Is buying hybrid worth it? | FerrariChat

Is buying hybrid worth it?

Discussion in 'Ferrari Discussion (not model specific)' started by raines, Aug 5, 2018.

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  1. raines

    raines Karting

    May 7, 2004
    147
    Raleigh, NC
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    Randy
    My sister asked me to help her buy a luxury crossover, so a Lexus RX 450 came to mind, but the hybrid gets 30 mpg in the city but costs about $7K more! Worth it? Side note: I saw an all-electric 308. Maybe I'll suggest that.
     
  2. Statler

    Statler F1 World Champ

    Jun 7, 2011
    17,389
    Only if she buys the clothes to go with it.
     
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  3. tifoso2728

    tifoso2728 F1 Veteran
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    Hybrids are ideal for city driving. That's where they really earn their keep. If there's not a ton of stop and go , there really is no point in a hybrid.
     
  4. raines

    raines Karting

    May 7, 2004
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    She not a road warrior so stop-n-go driving in DC is all she does. Reports say Hybrids save $50 a month on gas. But for an extra $7K?
     
  5. tifoso2728

    tifoso2728 F1 Veteran
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    Then she's the perfect candidate. Go to any city center, and observe what the taxis are. 95% are Camry hybrids and Prius'. Anyway, the quotient is up to you. Do the math.
     
  6. G. Pepper

    G. Pepper Three Time F1 World Champ
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    The only Ferrari hybrid I'm aware of outside of F1 is LaFerrari and its variants. So sure, get her one. :)
     
  7. ross

    ross Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Mar 25, 2002
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    this is correct.
    i have a hybrid, and when i am just tooling around town, i can get about 500 mpg.
    but if i driver to san antonio and back in a day, then i will get 22mpg.
     
  8. A348W

    A348W Formula 3

    Jun 28, 2017
    1,741
    North Wiltshire, UK
    Simple maths equation, factoring in resale value, tax etc.

    But to be honest at the price point you are looking at, unless there is a city congestion charge like London, then I'd say buy on looks/options/current dealer offers/resale (is you care about the later) as the "fuel efficiency" saving will simply disappear against the cost of say a model that has a full panoramic sunroof as standard fit or a model that has it as an optional extra etc.

    Porsche/RangeRover/Merc/BMW/Volvo/Lexus/Maserati...all worth looking at.

    As for taxis, not sure about your side of the pond, but over here a lot has to do with city congestion charges, and hence driving people/companies to hybrids/electric; and who is subsidising their cars for taxi drivers...there is a reason you see so many E class taxis on the continent, and its not because they are good cars per say.
     
  9. raines

    raines Karting

    May 7, 2004
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    Raleigh, NC
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    Randy
    Will taxis be a thing of the past, since industry is moving towards driverless vehicles? I know a chap who is in the body-collision industry and was told to look for another career soon.
     
  10. sixcarbs

    sixcarbs F1 Veteran
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    Dec 19, 2004
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    No.

    Besides, by buying hybrids you are encouraging them and becoming part of the problem.
     
  11. Gran Drewismo

    Gran Drewismo F1 Rookie

    Jan 24, 2005
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    I have zero data to back this up, but my feeling is "no", at least not for a decade or two.

    We're getting closer and closer to driverless vehicles but even once it's cracked it will still need to be adopted by the masses to start reducing the need for taxis. Even as fast as technology advances and gets cheaper I think you're still 10-20 years from this.

    If anything I think the biggest threat to taxis is still a ride sharing service like Uber or Lyft.
     
  12. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Feb 11, 2008
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    Vegas baby
    My GF was considering a hybrid Lexus Es 350 sedan. So we looked at both

    She drives about 8K miles a year.

    The cost difference between the two was about 4 grand apples to apples

    I calculated that at the cost of gas at the time, it would take her 7 years to get back the savings from the increase in the price between traditional gas vs hybrid.

    In the end she bought the gas over the hybrid not because of the math but because the trunk was smaller to put in the battery. Go figure.

    YMMV. :)
     
  13. A348W

    A348W Formula 3

    Jun 28, 2017
    1,741
    North Wiltshire, UK
    Driverless cars will not be along anytime soon on our roads in my view. Possibly in controlled environments, but not on open roads, too many variables, our roads are not anything like controlled airspace.

    The only way this will happen is if the pubic is willing to accept a fatality rate no better than current rates, at best, which I seriously doubt they will as the figures don't make good viewing. In addition, I seriously doubt that society will accept that a computer will be responsible for killing people.

    There has already been a number of examples of "self driving" cars crashing/killing people which have made the world press, and given that cicra 5 people are killed on UK roads everyday, about 90 in the USA and these barely make the local press let alone international press...society isn't there yet in my view. (If we look at serious crashes resulting in injuries, apply a factor of 100 (roughly) to those numbers.)

