Hybrid Owners - Pittsburgh,PA

Love it - Toyota Highlander (SUV)

Battery is about $10k, I believe for most of the hybrids. (That's dealership price)

Haven't had to replace it, and dealership said if taken care of (not drained completely), it should last the life of the car. Of course, Hybrids haven't been around but 10-15 years....but I haven't heard of batteries just failing either.

Pros to cons....I will break even between year 5 and 7 of ownership (from gas mileage). I hug trees, but I'm not going to throw money away on symbolism.

Motive - I felt it was just part of my responsibility as a member of the planet.

I don't mean that as an obligation - I mean that we recycle paper, glass and plastic at our house. We compost. We drive the hybrid. The other car gets 30mpg and is a small 4 cylinder. Oil changes are synthetic oil. Cleaning solution is vinegar.

All of those decision/actions were motivated by economic/financial considerations, with a splash of "can I do this at the same cost (or a bit higher) and be more environmental?"

We bought O. - because we were in the market; we made a concerted effort to see what fit our needs size wise; AND then we started talking about hybrid versus just gas engine.

My husband drives a Prius and I just got a 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid. LOVE my Camry. The Prius is wonderful too! He gets about 50mpg and I'm at 36mpg right now. Mine has been increasing since I got it 6 weeks ago though, it should even out close to 41.

We also have a Nissan Armada, but at 13.1mpg, that baby sits in the driveway unless we HAVE to drive it.

We haven't had to replace the battery in either car, but I don't see us having to do that anytime soon.

No cons at all.

We made the swtich for my husband because he drives 4 hours each day to and from work. We made the switch for me because the gas prices are out of control. I was spending $80 a week when gas was $3.25. Now I am spending aobut $30 a week when gas is at $4. It was pure cost savings.

My mom and step-dad swear by their Ford Fusion. They have their 2nd O. now.

They got rid of the first O. due to it being not quite roomy enough, plus they are 70 and 78 respectively so they don't move as easily.

They took 1 road trip in their new Pacificia and traded back to the Fusion when they got home due to the gas mileage.

I've never driven a Hybrid or been a passenger in O..

Our family drives nothing but Mercedes and NOT the smart car ( a baby golf cart) I own a luxury Sport Mercedes Convertible SL550 and I am lucky to get 15 MPG. I didn't buy my car for gas mileage purposes, LOL good thing! Hubby has the E350 and is on the road often and gets up to 22 MPG. Daughter drives the CLK 350 and gets 22-25 MPG.

We opt to stay with our cars which are more costly for the safety factor and I want to be assured I have enough power to get my car out of the way if needed. 0-60 in 6 seconds is great but the greater fact is 60 to 0 in split seconds. Granted, you can get killed in any car but at least I know we have good walls of protection that can help prevent injury and power.

We would not make a switch.

ETA: We do our part with helping the planet. We are in the raw materials industry and right now O. of our biggest customers is O. where we purchase scrap plastic and they turn it around into productive materials for consumer use.

ETA #2 Thank you Dawn. I might be more apt to even consider hybrid if i knew I had the ability to have the power I need. I drive in the DFW area... If you are not going 90 on the expressways, you get runover and then you get a road rager who decides they don't like you and slams brakes on. You have to be ready for anything. I have a 17 yr old and I wouldn't put her in anything else other than the car she is currently in which is in pristine brand new condition, like all of our cars. We buy new and keep them for years.

TF, your post touched on something I never thought of - thank you! (The safety issue of enough power to go from 0-60 and 60-0, versus a hybrid's ability to do the same.) IS there a hybrid that has enough power to keep us as safe as a high powered car, anyone?

Great question, Denise - I'm glad I read this O. because of TF's remark. Hope someone knows something else about that particular aspect...

Dawn

I have no personal experience but wanted to tell you that I read an article that said that PA offers additional consumer protection when it comes to hybrid batteries. The manufacturer must cover them more years/miles than their standard warranty. It has been a while so I can not spout off the statistics but I'm sure an internet search could bring up the numbers.

Priuses, or Prii if you adhere to the Latin, are taking over the world according to my children.
We have a baby blue O. that my husband drives.

We got it from Carmax. It has been the best vehicle. So far no major expenses. THe headlights have gone out repeatedly but he keeps them on all the time while driving, he can set them to daytime runnning lights.
We have it serviced about every 4,000-5,000 miles, oil changes on the Prius are not like a regular car so it costs something like $70 at Firestone. So we go a little longer than we should.
It routinely gets 50mph on 95 going into DC every day. He's had it for O. year, it's a 2008.

We needed a new car, O. that was reliable and saved us some money. THis O. was perfect. It is roomy enough to seat all 5 of us for short trips. It's easy to park, easy to drive, you have minimal blind spots. The whole hatch back is glass and the front windshield is set so you can see up, I can see stoplights better in the Prius than I can in my Ford FLex.

The best thing, all you need is the key in your pocket. If the key is anywhere inside the car you can start it and drive. It also has remote unlock, so when my keys are in my purse, I just touch the door handle and it unlocks.

We thought about getting me O., but I need something roomier so we got me the Flex.

I agree with odd1 as the only complaint is how silent it is...

We switched to hybrid 6 years ago when they still gave you a nice tax break and have never had any issues with our car. We did replace the battery at few months ago as a preventative measure recommended by our mechanic (it never died on us though)

ETA: we have a Ford Escape Hybrid and our battery (replaced by dealer) was in the $300 ball park...

I loved my camry but switched to my new suv due to room for our growing family and space but I averaged 37 mph and drove it to almost 100000 miles with no issues. Now that our oldest is off to college I am switching back!

What cons?: )

I LOVE my Prius. I've owned it for four years and haven't replaced the battery. 38-42 gas mileage. Drives great, is comfortable (but I'm 5'2")

My only complaint is that people can't hear the engine in a parking lot.