Why did you Choose the Hybrid?

36300 Views 292 Replies 54 Participants Last post by M ARMN, 7 mo ago

beww

Discussion Starter · Jul 2, 2021

I'm curious about why people here made the decision to go with the hybrid drive.
In my case it was NOT the mileage, I would have gone with the hybrid if it got the same, or even lower, mileage than the 1.5T.
I liked the mechanically (but not electronically) simpler drive train.
I have no experience with turbos, GDI or CVTs. There's nothing wrong with them, they are proven technologies, but I know more about induction motors and inverters than I do about those. I'm an electronics tech far more than I am a mechanic, and I am more comfortable with what I understand.
Since I wanted AWD anyway, the upcharge for the hybrid was only about $1200, hardly noticeable from $30K.
I love the smooth power delivery. I did drive the 1.5T first. When I drove the hybrid I knew I was going to buy it before I got off the dealer's lot (but didn't tell them that of course).
Since I bought during Covid, I was able to test drive by myself, a new experience for me, no sales pitches, but they weren't needed.
They weren't letting just anybody take off with a new car, but I had bought from them in the past, and was a steady service customer, so I guess they trusted me.
Why did you opt for the hybrid?
Inquiring minds want to know.

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beww

Discussion Starter · #241 · Nov 12, 2021

_hwpo_ said:
Gas prices making new highs every day, hybrid making more sense now.
Here in TX, first time I saw prices greater than $3! And in CA, its $4.7ish!!

$3.42 here for 88 octane ("Regular" is 85).
I didn't buy my hybrid for the mileage, but I'm not complaining about it now.
I suspect we will get little sympathy from our UK and EU members though.

stuman74

· #242 · Nov 12, 2021

beww said:
Glad you like it, I love mine.
I suppose you could say that the hybrid "has no auto engine idle", but that's not really correct, the ICE does start and stop on its own, it's just that you don't notice it, and it makes no difference in getting the vehicle going.
Hey BTW, put your vehicle details in your profile, I see you have them in your sig, but some folks scan profiles to see if they can help.
Click your avatar in the upper right.

Very true. No "starter shake" when idle and then rolling. Love it!
Should I put the details in the profile posts section or in the account settings section? I have 2x of these 5th gen CR-Vs at the moment. Thanks

beww

Discussion Starter · #243 · Nov 12, 2021

stuman74 said:
Very true. No "starter shake" when idle and then rolling. Love it!
Should I put the details in the profile posts section or in the account settings section? I have 2x of these 5th gen CR-Vs at the moment. Thanks

It's best to put the vehicle details in "my profile", you can get to it either directly from the avatar menu or through "account settings", they both go to the same profile.
Sometimes I don't even know (or care) if the ICE is running.

I'd actually like to see two small lights on the dash, one to tell you the ICE is running and the other to tell you when the OD clutch is closed.

Reactions: 1

Denver Transplant

· #244 · Nov 13, 2021

beww said:
$3.42 here for 88 octane ("Regular" is 85).
I didn't buy my hybrid for the mileage, but I'm not complaining about it now.
I suspect we will get little sympathy from our UK and EU members though.

We had friends in from LA this week. They were saying $5.00. I paid $3.15 at my last fill up. I use Road Trip to record fill ups and mileage. Finally had road trip and the car’s mileage agree.

beww

Discussion Starter · #245 · Nov 13, 2021

That $3.42 was for Exxon "Synergy" branded 88 octane 5% ethanol.
I could get supermarket 85 octane 10% ethanol for less, but I burn so little gas I don't mind paying more for TT.

TheDarkKnight

· #246 · Nov 13, 2021

beww said:
I suspect we will get little sympathy from our UK and EU members though.

Indeed.

I filled up about 3wks ago....£1.49.9 per litre.

Need to refuel in the next few days...I doubt very much that pricing has gone south.....

williamsji

· #247 · Nov 13, 2021

Denver Transplant said:
We had friends in from LA this week. They were saying $5.00. I paid $3.15 at my last fill up. I use Road Trip to record fill ups and mileage. Finally had road trip and the car’s mileage agree.

Tell your friend to stop buying the most expensive brands in LA.

LA average price is ~ $4.50 right now, which is higher than normal... but LA is also suffering price premiums on many many things due to transport and/or supply interruptions. LA prices right now are better than they are in the Bay Area.

