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Sunday afternoon, they were replaying talk shows on KRLD Dallas. I was disappointed to hear this guy bring an "expert" that did another hybrid rip job. Since it's local, it got to me a little more. They said that hybrids don't meet the EPA expectations - what else is new? A little different is mentioning dealerships' Service Centers love the extra business that hybrids will bring since they have two drive trains and more microcomputers. Microcomputers are everywhere (homes, phones, appliances....).

I don't think dealerships necessarily like the extra hybrid business. They have a learning curve with limited history of this technology. If it's recall work on items like the hybrid battery pack, they are not making money.... They will like customers like myself trusting only the dealership to get it right. ;)

Hi Chuck:

___This is one area that really burns me up. The next time one of these “so-called-experts” appears, I hope you have the opportunity to call back and respond in kind.

___If it ever happens again, please consider passing along the “Little Red Beauty’s” statistics from initial purchase, taxes, license, maintenance, repair, insurance, fuel, and final sale costs me just a touch over $0.07/mile. Nothing and I mean absolutely nothing can touch that that I have ever heard of! Add the tax credits and extremely high resale of the new ones, they most certainly have a lower TCO then most other automobiles in their respective class.
2000 Red 5-speed w/ A/C cost $10,000.
2000 Red 5-speed w/ A/C sold for $9,695.00
State tax and registration: $735.00
Fuel used 401.92 gallons after 37K miles: $734.10.
Insurance cost over 1.4 years: $500
(6) Oil changes $65 for Mobil1 0W-20, $13.00 for SuperTech’s filters, and $9.3x for each change at the local Honda dealership (first one free): $125
Repairs: 1 cracked windscreen and 1 replacement RE92 (screw in the sidewall): $374.00

Depreciation: $305
TTL: $735
Fuel:$734
Insurance: $500
Maintenance: $125
Repair: $374

Total: $2,773

Cost/mile: $2,773/37.2K miles = $.074/mile___Good Luck

___Wayne

7.4 cents per mile totally rocks Wayne! Another Insight driver posted similar numbers on Car Talk recently. I think of used compact cars generally as somewhere in the 10's, and (other) hybrids purchased new, in the 20's. You win.

DAS