Buy a hybrid?
September 1, 2020 6:10 AM Subscribe
Does it make sense for me to buy a hybrid if 95 percent of my driving is freeway driving?
About 95 percent of my driving is freeway driving. I’ve narrowed my preferences down to two hybrids, but I realized that they are not my first preference.
I’m only even considering a hybrid because of ecological reasons, but does it make aN.Y. difference if my driving is almost all freeway driving? My other alternative is to buy the car I want now and then try to buy an electric car in four or five years. (I don’t have access to the charging stuff now).
About 95 percent of my driving is freeway driving. I’ve narrowed my preferences down to two hybrids, but I realized that they are not my first preference.
I’m only even considering a hybrid because of ecological reasons, but does it make aN.Y. difference if my driving is almost all freeway driving? My other alternative is to buy the car I want now and then try to buy an electric car in four or five years. (I don’t have access to the charging stuff now).
Hybrids tend to have harder tires and better streamlining, so even in a cruise phase they handle the air resistance better. You are hauling around relatively more weight including the battery, but they are still reliable vehicles to drive. You may just be using the gas engine on the highway, but it is a well sized gas engine.
The "car you want now", do you really want to put a bunch of highway miles on it? If it is something you would enjoy driving in, then why not?
posted by nickggully at 6:32 AM on September 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
The "car you want now", do you really want to put a bunch of highway miles on it? If it is something you would enjoy driving in, then why not?
posted by nickggully at 6:32 AM on September 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Are you sure you can't charge? A friend of mine lives in an apartment and parks on the street, and she just charges her electric car at a Whole Foods in the parking lot. The range on a lot of new electric cars is really long, so you wouldn't have to charge that often. In some places, new chargers are also being rolled out that are so fast that it's almost like filling gas. I think in a climate emergency anyone buying a car now should be buying an electric car.
posted by pinochiette at 6:32 AM on September 1, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by pinochiette at 6:32 AM on September 1, 2020 [4 favorites]
I drive a 2011 Prius hybrid. It is designed for minimum air resistance, minimum rolling resistance. The hybrid battery is charged by braking, going downhill, some plain driving, based on the computer's algorithm. It has plenty of pickup when needed. When I commuted mostly highway, I still got 50 mpg. You can probably calculate the gas savings to see if it makes economic sense.
I like to camp, and Toyota hybrids allow you to keep the car in On mode, and charge things, use an inverter for lights, music, or sleep in the car and run heat, fan, ac. The gas engine will come on occasionally to charge the hybrid battery.
If you decide not to get a hybrid, you can still look for a car with reduced air drag and high mileage, and one that is not heavier than you need. In Maine, I see many commuter pickup trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles seldom used for any work. Vehicles are still a main source of air pollution and carbon emission, and this is an area where you can make a difference.
posted by theora55 at 6:33 AM on September 1, 2020 [6 favorites]
I like to camp, and Toyota hybrids allow you to keep the car in On mode, and charge things, use an inverter for lights, music, or sleep in the car and run heat, fan, ac. The gas engine will come on occasionally to charge the hybrid battery.
If you decide not to get a hybrid, you can still look for a car with reduced air drag and high mileage, and one that is not heavier than you need. In Maine, I see many commuter pickup trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles seldom used for any work. Vehicles are still a main source of air pollution and carbon emission, and this is an area where you can make a difference.
posted by theora55 at 6:33 AM on September 1, 2020 [6 favorites]
It probably mostly comes down to your driving style, as well as the terrain you are driving in. If you like to speed a lot on the highway, you're going to be loosing any advantage the hybrid brings to the table. Additionally, you should consider cruise control as well, since it helps even things out a lot and increase the efficiency massively.
Here's an article that shows that hybrids can be the better choice for a lot of highway driving. This Quora has some good answers that go into where hybrids are the most efficient, and how driving style impacts it.
My current tiny car isn't a hybrid, but like you I do mostly long distance driving in it. It's officially rated as 34/38 mpg with a combined 36, but driving conservatively we are getting 43mpg average, and around 50mpg on flatter long distance drives with cruise control enabled - it drops down to 46mpg on more mountainous excursions. Purely driving around mountains is hell for a gas engine, but probably pretty great for a hybrid...
posted by rambling wanderlust at 6:34 AM on September 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Here's an article that shows that hybrids can be the better choice for a lot of highway driving. This Quora has some good answers that go into where hybrids are the most efficient, and how driving style impacts it.
