OT-Gas and Hybirds Provoking Thoughts

More and more people are now on the Hybrid band wagon especially now when
gas is high. The tree huggers like them and say they are good for the
environment. The commuters like them for a tax break and some states allow
them in the HOV lane with a single passenger. People are really saving the
environment and spending way less on gas.

Well there is a flipside, you may get 45 mpg and produce less ozone
pollution, but now the rest of the story. My brother-in-law is a GM
mechanic and a damn good one too. He just shakes his head at the hybrids
and says junk. What no one is telling the consumer the average battery life
for the hybrids is about 5 years give or take a year. He has already
replaced the battery units on several that were just 4 years old and out of
warranty.

When the owner got the bill they were amazed at the costs of around $2000.00
all that money they saved in gas was lost and if you figure it up they were
in the hole. Then the batteries are hazardous waste so you are not
polluting the air, but there is a potential of polluting the soil if not
handled correctly. At about the same time the voltage regulator to the
drive train needs some maintenance and there is another $800.00. Needless
to say anything about the drive train for another $500.00. Then there are
the breaks, rotors for another $700.00 for grand total of $4000.

I keep every piece of equipment's maintenance costs on a spread sheet and my
wife's 94 shadow $2390.00 to date. My old CJ which I had for almost 20
years $6324.00 to maintain, my 98 RAM is at $4548.00 new tyranny at 120,000,
well you get the picture.

At 4 to 5 years on a hybrid you are looking at dishing out $4000.00 not
including all the money already spent on general maintenance. If you
compare the hybrids to any other non-hybrid of about the same size and half
the MPG the non-hybrid is cheaper to run and maintain.

So enjoy your Jeeps have fun because it is all awash and let someone else
get suckered into the hybrids.

--
HarryS My 2¢

I couldn't agree more. Just can't get behind the idea of the hybrids. I
drive my 91 Sundance, 2.2 with 5 spd, 100 miles round trip to work everyday.
I'm getting about 35 mpg with that. I drive my 2000 Cherokee on the
weekends. They both have over 100k, just your average maintainance and
repairs so far for that amount of mileage. Nothing like what you mentioned
for the hybrids, and i just read an article on one of these boards how the
AC and defrosters really kill the mileage on the hybrids anyway. I recently
heard as well that extra fee's and taxes are in the works for hybrids,
mainly because they "supposedly" don't use as much gas, so the owners aren't
paying as much of the taxes included in a gallon of gas. The one I heard of
was actually putting a mileage counter of some type in the hybrids, so
between the cars computer, and GPS, you would actually get a tax bill based
on how much you drive it.
Thankfully I live in a part of the midwest where gas is just a hair over 2
bucks a gallon, we don't have emissions testing in my area, YET, so I'll
stick with my 14 year old 4 banger and my beloved Cherokee.

The only place the hybrid is design to save gasoline is on
deceleration, as it uses that power to generate electricity to recharge
the batteries. I can go four hundred miles, between Riverside,
California and Cedar City, Utah without touching my brakes. And at a
speed the hybrids can only dream of.
God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O
http://www.billhughes.com/

"b.clausen" wrote:
>
> I couldn't agree more. Just can't get behind the idea of the hybrids. I
> drive my 91 Sundance, 2.2 with 5 spd, 100 miles round trip to work everyday.
> I'm getting about 35 mpg with that. I drive my 2000 Cherokee on the
> weekends. They both have over 100k, just your average maintainance and
> repairs so far for that amount of mileage. Nothing like what you mentioned
> for the hybrids, and i just read an article on one of these boards how the
> AC and defrosters really kill the mileage on the hybrids anyway. I recently
> heard as well that extra fee's and taxes are in the works for hybrids,
> mainly because they "supposedly" don't use as much gas, so the owners aren't
> paying as much of the taxes included in a gallon of gas. The one I heard of
> was actually putting a mileage counter of some type in the hybrids, so
> between the cars computer, and GPS, you would actually get a tax bill based
> on how much you drive it.
> Thankfully I live in a part of the midwest where gas is just a hair over 2
> bucks a gallon, we don't have emissions testing in my area, YET, so I'll
> stick with my 14 year old 4 banger and my beloved Cherokee.