by Juliet Romano

Created on: June 25, 2010

The new trend that is quickly evolving is to "go green"; so naturally, replacing the non-renewable resource such as gasoline would be on the ticket. While hybrid cars have been around in the recent years, there is still the debate on whether or not a hybrid car is worth buying. Firstly, what is a hybrid car? A hybrid car to this day is defined as a car that has two motors. One motor is electric and the other is the traditional gasoline powered motor. The newer hybrid models also has a special system that captures energy when you brake and transfers that captured energy into the battery of the car; however, there is much more details on this entire process that can be found elsewhere on the web.

The question now would be whether or not someone could benefit from purchasing this so called hybrid car that everyone is raving about. Let us review the pros and cons of buying a hybrid car.

The Cons of Buying A Hybrid Car

One, it is very expensive. Until only recently, pre-owned or used hybrid cars were like finding a diamond on the sidewalk. New hybrid cars models, such as the latest Toyota Prius, start between $20,000 to $35,000. Since there is a great resale value for these cars, buying a used hybrid will only save you a few thousand dollars.

Two, certain parts of the car are very expensive to replace. For instance, the battery, which lasts for up to 180,000 miles, can cost up to $7,000 to replace. Nowadays though, it is fairly easy to find parts online, but it is still not a widely used car and certain cities or towns may not carry any of the parts required by the hybrid car.

Lastly, although there is a claim that hybrid cars have a greater gas mileage and therefore highly fuel efficient, it is still consuming gas and therefore not completely being "green". The better fuel efficient cars such as the Honda Civic are only a few percentage away from being as fuel efficient as the Toyota Prius, but the Prius is, to this day, one of the leading fuel efficient cars along with the new Chevy Volt. 

The Pros of Buying A Hybrid Car

The hybrid car's advanced technology can use the simple act of hitting the brakes as a way to regenerate your battery. The technology itself should be a pro when buying this car.

The lifespan of its battery is up to 180,000 miles which is incredible and even the most used car can last almost ten years without replacement. The average car battery can probably die out in less than half that time.

The latest trend in owning hybrid cars have introduced a lot more competition for the leading hybrid car companies such as Toyota and cars from all companies are quickly becoming hybrid and therefore there is a better chance of the price to decrease as the competition gets narrower in the future.The Honda Insight for example is still slightly cheaper than the infamous Prius.

Most Hybrid cars are uniquely designed to quickly accelerate while having the same superior handling and control as a regular car if not better. When it comes to fuel efficiency, the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius will not reduce it's highway traveling capabilities, in fact, it is one of the better cars to use when traveling via car.

Other Factors

There are also many other things to take into consideration when you review the pros and cons of buying a hybrid car such as a possible tax credit, the long term savings you'd make on gas, and enjoying the comfort of a luxury car knowing you're helping the environment out just a little. Even if you didn't like your brand new Toyota Prius, you can safely assume you'd get back a lot of the money you spent on it when you sell it back.

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