think they r good cars good for the enviorment if u want to buy 1 buy a Toyota or a Honda