A few years ago Forbes figured out that with gas at $4/gallon you'd have to own a Prius 8 years or so to break even on the cost difference. Hence why in Europe they are popular as gas is $8-$12/gallon.
Kia Hybrid Repairs
- Thread starter dfarr67
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He should consider himself lucky that he's not tossing a battery in some of those out of warranty EVs.
OK false alarm- although his quote is from the dealer and it is $5k, it is for a set of oem struts and a brake job. He has to cut his planned trip to Cuba in half. Still too rich for me.
He should shop around, he's getting ripped off.
Of course he is- but I know his type, retired engineer.....they have an oem thing.
He can find someone to use OEM parts, or supply them and have someone do the work. If not, as the saying goes a fool and his money are soon parted. I typically won't debate that type, especially where there's no upside for me.
I found the hatchback to be perfectly fine. In fact I'm hard pressed to tell the difference in a hatch or CUV.
Are you taking about new cars? Because I can find an old car with a single wire to make it run and drive
The diesel offerings all seem to have overpriced repairs downstream including VW, Chevy and any truck. All “savings” are negated by those repairs….
Like to see what numbers Forbes used in their assumptions, especially since there is no Prius that isn't a hybrid and the Corolla is really not a comparable car to ride in or to drive.
I calculated when we bought the HAH that it would take around 60K miles, or a little more than three years of use, to amortize the cost premium over an equally well bought 1.5t.
I based this on gas at around $2.50.
Of course, gas got progressively cheaper until reaching its nadir in the spring of 2020 and then rapidly rebounding in the spring of 2022, so it took me more like 70K miles to break even.
Certainly nothing like eight years and there's really no cost advantage in a hybrid unless you're doing a lot of miles each year.
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Many people, including myself, prefer taller seating position, more ground clearance, taller cargo space, usable back seats, and better looks of an SUV over whatever the Volt is
Yes it would get worse MPG and worse EV range but it's all a tradeoff and it's one that Americans seem to be willing to make. The drivetrain in a Volt in a Ford Escape would have been perfect. Oh, wait, that's called a RAV4 Prime, and Toyota can't build them fast enough. Yet GM could have made that 5 years ago and made $$$$$$$$$$$$. Sadly GM did as GM does and screwed up by killing the whole thing.
And they're likely well over 20 years old too. Although single wire makes it likely an IDI and might push it all the way back into the 80's.
AZjeff
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True. Quite a few of us aren’t interested in 20+ YO cars as primary transportation. Okay if you’re a teenager ripping around town, not so much for most other user groups.
I like diesels- but I'll likely never own one, I believe they have a purpose and that is to make you a living as a working vehicle. Too costly out of warranty.
"So if you buy, say, a plug-in Prius, which gets about 50 miles per gallon and drive it the same distance, you'd be using 36 fewer gallons of gas a year than with your old car. So it would take 9 years before your Prius will have “caught up” with your old car and saved enough fuel to offset the energy needed to make it."
Typical marketing mistake. Tying to appeal to the wrong crowd to make more money (looking at you InBev).Many people, including myself, prefer taller seating position, more ground clearance, taller cargo space, usable back seats, and better looks of an SUV over whatever the Volt is
In a way, the whole thing isn't really dead, since hybrids might make a comeback, but GM wanted to appeal to both the EV and Cuv people at the same time with the Bolt.
BTW, Volt back seats were perfectly usable, I'd say the entire design was more like today's Toyota Prius Prime, which I don't think Toyota is having difficulty selling either.
I think cost per unit to manufacture and packaging difficulties are the reason PHEVs will never overtake regular hybrids with their small batteries or pure EV. Pure EV has SO many benefits in terms of packaging. You can just make a much more functional, spacious car in the same or smaller footprint with more flexibility. Still think a 3rd gen Volt as a CUV would SELL $$$
