Hybrid car cost of ownership

B. Peg wrote:

> Mostly because American buyers want large vehicles (fat people can't fit
> well in small cars, ya know) and to haul large (take it anyway you want)
> families around. If they made a hybrid SUV, then they will come - and kick
> the price of gas to $4-5 gallon too.


I've said all along that Toyota and Honda blew it by introducing hybrid
small cars first. The Ford Escape hybrid is a step in the right
direction, but its still too small. Something the size of a Durango or
Tahoe is the perfect vehicle for a hybrid to have the maximum advantage
over a conventional drivetrain. Any bigger, and the battery pack would
dominate the whole vehicle, any smaller and the advantage over
conventional just doesn't justify the cost (as was CLEARLY the case with
the first-gen the Prius- the contemporary Echo got better mileage with
the A/C running than the Prius did.)