Thoughts on Hybrids?

[clairville]

Are they a good idea?

Much cheaper to run?

[Jasp]

Had a Honda CRZ hybrid for around a year, while the car itself had nothing wrong with it i found it rather gutless and it only achieved 10MPG more then my previous Honda Civic 1.6, although it was not a true hybrid as the engine always had to be running unlike a Prius hybrid. Changed it last year for a Fiesta ST which still does 35MPG on my daily commute through town traffic, can't say i miss it.

[directhex]

"it varies"

[EndlessWaves]

'Hybrid' covers a wide spectrum of different drive trains and levels of battery integration. Considering them as a class doesn't work too well.

Plug-in hybrids are a good idea and can be a lot cheaper to run if you get one with sufficient range to cover your largest daily travel between recharging opportunities.

The best of the non-plug-in hybrids are pretty competitive with diesel if your driving favours their strengths (lots of acceleration and deceleration, particularly at lower speeds). Although for the average driver they're a little behind.

Other than that, they're generally not an option you want to choose solely on running costs. I wouldn't rule them out, they're worth trying to see if you like the power delivery style, but generally they're not the top powertrain in the range cost-wise.

[DanceswithUnix]

I think hybrids are the new turbo. Turbos were new and fancy in the 70's, made for some completely nutter cars in the 80's. But overall they were a device that for a cost made engines more efficient. Technology has always been good at making costs come down, and sure enough now just about every car has a turbo in it unless you go really entry level.

I can't see this ending any other way, *if* we stick with internal combustion. We already have a bigger and way more expensive battery for stop-start to work, why not just make the battery a bit bigger still and drive the wheels off it.

Of course these things take time to go mainstream, there is a chance that fully electric cars will take over first. That seems unlikely though (to me).

Right now though, today, I don't know of a hybrid that interests me. That is a bit sad, I should be the target market. Would rather get a Tesla though, if I could afford one.

[Gerrard]

This is a decent hybrid; fast but not very economical...