Clone of Paul's Fix All

Hybrids are a hoax.
They’re too expensive to be economy cars, don’t produce the mileage they’re estimated to have and are bought for image more than anything.
At $22,000, the starting price of Prius is far too expensive to be an economy car. A Kia starts at $12,000, about half and delivers an EPA estimated 35 mpg on the highway. A Honda civic starts at $15,000 with 36 mpg. While a regular Toyota Yaris gets 36 mpg for only $12,000.
That’s al based on the respective companies’ Web sites.
Lets compare: The average conventional car price from above is $13,000. The average mileage is 35.3 mpg.
That’s $368.27 per mpg.
Prius: 46.5 mpg city and highway equals: $473.11 per mpg.
Is $104 per mpg good enough to justify the better mileage?
I’m not knocking the Prius alone. The Civic hybrid promises similar mpg on about the same dough.
People who need more mileage aren’t those who can afford to spend twice as much on a hybrid and wait in line until one becomes available.
Hybrids are a fad, just like SUVs were ten years ago. Its about image.
“Look at me I’m better than you because I pollute less and lessen the world’s dependency on foreign oil,” say hybrid supporters.
Get real.
Its more eco friendly to rock an ancient motorcycle that gets 70 mpg, uses half as much rubber, half as much manufacturing and one battery if any.
Supporting manufacturing alone by buying a new car supports America’s oil addiction.
Manufacturing the new car used dirty coal energy, more valuable resources and supports foreign industry.
Buying a brand new hybrid doesn’t follow any environmentally friendly fundamentals; recycle, reduce, and reuse.
An early ‘90s generic Japanese car can be bought for $2,000 per the Kelley Blue Book. That same generic disposable car probably gets between 20 and 30 mpg. Ask anyone who owns one.
That’s $80 per mpg, $393.11 and six times cheaper than a hybrid.
There’s an economy car.
One that also didn’t require firing up any coal to power the purchase.
But does Gladys, who has driven her generic disposable car for 18 years, tell the world she’s better than and demand car pool rights?
You’ll have to ask her.
The EPA, who estimates mileage, tests cars by putting them through a simulation of driving characteristics, including idling at a stop light.
Hybrids don’t idle, they shut down at a stop light. This exaggerates the estimated mileage of the car.
Any penny pincher would shut their engine down knowing they’d be stopped for a while. Next time you’re stopped by Caltrans for road work, see how many engines are running.
Hybrid technology has been around a long time and is great technology.
Trains have used hybrid technology for years. They run a diesel engine that solely runs a generator to produce electricity for electric motors that move the train. In a modern train there’s no mechanical link between the diesel engine and the tracks.
This saves fuel economy.
The difference is that trains last a lot longer in service than the typical car buyer keeps their car.
GM has a prototype using this technology called the Volt. It’s supposed to hit the market as soon as 2010. It’s supposed to get the equivalent of 50 mpg after an all electric 40 miles using no gas, because it’s also a plug-in hybrid.
GM wants between $30 and $40 grand once the car comes out.
Still not economy.
And isn’t that what mileage is about.
Europeans have had it right for a long time because gas has always been expensive there.
Their small, lightweight cars were cheap and sipped gas, even when the US market was still producing gas guzzlers in the ‘70s.
The Japanese market also capitalized on their pocketbook friendly design from the late ‘70s and still dominate the market today.
Small, used, cheap cars are economy.
Hybrids are to stoke an image.