That's just an option lol, they don't all come with that decal. If you drove the Prius or the Nissan Leaf you'd definitely choose the Volt lol. Personally if I had 45k I wouldn't buy one but if I HAD to choose 1 hybrid it would be the Volt

 

If I had to choose one I'd pick the Volt too!!
She should sell her honda and buy a Monte!!!!

 

I'd pick the Volt.

Remember the cost is high, but government rebates help that out a lot too.

 

I may be nuts here but I think most of you are missing the point. I think the woman has a valid point. If you look at the cost difference between a normal Honda and a hybrid, the price is almost ten grand more for the hybrid. If I paid a ten thousand dollar premium for a hybrid and it got the same mileage as the car with out the hybrid tech I would be royally pissed. Do to the fact that there is a class action lawsuit already in place means she isn't the only one who feel duped. As far as the MPG figures being estimated that is true but an estimate has to be realistic. Let's put this another way. You take your car into the shop because it blew the engine and you want it fixed. The mechanic gives you and estimate of 3000 dollars to fix your car. You say ok fix it. He calls you a few days later and says your car is ready come pick it up. You go to the shop and he presents a bill for 5000 dollars and expects payment. You say what happened to the 3000 dollars and he says well that was only an estimate. Being 75 percent off is not an estimate. It is misrepresentation. In the case of the mechanic you have no choice but to pay and fight another day and hope for the best. Honda misrepresented what their car would do and I don't care how bad she drives, there is no way short of towing a trailer that this car can be that far off. I think the hybrid thing is all hype anyway. When you add the higher initial purchase price to the add maintenance costs over the life of the car you will find they never pay back the additional cost. I will never own one.

As far as Hondas offer of 200 to 500 dollars and a discount toward a new car is all BS. At the very least Honda should be refunding the difference in price between the hybrid and the non hybrid model and be on the hook for the additional maintenance or take the car back at purchase price less a deduction for mileage.
The Chevy Vold add that CHIBI posted at 23 MPG, Hell my 3.8 V-6 Town & Country gets that and it can carry the whole family in comfort. No thanks.

 

I totally misunderstood how hybrids work. I thought they were supposed to get better mileage in the city, because that's where you use a lot of braking and they charge their battery through "regenerative braking?" On the highway, you use up the battery and don't do as much braking to charge it. I also checked a few EPA estimates for various years of Prius online and they show city mileage higher than highway mileage, which is the opposite of what it is for regular cars. Of course, I've never owned one so I don't know what they do in the real world.

 

There are multiple types of Hybrids. Some are electric powered vehicles that use a gasoline engine to charge the electric motor. Some have an a gasoline engine that powers the car and a smaller electric engine that both work together, Some have an electric motor that runs first, then the gasoline engine can take over, etc.

They each have their different types. The Honda in question works by having an electric motor AS WELL as the gasoline motor, but the gasoline motor can be smaller and more fuel efficient.

As far as estimates being close, you can't use the mechanic example, because the mechanic is the one that did the estimate AND the work. Car companies and the EPA are doing the estimates here, but YOU are the one that is driving. She could easily just have bad sensors, or she's got a lead foot and doing 4k rpm shifts instead of 2k. etc.

That is actually 230, the outlet is the zero.

 

Thanks for the additional info, Chibi. Did some more checking, and the official EPA estimates for her Civic hybrid show highway fuel economy higher, just like a "regular" car.
EPA estimates under the old system they used was 49/51, under the EPA's new system the 2006 Civic Hybrid showed 40/45. Numbers taken from Fuel Economy , where people can also submit their real world mileage.
"Fuel Economy" in sentence above being a clickable link to the website.

 

The new way, allows usage of windows / air conditioning, etc.

 

Yeah, I heard it was something like that. Trying to get their estimates closer to real world conditions. It basically dropped all their estimates.

 

I guess we should all sue