My current tiny car isn't a hybrid, but like you I do mostly long distance driving in it. It's officially rated as 34/38 mpg with a combined 36, but driving conservatively we are getting 43mpg average, and around 50mpg on flatter long distance drives with cruise control enabled - it drops down to 46mpg on more mountainous excursions. Purely driving around mountains is hell for a gas engine, but probably pretty great for a hybrid...
posted by rambling wanderlust at 6:34 AM on September 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I cannot charge a car right now. My freeway commute is really long, round trip. Also, for the size car I want, electric cars are out of my price range.
posted by gt2 at 6:35 AM on September 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by gt2 at 6:35 AM on September 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Track your current gas mileage. where does it fall in the city-combined-highway ratings for your current vehicle? If its on the highway end of the spectrum, you can figure that a new vehicle should also fall on the highway end of the spectrum and use the highway numbers to compare across vehicles. If its not on the highway number, use the closest category to compare across vehicles.
Many hybrids are more efficient for highway usage compared to non hybrids, due to design differences.
Buy what makes you happy, within reason, a 10% more efficient vehicle you hate is not helping things.
posted by TheAdamist at 6:36 AM on September 1, 2020
Many hybrids are more efficient for highway usage compared to non hybrids, due to design differences.
Buy what makes you happy, within reason, a 10% more efficient vehicle you hate is not helping things.
posted by TheAdamist at 6:36 AM on September 1, 2020
My hybrid gets better mileage on the freeway than it does on surface streets. It’s not supposed to but the Toyota technicians seem pretty unconcerned about it.
posted by corey flood at 6:52 AM on September 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by corey flood at 6:52 AM on September 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
Now is a great time to buy a used Prius. Gas prices have been low this year, and a lot less people are commuting than usual. Get a five year old Prius and drive it into the ground.
posted by oceanjesse at 7:00 AM on September 1, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by oceanjesse at 7:00 AM on September 1, 2020 [3 favorites]
My Accord Hybrid does do worse in highway only situations or when I am being an aggressive driver. However worse in this case means high 30s MPG. If I am being as conservative as possible and driving in friendly terrain, i can get high 40s MPG. Most of the time, I am getting low 40s for my mileage. I think that is fantastic and would compare very positively to any similiar sized sedan that only had an ICE.
posted by mmascolino at 7:07 AM on September 1, 2020
posted by mmascolino at 7:07 AM on September 1, 2020
I've driven a Prius cross-country and it really does get very good highway mileage.
posted by restless_nomad at 7:15 AM on September 1, 2020
posted by restless_nomad at 7:15 AM on September 1, 2020
PHEV owner here. We love not using gas on short trips. I'm a big fan.
For your use case though, I think you can just go with average highway mileage to compare hybrids to ICE engines, then get the car that will make you comfortable for long highway trips. I don't see a reason to prefer hybrid drives, honestly.
We considered the Accord hybrid and were really disappointed that the mileage improvement ... which wasn't all that much, just a few mpg, over the ICE. My use case involves a long steep hill up to work, and Accords and Prii still gobbled gas in that case, we test drove them up the hill and watched the mileage ... sink (and the Accord was pretty whiny). The only way for it to make sense for me was the PHEV, where I can use purely electric for my commute (which is rather short, aside from the hill).
posted by ashy_sock at 8:05 AM on September 1, 2020
For your use case though, I think you can just go with average highway mileage to compare hybrids to ICE engines, then get the car that will make you comfortable for long highway trips. I don't see a reason to prefer hybrid drives, honestly.
We considered the Accord hybrid and were really disappointed that the mileage improvement ... which wasn't all that much, just a few mpg, over the ICE. My use case involves a long steep hill up to work, and Accords and Prii still gobbled gas in that case, we test drove them up the hill and watched the mileage ... sink (and the Accord was pretty whiny). The only way for it to make sense for me was the PHEV, where I can use purely electric for my commute (which is rather short, aside from the hill).
posted by ashy_sock at 8:05 AM on September 1, 2020
I drove a hybrid Kia Niro from SF to Boulder in July; I averaged 47 MPG despite doing over 70 for much of the two days.
