Is a hybrid right for my commute?

[twelve]

So I know the hybrids excel in city driving, but I'm wondering how one would do on my mainly highway commute.

Right now I'm driving a 2019 F150 crewcab with the 2.7l 2wd. I average 21 - 23 mpg per tank, anywhere from 480 to 520 miles. I love the truck for the interior room, but I never really use it for truck things. I have filled it up with mulch a couple of times but that's about the extent of it. My wife drives a suburban and I would have access to my father in laws f250 if I do need to do truck things. Since the used truck market it my area is crazy I think now would be the time to dump it before the bottom falls out again. Already got one offer $1000 less than I paid for it 2 years and 55k miles ago.

So I'm looking at either a Camry or an Accord hybrids. Don't want anything smaller than that. So here's what my commute looks like... 15 miles of back roads @ 60mph till I get to the interstate, then 40 miles on interstate @ 70 mph, then I exit the interstate and drive 10 miles of city streets @ 55 mph. So that's 120 miles one way. The last 10 miles is the only time I ever run into any type of traffic or streetlights. Cruise control is on 98% of the time. Due to the times I'm traveling to and from work I hardly ever run into any traffic.

I think if I could at least get 45 mpg per tank it would be worth it. Or do you think a regular 4 cyl Camry could consistently get 40 mpg out of a tank?

 

[supton]

Not sure, but I'll know in a year.

My wife was getting over 60 for a bit, sticking to the backroads. But dropping to upper 50's on the highway. She's not a fast driver, 5 over is her limit. My guess, down where you are, 40mpg is going to be the low side of things, as long as you do your part and aren't cruising at 80mph or similar.

Watch out on the Camry. The base LE model gets over 50mpg, but the XLE doesn't. I think they put bigger tires on and it drops the mpg by a good portion. How much they really differ in the real world, I dunno, and I don't know how much it'll change once you change from OEM tires to anything else.

Good luck shopping though, it's a zoo right now for both used and new cars.

 

[Ws6]

So I know the hybrids excel in city driving, but I'm wondering how one would do on my mainly highway commute.

Right now I'm driving a 2019 F150 crewcab with the 2.7l 2wd. I average 21 - 23 mpg per tank, anywhere from 480 to 520 miles. I love the truck for the interior room, but I never really use it for truck things. I have filled it up with mulch a couple of times but that's about the extent of it. My wife drives a suburban and I would have access to my father in laws f250 if I do need to do truck things. Since the used truck market it my area is crazy I think now would be the time to dump it before the bottom falls out again. Already got one offer $1000 less than I paid for it 2 years and 55k miles ago.

So I'm looking at either a Camry or an Accord hybrids. Don't want anything smaller than that. So here's what my commute looks like... 15 miles of back roads @ 60mph till I get to the interstate, then 40 miles on interstate @ 70 mph, then I exit the interstate and drive 10 miles of city streets @ 55 mph. So that's 120 miles one way. The last 10 miles is the only time I ever run into any type of traffic or streetlights. Cruise control is on 98% of the time. Due to the times I'm traveling to and from work I hardly ever run into any traffic.

I think if I could at least get 45 mpg per tank it would be worth it. Or do you think a regular 4 cyl Camry could consistently get 40 mpg out of a tank?

I have a very similar commute, just less interstate. I am trading into a RAV4 Prime XSE because mpg is awesome! Also, 42mi EV only, for shorter trips.

 

[doublebase]

Well, I have a similar commute (although not as far), but similar in easy highway and backroads. I’ve done this commute in several different vehicles in the past, and most recently in a full sized pickup - the thing with the pickup that I really liked was the driving height, being able to see what’s ahead of you. There’s something to be said in that. And I’ll tell yeah, you may not think you use a pickup for pickup things, enough to justify keeping it, but once you get rid of it you might realize it (even if you have access to your father-in-law’s pickup). I sold my pickup last year and I definitely needed one a few times this past year and it stunk having to borrow one.

