Geek Habitat

“I’ll be interested to hear your opinion on gas savings vs increased purchase price. I saw something on the news the other day, and they CLAIMED (and I don’t put alot of stock in what the news media tells me) that it would take a LOT of years to make up the added purchase cost….”
– Joey

The gas “savings” in terms of cost will not equal the purchase price difference anytime soon, but gasoline-only Escapes don’t get the $2600 to $3200 tax credit that the hybrids get (good only for one tax year, upon the vehicle’s purchase.) The reason I wanted the hybrid is multi-layered/complicated. In no particular order:

• One — To drive a vehicle that is cleaner and “friendlier” to the Earth/everyone on it: the Ford Escape Hybrid qualifies under some of the toughest federal guidelines for clean air/low emissions (it’s a SULEV – Super Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle), which means I’m not polluting nearly as much as any other vehicle (SUV or otherwise) on the roadways, which I feel is an important step.
• Two — It has good gas mileage (for an SUV), and great gas mileage compared to many older cars, all trucks and all other SUVs. I knew I wanted an SUV because I have spent 14 years literally sitting on the road when I drive, and I wanted to sit up higher (whether it’s safer to be in a big vehicle is arguable, but it certainly feels that way; and the new car is obviously safer than what I drove for 14 years, due to airbags, better technology/engineering in regards to crumple zones and such.)
• Three – Purchasing a hybrid supports a technology that I feel should have been introduced decades earlier. If my single purchase can do anything to help educate the auto makers (especially the U.S. automakers, who are laggards in this arena; Ford’s only been doing gas/electric hybrids since 2004; Toyota and Honda have been at it since 1999 or earlier 1997!) And, more importantly, to educate other drivers that hybrids are a viable option. To me, it’s “worth” $3,000 or so extra, financed over 4 or 5 years, to be part of the solution even if I’m just a miniscule part. And if even one person considers buying a hybrid because they’ve seen my vehicle or test driven it or ridden in it, so much the better. My miniscule part then becomes a little bit larger.
• Four – Cars are not investments. None of us buy a car reasonably thinking we’re going to make a profit from it. So all the comparisons about hybrids not recouping the initial investment their owners make to buy them is just flawed logic and typical media hype to make a story where there really isn’t one. Most articles don’t factor in the tax credits and other reasons someone might buy a hybrid (which can’t be quantified in dollar terms, except by each individual), and most don’t fairly and accurately compare the REAL costs of automobile ownership, they just look at the slightly higher sticker price of a hybrid and discount them outright as impractical.
• Five – I may not save enough gas to buy a $3k computer every year, but I will definitely not have to fill up my gas tank as much as I did before (even in my fuel efficient Corolla), and that’s a wonderful development to me. Less time wasted pumping foreign oil into my gas tank at an excessively high price that does not seem to have a limit to how high it will go.

As you can see, I’ve thought for a long time about this. These are just my strongest-held opinions on hybrids, and why it was the right choice for me/us. If I thought about it harder and more objectively, I think I could find even more reasons that other people are choosing hybrids.

If nothing else, think of this as a grand experiment. It’s like buying an Amiga (computer). You know it was a superior machine in many ways. You know it should still be around and marketable today. Did the market respond? Sadly, in the Amiga’s case, no. But that doesn’t mean it was a wasted effort, a product that shouldn’t have existed/been purchased/etc. I think you, like Justin, have a lot of good memories and maybe even pride at having been part of the Amiga-owning community. I feel the same way about owning a hybrid vehicle, today.