Why Did You Buy A Hybrid Car?

[RunningInPleasePass]

I've just read this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2454162/How-going-green-status-symbol-Study-finds-hybrid-cars-popular-eco-friendly-detergents-visible-people.html

It talks about why a certain age group buy hybrid cars.

I bought mine after driving nearly everything else in that price range, I eventually boiled it down to two, a Honda Civic 1.6 Diesel, and the Toyota Auris Hybrid.

My decision to buy a hybrid was, it's good MPG, it's an automatic, it's green credentials, and, it being a little bit different, in that order.

Why did you choose yours?

[Chris Dance]

Economical, no road tax, easy to drive being fully automatic. Reliability of Toyota Prius. All write ups on the hybrid cars by users were very good. Very good warranty. ( I had the Gen 2 Prius first). Lots of space for loading. It is amazing what it can take; almost as much as my previous Volvo estates.All dealers I have dealt with have good costomer care. I now have the Prius Gen 3 and it is a very comfortable car even on long distances. A recent journey took 7 hours due to a motorway closure. It is good that when you are stuck in a traffic jam you are not burning lots of fuel.

[roam]

Initially I was looking at city cars for their economy and to reduce the RFL, but couldn't come to terms with their small size and (in some cases) harsh automatic gearboxes.

The Auris Hybrid was a win-win solution - economy and no RFL all in a decent sized automatic car.

The green credentials were less of a factor for me and, perversely, I have probably increased my carbon footprint since getting the hybrid as the lower running costs mean I now use it for my daily commute instead of the train.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I was 39 when I bought mine. I wanted a cheap to run automatic car. At the time the town fuel economy, free road tax and tax benefits made the car almost pay for itself.

I also don't like diesels as they're too damn noisy and I've driven dozens of them. The Prius had the best ride comfort, smoothness and also the main dealers are good.

The daily mail article is their usual !Removed!. People all have opinions and usually the nonsense that Clarkson spouts. I just smile later when I hear the same people crying about the price of fuel. Probably the same people who have two 'normal' cars, pay £250 each in road tax, get 30 mpg in town and grumble about the Government not doing anything to help.

We're a two car family, both of which are automatic petrols and pay £20 a year in road tax. We both get marvelous fuel economy to the point it is no longer a consideration! Our emissions are a fraction of what a two car diesel family would emit. Again, the same people who protest or moan about air quality probably drive diesel too :)

Instead of moaning about the Government not doing enough - they never will - why not just make some sensible choices? We both have the convenience of automatics, can carry 4 passengers with lots of luggage if needed. Pretty much anything a 21st Century family needs out of cars, without the whinging and moaning.

[geoffatstanpit]

I gave up needing to have a tow ball when I finally concluded that I couldn't do backwards with a trailer and that ruled out big boats and slipways. That opened up the possibility of a hybrid which I'd hankered after for some years. The Auris was getting publicity for reliability issues and the Prius is too big for my carport. So I got the Yaris. At 78 I find it relaxing to drive and the economy is as good as the Leon TD I had before and even better in the Summer.

[cuius]

Like petrol rather than diesel; automatic; our local regional government was giving a subsidy

[Rich2508]

Company car tax is so low, I get paid mileage at the higher rate for a petrol, yet it does as good MPG as a Deisel so it pays for all my private mileage. Plus it's so relaxing to drive and still after 12,000 miles feels special and different every time I drive it.

[PeteB]

Company car tax is so low, I get paid mileage at the higher rate for a petrol, yet it does as good MPG as a Deisel so it pays for all my private mileage. Plus it's so relaxing to drive and still after 12,000 miles feels special and different every time I drive it.

I'm with you all the way - I've done over ¼ million miles in hybrids in the last 12 years, and it still puts a smile on my face every time I get in mine.

[GregT140]

Economy, automatic, no road tax, shape and most of all having lurked about before joining the comments is this great forum. Only had my Auris for a week big smile on my face and loving every drive.

[johalareewi]

More answers here...

http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/151927-what-motivated-you-to-buy-a-prius

[RK123456]

LOW COMPANY CAR TAX.