I ended up buying a 2016 Toyota Avalon, I’m getting 30 mpg in it and it’s big/roomy enough to be a great highway commuter, but yeah, I think if gas mileage is what you’re after, the hybrid obviously will give your commute a great benefit (plau I like how you’re going for the bigger sized hybrids).

 

[Skippy722]

According to Fuelly you can expect the Camry Hybrid to give you ~42-45mpg, the Accord is about the same. Going from a 22mpg vehicle to a 44mpg vehicle will save you $89 month (assuming $3.15 a gallon) in fuel.

Without knowing the financial side of it (paid cash, financed), in my opinion trading into a hybrid is not worth the $89 a month saved. If your financing and you can get the hybrid for $200-$300 a month cheaper then it would be worth it in my opinion, assuming you’re okay going way down in vehicle size.

 

[JimPghPA]

On a highway some hybrids will run the engine at a higher throttle if that is more efficient and store the extra power. Then when the battery is charged if still on the highway run on electric only. In other works, some hybrids manage to run the engine at a maximum efficiency when it is ran when otherwise the engine would be running at a lower less efficient throttle setting all the time.

 

[Warstud]

120 miles one way to work....... Wow.......... I would think of moving closer to work or getting a job closer to home.

 

[Nick1994]

Did you mean round trip? Because according to your math it's 65 miles one way.

It might make sense to go for it.

At $3 a gallon, 48 mpg, and 25k miles a year the Accord hybrid would cost $1,563 in gas.
At $3 a gallon, 33 mpg, and 25k miles a year the standard Accord would cost $2,273 in gas.

Savings of $710 per year. Need to find out the cost difference these days of the hybrid version and the standard version and see how long it would take to break even. Add on to that the cost of future battery replacement if you're keeping it long enough and it just might make sense.

 

[CharlesInCharge]

Keep the truck if you are a homeowner or have ANY truck needs that may arise. They are infinitely useful. Hauling, moving, side jobs, etc. What if you lose your job tomorrow and have to get a different local job? A truck opens a lot of doors for even side work, like hauling, dump runs, moving people, etc.

Get a $2000 commuter car. Forget the nonsense about fuel economy. It is such a trivial difference for vehicles I don't understand how people get so wrapped around the axle about saving a few dollars in gas every week. It adds up to practically nothing in the grand scheme. Fuel economy should be so far down on the list for people as to not even be a major consideration. Even doubling something from 20 to 40mpgs is making trivial differences in price, while also probably huge sacrifices in build quality and materials (plastics where metal should be used), less HP, smaller size, etc. Much of these corner cutting measures COST money when plastic parts prematurely break, thereby eating away at any "savings" on fuel. Instead, get a safe reliable commuter car. A 2nd vehicle, like a car, will help keep miles off a very important valuable pickup truck. But keep the truck for truck jobs, like you mentioned.

An inexpensive V6 car from about 20 years ago will easily get 25-35mpgs highway and these are available for a couple thousand dollars. I would NOT chase some more expensive car that might squeeze 40mpg at any premium costs. You might look at the diesel cars from 20 years ago, those were able to boast 40+ mpgs; I am thinking the Jetta was one if I recall correctly. But then again, expensive to fix.

Any sale/trade/purchase should only be made when factoring everything, including the transaction costs of taxes and registration, in the mix.
Say you will pay 10% taxes/registration on the new vehicle. Let's say you buy a $5000 vehicle. You'll give the tax man $500. You're immediately behind and throwing money away. That's what, 20 or 30 tanks full of gasoline, flushed right down the drain to the tax man. It would take months, maybe years, of "fuel economy savings" to make that difference up.

I had a friend who had a similar situation; against my advice just basically gave a an extremely useful valuable Ram pickup truck, which he owned outright, at a huge loss, trading into a newer small engine car because he had a "long commute" and was spending too much on diesel. His pickup was infintely more valuable and useful. He took it in the shorts on the sale and the purchase, got into a financing situation. Then lost that job so the entire purpose of this foolish vehicle swap was for naught. I tried to talk him out of it but there was no convincing him. Now he has no truck, no job, and a commuter car he doesn't need nor can afford.