So I suspect hybrids do just great on the highway...
posted by suelac at 8:22 AM on September 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
So I suspect hybrids do just great on the highway...
posted by suelac at 8:22 AM on September 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
We have a 2005 Prius bought at over 100,000 and it now has 280,000 miles on it. It still gets 40-45 MPG in all kinds of driving. My advice to anyone who drives a lot is to buy a used Prius at whatever price point you can easily afford.
posted by fritley at 8:29 AM on September 1, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by fritley at 8:29 AM on September 1, 2020 [5 favorites]
Add me to the Prius chorus. I actually do better on the highway than in town due to a combination of a bad habit of driving it like I stole it when I don't have folks in the car, and people in my city just... drive erratically.
posted by joycehealy at 8:37 AM on September 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by joycehealy at 8:37 AM on September 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Bravo for having environmental concerns as a priority for your decision. But is overall mileage your only consideration? There will be big improvements in EVs over the next 5 years- VW is in progress to install a grid of charging stations around the country (>2000) as part settlement of Diesel-gate. Battery technology improves yearly. Almost every automaker is on track to retire/ restrict their ICE lineup. IMO an ICE car is a deadend - in ten years there will likely be a penalty for owning one. If you are looking at new cars definitely get a an EV or PHEV. And yes, there are lots of used Prius on the market these days.
posted by TDIpod at 8:54 AM on September 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by TDIpod at 8:54 AM on September 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
Yeah, I'm not getting the Prius love. It's trivial to find any new-ish car that can beat 40-45mpg on longer journeys. You don't have anywhere to charge it! Neither do I. Nice idea, but not practical for everyone.
Buy whatever you want now (that's reliable & does ok-to-good mileage), then trade it in against your preferred future EV when the technology has improved & your circumstances mean that you can charge it.
posted by rd45 at 9:02 AM on September 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Buy whatever you want now (that's reliable & does ok-to-good mileage), then trade it in against your preferred future EV when the technology has improved & your circumstances mean that you can charge it.
posted by rd45 at 9:02 AM on September 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Best answer: All that matters is the listed EPA highway mpg. Higher is better.
Prius does better than comparable non-hybrid. Many SUV hybrids don't do significantly better on highway mpg because their engines are too big, so it wouldn't be worth getting one.
posted by flimflam at 9:19 AM on September 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Prius does better than comparable non-hybrid. Many SUV hybrids don't do significantly better on highway mpg because their engines are too big, so it wouldn't be worth getting one.
posted by flimflam at 9:19 AM on September 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Given your driving needs, a hybrid might not make sense, either for cost or the environment. The extra cost of a hybrid might not make sense in your case if most of the time you are driving on the gas engine at constant highway speeds.
Be careful just comparing the EPA highway mpg figures between hybrids and gas cars. The EPA highway test includes starting and stopping, lots of speed changes and has an average speed of only 48 mph and only momentary speeds to a maximum of 60 mph. So the test is skewed towards hybrids in a way that might not apply to your actual driving conditions. That might not reflect your driving if you drive faster than 50 mph at constant speeds for long distances.
Save the cost difference and you can apply it to an EV in the future when that is more practical for you.
posted by JackFlash at 9:51 AM on September 1, 2020
Be careful just comparing the EPA highway mpg figures between hybrids and gas cars. The EPA highway test includes starting and stopping, lots of speed changes and has an average speed of only 48 mph and only momentary speeds to a maximum of 60 mph. So the test is skewed towards hybrids in a way that might not apply to your actual driving conditions. That might not reflect your driving if you drive faster than 50 mph at constant speeds for long distances.
Save the cost difference and you can apply it to an EV in the future when that is more practical for you.
posted by JackFlash at 9:51 AM on September 1, 2020
Can you give us a vague area where you're driving? Hills matter, and in a hybrid, you notice terrain more. Also, how fluid is your drive? Is it a constant flow, or do you get into stop-and-start traffic? As JackFlash noted, that's where you can see improved gas mileage.
