Gas mileage

One of the contributors here wrote on his Xanga site about replacing his 01 Honda Accord with an 07 Honda Civic and in the end it wasn't worth it due to the fuel savings.

On his 01 Accord, he averages 19 MPG in city driving, this is real world and not EPA. If he is driving 12,000 miles a year, he will used about 632 gallons of gasoline and at $3.00 a gallon spent $1,863 in fuel last year.

The Honda Civic Hybrid will get about 40 MPG in the city under real driving conditions.

The Toyota Prius will get about 48 MPG in the city real world (I know because that is what I get with my 2004 Prius).

The savings would break down as follows:



Both cars can be purchased for about $25,000.00 out the door including tax and license for a base model in California. So the gas savings won't pay for the car, but they will help.



If gasoline goes to $4.00 a gallon, the savings would be as follows:



With gasoline prices at $4 a gallon, the savings from a hybrid can start paying for a significant fraction of the car payment. And the more miles driven, the bigger the savings. Hmm, maybe the hybrid makes more sense then before, unless you believe oil prices will decline back to $50 a barrel anytime soon.