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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask for your opinions on Hybrids

20 replies

NotHereToMakeFriends · 02/04/2020 15:30

So it's time for me to change my car and I am looking into getting an alternative fuel car but would love your opinions on whether you think this is a good investment?

OP posts:
guessmyusername · 02/04/2020 15:44

I have had a hybrid for 4 years. It is very economical and zero car tax but I do mainly urban driving. If I was buying again I would compare with full electric cars. These are getting better (ie able to travel further distances) and cheaper. Although if you live in a flat, may not be practical as you will need to plug it in somewhere.

clareOclareO · 02/04/2020 15:55

Current hybrid and fully-electric technology is not quite fully ready yet. If you mean "good investment" as in a hybrid will save money in running costs, maybe. If you mean "good investment" as in selling it in a few years, no way - the technology is improving rapidly so today's models will be hopelessly out of date.

Blobby10 · 02/04/2020 16:28

Love my Golf GTE and have been told by people at the VW garage that I'm very unusual in actually plugging it in! I can travel to and from work on one full charge (provided I don't have heating or air con on and don't drive above the speed limit!) but generally it is very economical to run and I can still have fun with GTE mode if I want to overtake (safely of course!). Grin

Rubyupbeat · 02/04/2020 17:14

We have 2 Mitsubishi Outlander, hybrids. We love them. Hence a second one. My husband has a Tesla, obviously fully electric, which is amazing, I am looking at trying out the Volvo hybrid, which I like the sound of.
The Tesla does long distances, the outlander does smaller journeys, we call them our 'dog' cars as there is so much room on the back for our dogs.

Lolalovesmarmite · 02/04/2020 18:03

We have an Outlander PHEV and we love it. We got government funding towards a charge point at home so we always plug it in. Our electricity supplier uses 100% renewables so it does go a little way to reducing our carbon footprint.

cologne4711 · 02/04/2020 18:05

I have a self charging hybrid and would say that I use about 1/3 less petrol than I did in my old car.

However I only use it for local journeys, I don't think the MPG is very good on longer motorway journeys when you need to use petrol.

Original poster
NotHereToMakeFriends · 03/04/2020 09:43

So I've been doing research and see that there are numerous version of alternative fuel vehicles and I found this article. Thanks for all the advice I'll definitely consider a hybrid or electric car.

OP posts:
CMOTDibbler · 03/04/2020 10:00

We've just got a self charging hybrid CRV and so far it is great. We do a lot of business miles so fully electric isn't suitable for us, and plug in hybrid wouldn't have made sense either

grumpymacgrumpface · 03/04/2020 13:14

I have a Mitsubishi Outlander hybrid and wouldn't get another one. It's great to drive but I'm lucky if I get 18 miles out of a full charge (the distance to work). Mileage when using petrol is rubbish. I'd consider going fully electric but worry about charging points.

Hingeandbracket · 03/04/2020 13:20

No car is a "good investment" except maybe a Bugatti Type 55

Butterfingers64 · 03/04/2020 13:31

I looked at the hybrids and concluded the same as grumpy. Poor mileage on electric - really only suitable for an in-town run around - and very poor mpg on petrol. I went for a smaller more economical petrol car instead and decided I would revisit in a few years when hopefully the cars have improved.

JonHammIsMyJamm · 03/04/2020 13:37

@Butterfingers, plus they aren’t as ‘green’ as they like you to think. The mining of materials for batteries and the manufacture and disposal of them are incredibly environmentally harmful (plus how you obtain your electricity supply). Their lifetime environmental impact is potentially as bad (if not worse) than their fossil fuel counterparts. The technology isn’t there yet

FartingInTheFence · 03/04/2020 13:46

@NotHereToMakeFriends

I'd simply question why you want/need a hybrid or any other bastardised engine car in the first place.

By and large, Hybrids are shit, not fuel efficient and are a rip off.

Rather like all electric cars, which truly are shit and an environmental disaster to manufacture before one has even been on the road!

And where do people think electricity comes from to power these pieces of electrical trash?

Thats right, fossil fuels! You couldnt make it up.

PhoneLock · 03/04/2020 13:50

No car is a "good investment" except maybe a Bugatti Type 55

I don't know, my husband's old Land Rover is now worth over 20 times what he paid for it.

cologne4711 · 03/04/2020 13:56

where do people think electricity comes from to power these pieces of electrical trash

Mine is self-charging so it charges when I brake or coast, I suppose it is sort of using fossil fuels but I would be using the petrol anyway and saving 1/3 of petrol is still a step forward and I am not polluting the atmosphere when it runs on electric.

And if it were a plug-in hybrid it wouldn't be using fossil fuels because my tariff is 100% renewable. I know the actual electricity I use may be coming from fossil fuels because you can't say "can I have my electricity from wind power please", but the electricity that replaces it is from renewable sources. And the UK is getting much better at using renewable energy sources and has had a couple of days recently where it didn't use fossil fuels at all.

Redwoodmaz · 03/04/2020 13:59

We have a Hyundai Ioniq - hybrid. We get almost 70mpg. It automatically uses electric or petrol as appropriate, so no charging necessary.
It has changed my DH's driving for the better - he is constantly trying to increase the mpg so seldom speeds now! LOL.

cupoftea84 · 03/04/2020 14:44

I have a Toyota hybrid. It charges itself so don't need to plug it in but it does use petrol.

I use the same petrol for a SUV hybrid as I did in a tiny old Yaris.

The car was only about 3k more than a normal one (second hand) so I'll get my money back easily enough.

Good to drive, don't need to charge it.

JonHammIsMyJamm · 03/04/2020 15:48

A hybrid just seems links the worst of both worlds if your goal is to be more environmentally friendly. You are contributing BOTH to the environmental harm involved in battery manufacture and disposal AND still using fossil fuels because the car also has a petrol/Diesel engine. Bonkers and surely the absolute WORST option?

JonHammIsMyJamm · 03/04/2020 15:55

That article doesn’t tell you anything really, other than ‘they sold a few more than they did in the quarter before’, @NotHereToMakeFriends. It’s not exactly informative for the consumer Hmm?

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