rev22

Please help to choose one for my wife.I cheked some hybrid cars sites ( Hybrid Cars , and others) but they all say that i should buy toyota prius:/

SiPie

Check out the recent review of the Prius in EVO magazine this month...

You were nearly as economical using their Panda 100hp (42.7mpg v 47mpg) or thereabouts and £10k v circa £20k intial cost....

They worked out that financially you needed to drive over 1,100,000 miles to get the cash difference back and the difference to the planet was marginal.

They gave it 2 stars (out of 5)

Best to avoid in their opinion

Si

stilover

1) Shouldn't this be in "Other Marques"?

2) Hybrids are a con.
Have a read of this months Evo Magazine. Eco friendly cars consume more resources to build than your average car. There heavier than your average car. You don't get anywhere near the manufacturers MPG claim if you drive it anywhere other than a rolling road at a constant 50mpg. You can buy a average car and the money you save over buying a Hybrid car can pay for all your petrol for the next 10 years.

Get a diesel instead.

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

Buy a small petrol or diesel car - hybrid maths simply don't add up (as previously said - read Evo). Given the overall enviromental costs of building the components, the car itself, batteries, then the financial cost of the car - Hybrids simply just don't make financial OR enviromental sense.

mattvortex

Hybrids-thistier and much more expensive than a decent smallish diesel. There just a marketing gimmick that seems to have worked on you! DONT DO IT!!

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

BMW 118D/120D, much as it pains me to say it, these seem to be the best compromise, especially with the regenerative braking and stop start technology.

To me, hybrids are a bit pointless, all the compromises you make to save a few mpg, the extra cost and the additional materials (batteries, motors etc) to make them work.

Longjing

If you really want to be green, keep your old car on the road or buy used. Drive less. Drive more slowly.

brickboy

As above, Honest John did a 6-month long-term test with a Prius 2 and averaged 48mpg.

My Passat PD130 family barge has averaged a real (not computer) 47mpg over 60K miles of real-world driving (caning down m-ways at 90kph , stuck in town etc etc)

As said above a smaller diesel would do better mpg.

slim_boy_fat

As everyone has said a small diesel is much better for the environment.

Panda Diesel get 64mpg
C2/C3 hdi 60+mpg
Polo/Golf 50+mpg

Small petrols these days are getting 50mpg

pwhittle

I was gonna say - if the Prius really only does 47, the more powerful Mondel TDCi do 48 average, and are durt cheap. The new ones lool like they'll give Audi a real run for their money on quality too

brickboy

Here's Honest John's final report from his 6-month test: he actually got 49mpg overall, not 48 (close enough )

Road Tests: Toyota Prius II Final Report

An extract:

"The Toyota's "regenerative driving" process is at its best in moving traffic that alternately slows speeds up and slows down, as in the current M25 contraflows near Heathrow. The slowing down allows regeneration of energy, which the systems then use to save fuel.

"If the contraflow is moving steadily and you have already driven some distance that day to store up some energy, you can set the cruise control to 40mph, press the EV button, and watch your average mpg rise considerably. Driving regeneratively for my first 1,000 miles or so, I managed over 58mpg.

"Unfortunately you don’t do so well when you have to travel long distance on the motorway and time is of the essence. Then you get very little regeneration so the consumption you get is effectively that of an efficient 1.5 litre engine driving a 1,300kg car with an extremely low Cd of 0.26.

"I (Honest John) tend to manage 40 – 45mpg on the motorway and 49mpg overall."

al4x1

we've an LPG astra, close to 40mpg on petrol just under that on LPG 52 litres costs £23 and gets you 450 miles or so. No diesel runs that cheaply that I know of

JackClark

I did 7,000 miles in the Civic the other month, average was 37.8mpg, it would get 50 around town but not with some motorway involved. Great rental car in California though where you can't get a diesel.

Matteeboy

Total life cycle costs of a Prius are nearly TWICE that of a Hummer and about six times more than a Chrysler Neon - Those batteries really do eat up resources.

DO NOT get a Prius.