Depending on your drive, and what size/ type car you're looking to get, you may be able to find a modern car that has good fuel efficiency that isn't hybrid. That said, we're a two-hybrid household, with a 2001 Prius and a 2014 Honda Accord. We've driven them both cross-country a few times, and for local commutes on highways and freeways. They both get 40-50 MPG on highways, depending on the terrain, winds, and speeds we're going.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:50 AM on September 1, 2020
Depending on your drive, and what size/ type car you're looking to get, you may be able to find a modern car that has good fuel efficiency that isn't hybrid. That said, we're a two-hybrid household, with a 2001 Prius and a 2014 Honda Accord. We've driven them both cross-country a few times, and for local commutes on highways and freeways. They both get 40-50 MPG on highways, depending on the terrain, winds, and speeds we're going.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:50 AM on September 1, 2020
The consumer benefits for hybrids aren't there yet, unlike electric cars. Environmentally, non-hybrids have stepped up their MPG game, so there's not a HUGE advantage there. And, hybrids are also designed to give you a 300-400 tank, even at better mileage, so you won't save trips to the gas station. I've found that personally, most of the gas savings from a hybrid come from less torque, and priuses are not very fun to drive.
For my sanity for long car trips and commutes, I would prioritize a very comfortable ride and driving assist items. My favorite driving assist item is Adaptive Cruise Control. I'm not sure which cars have it, and which don't. But I wouldn't buy a car without it anymore, especially for a long commute.
Here's my personal list of non-negotiables:
1. Thermostat - so you never need to adjust the temperature/blower.
2. Adaptive cruise control - so you don't need to think about traffic, and makes overtaking less annoying.
3. Very comfortable chairs (my personal favorites are by nissan, but you have to sit in them all to see what your butt likes)
4. Bluetooth.
posted by bbqturtle at 11:30 AM on September 1, 2020
For my sanity for long car trips and commutes, I would prioritize a very comfortable ride and driving assist items. My favorite driving assist item is Adaptive Cruise Control. I'm not sure which cars have it, and which don't. But I wouldn't buy a car without it anymore, especially for a long commute.
Here's my personal list of non-negotiables:
1. Thermostat - so you never need to adjust the temperature/blower.
2. Adaptive cruise control - so you don't need to think about traffic, and makes overtaking less annoying.
3. Very comfortable chairs (my personal favorites are by nissan, but you have to sit in them all to see what your butt likes)
4. Bluetooth.
posted by bbqturtle at 11:30 AM on September 1, 2020
Response by poster: Can you give us a vague area where you're driving?
Mostly straight flat freeway driving for a really long round trip commute 2 or 3 times a week. If mpg is what matters the most for environmental reasons, I’ll start looking for that in the car size I’m looking for.
posted by gt2 at 12:14 PM on September 1, 2020
Mostly straight flat freeway driving for a really long round trip commute 2 or 3 times a week. If mpg is what matters the most for environmental reasons, I’ll start looking for that in the car size I’m looking for.
posted by gt2 at 12:14 PM on September 1, 2020
Driving less is a better ecological goal than having a hybrid, and MPG gains suffer from diminishing returns. Buy a car that meets your needs rather than focusing on hybrids and make a medium term plan to drive less; even electric cars need to be manufactured and maintained along with electrical generation and infrastructure costs. My ICE engine might only get 33 or so miles per gallon combined but it does a hell of a lot better in gallons per month than the median hybrid driver.
posted by Kwine at 1:36 PM on September 1, 2020
posted by Kwine at 1:36 PM on September 1, 2020
Does HOV lane access matter to you? In some states a hybrid gets you access to those lanes even if you're just driving by yourself.
posted by eelgrassman at 6:58 PM on September 1, 2020
posted by eelgrassman at 6:58 PM on September 1, 2020
Get the Prius. We have a 2009 we bought new and are very happy with it. Roomy enough, powerful enough, economic enough. Definitely better mileage on the freeway than city streets, but actually nothing makes me happier while driving than hearing the engine shut off while waiting at a light.
posted by lhauser at 7:33 PM on September 1, 2020
posted by lhauser at 7:33 PM on September 1, 2020
Now is a great time to buy a used Prius. Gas prices have been low this year, and a lot less people are commuting than usual. Get a five year old Prius and drive it into the ground.
We love our 2011 Prius. But if our area is any indication, others love their Prius's too and they're very hard to find used.
posted by summerstorm at 10:09 AM on September 2, 2020
We love our 2011 Prius. But if our area is any indication, others love their Prius's too and they're very hard to find used.
posted by summerstorm at 10:09 AM on September 2, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by gt2 at 6:11 AM on September 1, 2020 [1 favorite]