 

[LotI]

‘21 Accord Hybrid here…5k miles so far and 52.3mpg. 70 mph will be around 45mpg, 55mph is around 55mpg. I drive 35k a year with 90% highway. I went from a Regal TourX wagon getting 30.4mpg into this car. My math at $3/gal came up with $1,400/yr in my pocket.

With the current craziness in used car values I came out great with my trade, sounds like trucks are at peak value right now. I took out a 36 month loan at 1.99%. Total interest is less than 1 payment so borrowing money is cheap right now.

Just make sure you can get into the car you want, when you need it, at the right price. I paid under sticker for my Accord EX-L, which isn’t common in this market. The experts are saying to wait until the market settles but if your trade-in is crazy high and the purchase price is right it’s a good time to buy. Especially sedans since everybody is SUV crazy.

The Accord is a great car, by the way. No loss of cargo space vs. the ICE models. They priced the hybrid correctly, a little $ than the ICE models but also quicker than the 1.5T/CVT. Availability has dried up around me after I bought. My salesman said there was a run in June on hybrids because fuel prices keep creeping up with no sign of relief.

 

[CKN]

So I know the hybrids excel in city driving, but I'm wondering how one would do on my mainly highway commute.

Right now I'm driving a 2019 F150 crewcab with the 2.7l 2wd. I average 21 - 23 mpg per tank, anywhere from 480 to 520 miles. I love the truck for the interior room, but I never really use it for truck things. I have filled it up with mulch a couple of times but that's about the extent of it. My wife drives a suburban and I would have access to my father in laws f250 if I do need to do truck things. Since the used truck market it my area is crazy I think now would be the time to dump it before the bottom falls out again. Already got one offer $1000 less than I paid for it 2 years and 55k miles ago.

So I'm looking at either a Camry or an Accord hybrids. Don't want anything smaller than that. So here's what my commute looks like... 15 miles of back roads @ 60mph till I get to the interstate, then 40 miles on interstate @ 70 mph, then I exit the interstate and drive 10 miles of city streets @ 55 mph. So that's 120 miles one way. The last 10 miles is the only time I ever run into any type of traffic or streetlights. Cruise control is on 98% of the time. Due to the times I'm traveling to and from work I hardly ever run into any traffic.

I think if I could at least get 45 mpg per tank it would be worth it. Or do you think a regular 4 cyl Camry could consistently get 40 mpg out of a tank?

What "Skippy722" said above....

Keep what you have. Getting a new vehicle (especially right now) even at the mpg numbers you are talking about doesn't pencil out. So you will save between $90.00 to $100.00 a month. Is that a BIG AMOUNT to you?

 

[twelve]

120 miles one way to work....... Wow.......... I would think of moving closer to work or getting a job closer to home.

oops that's what I meant. I love where I live and I love where I work...changing either of those is not an option.

Did you mean round trip? Because according to your math it's 65 miles one way.

It might make sense to go for it.

At $3 a gallon, 48 mpg, and 25k miles a year the Accord hybrid would cost $1,563 in gas.
At $3 a gallon, 33 mpg, and 25k miles a year the standard Accord would cost $2,273 in gas.

Savings of $710 per year. Need to find out the cost difference these days of the hybrid version and the standard version and see how long it would take to break even. Add on to that the cost of future battery replacement if you're keeping it long enough and it just might make sense.

Yes 65 one way, I can't math. My last fill up was $3.53 and cost $82.30. And I do that at least once a week, sometimes twice. I don't see gas getting any cheaper any time soon.

Keep the truck if you are a homeowner or have ANY truck needs that may arise. They are infinitely useful. Hauling, moving, side jobs, etc. What if you lose your job tomorrow and have to get a different local job? A truck opens a lot of doors for even side work, like hauling, dump runs, moving people, etc.