California does have persistently higher fuel prices than the national average because California has specific low emissions fuel blend requirements, which are only produced via local refinery capacity in the state. So we get gouged by big oil who owns both the source and the refineries. Captive market... gets exploited for profit. Our gas is not imported, oil is imported and it is then refined inside the state, mostly in norther California.

Thing is.. Californians baked all this into their personal finances many years ago. It is what it is.

AAA Gas Prices

gasprices.aaa.com

JB in AZ

· #248 · Nov 14, 2021

williamsji said:
Tell your friend to stop buying the most expensive brands in LA. LA average price is ~ $4.50 right now, which is higher than normal... but LA is also suffering price premiums on many many things due to transport and/or supply interruptions. LA prices right now are better than they are in the Bay Area.

California does have persistently higher fuel prices than the national average because California has specific low emissions fuel blend requirements, which are only produced via local refinery capacity in the state. So we get gouged by big oil who owns both the source and the refineries. Captive market... gets exploited for profit. Our gas is not imported, oil is imported and it is then refined inside the state, mostly in norther California.

Thing is.. Californians baked all this into their personal finances many years ago. It is what it is.

AAA Gas Prices

gasprices.aaa.com

Also, CA has high taxes on each gallon of gasoline.

Denver Transplant

· #249 · Nov 14, 2021

williamsji said:
Tell your friend to stop buying the most expensive brands in LA. LA average price is ~ $4.50 right now, which is higher than normal... but LA is also suffering price premiums on many many things due to transport and/or supply interruptions. LA prices right now are better than they are in the Bay Area.

California does have persistently higher fuel prices than the national average because California has specific low emissions fuel blend requirements, which are only produced via local refinery capacity in the state. So we get gouged by big oil who owns both the source and the refineries. Captive market... gets exploited for profit. Our gas is not imported, oil is imported and it is then refined inside the state, mostly in norther California.

Thing is.. Californians baked all this into their personal finances many years ago. It is what it is.

AAA Gas Prices

gasprices.aaa.com

The $5 prices are the premium stations like Chevron who are always high due to marketing and the high cost of their additive packages. Most folks in CA are paying in the $4.50 range.

I spent a lot of years working for a major refiner in California. At the time most crude we ran came from Alaska. When CARB gasolines were being developed, estimated increased processing costs were 12 to 16 cents per gallon, which have probably been driven up since then by regulatory requirements. We spent $600 million to make the changes required to make the stuff. A primary source of octane was reformate, but that feed stock was also responsible for large amounts of tailpipe emissions. So reformate had to be reduced from the gasoline blend and replaced with other harder to make components.

Due to transportation and gasoline specifications California is also an effectively closed market. It takes very high prices to attract imports and few outside refiners can make the necessary CARB components. So market imbalances have big impacts on pump prices, and the market always sets prices based upon the cost of the last barrel at the pump. Refiners don’t set prices. Those come from distributors bidding on the spot price for those last barrels, which sets the pump price even though they may have contracts for 80% of what gets to the pump. They make a lot of money when the market is short. But lose it fast when the market is long.

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Rhino747

· #250 · Feb 11, 2022

Had a 2008 Pontiac Vibe with about 150,000 miles that I would have been happy to continue driving - never had to replace anything other then brakes.
However, we have two young kids who are just getting to school age, so I need to drop them off in the mornings. We wanted a safer car with side airbags and the safety features to keep the little one safe.

Bought our 2016 new when our first was born and liked it so much we wanted another. My local Dealer had a 2021 hybrid and let me take it home to show the family. Their price beat other dealers I was cross shopping at.

We had a 2013 Subaru Forester we traded in for the 2016 CR-V. The Forester burned oil like crazy, which was the main reason for unloading it so soon. It made me leery of buying anything with any kind of reported oil issue.
We love the hybrid so far and plan to keep it long term like our 2016.

Also, I have a predisposition for Honda. In high school I always wanted a 2 door Honda Civic Si. I still browse Craigslist every once in a while for a cheap one to fix up!

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CRVclub

· #251 · Mar 3, 2022

I enjoyed reading this thread. Thanks to those who’ve contributed!

I’m ALSO in the camp of those who did NOT primarily choose the hybrid for mileage. My reasoning was right in line with beww. I like that the hybrid has a naturally aspirated 2.0 and doesn’t utilize the standard CVT transmission. Also, for me personally, I love seeing “Japan” for the engine and transmission.

