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Compare my Fiesta to my brother's Prius. he bought the Prius for $14k with 29k miles. Paint was a little rough but it cleaned up fairly nice. Now 3 years later it has 80k miles. Not sure what it is worth but probably around 10K. Cost new probably 23-25K.
The Fiesta was 10 with salvage rebuilt title and 3770 miles. After 2k miles my average mileage is just over 46, EPA 38 highway. I don't do serious hypermiling just mostly non obvious stuff.
The fuel mileage on these two cars is very close to the same. The potential resale value is another thing altogether. A dead battery in the Prius is a dead Prius. A dead battery in my Fiesta is about $75.
What are both of the cars worth when they have 150k miles on them? The Fiesta may actually be worth more at that mileage. What is the value of a 2001 Prius and a 2001 Focus with 150 k miles (no Fiesta in the US in 2001)? Probably about the same.
Around here when gas prices spike you can see the change in the vehicle population on the road. Lots of people here bought smaller higher mileage cars in 2008-09 to get out of the real gas hogs. The pickup trucks got parked and the smaller car did most of the transportation jobs.
With cars reaching an average age of over 10 years, you have to consider the break even point in decades and the hybrids loose all of their cost premium over that period of time. At 33 MPG I need 3000 gallons of fuel to get to 100k miles. At 50 I need 2000.
Does the premium price justify the fuel saved? If the premium was $4K then you break even at 100k with the mileages given.
Unfortunately with the present state of the economy and little job security compared to decades ago, I doubt you will see people paying an extra several thousand dollars for a hybrid when the break even point is so far in the future, an uncertain future for sure.
Most would shop the used car market for an older car at a considerable price savings over new. This is demonstrated by the present state of the used car market. Find a nice one fairly priced and they are gone quickly.
regards
Mech
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