Yahoo Finance ran a story on alternatives to hybrids and electric vehicles, EV. But are they really “sipping alternatives”?
The gist, we informally asked people around us if vehicles that get 16 to 22 mpg in city driving to 29 in highway could be called sipping alternatives to hybrid. We would like to extend the question to you now, would you consider the 2008 Corvette with a price tag of $51,545 and 16 mpg/26 mpg, the 2008 Pontiac Solstice with a price tag of $21,614 and 19 mpg/25 mpg, the 2008 Saturn View with a price of $17,325, 22 mpg/29 mpg, the 2008 VW Rabbit with $17,220 and 22 mpg city/28 mpg, and the 2008 Scion xB with $17,220 and 22 mpg city/28 mpg as good alternatives instead of hybrids?
Of course, it really depends. Ranging from $17,200 to 51,500, you could buy a nice hybrid such as the Honda Civic, for instance at around $23,000. And considering, if you drive 15,000 miles a year, your car consumes on an average 22 mpg and you use $4 gas a gallon, you would spend on an average $2727.24 in a year, which is roughly the premium for most hybrids. Consider you keep a car for at least five years and the equation points to a hybrid. Consider you drive 30,000 miles a year, and a hybrid makes even more sense. Obviously you need to take into consideration a multitude of other inputs, such as will you do more city than highway driving, cold starts straight to highway without warming up, maintenance, etc.
As a side note, we find most of these cars getting better with consumption and with a certain appeal to only a specific segment of the population. The Corvette is definitely a lot “bang for your bucks”. The Scion is perfect for young couples, as well as the Rabbit. The Solstice is a great car for those looking to rekindle the days of small convertible. However we wonder if the mileage is enough to sway people away from hybrids. Even then, wouldn’t a Toyota Yaris that gets you 29mpg in the city to 35 on highways or the Honda Fit gets you similar numbers better sippers? Source, FuelEconomy.org.
What do you think?