Is a hybrid right for my commute?

Nash said:
The Prius hybrids would fit well with this use. They even make an awd which does not have a lithium ion battery. They aren’t that small, looks are deceiving. I just saw a new Venza and a Prius Prime parked side by side in a parking garage. The front and rear seem to about line up for length. The Venza is taller which makes it look a lot bigger. I would say the Prius is safer as it’s lower and probably more stable in a maneuver. This offends I am sure but huge vehicles are not automatically safer. They can flip over much easier, and don’t have the maneuverability. If you can plug in at work a Prime would be even better.
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A good point here as the focus of this discussion has been on the Prius. Toyota has a full line of hybrid automobiles.

https://www.toyota.com/
 
I got myself a Highlander Hybrid AWD... and love the days when I need to drive to the office (not the office part though)... I consistently get 40 mpg during my commute to my office, only 30 miles, but with 1/3 of it stop and go (try to minimize the stop part).

Plus, it should be a good ski car for the ski season.

Ironically, driving a hybrid for me, is the same mentality as me when I DD'd a manual transmission car... since coming to a complete stop and starting again does havoc on the clutch.
 
I've been wanting the RAV hybrid as it appears to do what I want on paper, 'cept it's not a sedan/wagon. But I can't justify that much money to go from 30mpg to 38 (probably less with my right foot). Prius AWD is somewhat tempting (I would get a set of snow tires) but last year's Prime is much cheaper.

Not sure how it changes when one compares Corolla hybrid to Prius to Camry hybrid--they all seem to hit the same mpg but have some plus/minuses.
 
CharlesInCharge said:
And I wouldn't drive a Prius if you paid me. lol.

I've taken enough backhanded insults and mockery on this discussion where I was trying to be helpful to the OP. I didn't join to be ridiculed. I thought this was a place to get intelligent viewpoints from many angles. Not some hen knitting needle club where people are afraid to get grease on their hands, called "we're scared of driving anything that's not brand new with a warranty." Oh no, I might have to buy a toolset and change a belt or some oil once in a while. Good grief.
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But that’s not how it went at all, you came in here and talked down to people, you were rude and not willing to learn yourself. You were condescending and now you’re claiming to be the victim. In every sense of the word. Cheers.
 
CharlesInCharge said:
Not some hen knitting needle club where people are afraid to get grease on their hands, called "we're scared of driving anything that's not brand new with a warranty." Oh no, I might have to buy a toolset and change a belt or some oil once in a while. Good grief.
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I fix cars for a living....last thing I want to do is work on a 20yr old pos at home to get me back and forth to work
 
supton said:
I've been wanting the RAV hybrid as it appears to do what I want on paper, 'cept it's not a sedan/wagon. But I can't justify that much money to go from 30mpg to 38 (probably less with my right foot). Prius AWD is somewhat tempting (I would get a set of snow tires) but last year's Prime is much cheaper.

Not sure how it changes when one compares Corolla hybrid to Prius to Camry hybrid--they all seem to hit the same mpg but have some plus/minuses.
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Corrolla certainly is more normal looking....same with camry but we need awd so prius it is
 
TeamZero said:
Corrolla certainly is more normal looking....same with camry but we need awd so prius it is
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Corolla looks to have a more "normal" interior which appeals to me. But I keep reading about road noise on the Corolla so that gives me pause. AWD would be nice, I think, even if it rarely used for me (peace of mind and all).

Waiting to see how our Camry Hybrid does in the snow. I need to get a new set of snows for that at some point, been looking for a set of rims for that but for some reason I haven't seen any on CL that I've been willing to pay for--I might have to clean up the ones I already have and use those.
 
Cujet said:
I wanted to come back to this conversation for a bit. Again, I drive A LOT. Doing 3000+ miles again next Monday. Here is the problem as I see it. Today's fuel prices are higher than ever, and some locations are now at $6 per gallon. Yes, it actually cost me $69 to put 11.5 gallons in my Jag's 13 gallon tank near NYC!!! Just last year, that would have been $20 in Jupiter, FL. Out of a $100 bill, I got $30 back, just enough for lunch.

OK, so what's that mean for me? I pay all travel expenses, and they are no longer deductible. Fuel and other operational costs to drive the F150 on a 3000+ mile trip are quite simply putting me in the poor house. If I start out with $1000 cash, it's gone by the end of the trip. That's insane! Just a few years ago, I could do it in the Ecoboost for less than $400. (keep in mind many tolls have doubled in recent years too)

Rental hybrids can do the trip for just over $300 in fuel now, but good god the cost of the rentals is double, maybe triple, and destination drop-off charges run in the many hundreds now. Got a Kia Rio for $200 bucks per day a few weeks back in Wisconsin, ugh. Bottom line, my last raise was in 2013, I might as well quit at this point. I earn good money, but this is killing me.

