Why would I want a hybrid car?

[Telecaster]

It looks more and more like all new cars will soon be hybrids. I don’t have a warm fuzzy feeling about that. I do realize that Toyota has been making hybrids a long time and they seem to do them well, but will they last 250,000+ miles without expensive issues?

I’m looking at buying only one or two more cars in my life, and I don’t want to be pushed into buying a “real” vehicle now just to avoid being forced to buy a hybrid in the future (or a used gasoline vehicle). But if I have to buy one now it’ll be a 4Runner. Gas hog, but it’ll last forever and they’re comfortable, and almost affordable.

 

[glenwolde]

Because electric is supposedly cleaner, but charging stations haven't really been built out yet. As the charging network grows, gasoline usage will drop. It's not hard to imagine gas prices going up and locations declining as the electrics take over. It won't be even. Dropping volumes might very well depress gas prices at first but once refining capacity starts to adjust it's a crapshoot. A hybrid kind of covers both bases. The manufacturers are under mandated mileage standards that's going to force them into hybrids.

 

[Telecaster]

I'm told EV sales have flatlined. Everyone who wants one has one, and many are ditching them for gasoline cars. Ford gave up on the electric pickup truck.

I think this whole thing is driven by government, which is never a good thing.

 

[glenwolde]

I'm told EV sales have flatlined. Everyone who wants one has one, and many are ditching them for gasoline cars. Ford gave up on the electric pickup truck.

I think this whole thing is driven by government, which is never a good thing.

Sales of EVs grew quickly, then stalled. The stall was not expected. Manufacturers are adjusting. Ford did not give up on the truck, they still make it. But the demand is not what they forecast and they've dropped a shift at the plant. Which is a fairly serious event in the manufacturing world but a long way from abandoning it, which they really can't. They have too much committed to the project.

 

[johngalt]

If you have to go hybrid, the Porsche 918 would be ok.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

I think hybrid will be the wave of the future. NOT EV. I looked at the Hybrid Tundra and liked what I saw after doing research-but couldn't justify it for what I wanted and the price. Have a regular old naturally aspirated V6 Tacoma (2023)that I hope will be me last vehicle (I'm 68) and my wife has the last of the naturally aspirated V6 Highlanders(2022). We are WELL pleased with both. First new vehicles we have bought since 2006 so that tells you about how long we keep vehicles

 

[Breakaway500]

Hybrids have been in circulation for decades. They work very well. I encourage their purchase when people ask.

Battery cars have been here for longer than internal combustion vehicles. Matter of fact,the first car was powered by batteries.
Until electric cars can ditch the batteries..they will only be fit for golf carts and even then..I'd still take a gas one.

 

[ladder13]

I can get on the hybrid bandwagon.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

We have a plug-in hybrid…a 2015 Ford Fusion Energi. It’s been an excellent car…gets nearly 70 mpge combined. There are some compromises…half the trunk space is dedicated to batteries and the gas engine is somewhat gutless but around town on battery it’s great.

My dad-in-law has a Honda CRV hybrid…in the year he’s owned he may have needed to gas it up three times. It’s a very nice car.

 

[sophie]

Everybody has their own opinion about whether or not they like the idea of a hybrid vehicle or electric vehicle. Look at the money Ford wasted and lost on all the F150 EV’s they manufactured. Big mistake. Nobody wants an electric truck. Ford thought if they built them they would sell. Ooops that’s wrong. I will never own a Hybrid vehicle or an Electric vehicle.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

Hybrid and EV types are not the answer to our perceived energy problems…but they’re part of an answer. They each fit different needs for different applications. The same for internal combustion engine vehicles.

It’s not…no matter what the crazies might want to dictate…a one size fits all solution.

 

[Telecaster]

Ford leaned nothing from the Edsel fiasco. All the market research in the world was just flat out wrong.

 

[Onomea]

At my other house, in Japan, we have a hybrid, a Toyota Aqua, or Prius C as it is known here. Bought new in 2012, it gets over 50 MPG. The advantage over an internal combustion engine is gas milage. While the Aqua is pretty anemic in acceleration, especially at highway speed — 99 screamin' horses — it'll cruise all day at 70. Main downside as a highway car is noise. Hard to hear. It's a small, very light car. We sold our Lexus SUV and bought it when we moved to a small town with very narrow streets when I retired. It's a good car for our purposes there.

Not all hybrids are anemic though. Check out this 2024 Corvette:

...The 2024 E-Ray compounds this notion with a first-ever all-wheel drive system fitted to any Chevrolet performance model, working in step with an electrically assisted V8 catapulting the E-Ray to an American production car first of 0-60 mph in 2.5 seconds. A number that could, in fact, be lower when customers get their hands on it....

