Should You Buy a Hybrid Car?

I was reading the newspaper, and it mentioned that there is a 6 month waiting period to purchase most hybrid vehicles. I thought this was interesting, so I thought about why a person would purchase a hybrid vehicle. The obvious answer of fuel economy comes to mind, but how much money is actually saved?

One example of a hybrid is the Toyota Prius. This car does not have a sole gasoline version, so for the purpose of comparison, I will use the Toyota Corolla.

The price difference is about $2500 more for the Prius than the Corolla As far as miles per gallon are concerned, the Prius has been tested at 40 miles per gallon and the corolla at 34 miles per gallon. The average American drives approximatly 6000 miles per year. That transaltes to about 150 gallons of gas per year for the Prius and 171 gallons of gas per year for the Corolla. If gas costs approximatly $1.85 per gallon, then if a person had a Prius, they would save $38.70 for the year. If you consisentally saved $38.70 per year it would take 64.5 years to recover the extra $2500 you paid initally. In fact if you dont pay for the car outright(as most people are not able) you will pay a lot more in interest rates. SInce the base value of the Prius is higher than the base of the Corolla, clealry the amount of money paid in interest will also be higher.

Therefore in my opinion, a person should not purchase a hybrid car in order to save money, becuase you won't. Clearly you do not save enough money on gas to eliminate the higher inital price tag of the hybrid.

So, should you buy a hybrid? I cannot make that decision for you. You might have other reasons for buying a hybrid that have nothing to do with fuel economy. However, from the stand point of fuel economy the answer would seem to be no.