The hybrid headlights are a bonus. I don’t know how different the Touring headlights actually are, but they LOOK the same to me, and I really like the “scalloped reflectors” over the common halogen projectors. I also like the daylight white beam. I read a thread here complaining about these headlights, but they are excellent and effective.

I could’ve bought a non-hybrid just as well, and been very happy with it. I actually prefer the power-delivery of the non-hybrid a little more, but I knew I’d be using the rear cargo in the flattest position, so the “extra room” of the non-hybrid didn’t matter in that respect, and the few personal upgrades were more than enough to sway me to the hybrid. The mileage potential for me is the icing, not the cake.

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HONDA-UK-DUDE

· #252 · Mar 9, 2022

For us, we were simply looking for a bigger car for our family. The nearest dealers from our home are Volvo, Honda and Mazda respectively.

Volvo were completely disinterested, and the build quality was disappointing. Mazda cx-5 was a very strong contender, but we didn't think it was very roomy for it's size, even though we previously had a Mazda 6 2.5 Sport like 10 years ago, and was very pleased with the car it also wasn't as well put together as we expected, especially compared to the car we had before. They were also fixated on trying to off load a particular car on us that we didn't like the colour of, and were saying that it's this one or waiting 6 months at least. And we chose Honda because the dealer was the most helpful, the car was the most practical, and the best build quality of all. They are only 5 miles from our home, and the car seemed to be the smoothest most modern feeling car.

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beww

Discussion Starter · #253 · Mar 9, 2022

HONDA-UK-DUDE said:
For us, we were simply looking for a bigger car for our family. The nearest dealers from our home are Volvo, Honda and Mazda respectively.

Volvo were completely disinterested, and the build quality was disappointing. Mazda cx-5 was a very strong contender, but we didn't think it was very roomy for it's size, even though we previously had a Mazda 6 2.5 Sport like 10 years ago, and was very pleased with the car it also wasn't as well put together as we expected, especially compared to the car we had before. They were also fixated on trying to off load a particular car on us that we didn't like the colour of, and were saying that it's this one or waiting 6 months at least. And we chose Honda because the dealer was the most helpful, the car was the most practical, and the best build quality of all. They are only 5 miles from our home, and the car seemed to be the smoothest most modern feeling car.

Yup, IMHO the dealer is as important as the car. I would never buy a car without having a local dealer that I trust.
Volvo has fallen considerably. I had a '60 PV-544 that was GREAT, but today it's just a name owned by the Chinese.

Reactions: 1

sjw91

· #254 · Mar 9, 2022

beww said:
Yup, IMHO the dealer is as important as the car. I would never buy a car without having a local dealer that I trust.
Volvo has fallen considerably. I had a '60 PV-544 that was GREAT, but today it's just a name owned by the Chinese.

Only know a few people with new Volvos, and they haven't had any issues. I think the sedans and wagons are beautiful. The SUVs, not so much.

The new Mazda CX-60 looks like a compelling plugin hybrid, but it won't be sold in the US. Who knows what we'll get.

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HONDA-UK-DUDE

· #255 · Mar 9, 2022

sjw91 said:
Only know a few people with new Volvos, and they haven't had any issues. I think the sedans and wagons are beautiful. The SUVs, not so much.

The new Mazda CX-60 looks like a compelling plugin hybrid, but it won't be sold in the US. Who knows what we'll get.

One of the main issues we found with the Mazda was it was trying to be too many cars at once. It was trying to be sporty, and practical, but lacked decent space inside, and the centre console was comicly large, so large that I had nowhere to put my left knee. It sort sounded ok..ish. when you thrashed it...but didn't feel like it had much substance, not like the 2.5mzr engine in our 6 Sport, that really was a cracking car 0-60 in 8 seconds. This was more show and less go..and it felt strangled..heavy... underpowered..and sort of clumsy,.I did like the outside styling though, but it let's you down as you expect more from it than it can really deliver.

In comparison the Honda is more go and less show, it's not sporty inside compared to the Mazda, and the styling outside is more akin to understated, but that rapid instant torque, and deadly quiet cabin (unless thrashed) our 2wd gets to 60 in 8 seconds like the 2.5 6 Sport used to, and can deliver 60mpg, is massive inside, lots of leg room and i think is the best designed interior of any car full stop. It's not perfect, it has some annoyances..but no car is perfect. We are very happy with our choice of car, and even more so Honda. I am even considering buying a second Honda, Civic Type R either used or brand new as a toy as I never considered Honda before now..