This was the ONLY reason for me considering a Prius Plug In, a tax liability of 5% of the car's list price instead of 20% of the car's list price with an Avensis D4D Tourer.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get on with driving an automatic so I chose the Avensis.

I will look in 3 years time when the car is due for renewal but my criteria are:

Is the car big enough to carry me, my equipment and passengers if necessary?

What car in that class has the lowest company car tax liability?

Test drive the car to see of it has sufficient torque, is comfortable, boot space etc.

[sanzomat]

As mine a a company car the biggest factor was low company car tax and coupled with the better mileage rate paid for business miles for a petrol carand better fuel economy I'm around £125 per month better off in my Prius+ than any other car on the choice list. I need a biggish estate car for moving my disabled daughter's wheelchair and her dog around and I get the benefit of two extra seats when its just people (none of the other cars on my list had that flexibility)

I didn't actually want automatic but as more and more of my driving is in city traffic it is proving to be a real benefit and I miss it when I'm driving other cars.

It is well equipped, comfortable, smooth, fast enough when I need it to be and very practical.

It is also nice to have something a bt different to the passats, insignia and mondeos that everyone else is driving.

You soon get used to the "milk float" comments.

My only negative is the tank range. In my previous deisels with 70l tanks I was regularly getting 575-600 miles from a fill up but having to refill every 380 miles is a bit of a bore.

[orangezorki]

I'll chip in with my view.

Years ago in 2009, I bought a very high performance luxury saloon (over 500bhp), as a once in a lifetime (or at least 20yrs) purchase. I love it, but the reality of high insurance for higher milage, high maintenance and low mpg (try 15!) around town hit a year or two later. And the problem is, I just don't earn enough money to justify using it more than occasionally, and am too stubborn to let go of it. So, I hit upon the idea of a second car that I would do most of my miles in. Tried a smart diesel - loved it - but sold it back to the dealer at 6 months when it would regularly leave me with a maximum speed of 15mph. Then bought a Suzuki swift, which I have had for almost three years - great car (and in orange!) but it's 4-speed auto means a max of 35mpg in the city.

I might have a full manual licence, but have always liked and owned automatics. The HSD system seems perfect for me, especially as I have seen how polluting diesel cars are, and how costly a blocked DPF can be. It's auto, petrol (also cheaper per litre) and cool reliable tech, which I do appreciate even if not cost saving in itself. The only problem is that back in 2007/8 I had a loaner prius mk2 while my corolla was in the shop. Sorry guys, but I detested it. It wasn't the drivetrain, even though it seemed alien, but everything else. The interior (which I likened to one of Saddam Hussein's gaudy palaces only without the quality materials), the suspension, the way it seemed like a barge and sucked any enjoyment out of the drive.

Fast forward about 6 years, and I have a supermini that only gets 35mpg, is about to run out of warranty and is about to need a MOT test, and another year's tax at about £100. I like new cars, and so the itch started over again. I set myself a few criteria so I didn't go out and buy a MX-5 (what I really want - Miata is always the answer!) and waste hard earned money:

1. Automatic

2. Not too expensive.

3. Long warranty.

4. Petrol.

5. Really cheap to run.

6. Free tax.

7. Not pure electric (Love the idea, but want an unlimited range, and don't like the high prices or leasing a battery)

8. Reliable.

9. Has the level of kit that I like. (I'm the sort that actually uses gadgets, like keyless entry, auto everything, decent stereo, bluetooth etc.)

I dare you to trawl through the cars available, and find anything other than the Yaris Hybrid.

The insanity in all this is that the car has the same drivetrain, more or less, as the Mk2 Prius (IMHO the most unsatisfying car I have ever driven, and one that put me off Toyota as a whole for over half a decade). But in this car, it makes perfect sense to me. I get the benefits of HSD in a car made for the city, it handles acceptably on my 'hoon it around the roundabout slightly' key test, and the lower cost makes the hybrid premium make sense to those who don't do massive milage or are happy to spend thousands on environmental benefits.