Get a $2000 commuter car. Forget the nonsense about fuel economy. It is such a trivial difference for vehicles I don't understand how people get so wrapped around the axle about saving a few dollars in gas every week. It adds up to practically nothing in the grand scheme. Fuel economy should be so far down on the list for people as to not even be a major consideration. Even doubling something from 20 to 40mpgs is making trivial differences in price, while also probably huge sacrifices in build quality and materials (plastics where metal should be used), less HP, smaller size, etc. Much of these corner cutting measures COST money when plastic parts prematurely break, thereby eating away at any "savings" on fuel. Instead, get a safe reliable commuter car. A 2nd vehicle, like a car, will help keep miles off a very important valuable pickup truck. But keep the truck for truck jobs, like you mentioned.

An inexpensive V6 car from about 20 years ago will easily get 25-35mpgs highway and these are available for a couple thousand dollars. I would NOT chase some more expensive car that might squeeze 40mpg at any premium costs. You might look at the diesel cars from 20 years ago, those were able to boast 40+ mpgs; I am thinking the Jetta was one if I recall correctly. But then again, expensive to fix.

Any sale/trade/purchase should only be made when factoring everything, including the transaction costs of taxes and registration, in the mix.
Say you will pay 10% taxes/registration on the new vehicle. Let's say you buy a $5000 vehicle. You'll give the tax man $500. You're immediately behind and throwing money away. That's what, 20 or 30 tanks full of gasoline, flushed right down the drain to the tax man. It would take months, maybe years, of "fuel economy savings" to make that difference up.

I had a friend who had a similar situation; against my advice just basically gave a an extremely useful valuable Ram pickup truck, which he owned outright, at a huge loss, trading into a newer small engine car because he had a "long commute" and was spending too much on diesel. His pickup was infintely more valuable and useful. He took it in the shorts on the sale and the purchase, got into a financing situation. Then lost that job so the entire purpose of this foolish vehicle swap was for naught. I tried to talk him out of it but there was no convincing him. Now he has no truck, no job, and a commuter car he doesn't need nor can afford.

I get what your saying, I've thought about that side of of it too. Get a beater to save the truck, but then the truck will just sit there and not get driven, plus insurance ain't cheap either. Good luck finding a sub $5k car in my area that I could trust putting 120 miles a day on.

 

[twelve]

What "Skippy722" said above....

Keep what you have. Getting a new vehicle (especially right now) even at the mpg numbers you are talking about doesn't pencil out. So you will save between $90.00 to $100.00 a month. Is that a BIG AMOUNT to you?

Should be closer to $200 @ 45 mpg.

 

[twelve]

‘21 Accord Hybrid here…5k miles so far and 52.3mpg. 70 mph will be around 45mpg, 55mph is around 55mpg. I drive 35k a year with 90% highway. I went from a Regal TourX wagon getting 30.4mpg into this car. My math at $3/gal came up with $1,400/yr in my pocket.

With the current craziness in used car values I came out great with my trade, sounds like trucks are at peak value right now. I took out a 36 month loan at 1.99%. Total interest is less than 1 payment so borrowing money is cheap right now.

Just make sure you can get into the car you want, when you need it, at the right price. I paid under sticker for my Accord EX-L, which isn’t common in this market. The experts are saying to wait until the market settles but if your trade-in is crazy high and the purchase price is right it’s a good time to buy. Especially sedans since everybody is SUV crazy.

The Accord is a great car, by the way. No loss of cargo space vs. the ICE models. They priced the hybrid correctly, a little $ than the ICE models but also quicker than the 1.5T/CVT. Availability has dried up around me after I bought. My salesman said there was a run in June on hybrids because fuel prices keep creeping up with no sign of relief.

