Hybrid Cars For Today's Drivers

In today’s society fuel economy seems more important than ever between the continually rising gas prices and the drastic increase in persons with automobiles. It seems as if every household has one car for each person of driving age living in that household. And then to count up all the mileage that household uses between them? It’s astounding how many miles even one person can rack up in just one week. For these reasons and many more, the Hybrid models have been one of the hottest selling styles in the car industry as of late. Of course when purchasing a Hybrid car one would think that there are extra cost factors.

Most Hybrid cars come with a 3 year or 36,000 mile warranty, or the option of extended warranties of up to 8 years or 100,000 miles, which is true of many regular vehicles. So far these vehicles have had few differences in maintenance problems or expenses from the standard auto. Hybrids are powered primarily with electricity in city environments and at lower accelerations, which means the batteries constantly need to be recharged. You would think that the biggest issue would be battery life. The price to replace a Hybrid’s battery is approximately $2000, versus a standard battery vehicle which usually ranges from $40 – $100. However these cars use NiMH batteries that last something like 150,000 to 200,000 miles, so they rarely need to be replaced. The Toyota Prius for example has yet to replace even one of their NiMH batteries since the models release in Y2K. On top of all the above features, there is another big incentive to buying one of these high fuel economy vehicles. The Government is offering a tax break of up to $3400 for select models of Hybrid purchased after December 31st, 2005.

Now as to which Hybrid to purchase, that is something no one can answer but you. Most of them have similar features and close to the same mileage depending on what price range you are looking at. Also something to consider is how much money you will actually save with the “fuel efficient” hybrid over the “gas guzzler”. For example, the Honda Civic has just over 6 years before you break even from gas savings to make up for the additional money required for the hybrid model’s price tag over their standard version. Whereas the Toyota Camry Hybrid has over 9 years before you would break even versus buying and operating a Camry LE.

(you can find a chart for some of the more popular models at this website. http://www.milliondollarjourney.com/hybrid-vs-gasoline-vehicle-comparison-are-hybrids-worth-it.htm ) Overall personal preference has a huge influence over which Hybrid model you choose to purchase.

Darwin Video Awards - Hilarious

Check it out - video of drivers at their worst!

Bad Car Day!

Check out this video compilation from CarLocate.com!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYEFak6hpf8

2010 Ford Flex

2010 Ford Flex

The 2010 Ford Flex is Ford’s newest “technology” car and it has several unique items. Some of the feature upgrades include an easy-to-reach refrigerator to store up to seven 12 oz cans, and a feature called “Sirius Travel Link”, which has the capabilities to search best gas prices while still driving on the road. On those long trips you’ll never have to worry about finding the best gas price.

Our favorite new feature in this vehicle would have to be the hands-free communication. This should also be considered a safety feature for those wired drivers who are constantly on their cell phone, texting or changing their tunes. You can make calls from your address book, get directions for a new destination, the system will read you your text messages (we really like this), and it will even let you call out your favorites from your iPod and play them! You simply say the command aloud and it happens.


The Ford Flex also has ultrasonic sensors to help you parallel park your car in a tight spot that is only 1.2 times the length of the vehicle. This is an extremely innovative car for the money from the Ford Motor Company. We hope the other OEMs start matching these great features.