Hybrid rankings have often been simplistic: Most are little more than lists of the highest-mileage models on the market. Here, we ranked hybrids based on how much fuel savings they get when compared to their non-hybrid version, as well as how much all that saved gas is going to cost you. Examinations that compare hybrids to "comparably equipped" versions miss an important point. Hybrids are almost always among the most expensive trim levels, if not the most costly, but our premise is that you're looking for efficiency first, followed closely by price. This isn't about acceleration, so the hybrids are compared to the lowest-priced, most-efficient gas-only trim level in their model line. Our rankings take into account the hybrid's mileage and price premium, in percent, as well as its suggested retail price. This gives less-expensive models a boost while penalizing more-expensive ones. Top 10 2008 Hybrids - Yahoo! Canada Autos
No. 1: Toyota Prius MSRP: $21,100 ($29,500 CAN) :first: [...] No. 3: Honda Civic Hybrid MSRP: $22,600 ($26,350 CAN) ************************* Notice anything strange ? Right! Prius is cheaper than Honda Civic Hybrid in the :usa: (-1500$) Unfortunately it's the other way around here in :canada: and by a lot more money $$ (+3150) NOW if Toyota Canada Inc. would simply WAKE UP :boink:and lower it's price it would make a great car a lot more affordable. Way to go TCI ...:blink:
Put it this way, it's the Honda USA that's screwing them over, not TCI here. The HCH has always been more expensive than the Prius in the US. I mean, the Prius already had a good price drop to $29,500 (from $31,280) with added equipment. Yes it's more expensive than the US but still not bad. The HCH-II had a huge price drop in 2006 from $28,500 to $25,800 (someone had fun with the numbers) which of course has now been bumped to $26,350.
Nice that the Prius came out on top, but generally seems like kind of a dumb way to make the comparison. The Vue for example is comparable in size and performance/capacity to the FWD Escape, yet its mileage and emissions are much worse. The Vue gets EPA combined 28mpg, compared to the Escape's 32. Real life greenhybrid.com numbers are 25.9mpg for the Vue, and 31.8mpg for the Escape. The Highlander has an extra row of seating, more than double the towing capacity, plus has AWD and still almost does as well as the Vue on mileage at EPA 26mpg while being significantly lower on emissions. On greenhybrid.com the Highlander even beats the Vue at 26.3mpg, although I think this is the 2wd model. And yet somehow they put the Vue ahead of both of these? 2007 Saturn Vue Hybrid vs. 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid CO2 (g/mi): 338.0 vs. 292.93 (15% higher) Greenhouse/Global Warming Gas CO (g/mi): 2.4 vs. 0.1 (2300% or 24X higher) Poison / Toxic NOx (g/mi): 0.04 vs. 0.02 (100% or 2X higher) Smog / Acid Rain, breathing problems NMOG (g/mi): 0.062 vs. 0.006 (933% or 10.3X higher) Formaldehyde & other VOCs, irritant, cancer HC-NM+NOX-COMP (g/mi): 0.05 vs. 0.01 (400% or 5X higher) composite of main smog ingredients 2007 Saturn Vue Hybrid vs. 2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid AWD CO2 (g/mi): 338.0 vs. 338.0 (even) Greenhouse/Global Warming Gas CO (g/mi): 2.4 vs. 0 (inf (>60X) higher) Poison / Toxic NOx (g/mi): 0.04 vs. 0 (inf (>13X) higher) Smog / Acid Rain, breathing problems NMOG (g/mi): 0.062 vs. 0.008 (675% or 7.75X higher) Formaldehyde & other VOCs, irritant, cancer Rob
yeah most of those including the Vue are pretend Hybrids or aren't for the same purposes. In fact most Hybrids seem like they are built to turn the public off of them. Its also written in the way to turn people off when they say the price premium of the Honda Civic is 51 % over the "base model". They should compare it to a model that is similarly equipped.
