Everyone’s Turning Hybrid – I Really Think So

A co-worker once told me that I was crazy to buy a Hybrid car back in 2002. He listed a bunch of bad reasons and we used to argue about them regularly. Below are the list of his gripes and my rebuttals (with a little hindsight thrown in):

1. Gas price is still cheap (below $2 back then) to justify paying $3000 extra on the sticker price for Hybrid cars.
   The introduction of the technology did make it a little bit more expensive to buy than regular gasoline cars. But the idea was to save gas on the long run, and also protect myself from rising gas prices. Sure enough, now that gas prices are close to $4, non-hybrid owners are starting to feel the pinch. There was also a $2500 federal tax break. It wasn’t a lot, but it helped get me more tax refund.
2. Get hybrid cars when gas prices are high.
   Sounds like a good plan, but hybrid cars are difficult to find these days! Demand is up, sales are brisk, and supply is low. They also don’t sell them below sticker price either, usually with $2000+ additional markup in some States. You snooze, you lose!
3. The engine battery is too expensive to replace.
   Replacement for the battery is not done often or even soon enough. When it is required, it will be replaced under warranty, so it’s free. My car battery, after 6 years of usage and 125,000 miles, is still holding its charge very well. In some States, like California, the battery’s warranty is extended to 10 years or 150,000 miles. Also, in some cases, people can haggle with the dealership to reduce the cost of the battery replacement.
4. Insurance is higher for hybrid cars.
   This is not true. I have used two insurance agents, MetLife and Farmer’s, and both do not charge me extra. They treat it like any other car in the same class, in my case as a Honda Civic.
5. Maintenance is more expensive.
   My Civic Hybrid’s owner’s manual says my maintenance cycle is every 10,000 miles. So far I’ve been doing mostly oil changes, regular scheduled maintenance, tires change, and accessory (regular small) battery change. That’s all! I don’t even have to change my brakes yet after 120,000 miles because of the regenerative braking system. When I counted them up, it turned out even cheaper than my previous non-hybrid Civic maintenance costs!
6. Hybrid cars are very slow!
   This is sort of true. It has a slow acceleration, 0-60 in about 10 seconds. However, in my case, I drive on the highway a lot and when it gets going I can cruise at 80 MPH without any problem. I don’t really want to drive that fast because it’s a waste of gas. Driving fast is also a gas guzzler for regular non-hybrid cars too, so it’s a good fuel saving tip for anyone.
7. Hybrid cars are ugly.
   That was true with the early versions of Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight. But with Honda Civic Hybrid cars, they look exactly like the other Civics. The new Prius design is OK and it’s definitely miles better than the old version.

The demand for hybrid cars was very low back then because most people had the same misconceptions that I listed above. So my decision to buy my 2003 Civic Hybrid was a good choice, considering my needs at the time (long commute and additional car). I got the car below sticker price too. I did get suckered in to buy an “extended warranty”, which I used only for free oil changes. The Civic was made in Japan and it was solidly built. It gave me no mechanical issues after all these years!

So now, my co-worker is ditching his Toyota Sienna mini-van (19 MPG) and opting to get a Prius (50 MPG). How times have changed!

Photo credit: h2roma

Tags: cars, cost, hindsight, hybrid