OT Hybrid Calculator (Was German Hybrid Cars)

Give this link a look for figuring out the cost benefit ratio for a hybrid. Obviously, the site is somewhat biased, but the calculator seems to be a nice piece of work. You can change the price of fuel, and miles driven per year, to see if a hybrid makes sense for your driving situation.
http://hybridcars.com/calculator/index.php
Based on my driving habits, and using $2.75/gallon for a gas price, driving a Prius would save me approximately $400/year over the Mazda 3s that I purchased. It would have also cost me about $3000 more to get out the dealer door. About what I figured in my original "back of a napkin" analysis.
David Glos

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A good calculator, but it does not include older cars such as my 1995 Buick Roadmaster. However, there are others available on the 'net that will. By the way, my Roadmaster, which has a Corvette V-8 engine and rear wheel drive, does amazingly well for a car of that size - averaging 20 MPG combined highway/city with 120,000 miles on the odometer.
Regards.

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Entirely believable. Although I imagine that engine will really suck the petrol if you keep your foot in it.
I had to explain to my wife that having a higher horsepower engine does not equal lower gas mileage. Almost any vehicle going down the road only uses a small percentage of its available horsepower to hold a constant 65MPH on a level surface. And, having extra horsepower available makes passing on a 2-lane far less breathtaking. Just like most things you will plug in an outlet at home will only draw a fraction of the current the line is fused for. Its there if you need it.
I'm also a fan of manual transmissions...like having an extra 10-15HP on tap at all times, not to mention 3-5% better fuel economy. I also tend to do a lot of matched rev downshifting and engine braking, which significantly extends brake life. Never had a clutch last less than 100K miles, even in the CRX I used to autocross. The new clutched auto's (DSG?) for VW/Audi look interesting, but sound expensive to fix if something goes wrong.
Dave Glos

And it calculates my 2001 Jetta TDI 5 spd manual at 41 mpg where in the real world I get 50 mpg.
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On Tue, 27 Sep 2005 19:09:35 -0400, "Erik Dillenkofer"
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I get the impression it uses the average between the EPA reported city and highway. In fact, for my 3s, it used 28 mpg, which I thought was a touch high. Around town I'm getting 24-25, which seems perfectly reasonable, with most of my trips being less than ten miles though the city. It can get as high as 33 mpg, on the highway, but I'm not there very often.
Despite the bias of the website, I didn't catch anything malicious in their choice of numbers.
David Glos

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Buick
Its kind of sad that you think 20 mpg is good. My Z-28 had that same motor(TPI 5.7L and got an avg of 24-26) Those engines are quite capable of doing much better...

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An engine is only one piece of the picture. You cannot expect the same performance for the same engine no matter in what vehicle that engine is installed. Further, I hardly think 20 MPG is good. However, for that particular car I can't complain, especially considering it's age and mileage. Meanwhile you are driving a Camero, which is smaller, way more streamlined, and much lighter (by over 800 pounds) than my Roadmaster. Aerodynamics and weight do influence the MPG numbers.
Having said that, the EPA miles per gallon figures for both vehicles are exactly the same. For the 1995 models of either car, EPA claims 17MPG city and 25MPG highway (assuming automatic transmission for both cars). The EPA figures are notorious for their inflated claims, and I have seen too many reviews of the 1995 Z28 (yours is a 1995, right?) that talk about averages of 20MPG.
I

Chris Carncross, MCP wrote:
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Well, a Roadmaster does weigh a tad bit more than a Camaro...
-- Mike Smith