Mom's only new car is a 2001 Toyota Corolla S... auto with air, etc..
We have taken it on many trips and she does get the 41mpg advertised on the window sticker without any special configurations...
A friend bought a Honda Si years ago new and was push 50 on his freeway commute.
As all the hybrids rolled out I just couldn't see it when both companies had such high mpg gas cars...
I hear you ur. If you are mostly doing highway driving, hybrids don't gain you much compared to an equivalent gas car, and definitely not a tdi.
To me, the strength of a hybrid shows in stop and go city traffic, where you can harvest the energy from regenerative braking. In a straight $ sense, hybrids probably don't make sense unless you are doing at least 50% of your driving in stopNgo traffic.
One question I asked in a Honda showroom was "With all the winter salt we have, many cars have issues with disc brake hardware seizing up. Since the regular mechanical brakes on a hybrid are doing even
less work than with a regular car, what steps have been taken to address that ?".
Didn't get an answer - not that I expected one from the average salesperson. I'd need to talk to a senior Honda mechanic to get a real answer. I haven't been seriously in the market for a hybrid, but in this climate it's a tech detail that's on my mind. I know (jealous !) it's a non-issue at your end.... I still shake my head at your comment one time "Rusted brake line ? Never seen one.".
Recently looked up the Prius mileage data on the toyota.ca site. Hadn't been there in a while. What I do have to commend Toyota for is dropping the cost of their hybrids, as production volume has ramped. Their lowest cost Prius is $20,440 Canadian. Once you put air+auto on a regular Corolla or Civic here, the price gap is not that far away now.
I know some people don't like a hatchback, but it's my preferred (from a utility standpoint) design for a small platform.
Rgds, D.
