Honda Car Forum

What will be less costly to own and operate. The new 09 Honda Fit with its iVTEC 1.5 or the new Honda Fit Hybrid?

Thats gonna depend on where our current fuel price elevator comes to a stop, and how much you drive. To get an estimate take your average miles driven and fuel economy, along with fuel cost to find out how long it will take the added expense of the hybrid drive to see how long it will take to pay for itself.

The Gas only car. Hybrids are just a phase, they will be tuned out, once people realize that the benefeits are next to null. I am very well educated on Hybrids, have taken many courses on them. A gas only vehicle could easily get the mileage that a hybrid gets, and guess what, they do, and actually, better mileage. Only place a hybrid is better is in the city, where there's lots of stopping and going, as hybrids flip the polarities when you let off the throttle so now the batteries are being charged when you apply no throttle. Once you hit highway speeds, the mileage plummets below its gasoline counterpart.Hybrids run on gasoline only above (correct me if I'm wrong) 70km/h so now you have a little motor, struggling to keep the vehicle moving, charging your HV batteries, powering A/C to keep the batteries cool (Yes, they do have A/C to cool the batteries, if the batteries overheat, it shuts down the HV system) etc. Where-as in a gas vehicle, the motor has more power. The motor easily keeps the vehicle moving at highway speeds, getting good fuel-economy.Remember, everytime you convert energy, there's a 20% efficiency loss, and this occurs twice with a hybrid vehicle (engine to battery, battery to wheels) dropping efficiency.And also, after the courses I have taken, believe me, if something goes wrong with your hybrid, I hope you have a lot of money as no parts of the HV electrical system are serviceable, if something is wrong with them, they get replaced, not repaired.The gasoline one will be easier to maintain, cheaper to repair, as cheap to drive, and will have much more power. I will never give into this hybrid phase.