So, for now it's the Ecoboost F150, 500 pounds of cargo, and let the $100 bills fly. It's not a matter of how much I save, it's a matter of just how much this is costing me now.
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@Cujet, I’m always amazed at what you do. Your experiences are very cool to read about. Reading all this, I start thinking, “he needs a real el camino.”

I had to drive a couple of states out of town this week. I debated on the F150 2.7 vs the lexus 3.5. I settled on the 150 since I wasn’t sure how much, and condition of, the cargo I’d be bringing back. and it was a good move. So the F150 - I recently put a set of OEM 20’s on and Yoka GO15 tires. My mpg counter has steadily been creeping up since then. I reset one of the counters somewhere mid-trip and it held 24mpg at 65, which I’ve never seen on this truck before. At 55 it’s always high 20s, and by 70 it’s at 20-21. Now, after the trip it rang out at 22.4 after steep hill climbs and cruise at 75. Still a record for mine. But where I’m going is this… can you aero mod your F150? Drop it 1.5” while maintaining the rake for load carrying? Pick up the 2wd air dam for the front, which is more aggressive than the 4wd? The driveline for these trucks knows exactly where to be regardless of op conditions; I’ll bet it would respond well if aero could be tweaked.

Do you use a bed cap? Mine did give a rough .5 mpg improvement for how I commute, which is roughly 45 mph.
 
supton said:
I've been wanting the RAV hybrid as it appears to do what I want on paper, 'cept it's not a sedan/wagon. But I can't justify that much money to go from 30mpg to 38 (probably less with my right foot). Prius AWD is somewhat tempting (I would get a set of snow tires) but last year's Prime is much cheaper.
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Have you checked out the 2021 Venza?
All models come with a 2.5 4cyl paired with AWD and hybrid.
I'm really interested in them, mostly for the wagon-ish aspect combined with amazing fuel economy.
 
Hmmm, according to my experience a 2021 4 cyl Camry SE will only give ~38MPG at best on 80miles highway drive @70mph, any modern hybrid will beat that. Plus hybrid gives more luxury feeling.
 
TumblrDucks said:
Hmmm, according to my experience a 2021 4 cyl Camry SE will only give ~38MPG at best on 80miles highway drive @70mph, any modern hybrid will beat that. Plus hybrid gives more luxury feeling.
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How does a hybrid give more of a luxury feeling over a conventional power train?
 
Cujet said:
My Jag gets 27MPG. That's good for an AWD "winter" car. But I'm carrying things like this (heavy aircraft support tooling or parts) on these long trips:
The 2nd week in Sept, I'm going to have to move it all back down to FL. Heck Monday's trip is going to be at least 500 pounds worth of boxes of paperwork, records and books, and some tooling. It's also common to carry 2 to 4 executive aircraft seats and an entire setup for a crew rest area (pilot's sleeping configuration) Just can't do that with a car.

One of our seats:

9C6empY.jpg

That seat is for this:

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dWxsLmpwZw
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Sounds like you need a Ford Maverick hybrid :cool:
 
IveBeenRued said:
They are more powerful, smoother, and quieter. Well, at least the Toyota hybrids are.
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Not when driving the 4cyl models on the highway (regardless of who built it).
Around town and in stop and go traffic, sure.

Only v6 hybrids can truly be considered "luxury".
 
Oillover said:
Have you checked out the 2021 Venza?
All models come with a 2.5 4cyl paired with AWD and hybrid.
I'm really interested in them, mostly for the wagon-ish aspect combined with amazing fuel economy.
Click to expand...
No—last I knew, they were a tarted up RAV with less capabilities. And a higher price.
 
supton said:
No—last I knew, they were a tarted up RAV with less capabilities. And a higher price.
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They have these new front seats that seem similar in comfort to the Nissan "zero gravity" and Volvo's famous seats.
Pair that with a quiet interior, the versatility of a hatch/wagon, hybrid fuel economy and the reliability of a Toyota and you have a combination that'll rival the best Europe has to offer!
 
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PimTac said:
I believe the Venza, RAV4 and the Highlander share the same platform.
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Similar but Venza has zero towing, RAV is 1,750 and somehow Highlander is 3,500 (hybrid versions). Same engine. RAV Prime jumps to 2,500; it and the Highlander I believe have a slightly different transaxle. Venza I think has expensive tires?
 
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