[ASOC]

You are correct, as a second car, they almost make sense. I dive 3.5 miles, one way, to work.

The problem I face is at -20F, common here in Alaska, the Ecar is worthless.

My son purchased a used (2 Y/O) Nissan Leaf for 11K. New ones sell for **36K**. a 25K loss in 2 years isn’t something I’m interested in...

[DoughtyOne]

Good points for colder climates. Also, that drop in two years is amazing. Ouch!

[Myrddin]

From direct experience, the Mercury Mariner Hybrid was touted as a 32 MPG vehicle with a $3,000 tax credit. Lie number 1...the tax credit was $1200. Lie #2: the vehicle achieved 32 MPG exactly ONCE in the 7 years we owned it. That was on a San Diego to Pocatello run. Early September. Mild weather, so no heat or air conditioning. Cruise control and no freeway congestion. The real AVERAGE was 26 MPG over the life of the car. Spring and Fall might reach 28 MPG. Winter dropped to 21 MPG as the cold affected the battery capacity and required heating at all times. We had -15F and the seat heat was barely enough to keep our teeth from chattering.

That Mariner was $32,000 out the door. We put 108,000 miles on it. Trade in as $6700 against the new 2015 F150 CrewCab. The Mariner has lots of "toys". Seat heat. Moon roof. In-dash NAV. Satellite Radio. Leather seats. Fanciest car I've ever owned. The replacement is less fancy, more functional. On a good day doing 80 MPH on I-15, we get about 19 MPG. Taking it down to 55 MPH will push the mileage to 23 MPG. Best ever since purchase was 24.5 MPG on a trip to Yellowstone.