Got a question from long-time reader, Mike, in the ol’ mailbag. Mike’s been following my mobile adventures for a few years and remembers when Barb and I spent the near equivalent of 20+ refurbished MacBook Pros for our 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid. Sound like a bunch of money? Well, it was, but it was also a great investment for us and you don’t hear too many folks say that about cars.
Mike was curious to see if and how the hybrid vehicle was holding up for us, so here’s a relatively quick update….
First off, we still have the vehicle and it’s our primary mode of transportation. Due to some work-at-home arrangements, we recently sold the other car. We loved the 2004 Acura TL, but the high-output six-cylinder engine eats up premium gas, which is around $3 a gallon in our neck of the woods. Dropping down to one vehicle saves money each month by eliminating a second car payment, insurance and premium gas.
We’ve had the Hybrid for about 18-months now and we still love it. Since weather can affect the battery, we don’t do as well on the gas mileage in the winter, but still get a respectable 24 mpg in cold weather. Bear in mind that this isn’t a small hybrid that will ever get 50+ mpg; it’s a seven-passenger SUV with AWD. In the summertime, we top out around 31 mpg; more if I coast a bunch, but that usually drives Barb nuts. ;)
Our vehicle has a tad over 25,000 miles on it now, so let’s do some quick math. The vehicle that the hybrid replaced was my 2001 Dodge Dakota QuadCab with a 4.7l V-8. She got me 13 mpg, rain, shine, sleet or snow. I’ll assume that I’m averaging around 27.5 mpg year-round with the hybrid and I’ll also assume a conservative average gas price of $2.50 a gallon over the past 18 months.
The 25,000 miles in our old truck would have used around 1,923 gallons of fuel at a total cost of $4,807. Using the same assumptions, I figure those same 25,000 miles used about 909 gallons, which cost us around $2,272. If you add in the fact that we don’t pay yearly emissions tests, since it’s a SULEV and we got a $2,000 federal tax deduction the year we bought it, you can see the savings quickly pile up.
Does the savings justify the premium price for the technology? Well, we figured the break-even point for us was about 4 years and we were willing to accept that. Additionally, we know that in some small, minuscule way, we’re putting less pollution in the air. We’re not changing the world by any means, but we’re doing what we can.

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