My limited understanding of hybrid cars is that they significantly improve city mileage, while reducing mileage slightly on the road. So whether they save you gas or not is pretty much dependent on where and how you drive.
Whether they save you money or not depends on how many miles you drive and how much extra it costs.
Say I save 10 mpg. Say I drive 5000 miles/year. Let’s use 40 mpg for the hybrid.
5000 miles /40 miles/gallon = 125 gallons/year.
At 30 mpg for regular car:
5000 miles/30 = 167 gallons/year
Gallons saved per year = 42 gallons
Say gas = $4/gal
42 gallons * $4/gal = $168/yr
If you drive 5000 miles/yr you will save $168/yr.
In 5 years (average car loan) you will save $840. If you drive 10,000 miles/yr you will save $1680.
If the cost differential of a hybrid versus the regular car is more than that, then it doesn’t save you anything.
I got a rental Prius for a three week work trip. I think you are correct. It did pretty well driving back and for to the job site. I drove three and 1/2 hours from OKC to Fort Worth and the mileage was pretty mediocre for a car that small in two wheel drive. Something around the low to mid 30’s. I think the high highway speeds are pretty hard for the engine carrying a large bank of batteries.
The Integra got about 20 mpg. Ford advertised the Fusion Hybrid at a whopping 47 mpg, but many owners (myself included) reported actual sustained value of 37 mpg. Ford claims their higher mpg is due to pristine testing environments for hybrids okayed by the EPA.
When in gas only mode, the car gets about 22 mpg. The Fusion goes into battery mode about 1/3 of the time. The battery regenerates via the gas motor as well as regenerative braking.
With recent programming updates, the car can go into battery mode at speeds up to 80 mph for highway driving. My highway mpg with the combined gas/electric motor has been about 35 mpg. Surface road driving has seen mpg peaking 50 when driving on lots of slight downgrades. When returning in the other direction, the battery mode goes on much less, resulting in an mpg in the high 20's to low 30s. This averages near the 37 for round trip driving for me.
-PJ
You are correct. Being retired, I am never in a hurry so I use city streets in lieu of the freeway, when I can.