So, I am now waiting for the delivery of a Pearl White, almost fully optioned Yaris Hybrid Trend. Is it perfect? No. But Toyota have done something pretty amazing by recycling tech into a fairly average supermini and creating a car that has no direct rivals. I didn't even test drive anything else, as there was nothing else to test!

David

[RunningInPleasePass]

Seems like you have made a very considered choice, the only other car I could think of that meets most of you criteria would be a Toyota IQ, my wife has one and it's a great city car and a lot of fun to drive.

[orangezorki]

Seems like you have made a very considered choice, the only other car I could think of that meets most of you criteria would be a Toyota IQ, my wife has one and it's a great city car and a lot of fun to drive.

Tempted as well, especially as I really love the interior, and the option of orange paint. Others might call me crazy, but I think it would have done better with a Lexus Badge.

As a single person though, I care about enough space in the back without needing to fold the rear seats. Even if I had a massive family, most would probably have legs, and the possession of those rare and cumbersome appendages precludes you fitting in the rear. If Toyota had gone with a 2 seat setup (or even 3 with a properly enclosed luggage area on one side), instead of listening to the stupid advertising guys who insisted on selling it as a 4 seater, I might have bought one back in 2011 and still be driving it today. Still over 100g/km CO2 for an auto though.

David

[MxNRG]

...

So, I am now waiting for the delivery of a Pearl White, almost fully optioned Yaris Hybrid Trend. Is it perfect? No. But Toyota have done something pretty amazing by recycling tech into a fairly average supermini and creating a car that has no direct rivals. I didn't even test drive anything else, as there was nothing else to test!

I really liked your reasoning. I have a similar'ish reason for getting the Yaris Hybrid Trend to replace a 2011 Yaris SR 1.33 CVT auto:

My other car is a 2.0l turbo petrol hatchback which gives me 35mpg if I drive like a saint, however it's a turbo petrol so I don't drive it like a saint. The Yaris SR is a second car that is my Dad's main car and has done good service for the last 2.5 years. It replaced an Aygo which was a great city car that gave us over 60mpg but was not great on motorway journeys. The Yaris SR has given us barely 37mpg and costs over £100 to tax per year which is not quite what I intended with the swap. I was aware of the Yaris Hybrid launch in 2012 and was a bit sad that I had jumped in with the SR when that was launched.

So when my dealer contacted me in December saying that they had some deals I went in and had a chat. A couple of days later I had a test drive in a Yaris Hybrid T3, the main thing I was impressed with was the refinement. The promise of easily getting 45mpg+ and that panoramic roof that eluded me on the Yaris SR (plus a nice 0% on the PCP) convinced me to swap the SR for a Hybrid Trend without needing any more cash down and a 10% increase in PCP payments that I can handle given the £0 RFL and the promise of 50%+ improvement in fuel efficiency.

I like my toys as well and so keyless entry/cruise control/auto everything/pano roof/climate control will be nice upgrades from the SR and I'm looking forward to picking up the Hybrid Trend in less than a week :)

[orangezorki]

...

So, I am now waiting for the delivery of a Pearl White, almost fully optioned Yaris Hybrid Trend. Is it perfect? No. But Toyota have done something pretty amazing by recycling tech into a fairly average supermini and creating a car that has no direct rivals. I didn't even test drive anything else, as there was nothing else to test!

I really liked your reasoning. I have a similar'ish reason for getting the Yaris Hybrid Trend to replace a 2011 Yaris SR 1.33 CVT auto:

My other car is a 2.0l turbo petrol hatchback which gives me 35mpg if I drive like a saint, however it's a turbo petrol so I don't drive it like a saint. The Yaris SR is a second car that is my Dad's main car and has done good service for the last 2.5 years. It replaced an Aygo which was a great city car that gave us over 60mpg but was not great on motorway journeys. The Yaris SR has given us barely 37mpg and costs over £100 to tax per year which is not quite what I intended with the swap. I was aware of the Yaris Hybrid launch in 2012 and was a bit sad that I had jumped in with the SR when that was launched.

