租過prius開去seattle
真的很省油 (跟那些�*�洲車比起來)

performance的話
嗯... 我是覺得又不是要去跟別人賽車
真的需要買那些0/km-100/km只需5秒的車嗎?

那�*又何必要要買MINI-S? 普通的 MINI 就�*啦~ :spin:

[CK]

yes, a study was done before....

the amount of fuel you saved.. vs amount of premium u pay to get the hybird model over regular model will take you years to even out.

so at the end u're not really saving much.. Except for the fact that you can go out there and tell ppl your car is a green car.. you care about the planet.

but then again, hybird is the trend things are going now. it's not just about fuel economy any more.. it's also about performance... I think give it a few more years when newer and more efficient hybirds come out, then we'll be able to see a greater saving in fuel economy to make it worth the extra premium

i agree with this very much.

being a finance freak, i did do some calculation in the summer about this coz i thought i might get a hybrid when i go down to the states.

if we just care about price, the comparison is...
"paying a big fixed fee now to save small continuous fee in the future vs paying nothing now and paying more continuous fee in the future."

if i just make some assumptions...
Fuel = $70/week
Hybrid = $15K + normal car
Interest rate = 5% per year

i also made a very unreasonable assumption: Hybrid car does not need fuel, and only the normal car needs fuel.

my calculation shows that you will need 6 years to breakeven! this is assuming that hybrid cars do not need fuels!

i think many people will change cars by then to even realize any savings.

this is not accounting for any additional service costs hybrid cars may incur, or any problems this new of technology may incur in the long-run.

so, based solely on price and savings on gas, are hybrid cars worth it? definitely not.

[RunAbout]

那佪又何必要要買MINI-S? 普通的 MINI 就太啦~

�*為比較漂亮啊 =P
不要再提起我的傷心事了 :cry:

[Smellyt0fu]

I don't think hybrids are the long term solution.. nor is running diesel.. which has been popular in Europe and starting to become a flavour in Aust (VW Polo diesel, Mazda 6 diesel, Lexus IS220d etc etc). I think BMW has got an idea by pushing Hydrogen as the next power source... but also pure electric vehicles could be another long term solution.

With the acquisition of part of Subaru by Toyota, watch the Prius... apparently Subaru has the technology for batteries to be charged in 3 mins which is about the same time one spends at a petrol station filling up a car with regular fuels.

I personally would buy a hybrid but the only 2 in the market here are the Prius and the Civic Hybrid (which only saves 20% anyway... not that much) but it's cheap. Another downside to hybrids is that if the market is not willing to accept hybrids, depreciation rates will drop through the floor as soon as you drive it out the showroom door.

[JDM]

Hybrid are stepping stone towards future engines. Hyrdogen powered cars are probaly at least 10-20 years away from being commercialized. Toyota bought GM's 20% share in Fuji Heavy Industry which owns Subaru. Toyota wants to challenge GM to be the world's #1 soon. Hybrid sells like hot cake here in america though. The lineup for prius is still many months long but people are waiting to see how hybrid components aged.