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sjw91

· #256 · Mar 9, 2022

HONDA-UK-DUDE said:
One of the main issues we found with the Mazda was it was trying to be too many cars at once. It was trying to be sporty, and practical, but lacked decent space inside, and the centre console was comicly large, so large that I had nowhere to put my left knee. It sort sounded ok..ish. when you thrashed it...but didn't feel like it had much substance, not like the 2.5mzr engine in our 6 Sport, that really was a cracking car 0-60 in 8 seconds. This was more show and less go..and it felt strangled..heavy... underpowered..and sort of clumsy,.I did like the outside styling though, but it let's you down as you expect more from it than it can really deliver.

In comparison the Honda is more go and less show, it's not sporty inside compared to the Mazda, and the styling outside is more akin to understated, but that rapid instant torque, and deadly quiet cabin (unless thrashed) our 2wd gets to 60 in 8 seconds like the 2.5 6 Sport used to, and can deliver 60mpg, is massive inside, lots of leg room and i think is the best designed interior of any car full stop. It's not perfect, it has some annoyances..but no car is perfect. We are very happy with our choice of car, and even more so Honda. I am even considering buying a second Honda, Civic Type R either used or brand new as a toy as I never considered Honda before now..

Agreed. The CR-V moves and handles quite well for its size. I have a Corvette for when I need something sportier (and gets better highway mileage than the CR-V hybrid, by the way). They offer the hybrid in 2wd over there? Only AWD here.

Mazda keeps trying to push the sporty image, but they need to modernize their powertrains. That 2.5 isn't aging well against the competition, and the 6-speed automatic is ancient.

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TheDarkKnight

· #257 · Mar 10, 2022

sjw91 said:
They offer the hybrid in 2wd over there?

Yes, 2WD Hybrid has been available in the UK since its launch

Reactions: 1

HONDA-UK-DUDE

· #258 · Mar 10, 2022

Interesting video on x-overs, suv's and AWD vs 2WD. He's not a fan of x-overs anyway and prefers stationwagons (estate cars in the UK) but some very good advice on what to choose, if your market allows it.

I knew that the CRV is never going to be a serious off road vehicle for us, and to get it in AWD when it spends all it's time on motorways and normal roads, coupled with the fact we don't really get any extreme snow here (We do get extreme bland weather, like weeks and weeks of overcast drissle) is silly in my opinion. Almost everyone we know who has a x-over like Kia etc, have AWD but in reality it doesn't make all that much of a difference other than worse gas mileage, slower performance, and possible repair complications down the road.

In fact having AWD can lul drivers into a false sense of security, and are more likely to get stuck in snow as they put trust in these tepid AWD systems that can't perform like a full 4WD system with locked diffs etc.

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Charlie1960

· #259 · Mar 10, 2022

HONDA-UK-DUDE said:
I knew that the CRV is never going to be a serious off road vehicle for us, and to get it in AWD when it spends all it's time on motorways and normal roads, coupled with the fact we don't really get any extreme snow here (We do get extreme bland weather, like weeks and weeks of overcast drissle) is silly in my opinion. Almost everyone we know who has a x-over like Kia etc, have AWD but in reality it doesn't make all that much of a difference other than worse gas mileage, slower performance, and possible repair complications down the road.

Agree 100% for UK drivers. A decent set of winter tyres if you live in areas of regular snowfall or cross climates for occasional snow more than compensates for the majority of quasi 4WD/AWD setups. I nearly swapped my 2WD for a 4WD in the winter of 2010 after being stranded for the third time when I read a report from Top Gear mag recommending winter tyres over 4WD/AWD cars which in the main were fitted with regular road tyres. Changed the tyres over to winter treads and have never fitted regular tyres since. Eventually moved away from winter to cross climate ones but definitely feel they’re the more cost effective and practical solution to tackling UK winters and they perform great for the rest of the year.

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TheDarkKnight

· #260 · Mar 10, 2022

HONDA-UK-DUDE said:
Interesting video on x-overs, suv's and AWD vs 2WD. He's not a fan of x-overs anyway and prefers stationwagons (estate cars in the UK) but some very good advice on what to choose, if your market allows it.

Mr Kilmer is person non-grata here and thus links to his video has been removed.

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