Is there real savings with a hybrid?

You can get your money back with a hybrid, but only if it's really good and too expensive. Assuming you have it for six years you'll save money with the Prius and a hybrid Civic for sure, they both get closer to 50 mpg in town. Also, they've been out for awhile and really good reputations. I know people with Prius' that are three years old, never made a repair.

Smart cars are a huge rip off, I bought a Yaris for $16k, it gets 41 mpg in town and I can take it on the highway.

if youcontinual lots greater then the avg (12-15000 annual miles for the U. S.), you could desire to recoup the expenses speedier. that's with the aid of fact that's commonly used maximum appropriate now and maximum anybody is ignorant approximately vehicles besides. Plus, if anybody drove a automobile that have been given 30 mpg rather of 20 mpg, shall we minimize lower back on our intake of gas era. The greater hybrids that are equipped/bought, the speedier the technologies strikes too. shall we see a huge progression in the tech with the aid of fact the manufacturers study greater approximately genuine worldwide hybrid use. Oh, if youcontinual a hybrid, driving eighty mph would not get you the 50 mpg your Prius became rated for, nor does racing as much as site visitors lights or blasting faraway from lights/end signs and indicators. This is going for any automobile.

absolutely not. I have posted before the real calculations on a Prius vs. Yaris, accounting for gasoline comsumption compared to cost of the cars. When I ran my calculations, gas was $4+/gallon - and the break-even for ownership on the cars was about 15 yrs. thats a long time to drive a car under the perception of saving moeny, only to realize that you haven't.

No, there is no savings on the hybrids compared to effecient gasoline engines at this time. I will look for the old posting, and if I find it i will post the copy here.

ADDED

I found the old Q with my math in it. As you will see, the calculations are based on gas being $4.50 a gallon (posted this at the height of gas prices).

EDIT --- Had to recalculate this due to higher gas prices than my first comparisson. I have not adjusted the MSRP's on the vehicles, so you may want to run the numbers yourself based on new retail values.

Yaris MSRP $14,000. Prius MSRP $28,000

Prius is rated at 48mpg, Yaris is rated at 29mpg, so 19mpg difference.

Lets say gas is $4.50/gallon --

cost of driving Prius 1000 miles is $93.75 (roughly)

Cost of driving Yaris 1000 miles is $155.00

so for every 1000 miles you drive, you theoretically save $61.25 in fuel costs.

the price difference is $14,000 / 61.25 = 228.

So your break even is 228,000 miles

228 x 155 = 35,340 in gas + 14,000 = $49,340 for the yaris

228 x 93.75 = $21,375 + 28,000 = $49,375 For the Prius.

the math is off a hair due to my rounding numbers.

Based on the fact that the average driver puts 12-15k on their car every year, it would take over 15 years to break even - and that is at 4.50/gallon!

Now with gas at 3.00/gallon, you can see that the break-even point is even further out!

Its NOT the great green machine that they publicize. Fact of the matter is the total carbon footprint of the Prius is greater than that of the Yaris. When you account for the mining, manufacturing and shipping of the battery packs alone, the total carbon impact of the Prius exceeds that of many simpler cars.

( http://www.greenexpander.com/2008/12/15/%E2%80%A6 -- Read #10)

lastly, there is a fantastic comparisson Top Gear ran on teh Toyota Prisu vs. a BMW M3 for fuel economy. In this test, a driver took the Prius around the test track 10 laps as fast as he could. The driver in the M3 merely had to keep the same pace. The results? Prius 17mpg, M3 19mpg.

Of course no one realistically expects a Prius to be a performace car, or would drive on as such. But the point was very good; Its not WHAT you drive, but HOW you drive it that makes a difference. Yes , you can flog a Prius and get terrible economy. But you can baby an M3 and get better than you expect. If you drive smart, you will do the best in any car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKTOyiKLARk

Prius is an example of brilliant marketing. Smoke and mirrors. Once you start truly looking at the car, the benefits and the drawbacks, you will see that its not nearly the darling that people wish it were.

You make some HUGE assumptions in your calculation that are probably wrong; do you seriously believe that gas will stay at $2.50/gallon as we actually begin to run out of "loose crude" and have to start tapping oil shales? And (since government has already committed itself to "greener" policies) there will likely be ever-more punitive "tax pressures" brought upon motor vehicle operators to drive hybrids rather than regular-engined cars.

Buy a diesel! 20cents more per gallon than gas, VW Golf/Jetta - cost = $23k, 42MPG. No brainer. Why do you think more than half of all new cars sold in Europe are now diesel. Cost more to buy yes, but the deprecation is also lower as well as much better fuel economy.

yes it does! it helps you save money because hybrid cars use less gas then non hybrid cars! so it will last longer, the gas. Also it will make the earth much greener!

No.