Spoot

70% seems a little high compared to what I have been reading, especially since they only increase your fuel efficiency by about 30%. That being the case-where does the other 40% savings come from? They will still be burning the same fuel when in that mode and hence will be releasing the same amount of emissions as a normal car-it's only when running on battery that there will be savings.

Aboyade

Unfortunately, the high price is the curse of a money-driven market. Find a need, survey the supply and adjust the pricing accordingly. Who are the ones more prone to purchase environmentally-friendly products? Those people who do not have to worry about putting food on the table or a roof over their heads. Since they have the money, charge them a lot for what they deem necessary. What is refreshingly interesting is the refusal of those same people to buy into the hype. While they are the sons and daughters of successful corporate heads, they are not continuing to be exploitive so they are looking for alternate ways to save the planet AND their pockets, along with the rest of ours as well.

VA_Astra

The Aura does not seem like a good choice when it comes to hybrids. I mean come on.... a two MPG difference? That isnt even worth the possible headaches that will come up.

Look at the Escape, it does 34mpg vs its counterpart at 24ish. 10mpg is well worth it then!

And for about the same cost, you can get the Prius that gets almost 50mpg!

MudMan

I agree with the above, the extra costs verses gains, simply are not worth it! I would hate to own one outside of warrenty! I'm certainly no electrical engineer, and would not even know where to begin to diagnose and repair a problem with one!

madbrad

In some cases they hybrid version of a nameplate doesn't really get great mileage, they're high performance and save a little gas for such performance so they get good mileage for a car of such speed, but nowhere near as good mileage as the economy model gas model.
An example of what I'm talking about is the Honda Accord hybrid. It's gas component is a V6 which IMO defeats the whole purpose of saving gas. Another example is the Lexus GS hybrid. Extremely fast car. Al Gore has one.
If you wanna save gas, get a Fit or something like that. Really the only hybrid that truly sips is the Insight, and it also sips on the highway. Too bad they don't make it anymore.
Here's what bothers me: We have a couple highways that have HOV lanes. They passed a law that allows lone drivers in hybrids to use them. They boot along at illegal speeds, getting horrible mileage in pure gas mode, while all the Fits, Accents, Smarts, et al cannot go in there unless there are two people in them. Also they don't let motorbikes on them even though they're 100% occupied.

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