    There are also a number of additional challenges, 1) insurance, who is responsible for insuring the driverless car? is the software company liable in an accident when the software decides to hit somebody and they die? 2) Sensor technology, wont work in a snow storm / freezing rain, that's for sure. So what then? 3) software development, this is not true AI, the computer only does what its programmed to do, so if it finds a situation that the geek programmer did not envisage, it wont know what to do; 4) who decides who the software decides to kill, see 3)? 5) connectivity. so most places have poor if no mobile reception, and also what satellite system is this going to work off? and what gov is going to turn the gain down on it when there is the next war. How resilient is it to sun spots etc etc (this bit is a bit out of my zone, but I'd be interested to hear from those that know.)

    (sorry to highjack the thread, a soapbox topic of mine!)
     
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  14. Statler

    Statler F1 World Champ

    Jun 7, 2011
    17,389
    If you're truly just asking about gas savings, the math is very simple.

    If she drives 10,000 miles per year and one car gets 30mpg and one gets 18...

    then one car burns 333.33 gallons and the other 555.55 gallons.

    If gas is 2.75 at 222.22 gallons thats $611 saved per year. about 11 1/2 years to break even.

    plug in your own numbers for mileage, annual miles, gas cost.
     
  15. SCEye

    SCEye F1 Rookie

    Aug 28, 2009
    2,950
    Norcal - Peninsula
    need a little more info before we can answer intelligently.

    to expand a little more.
    the hybrid actually will costs about 7,700 more (due to more taxes (7-9%) and higher annual registration fees. roughly 10% more).
    also, putting the 7,700 in a safe investment (minus taxes) yield about 100 a year.
    therefore it's about 15 years to break even**
    **Assuming no replacing the Li battery after 15 years.
     
  16. JTSE30

    JTSE30 F1 Rookie

    Oct 1, 2004
    3,242
    Austin TX
    Reasonably priced Lidar is not ready, low speed driving only, and that presumes everything else is 100% taken care of which it may never be

    https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608348/low-quality-lidar-will-keep-self-driving-cars-in-the-slow-lane

    https://blog.cometlabs.io/engineer-explains-lidar-748f9ba0c404

    an important take away from the link above:

    Finally, although we consider lidar a computer vision component, the point cloud representations are purely based on geometry. The human eye, in contrast, uses other physical properties like color and texture in addition to shape. A lidar system today can’t tell the difference between a paper bag and a rock, which should factor into how the sensor interprets and tries to avoid the obstacle.
     
  17. ross

    ross Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Mar 25, 2002
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    i was saying almost exactly the same things about 6 months ago when this was a hot topic. fully agree with you
     
  18. Canuck550

    Canuck550 Formula Junior

    Sep 8, 2015
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    Answering the original question...with 10 years of data to back me up

    For our family it made sense and still does.
    We own two, have put over 200K kms on each of the cars over 10 years, easily 75% city driving, carting kids everywhere and to work, we are a city family.
    The fuel and maintenance savings alone, has paid for the purchase of one car, brakes last 3x to 4x longer then conventional gas cars, its unreal.
    We purchased them privately pre-owned off lease, 3yrs - 4yrs old, initial delta vs conventional car was $2k each.
    BTW, this doesn't even consider the added convenience of filling up 30% less during our Canadian winters which is an absolute pleasure not to have to do.
    Have not seen any degradation in our batteries and they are still running strong, keeping for another 3 years, they will become kid hand me downs!
    And yes they are Toyota's, a Camry and a PriusV, fabulous cars, our experience has been so great, our next cars will be plug in hybrids...
     
  19. sidtx

    sidtx F1 Rookie
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    Feb 9, 2014
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    We had a ford escape hybrid.

    Bought it because it had more technology (built-in) than the non-hybrid.

    Cost about $5K more than the gas version. Our calculated payback was 8 years. We sold it at 6, when the batteries still had some warranty left on them.

    If you keep cars 7+ years, then a hybrid makes sense. Otherwise, you are buying them for some other reason (tech in our case).

    Now, my wife drives a BMW X3 diesel. Gets the same mileage as the previous ford escape hybrid.

    Sid
     
  20. raines

    raines Karting

    May 7, 2004
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    Raleigh, NC
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    Hybrid or not, great discussion topics! Thanks for the input.
     
  21. Mitch Alsup

    Mitch Alsup F1 Veteran

    Nov 4, 2003
    9,252
    My wife has had a Prius for nearly 10 years, it is a reliable, inexpensive to operate, soulless vehicle. She likes/loves it because she can go 2 weeks without adding gasoline. Over 10 years, it has averaged about 45 miles per gallon.

    Since I retired and quite working for him, my GLS gets gas about once a month.

    If you don't like spending 15 minutes in 106º Texas summer heat filling up every week, a high milage vehicle is de rigueur.
     

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