Hybrid vehicle - just bought one

[Doggievet]

Before Christmas I bought a Toyota Highlander Hybrid. Since I moved from GA, I now drive 30 miles each way to shop. I sold my Toyota truck and gave the Saturn to my sister who travels with me, so now I use the hybrid for local traveling and for stuff that I used the truck for. I am getting 27.8 to 28.0 mpg compared to 24 in the truck and 22 in the Saturn (local driving). The Highlander is the quietest vehicle I've ever owned and is very comfortable. I highly recommend it.
Annie K. and Sparky the long-haired chihuahua
03 Journey DL36LD
04 Saturn L300W
Blue Ox and Brake Buddy

[Doggievet]

Before Christmas I bought a Toyota Highlander Hybrid. Since I moved from GA, I now drive 30 miles each way to shop. I sold my Toyota truck and gave the Saturn to my sister who travels with me, so now I use the hybrid for local traveling and for stuff that I used the truck for. I am getting 27.8 to 28.0 mpg compared to 24 in the truck and 22 in the Saturn (local driving). The Highlander is the quietest vehicle I've ever owned and is very comfortable. I highly recommend it.
Annie K. and Sparky the long-haired chihuahua
03 Journey DL36LD
04 Saturn L300W
Blue Ox and Brake Buddy

[SeeTheUSA]

Congrats on the Highlander acquisition. How does your actual mpg compare to the advertised mpg?

Seems like a major investment to achieve a modest (IMHO) mpg gain, but I guess if we all did it, two things would happen:

1. Overall gasoline usage would decrease
2. Toyota would more quickly become #1

[CD]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by SeeTheUSA:
Congrats on the Highlander acquisition. How does your actual mpg compare to the advertised mpg?

Seems like a major investment to achieve a modest (IMHO) mpg gain, but I guess if we all did it, two things would happen:

1. Overall gasoline usage would decrease
2. Toyota would more quickly become #1 </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I agree with the quote. Doggievet I'm glad you like your new car. That's what counts. I believe the hype about the great milage of the Hybrids are just that. I think the way we drive makes more difference. We get between 30 & 35 (local) with our 03 Honda Civic. It cost us about $8K less than the hybrid at the time. We have made 3 trips to Eastern Wa. during the last year (about 600 miles round trip) and got 41 to 42 mpg. on each trip. I never drove nore than 60, did not push it anywhere, even let speed drop some on the hills, etc. My 91 Pontiac V6 which will get 20 or less real easy will get 24 to 26 (local) by driving easy.

[DonavonP]

Congrats Doggievet and thanks for the write up. My daughter was looking at that unit.

Do you know if it's towable, 4 down, with an automatic tranny?

[Doggievet]

It is NOT towable and it is rather heavy with all the batteries so I would not want to tow it behind my Journey. The Saturn, which is much lighter, drops the Journey's mpg so I can just imagine what the Highlander would do were it towable.
The vehicle has lots of safety features so you could feel good with your daughter doing the driving. By the way, it is built on a Camry chassis and is front wheel drive in the 2 X 4 version, which I have. We do not have enough snow here to justify the 4 X 4 version.
My mpg is right on what Toyota predicts for highway travel. They predict 33 for in-town driving, but there is no big city near me so all my travel is up and down hills and mostly on 4-lane highways.
Annie K.

[Vegascpl]

We purchased a Ford Escape Hybrid as our tow vehicle. The reason is that it flat tows all you have to do is put it in neutral.

When considering the cost it's not just about the inital cost which in this case is more than a standard Escape. The resale value should also be much higher. So the over all cost of ownership is not as high as it might seem.

Milage wise it's suppose to get 37 city, 31 highway. Overall we average about 30, but we drive normal freeway speeds which in Vegas means about 80 or sometimes more. It gets a little less if you are using max air or heat. There is no doubt that you can get a Morris Mini that will do about the same but then again it's really not the same size wise.

Overall we are happy with the vehicle. There is no doubt that hybrid is not the final answer, but until we have some alternative it's not bad.

In last months FMCA magazine there was an article about future motor homes. How about a hybrid diesel that would get 20 mph?

Michael
2005 Dutch Star 40' 4 slide
2005 BMW K1200LT on lift
2006 Ford Escape Hybrid

[GaryKD]

Hi Doggievet,
My dad (81 years old) purchased the same car as you. The mileage he reports is exactly the same as you. He is enjoying the car very much and recommends it to those looking for a new vehicle.

On the weight statement, I tow a 5074 lb. street weight GMC ENVOY 4X4. I see a minimal (.2 MPG) difference when towing vs not towing. Since all we have in South Florida are flat roads, I am comfortable the ENVOY costs me very little to tow. I think the Hilander weighs in at 4K lbs. If it were towable, it might not cost as much as you think.

[RedneckExpress]

The hybrids are nice cars, but their dollar price to economy gains aren't great enough yet, right now the best bang for your buck would be to get a Volkswagen Jetta with the little diesel engine in it, even with Diesel prices higher the fuel economy of those tiny diesel engines is amazing and easily make up for the higher fuel cost.

[jspande]

Actually, I believe Consumer Reports retracted their claim that Hybrids didn't pay, and now say that the generally do. And the difference in price shouldn't be that great, in the case of my 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid, the difference was more like $3000. But you have to compare with comparable equipment. For example, mine had side airbags standard, but they were an option in the non-hybrid Civic.

I bought it because I was commuting 500 miles a week, but soon found many other reasons beyond fuel mileage for having a Hybrid. It by far the smoothest drive-train I've ever experienced. And one savings I never hear anyone mention is brakes - regenerative braking means instead of wearing down your brake pads whenever you apply them, instead much of the deceleration is by pushing the generator putting electricity back in the battery. I have 75,000 miles and lots of wear left on my brake pads!

And RVers, especially Diesel fans, should appreciate the low end torque of the hybrid (electric motors produce high torque all the way down to zero rpm!). In the case of the Honda, at 1500 rpm, up to 50% of the total torque is produced by the electric, i.e., you get twice the torque the gas engine could produce on it's own.