Honda Car Forum

I'm shopping for hybrids. I'm a first-time car buyer. I would like to know whether given the fact that Honda Civic Hybrids are on high demand it is normal to pay sticker price. Do people haggle with their dealers? Is there any good way of shopping for hybrids in CT?

Dealers won't haggle on hybrids... some of them are even adding a surcharge to put you on the waiting list! I got lucky -- I paid sticker, but I only had to wait a year after I got on the list.

The demand is high enough currently that they will not deal on the Hybrids. In a few years this will pass and the market will be flooded with used Hybrids so they will be willing to deal a bit. My question to you is are you independantly wealthy? If not WHY are you buying a NEW car in the first place? NEW cars depreciate like a falling stone. This means that as you look out the window at your new car you are losing money. As you sleep you are losing money. As you eat dinner you are losing money...A better way? Pay cash for a used car. You can buy a 4 year old car used for about HALF what a new one costs. A 4 yr old car will only have about 45-50,000 miles on it and still eligible for an extended warranty! Except it will cost HALF!!! Are the first few years of a cars life worth $400.00/month in depreciation? I dont think so. If you have to borrow to buy it you REALLY cant afford it. Buy a car for cash and save the payments in an account to buy the next one for cash! Never borrow money to buy a depreciating asset! Cash is King and Debt is Dumb!Remember that Fuel cost is only a small part of the total cost of owning and operating a car. Seriously crunch all of the numbers and you will see that the best thing you can do is buy a used non-hybrid Civic. Insurance is less, taxes are less, no payments to make...Besides, in normal driving a non-hybrid Civic is only going to cost about $25.00/week in fuel...a Hybrid will knock about $7.00 off that price per week but it will cost alot more in other expenses due to it being new and much higher priced.

Although hybrids are great fuel effficient cars, The civic hybrid is not the best. I love Hondas, but you would be much better off with the Toyota prius. The quality, the space, and the MPG are alot better. And by the way, they are at a very high demand, so haggling will not do you any good.

Yes people do haggle. Try to get quotes from a few dealers. I did it online and got a great deal. Saved over 1500 conmpared to the dealer down the street who wouldn't budge. What state are you in?

The concept of the hybrid car is good. The actual environmental friendliness of the hybrid is not. Many of the hybrids are not very fuel efficient. While the car is charging, unless it charges itself while it drives, it is using up more energy than would driving the car on gasoline only. The smaller, more fuel efficient hybrids can't get out of their own way. At this time, I don't think a hybrid is a good buy. Wait until manufacturers re-introduce external combustion engines. With a small heat source, and with the newer alloys and chemicals that can transfer this heat very efficiently, a "steam engine" type of a car could be the most efficient vehicle. On a sunny day, this type of engine, with a parabolic lens to focus sunlight on the heating chamber, could run with no additional fuel. At night, it could use propane or butane, which are very clean burning.