The Real Deal On Hybrid Car Prices

Since more and more people are considering buying hybrid cars in order for them to save thousands of dollars on gasoline, it is best to look at the price of some of the most popular models of those vehicles.

As a general rule, one should expect that the hybrids are slightly more expensive that their regular counterparts. The hybrids are priced somewhere around $19,000 to $55,000. That makes them three to five thousand dollars pricier than the common car.

So far, the lowest-priced hybrid around is the 2006 Honda Insight with manual transmission, priced at around $19,330. The highest, on the other hand, is the GS 450h, a hybrid sports sedan from Lexus. It comes with a whopping $54,900 price tag.

For hybrid models for 2006-2007, pricing goes like this:

$21,274 for the 2006 Toyota Prius
$21,850 for the 2006 Honda Civic hybrid
$30,140 for the 2006 Honda Accord hybrid
$25,900 for the 2007 Toyota Camry hybrid

For the SUV category, here are the prices:

$24,840 for the 2006 Mariner hybrid, the standard four-wheel drive
$23,995 for the Saturn VUE Green Line hybrid, Summer 2006 edition
$49,060 for the 2006 Lexus GS 450h
$27,515 for the 2006 Ford Escape hybrid, the two-wheel drive version, then $28,595 for the four-wheel drive

Of course, these are just the base prices. Any additional or customized features will fatten the price tag.

There are issues regarding the hidden costs that can accumulate once someone purchases a hybrid vehicle. For instance, the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight have eight-year warranties for their batteries. The thing is, once the batteries dies down after eight years, it cannot be repaired - it must be replaced with a brand-new one, which will cost the owner around $7000.

Vic Johnstone, the manager for alternative vehicles and specialized vehicles of Toyota, verifies that the batteries are built to last for only less than a decade.

Car owners are on their toes regarding the recyclability of the batteries, which are made from NickelMetal Hydride. It is rumored that the said batteries can do more harm to the environment than it was originally intended for.

Significantly, Toyota has decreased the price of the batteries of their Prius. It was originally priced at $4500 and was brought down to only $3000. The downside is that unlike its closest competitor, Honda, Toyota will only offer a five-year warranty for the new batteries.

The prices of the batteries are expected to decrease as technology improves for the manufacturing of the hybrid models.

Still, owners of hybrid cars know that their cars will emphasize fuel savings than financial ones. They concluded that fifteen years are needed to pay off the extras spent on the battery of the Prius, along with its calculated fuel consumption.

The right disposal of the nickel batteries are also an issue among car owners. Since the main derivative of the batteries is nickel, it is considered semi-toxic . The content also contains electrolyte, which, if gathered in big portions, could be hazardous to the environment.