How long are you planning on keeping that hybrid?

Own a Toyota Prius? Do you plan on owning it for the next twenty years?

Because that is how long it will take for your purchase to make sense. Actually - that is assuming it holds its MPG rating and reliability for 20 years, which I am highly skeptical of (it being impossible without changing the battery at a minimum.)

A new report comes from the SF Chronicle about popular hybrids and their costs, and the time it takes to get save the money you paid upfront to buy a hybrid instead of an un-besmirched ICE counterpart.

Nissan Altima Hybrid - 21 years
Toyota POS Prius - 20 years
Honda Civic Hybrid - 17 years
Honda Insight - 16.5 years
Toyota Camry Hybrid - 15 years
Mercury Milan Hybrid - 13 years
Fod Fusion Hybrid - 5.6 years

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/04/22/investopedia43617.DTL

This is probably also a good time to mention that the Ford Fusion is also good looking and keeps wining comparison tests, gets similar MPGs to a Prius but is much larger and a much better car. But because it is not the instantly recognizable shape of a suppository designed to make you green, it has not been that popular. Perhaps if Ford made it smaller, crappier, and more obnoxious they would sell more of them.

On a related note - I am debating putting a "Hybrid" sticker on my tank/tahoe, as it now has a 1.8watt solar panel. Which equals 0.0024hp, or a little less than 1/100,000th of the output of the engine. I think the letters should be about a foot tall, have leaves growing out of them, and give me a sense of supremacy which lets me sit in the left lane at 67mph in 65 zone.

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