Everybody has an opinion on which hybrids perform better, and Cars.com tries to take a stab at it.
What makes cars.com’s ranking different? It took into consideration price, cost, but not maintenance ratio, which gives less-expensive models a boost while penalizing more-expensive ones, and by focusing on how much fuel savings consumers will get compared to their non-hybrid version. Of course, no automobile top rating would make any sense in the current state without how much gas a consumer could save.
What’s the gist? At the top is the iconic Toyota Prius, followed by the Saturn Vue Green Line, with Honda’s Civic Hybrid third and Toyota’s Camry Hybrid fourth.
Seeing the Prius first is to be expected, but seeing an SUV behind was puzzling at first until we take into consideration their basis for calculation explained above. As you go down the line, you will see more SUVs and finally the last two are sedans.
Vehicle were all hybrids and ranged from the upper $21,000 to $54,900 for a Lexus GS 450H. SUVs ranged in the middle, not too difficult to understand after the loss of interest these vehicles have witnessed from consumers but interesting considering the extra added technology slapped on them, adding to their premium without sacrificing too much affordability. Clearly mainstream manufacturers are trying very hard converting a fleet of vehicles made for the days of cheaper gas to weather the current prices.
It’s good to see different ways of ratings hybrid vehicles since the public doesn’t seem to have a firm grasp on what they do, how they can save money if bought at the right time, nor even how most of them work. There is also a lot of dis-information when it comes to electric vehicles, EV, plug-in hybrids, PHEV and hybrids. Hopefully, we can shed some light in that department.