Gas prices are higher than ever, but buying a hybrid car to save on gas doesn't always make good financial sense. In a recent study on hybrid cars, we calculated the number of miles required to break even in a hybrid car over its gasoline-only counterpart, based on gas prices in ten major metropolitan areas, and learned that only five hybrid cars will offer any return on investment for the average car owner who drives 15,000 miles annually and buys a new car every five years.
The five hybrid cars that made the cut, in order of the shortest time to break even, were ...
-
-
-
-
-
The Toyota Camry Hybrid had the shortest time to recoup the extra cost of buying a hybrid car.
However, many drivers aren't considering a hybrid car versus its gasoline-only counterpart, but rather versus the current car they are driving. So how do you determine if you should sell your car and buy a hybrid car as a replacement? There are many factors to consider, including costs of car insurance, maintenance and repairs, but if you want to buy a new car simply to reduce what you spend on gas, there's a simple way to calculate your savings.
Take the price per gallon that you normally pay and divide it by your average gas mileage in the car you currently own. The result is your cost per mile. Using the same per gallon gas price, divide it now by the average gas mileage you expect in the car you are considering buying (we used the EPA estimates for combined fuel economy in our study). The difference between the two numbers is your cost savings per mile. You can then multiply that by the number of miles you drive per week, month or year to see what your savings would be.
While this is an effective way to see how much you'll save on gas, remember that to get an accurate picture you'll need to look at all the cost differences. An easy way to get some quick information on all the differences is to look at the Cost of Ownership in NADAguides.com's Side-By-Side Car Comparison tool.