Nissan leaf, saving you money or does it?

[Silver R/T]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/21/autos-nissan-leaf-idUSL2N0EX1A120130621?feedType=RSS&feedName=industrialsSector&rpc=43

All that money that owners supposedly save will go towards new batteries, these cars are not as economical as owners think. Most owners woulnd't be able to swap battery themselves either, so they will charge you for it + recycling fee and other made up fees/hidden fees.

[Baldwinvette77]

a toyota prius does more global harm being built than a dodge challenger does being driven for a year in ontario  studied that in school 

[Nwcharger]

All these new hybrids are a joke. There where cars in the 80's with carburetors that got 50-60 mpg, now they need battery's to try and get that same mpg. I even know a guy that had a company called sparlinco that made alot of convertable conversions and custom trucks in the late 70s to mid 80s.  he made a car in 82-83 that got 80mpg but couldn't get approval from the EPA to produce it. Go figure. My current daily driver is a 1990 crx hf model i paid 300 bucks for and I get 50 mpg without a problem. I dont really like driving it but its saves me so much money i cant help it. Ill never own a hybrid. They are completely useless and ugly.

[chargerboy69]

All these new hybrids are a joke. There where cars in the 80's with carburetors that got 50-60 mpg, now they need battery's to try and get that same mpg. I even know a guy that had a company called sparlinco that made alot of convertable conversions and custom trucks in the late 70s to mid 80s.  he made a car in 82-83 that got 80mpg but couldn't get approval from the EPA to produce it. Go figure. My current daily driver is a 1990 crx hf model i paid 300 bucks for and I get 50 mpg without a problem. I dont really like driving it but its saves me so much money i cant help it. Ill never own a hybrid. They are completely useless and ugly.

A friend of mine in high school had a 1991 Geo Metro, she got 60 mpg in that thing. 

My buddy currently drives a 1999 TDI Jetta.  He threw in smaller injectors and is getting 60 to 70mpg.

[HPP]

My daily driver for the last ten years was a '87 CRX with efi. With a lotta miles on it its efficiency is way down and its only gettnig 38 mpg. I figure with a ring/valve job and a shaved head to up compression, 60 would be no problem. How many hybrids will still be running in 26 years?

[1974dodgecharger]

you guys have to realize though the more modern cars have a higher ho/tq than those cars did. i look at my daily beater civic that avg 30mpg but it has like 100hp. the geos run on 3 banger and probably less hp thus greater mpg. 

All these new hybrids are a joke. There where cars in the 80's with carburetors that got 50-60 mpg, now they need battery's to try and get that same mpg. I even know a guy that had a company called sparlinco that made alot of convertable conversions and custom trucks in the late 70s to mid 80s.  he made a car in 82-83 that got 80mpg but couldn't get approval from the EPA to produce it. Go figure. My current daily driver is a 1990 crx hf model i paid 300 bucks for and I get 50 mpg without a problem. I dont really like driving it but its saves me so much money i cant help it. Ill never own a hybrid. They are completely useless and ugly.

A friend of mine in high school had a 1991 Geo Metro, she got 60 mpg in that thing. 

My buddy currently drives a 1999 TDI Jetta.  He threw in smaller injectors and is getting 60 to 70mpg.

[Mike DC]

      
Guys like us are willing to screw with 1-ton 80-hp econoboxes.  We also usually have 2-ton 400-hp musclecars and 3-ton 300-hp pickups/SUVs in the same driveway.  

People who only have one vehicle tend to want a little more hp and size out of it.  




Think about this - how bad did gas prices need to be in the 1980s to make so many single-car-owners choose those weak slow little cars?    
People bitch about current gas prices day and night but they are not very high.

         

[ws23rt]

It is true the price of gas is not very high (inflation adjusted). The larger vehicles these days get much better mpg than they used to and there is still more to be had. About 60-70% of the fuel energy is converted to heat. So there is much more to be tapped.
We drive what we drive because of many other factors than mpg.
I have a beef with those that pinch their nose at what I chose to drive as if it intrudes on there space. I just happen to occupy my space too.

[Silver R/T]

Gas prices in Canada are over $5 a gallon, of course that doesn't mean that U.S. should follow their footsteps and increase gas prices. I still remember when gas was around $1/gallon here and I filled up my daily driver for $10. Now it costs me $35+ to fill up same car 10 years later. I still wouldn't drive one of those electric cars, there are better looking economic cars out there that get ~30mpg.

[Todd Wilson]

Low information voters and we have low information car buyers. There are people out there that just want to drive these kinds of cars and are not really concerned about costs.  Kinda like when we drive the old muscle cars. Then there are others who didn't do their research on the vehicle. They buy it and have that warm and tingly feeling of do good and they are now starting to see what happens to a vehicle with some age. Lots of low information buyers think they are all green because the car isn't spewing exhaust into the air. They don't go any further to think about where the electric comes from.......or what future repair and maintenance could cost them.


Todd