Posted on 06/05/2008 7:18:01 PM PDT by Lorianne
With gas at $4 a gallon, there's a lot of pain at the pumps. And a lot of people looking to trade in their gas-guzzling SUV for a fuel efficient hybrid.
No wonder automakers report that sales of these vehicles are in freefall. GM just shuttered four plants that make them.
But even in this economy, trading in your SUV for a hybrid may not make the best financial sense. You may be better off keeping the vehicle, taking the pain – and just driving less.
Or looking for a cheaper alternative car.
Look at the numbers.
A Toyota Prius sedan, the best-selling hybrid, will get an average of 45 miles per gallon. A typical SUV, like a Chevy Tahoe or Ford Explorer, may only get about 16.
At current fuel prices, making the change will save the typical driver about $2,400 a year (that's based on the Department of Energy estimate that you drive about 15,000 miles a year).
Those savings sound like a lot. But in order to get them, you first have to lose a lot more on the trade.
New Priuses generally cost at least $22,000. Meanwhile you'll be lucky to get a few thousand for your second-hand SUV. There are simply too many flooding the dealerships. Not enough people want them, for obvious reasons. They're sitting on the lots.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
***Should You Swap Your SUV for a Hybrid?***
I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.
“gas-guzzling SUV”
What about “gas-guzzling” pick-up trucks and other vehicles?
Like George Bush, and guns, when the Left picks on something to hate they don’t let up, facts be damned.
No. I’m keeping my SUV’s. I did not buy them for fuel economy. I bought them for the “U”: they are for me the most useful vehicle design available.
you mean you wouldn’t be caught dead
in a toyota primadonna?
/s
I thought everyone sold or swapped their SUV’s, pickups and Hummers when gas went to $1 a gallon, then again when gas went to $2, then again when gas went to $3 and now they’re doing it again for $4 a gallon. Maybe they should all take a trip to Europe and check out the gasoline prices there.
If you need a big truck, now is the time to buy one. BTW, a diesel will run just fine on a 50/50 mix of regular gasoline and used, filtered motor oil. There are many shops that will give you the oil free to haul it off. That makes your fuel about $2.25 a gallon.
Nope, no hybrid for me. I don’t want to dump huge, mercury filled batteries in some landfill 5 years down the road. And, if I’m in a bad wreck, not only do I not want acid burns from ruptured batteries, I want the rescue squad to get me out, not afraid they’ll get electrocuted in the process.
5.4L engine, will pull a house and I can get a couple of 4x8 sheets of plywood in the back if I fold down the middle seat and let the rest stick out the back window.:)
Nope. Don’t have one; but if I did; wouldn’t swap it.
My wife has been begging me for a newer SUV. I told her if she can manage to go two full years without backing into anything with this one, then we will start shopping. So far she has gone 18 months. When she is done with this 1999 Explorer, it will be ready for a demolition derby.
Let’s see:
Shopping cart
Mailbox
Fire Hydrant
Mystery Damage on the rear up high (unknown someone else did it?)
Another Mailbox
I swear if I could take out the reverse gear in her next one, I would.
Anyway, I guess now is about the right time to be shopping for a 1-year old SUV huh?
(Mine is the best wife and mother on the planet, just not the best vehicle operator while using mirrors)
Gas guzzling? My SUV, with a 6 cylinder engine, gets a consistent 26-28 mpg in mixed use. I’ve measured it at over 30 on the highway (on occasion). So, they can keep their hybrids.
It’s tough towing that sailboat and pair of jet skis with a Prius.
I sure like my pickup. I was in a head-on accident January. The other car was totaled. my car was fixed with for 1400 dollars. My airbag didn’t even go off.
Big cars should cost less to insure, and if, heaven forfend, you get into an accident, a big car will reduce your medical bills.
I'll second that and add this; When someone can show me how to fit 4 car seats and luggage for 6 in a prius for a 3 hour weekend trip to grandma and grandpas I'll let them purchase one for me to drive to work everyday.
Nickel batteries seem to have a memory, making them wear out after 4 to 5 years. Nickel has a large environmental impace, if you care about such things.
Once lithium ion=nanofiber batteries mature, there will be less reason to object. Carbon is umbiquitous, and lithium is filtered from sea water.
Dealers aren’t taking gas hogs in trade in Florida,they say they can’t get rid of them. My sis’s neighbor is a car salesperson, he told her people are buying new vehicles and letting their SUVs and trucks get repossessed. The gas hogs appear to be going cheap. She told me an example, don’t remember exactly.
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