Dealers aren't price gouging out here (for new cars at least) so that's nice. I deff would not pay over msrp for anything. One dealer offered me 1k less than what I paid for the truck 2 years ago, that alone is hard to pass up. Not only would I be saving $200 a month on gas plus I'd save a nice little chunk on the car note too. I didn't check with insurance yet to see what that would do. The accord and the camry are the only two I'm looking at. My brother has the accord with the 2.0t and it's nice. I don't think I would get the accord in the non hybrid tho...I really don't want to deal with another vehicle with a turbo.

 

[IveBeenRued]

BLUF:
The difference comes down to about $2467/year or $205 per month in just fuel savings. My math is below.

I’m your case I estimated your annual mileage is about 29K worth of just commuting (120 mi x 22 work days per month x 11 months of work per year (to account for vacations and non-work holidays)).

At an average of $3.25/gallon, the math comes out like this:

F150 (21MPG): 29,000mi/21MPG = 1380 gallons x $3.25 = $4,485 per year in fuel.

Camry Hybrid (46.7 MPG, according to Fuelly average): 29,000/46.7MPG = 621 gallons x $3.25 = $2018 per year in fuel.

$4485 - $2018 = $2467/year in savings

My round trip commute is: 10 miles of rolling hills, 60-70 MPH with a stop light every 3 miles or so. 30 miles of 70-80 MPH with a fairly good elevation gain (200’). And roughly 30 miles of 55-65 MPH of rolling hills with a elevation loss of about 200’ feet. I’ve been averaging 43.7 MPG over the last 32K miles on my 2020 RAV4 Hybrid. I’d take a look at those. They ride higher, have more utility, and generally retain their value more than a sedan.

 

[joegreen]

Family member has a 2018 Camry le hybrid. He consistently gets mid 40s in city driving. I drove it once and got a little over 60mpg on a 20 mile trip. It’s honestly quite amazing.

 

[PimTac]

The math doesn’t add up. 15+40+10 does not add up to 120 miles. Something is amiss.

As for car choice, since you spend a lot of time in the car it might come down to which one is most comfortable to you. The hybrid is a good idea.

Any $2000 automobile is likely not trustworthy enough to make that commute.

 

[supton]

An inexpensive V6 car from about 20 years ago will easily get 25-35mpgs highway and these are available for a couple thousand dollars.

Are they? I thought we were in the midst of some great drought of vehicles, with massive markups. Every time I look that is what I see. Maybe if one travels down south and looks for rust free examples, but up here, anything cheap is at the end of its life (rust).

While I agree with the sentiment of keeping the truck and adding a beater for the drive, it's not for everyone. I did that several years ago, and I've had my fill. I miss my truck but a small utility trailer is actually easier to use for moving things I think. Most ideal, nope, but I found it hard to justify keeping a truck around when I only put 5 miles a week onto it.

 

[Cujet]

I rent cars and do long trips all the time. The Accord hybrid will return 40 highway and the Camry hybrid just a little more. Despite the claims of near 50MPG highway, neither car can do that at the speeds I drive (about 80+).

The best normal sedans are the Camry 4 cyl and the Altima 2.5, both returning 36MPG on fast highway trips. Neither will achieve 40 with me at the helm. The Corolla is similar at about 35.

But to answer the question about efficiency, hybrids absolutely get the best overall MPG. Even if the highway MPG is not as good as claimed. At the end of a week's use, maybe 2000 miles, the hybrids will consume far less fuel.

Also of note, using non ethanol fuel improves MPG markedly in hybrids.

EDIT: The Accord hybrid (with leather seats, I don't like the cloth ones) is, in my opinion, by far the most pleasant to live with. It's quiet, has great steering feel, and a very responsive throttle. A pleasure to drive. Also, it has room for my wide shoulders. (Some 4 door cars suffer here) as the door pillar does not rub my shoulder.

 

[gathermewool]

The math doesn’t add up. 15+40+10 does not add up to 120 miles. Something is amiss.

As for car choice, since you spend a lot of time in the car it might come down to which one is most comfortable to you. The hybrid is a good idea.

Any $2000 automobile is likely not trustworthy enough to make that commute.

Read post # 12 again.