There's been alot of talk regarding the gas cost savings from switching to a hybrid. In every article I've read, it's been stated that the payback time from gas savings is so long that it doesn't justify the cost premium incurred in buying a hybrid. Doesn't matter what the hybrid really, whether it's a Prius, Fusion, whatever, because they cost thousands more then a conventional car, the savings take a long time to add up. I knew this going into purchasing my FFH and was undeterred by the math. I love driving the car and love being a little greener then I was before. But recently I decided to calculate what I've been saving each month from switching to the FFH. I've been saving ALOT. Here's the results.
My previous chariot was an Infiniti FX35. Nice ride and average mileage for the crossover SUV class. The car is rated 14-16 city and 23 highway. My long term mileage on the Infiniti has been 16 probably because our driving is almost entirely suburban. Now that I've owned the FFH for 8 months and it has over 10,000 miles on it I thought it would be pretty easy to do a gas cost comparison between the vehicles. Long term mileage on the FFH is 40.2 at this point. Running the calcs with my average mileage per month and cost of gas at $2.50/gallon gives a savings of. . .ta da. . .$169/month. And I double checked the math on this one.
One note: my FFH long term mileage was achieved during the warmer portion of the year. So some degradation of the long term mileage figure will occur during the winter months I'm certain. I will recalculate sometime in the spring. Still, $169/month for switching from a crossover to the FFH, that is just stunning. Even considering a reduction in figures from the winter, this is going to result in savings, I would predict of over $1500 in gas for the year. That is alot of money.
So, is this scientific? Well, no. It's just a lifestyle switch from an SUV to a high mileage hybrid. But it has been money in the pocket just the same.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
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