When buying a new vehicle and you’re looking to save some money, you could be better off buying the hybrid version of your vehicle. The comparison assumes you would own the vehicle for 5 years and commute about 12,000 miles a year. Comparing the Toyota Prius (44 MPG $22,950) and the Toyota Corolla LE (32 MPG $17,950), you would end up saving cash buying the Toyota Prius over the 5 year period. Gasoline would only have to average 80 cents a gallon and the Prius would still be cheaper. However, buying a hybrid won’t always save you money in the long run. If you shell out an extra $6,200 for the Lexus RX vs. its non-hybrid version the LX-350, gasoline would have to average $10.80 per gallon to break even. The hybrid version Lexus RX gets 26 MPG and the non-hybrid version gets 21MPG. The Ford Escape hybrid and the Toyota Camry hybrid break about even with their non-hybrid counterparts at more realistic gas prices of $3.60 per gallon and lower. Though money isn’t the only factor when you’re considering buying a hybrid, that “green” feeling you get for buying a more fuel efficient car has a certain price tag on it.
It’s always a good idea to compare prices of cars when shopping for a new car. If you want to save money in the long run I would definitely look into buying a hybrid. Just need to be careful because you could end up losing money in the long run if you don’t keep the car for very long or you over pay for a “greener” car. I can relate to this somewhat when I bought my new 2008 Nissan Sentra which averages 30 MPG between my trips to Towson and back. I could have bought the Nissan Versa for about $6,000-$7,000 cheaper though it only gets around 22 MPG and the car has lower safety ratings. It’s always going to be a trade off one way or the other. I plan on keeping my Sentra for 10 years so hopefully it will end up paying for itself because I like to be frugal with my hard earned money.
--David Hinson
