Speaking of Twitter, here’s something I sent out yesterday…
It’s a conundrum.
Is the purpose to help the planet, or to save gas? Either way, a hybrid something else would get the job done better. I mean, why buy a Tahoe, and then spend extra to make it a hybrid (I’m assuming, perhaps erroneously, that the hybrids cost more).
Or is it just to send a message to the world: I care about the planet, I really do! I just can’t help myself — I gotta drive a dreadnought through the city streets!
Or is it something else? Such as sheer irony?
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2012 Tahoe – 5.3 liter engine 15/21 mpg
2012 Tahoe Hybrid – 6.0 liter engine 20/23 mpg
What the confusion? Bigger engine, better gas mileage.
Wow. WOW.
That’s worse gas mileage than I get in my 2000 Buick Regal with the supercharger.
So yeah, I remain confused. I can’t imagine why anyone who could afford a new car (which I can’t, which is why I drive something so inefficient) would waste the money on a hybrid that got 20/23.
It defies reason.
HMMWV / H1 with a Cummins Diesel conversion would be a much better daily driver:
http://www.predatorinc.com/cummins-conversions/
“With its competitive price, substantial increase in performance and longevity Cummins is fast becoming one of the most popular engine options available for the HMMWV and Hummer H1”
Because they don’t want to drive around in a car that requires a shoehorn to get into. Or one that states in the owners manual that you will have a closed casket funeral if ever in an accident over 10 mph.
Your Regal probably ways half as much as a Tahoe and two less cylinders. Here’s what Edmunds.com has to say about your car:
Cons:
Elderly image, uninspired interior design, leather has low-buck feel.
“Elderly image” as in “what grandma likes to drive”.
weighs
With the new 2012 Tahoe, for only an additional $13,215 You’ll get one extra MPG on the highway!
But wait, there’s more! You’d also get 12 additional horsepower and 32 additional torques! That’s only $1,100 per horsepower!
$13,215 buys a lot of fuel, but apparently it does not buy a lot of Chevrolet.
$13k would, however, have bought the first 5 vehicles I owned – combined. Of course none of them were nearly as plush as a new Tahoe.
It’s no wonder that GM needed a taxpayer bailout.
Silence, you also get a pretty nice tax deduction for buying a hybrid. I’m guessing most of these vehicles are leased and not bought. For example, I know a few doctors who have very nice cars… all leased through their practice.
Fleecing a car is a great idea if you want to always have a car payment.
On a related note, whenever I see an Obama sticker on a big SUV I just chuckle.
Do as I say, not as I do.
One of our fellow Rotarians scoffed at my Prius as he got into his shiny black dual cab truck–that, given the state of the paint job (perfect) had obviously never been driven anywhere but nice roads. I just shrugged and figured he had something to prove.
My Prius does not require a shoehorn to get into. I am 5’10” and not small–I need a 35″ inseam, for example, and my brother and his two sons are each over 6’3″ and not small, either, and we all tooled around quite confortably.
Kathryn – Maybe he likes pickups and doesn’t fall for the gas savings of the Prius or hybrid stories. It’s been proven that the gas savings difference never equals the increase in price of the vehicle. Until the government starts telling us what kind of vehicle we have to drive, I don’t see a problem.
You’ve stated that before… but I’d have to see it to believe it. I doubt the four of you could go further than across town before the people in the back started complaining.
@ Stephen Davis II – I’m not a CPA, but I believe that the hybrid tax credit phased out as of January 1, 2011. You might check on that before you take delivery of your new hybrid.
Just playing the devils advocate 20 mpg city is a whopping 33% increase over 15. Nothing to snear at. For a huge vehicle like that to get 20 mpg/city that’s no small feat. Still, the savings in gas is unlikely to pay for the difference at any gas prices we’re likely to see in the next few years.
@ ‘Kathryn – I also scoff at your Prius every time I see it.
2012 Tahoe Hybrid – 6.0 liter engine 20/23 mpg
Man. That’s fantastic. Why, that Tahoe hybrid will pay for itself in only 50 years!
Silence – what do you drive? So I can scoff at it.
I also own a Prius (2008, and less than $24,000 when new). It has plenty of room for 4 people, and room for a 3rd person on the back seat with comparatively little crowding. I find that it carries a bunch of stuff as well. I plan to buy a Prius when I need another car, which won’t be soon.
Coming this summer: The ultimate buddy movie: 4 local blog commenters (two bleeding heart, yellow dog liberals and two staunch conservatives) make the road trip from Columbia, SC to Wasilla, AK in ‘Kathryn’s Prius. Along the way they visit many roadside attractions, camp in our national parks, enjoy the spacious comfort of the Prius, and gain a new appreciation for the others’ point of view.
Silence, it’ll be a while before I need to check that out. If it’s not a V-8 or a Diesel I don’t expect to see it in my driveway anytime soon.
Silence – So do you scoff at every Prius you see like I do?
I just bought a Prius C – it is awesome. Not tiny at all. And the gas mileage is double what I was getting in my Honda Accord v6.
If there is a tax deduction available for having bought it, please let me know. I think you are mistaken there.
Let’s remember the fallacies of hybrids autos as they will exist in the near future:
(1)
“When you move into an all-electric vehicle, the battery size moves up to around 23 kilowatt hours, [and] it weighs around 600 to 700 pounds,” Mr. Mulally said at Fortune magazine’s Brainstorm Green conference in California.
One such auto with one occupant must move the weight of 3 phantom passengers at all times (over and above its engine, transmission, and wheel weights, of course)
The price of the battery for a sedan:
“They’re around $12,000 to $15,000 [a battery]” for a type of car that normally sells for about $22,000, he continued, referring to the price of a gasoline-powered Focus. “So, you can see why the economics are what they are.”
Conservatives do not “feel good” like dumb tree-huggers about such wretrograde improvements because we consider the whole picture (and need we go into disposal costs for such large batteries?)
I get the same chuckle when i hear in council the support of the Bus system and how great it is and how they cant wait to look forward to park and rides.
I have yet to see anyone on council pull up in anything close to a bus. Unless you count the entourage driving them.
BTW If you drive a huge car be able to park it please. Thats all I ask.
All you Tahoe/Escalade/Suburban/Explorer and especially Hummer owners should thank Kathryn and other Prius owners for keeping gasoline prices down. How? If, as a group, the high mileage folks use less gas that keeps overall demand for it low. As we all know by now price is determined by the dynamics of supply and demand therefore less demand given the same supply equals lower prices. Without Prius/Fit/Yaris/Fiesta owners gas prices would likely be much higher.
@kc – A 1968 Schwinn. It’s red with a banana seat.
@ SDII – No just ‘Kathryn’s.
bud typed that from the bus stop.
Oh and “Thanks Kathryn”, I filled up this morning and it only cost me $78 rather than the typical $79.
bud do you realize your logic is short-term? If demand drops, oil production drops to meet demand. Prices stabilize. Oil companies aren’t going to continue to drill and pump oil only to have to store it in tanks.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/04/04/business/the-cost-of-higher-fuel-economy.html?ref=energy-environment
… Oil is priced at the margin. What oil production do you think oil companies will stop pumping first? Will it be the oil from the old, cheap wells that cost relatively little to pump? Or will it be from the expensive new wells using fracking technology? I know this is a toughy but with a bit of simple logic maybe, just maybe you can figure it out. But if not I’ll give you the answer: The expensive fracking oil. In effect the cost of oil drops when demand drops. It’s a simple concept. Why on earth would people dispute it?