So when my dealer contacted me in December saying that they had some deals I went in and had a chat. A couple of days later I had a test drive in a Yaris Hybrid T3, the main thing I was impressed with was the refinement. The promise of easily getting 45mpg+ and that panoramic roof that eluded me on the Yaris SR (plus a nice 0% on the PCP) convinced me to swap the SR for a Hybrid Trend without needing any more cash down and a 10% increase in PCP payments that I can handle given the £0 RFL and the promise of 50%+ improvement in fuel efficiency.

I like my toys as well and so keyless entry/cruise control/auto everything/pano roof/climate control will be nice upgrades from the SR and I'm looking forward to picking up the Hybrid Trend in less than a week :)

Congratulations!

It does sound like you are in a very similar position to me. And I think it's good that both of us are realistic in the mpg we are expecting, especially being used to cars that are able to -ahem- get on with things.

But please tell me this - did you also go for the pearl white? If so, and in a few months you find a confused chubby white guy pulling on your door handles - it's only me not realising I've parked in the next row along!

David

[MxNRG]

Congratulations!

It does sound like you are in a very similar position to me. And I think it's good that both of us are realistic in the mpg we are expecting, especially being used to cars that are able to -ahem- get on with things.

But please tell me this - did you also go for the pearl white? If so, and in a few months you find a confused chubby white guy pulling on your door handles - it's only me not realising I've parked in the next row along!

David

I really like the look of the Pearl White but a couple of factors mean I'll be getting a Decuma Grey car... The car is mainly my Dad and wife's and they both think white cars get dirty too easily. The SR is metallic red which I chose and my wife is bored of. So the only decent colour left for the Trend is grey. Should look good with the two tone alloys :) So I'll be the guy in the Grey car looking admiringly at your lovely clean Pearl White ride ;)

[OldSkoO1]

I appreciate my reasons might not be to everyone's liking but I bought mine as a works car to offload the mileage I put on my other car which is a jaguar xfr.

I know the two are opposites. I'm a petrol head through and through but I didn't see the sense in putting 15k miles on my car.

Truth be told, I found a well spec-d (t-spirit) pearl white with full history and relatively low miles (for a prius), my wife works for toyota so everything is done with a discount. It's actually cheaper to run, insure, service and fuel than doing it all in my xfr. I may even swap the xfr for something else, a lighter 2 seater toy.

Im a convert, the prius makes so much sense for my weekly journeys and also as a family run about at the weekend. I even took depreciation into consideration. Putting 10k on an xfr seriously affects future values where as 10k -15k p/a on a prius is considered normal and depreciation falls uniformly. So it's actually offset, fuel is 3x cheaper and actually I make money because I can claim 45p a mile for some journeys where as I believe the prius costs around 9p per mile excluding maintenance. Where as the xfr costs nearly 30p per mile.

[Hybrid Hobbs]

Economy, Environmental (CO2), Excise Duty.

Recently switched from an Aygo, as we were about to start doubling our mileage to a 40 mile commute. Looked at a 1litre Yaris and ended up with the Hybrid as I worked out we could save the difference in price in the fuel we'd end up using.

Had the car 2mths and already it's exceeding our expectations. Wasn't sure over having an auto but I've finally stop going for the clutch. :D

Sent from my iPhone using Toyota OC

[Alan1572]

To use as a taxi, almost no toad tax, 58mpg, runs on cheaper unleaded fuel rather than diesel and fully automatic

[ProudPriusOwner]

Automatic, fuel economy, Toyota reliability, in that order - all proven by experience!

[Julian30]

Automatic, fuel economy, reliability, low road tax, hopefully saving the planet a little bit.

(My dream car is a Tesla model S but that will have to wait!)

[RelaxedDrive]

So easy to drive, cheap to run, very reliable, lots of space and cool technology.

It's also nice to drive something a bit different. :-) Passengers often chuckle at the rotating wheels on the 'energy' display!

[Grumpy Cabbie]

So easy to drive, cheap to run, very reliable, lots of space and cool technology.

It's also nice to drive something a bit different. :-) Passengers often chuckle at the rotating wheels on the 'energy' display!

lol I got that all the time. And the question they all ask is;

"do those wheels go backwards when you're in reverse?"

And the answer is Yes, they do. (at least on the gen3)