Hot for a hybrid? 9 things to consider

When the first-generation Toyota Prius and the oddly styled, two-seat Honda Insight brought gasoline-electric hybrid engine technology to the United States, more than four years ago, skeptics wondered if this would be a quirky fad that would be popular among a few tree-huggers and then fade away.

After all, that's what happened with all-electric vehicles such as the General Motors EV1 that appeared in the late 1990s and failed to sell.

But the skeptics were wrong. Hybrids have taken hold and are expected to be a part of the automotive landscape for at least the next decade and likely beyond.

Witness the announcement by Toyota earlier this month that it will add 10 hybrid cars to its lineup and plans to sell 600,000 hybrids annually -- 25 percent of its total sales -- in the United States in the next decade.

This year, about 130,000 hybrid vehicles will be sold in the United States -- double the number sold last year and about 1 percent of all new cars that will be sold in 2005.

But even the impressive sales numbers have been overshadowed by the hype about hybrid vehicles, fueled by gasoline prices that threaten to rise to $3 a gallon.

So what's the truth about these new vehicles? Are they good buys? Are they as fuel-efficient as they seem? Will they help the environment? What about maintenance? What will happen when these vehicles start to get to 80,000 or 100,000 miles?

If you're considering a hybrid, here's a primer to help understand the issues and what you might be getting for your money.

What's available?
Right now, there are just 10 hybrid vehicles available in dealer showrooms: Ford's Escape sport utility vehicle; Mercury's Mariner SUV; Chevrolet's Silverado pickup; GMC's Sierra pickup; Honda's Insight, Civic and Accord; Toyota's Prius and Highlander SUV; and Lexus' RX 400h SUV. As many as 10 more will appear over the next few years.

On average, hybrids today cost $2,000 to $4,000 more than the same vehicle with a conventional gasoline engine, although the $49,000 Lexus RX 400h costs $11,000 more than the gasoline-only RX 330, due in large part to making a lot of luxury options standard on the RX hybrid.

How a hybrid works
All of these hybrids are a marriage of a gasoline engine and an electric motor that is powered by a large battery pack. The battery pack is recharged either when the brakes are applied or through the alternator system of the gasoline engine.

Where they differ is in how the gas and electric motors work together.

Some vehicles operate on the electric motor, while the vehicle is stopped or running at slow speed, then kick over to the gasoline engine at higher speeds. Others use the gasoline and electric power in tandem to boost acceleration.

While all hybrids will get better fuel mileage than comparable gasoline-only vehicles, those designed to run at least part-time on electric power alone will be significantly more fuel-efficient than those that use hybrid technology for added power.

The trend toward more-powerful hybrids has some environmental groups upset. The Alliance to Save Energy complains that car companies are squandering the technology by appealing to some consumers' thirst for faster vehicles.

The National Resources Defense Council also has decried the horsepower trend, not only in hybrids but all vehicles in general. The council contends that if horsepower ratings in all vehicles had stayed at the levels of the mid 1980s, new cars today would have 20-percent greater fuel efficiency, thanks to technology developed since then.

What's the fuel mileage?
So what kind of improved mileage can you expect from a 2005 hybrid vehicle? It depends.

If you buy a Chevrolet Silverado, or its twin the GMC Sierra pickup, with a hybrid electric-V8 power system, your fuel mileage will likely increase by only 1 to 2 miles per gallon over a straight V8 model.

That's because the electric motor comes into play only when the pickup is stopped. At a stoplight, the gasoline-powered V8 shuts off and the electric motor takes over, running the air conditioning, stereo and other accessories. When the light turns green, a tap of the accelerator pedal tells the electric motor to start the gasoline engine, and from then on the V8 operates on its own. In other words, the electric motor is never used until the pickup stops, and the only fuel conservation results from not burning gasoline at stoplights or when idling. Of course, there are no pollutants being emitted at that time, either.

At the other end of the scale is the Honda Insight, which gets the greatest fuel economy of any vehicle sold in America -- a maximum of 66 mpg, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA. The Insight does that by using a small 1-liter, 3-cylinder, 65-horsepower gasoline engine linked to a 13-horsepower electric motor, all packaged in a lightweight, two-seat, aerodynamically styled coupe.

Toyota's Prius also is engineered for maximum fuel mileage in a more conventional four-door sedan package. By running only on battery at some speeds and on gasoline with its 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine at others, the Prius, according to the EPA, can achieve a maximum of 60 mpg.

Maximum EPA highway mpg ratings for the other hybrids:

Honda Civic -- 48 mpg
Honda Accord -- 37 mpg
Ford Escape -- 36 mpg
Mercury Mariner -- 33 mpg
Toyota Highlander -- 33 mpg
Lexus RX 400h -- 31 mpg
Chevrolet Silverado -- 21 mpg
GMC Sierra -- 21 mpg

But will you actually see such efficiency in your hybrid?
Most likely not, because the EPA uses a very controlled laboratory environment that is almost never duplicated by an individual's driving habits. Even if you drive like there's an egg between your foot and the accelerator, it's unlikely you'll regularly see fuel mileage as high as the government ratings on any vehicle, hybrid or not.

Consumer Reports recently tested the Honda Accord V6 Hybrid, which the EPA says should be capable of a maximum of 37 mpg and 32 mpg in combined city/highway driving.

But Consumer Reports found that in its regular driving cycle it could do no better than 25 mpg on average in its Accord Hybrid, just 2 mpg better than a test of a gasoline-only V6 Accord.

A road test that Bankrate did on an Accord Hybrid six months ago resulted in an average of about 28 mpg, a result of a large percentage of highway miles in the test.

Next: What about the environment?

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