These Are The Fastest Hybrid Cars in 2023

So with the new Corvette, I think you would buy a hybrid because you wanted to go real fast in an extremely cool looking car.

 

[S&W629]

I am of the opinion that the push for electric cars....is driven by politicians that are invested (inside trading)...for their own benefit.....

 

[oldbrownhat]

I think hybrid will be the wave of the future. NOT EV. ...

I agree. EV are great for for many folks, but I was reading an article somewhere recently that suggested that hybrids may ultimately be "better for the planet" due to the huge demand for lithium and other critical minerals, saying that you can build about 14 hybrids for the (mineral) requirement of one EV, and since much routine travel is short local trips like food shopping, you'll be running on battery power anyway. (That being said, even in my small city of 40,000 there are a lot of Teslas!)

Another plus is that in en emergency, if you need to "get out of Dodge", you can carry extra gas. I thought of this yesterday when reading about people in Reykjavik fleeing volcanic eruptions there.

I'll be keeping my 2012 Ford Ranger until I no longer need a pickup but I'm pretty sure its replacement will be a hybrid of some sort, probably a Toyota or Subaru SUV.

 

[yaktamer]

I think hybrid will be the wave of the future. NOT EV. I looked at the Hybrid Tundra and liked what I saw after doing research-but couldn't justify it for what I wanted and the price. Have a regular old naturally aspirated V6 Tacoma (2023)that I hope will be me last vehicle (I'm 68) and my wife has the last of the naturally aspirated V6 Highlanders(2022). We are WELL pleased with both. First new vehicles we have bought since 2006 so that tells you about how long we keep vehicles

Hoping to remain naturally aspirated until I pass and for my vehicles to be as well.

 

[WR Moore]

I read the technical stuff on the Ford electric truck. Mostly for those who want a pickup to pose with rather than haul. Per the published spec, the base line truck counldn't tow. If you upgraded the battery pack so you could tow, a 14 foot skiff and a case of beer would be your "payload" if you were anorexic. An independent towing test on one was pretty negative.

Per the ads, Ford appeared to have done one thing right. It looks like the battery pack was bolted to the frame from below, making changes relatively easy.

A hybrid truck might work, but it'd be really, really bad to run out of juice on some steep grades I know of with a significant load. They seem to be avoiding the locomotive model: engine runs a generator that runs the electric motors. Dunno if there's a battery pack for surges.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Current car is 8 years old, just passed 65,000 miles. Current truck is nearly 6 years old, just rolled over 60,000. Both are in excellent condition and, at current usage levels, should last us for another 5-plus years.

No telling what might be on the market by the time we have to deal with these decisions again. I would be very reluctant to purchase an EV; the technology simply isn't developed sufficiently for the purpose. A hybrid appears to be a better option, but only if it is shoved down my throat.

I am not aware of a single instance in which passing a law resulted in new technology; something that normally happens only when something new is a genuine improvement over prior developments. Even then, the time period of changeover is measured in years, not an arbitrary date carved in stone somewhere.

 

[pharmer]

If'n it involves charging a lithium-ion battery I ain't doing it. In my house/garage anyway. I have a neighbor with a new Jeep (the big one). She gets home when we are walking and plugs it in on her driveway. I still ain't doing it. Joe

 

[NFrameFred]

Many folks have come close and hit all around it, but the closest comment is the one about "passing a law never resulted in new technology" (allowing that if someone points out an example to the contrary, it no doubt conformed the following caveat)

IF and WHEN such technology becomes successful and driven by demand of the buying public, it will be as it has always been : it fills a need, people want it and can afford it, and the manufacturer/developer can make money providing it. NOT by Big Brother decreeing that we must avail ourselves of it because the current powers that be think in their self deluded arrogance that they know better and are saving us from ourselves by making us pay endless amounts in unlimited research on our own dime to accomplish their pipe dreams.

Barring the timely culmination of certain eternal events that many of us look forward to, if things drag out I will long be in my dirt nap before all these technological speed bumps are overcome. I remember being stranded on a mountain road in pretty rough country for over five hours in freezing weather with the snow piling up over two inches an hour when I traveled to the coal fields for work as a young man. I always traveled in such weather in such country well prepared with warm clothing, plenty of fuel and even a cache of emergency survival supplies; I seriously doubt an all electric vehicle is going to be viable or wanted in areas with such possible conditions with sufficient technology to make that not a critical situation for the foreseeable future.


And I haven't seen a real working model of these on Amazon yet . . . . .