Asked about the Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid. Seems to be more rare than unicorns.
I could go to a Toyota dealer and get in line and order a RAV 4.
Getting in line at a car dealership indicates a sellers market.
If I wait; prices are sure to go
up when the new models come out.

I guess we got lucky. There weren't tons of Xtreks hybrids available but they were on the Subie lot. The problem is that in 2022, the only hybrids were also phev - no "pure" hybrid without the plug-in option. Which is a stupid, overpriced and useless option in my opinion. I can well believe that finding a used Xtrek hybrid pre-2022 is tough.

Ditto for RAV4 hybrids at the time--sitting on the lot. I have been aware of the issues with car production, but I didn't realize it was that bad.

I have never owned a hybrid, but I like the idea.

That said, you can buy a lot of gas, even at today’s prices, for the difference in price between a hybrid and a normal gasoline engine powered car, especially when you consider depreciation. We don’t drive much anymore and I’m not sure the trade-off is worth it. Buy one for lifestyle but in retirement the deal is not likely to pencil out.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
I have never owned a hybrid, but I like the idea.

That said, you can buy a lot of gas, even at today’s prices, for the difference in price between a hybrid and a normal gasoline engine powered car, especially when you consider depreciation. We don’t drive much anymore and I’m not sure the trade-off is worth it. Buy one for lifestyle but in retirement the deal is not likely to pencil out.

Your cost/value proposition is probably right, but that's not what was most important in my choice. I wanted to do something that was mildly better for the planet.

quote:

I wanted to do something that was mildly better for the planet.

Determining what's better for the planet is pretty complicated. The materials required for any device or vehicle with a battery, or to generate and deliver the electricity required to power
them are potentially going to have a significant effect on the planet.

We're an increasingly resource-hungry species. The planet has finite resources. Technology has made it easy for us to access and to use those resources.

Buy less stuff (or buy used), think about how far the food you consume has to travel, and reduce personal travel. Becoming aware of how much we're consuming and finding ways to reduce will be a big part of the solution.

There is an Outback Wilderness on the lot at the nearby Subaru dealer. It is turbo, with more ground clearance, and a rugged image.
It is just what every 75 year old going on 15 needs.
Then again, it is all gasoline.

hmmm....

The whole question of "womb to tomb" carbon footprints for EV v hybrid v gas is up for debate. Unfortunately, there is no standard methodology for calculating this, which means that people can decide to include or not include certain things depending on the story they want to tell. For example, if you are anti-EV you might include in the footprint calculation things like employee commute cost going from home to the factory on a daily basis. If you are pro-EV, you might not. Anti-EV might include the carbon outlay at a manufacturing plant, but not account for scrubbers, etc. Pro-EV would include the actual (scrubbed) emissions.

Not to say your point is invalid, just that the actual numbers are variable and subject to politics. Groan, what isn't these days?

My reasons for being pro-hybrid, pro-EV are personal (as ultimately everyone's reasons are). In our case, we are 80% solar at home, so our charging is 80% emissions-free. From a selfish standpoint, any emissions that I produce become part of my environment (as opposed to manufacturing emissions, which are somewhere else), and if I reduce these my personal environment is better. Yep, selfish but there it is. It also benefits others in my area, so it's not completely selfish, though. Or so I tell myself.

Finally, for political, environmental and economic reasons, we have to start significantly reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. Gas prices may spike (like now) but it seems to me they rarely drop back to pre-spike levels for very long. In other words, gas ain't getting any cheaper. So yes, getting a gas guzzler now is going to hit you hard, but the likelihood that your gas bill will be reduced to earlier levels once this particular crisis is over seems low. The political fallout from reliance on fossil fuels is obvious--things like wars or getting into relationships with bad leaders just to be able to import their oil. Environmentally, think oil spills, pipeline ruptures, etc.

My 2c!

quote:

Finally, for political, environmental and economic reasons, we have to start significantly reducing our reliance on fossil fuels....

The political fallout from reliance on fossil fuels is obvious--things like wars or getting into relationships with bad leaders just to be able to import their oil. Environmentally, think oil spills, pipeline ruptures, etc.

Definitely true, and we need to be thinking about where we get and how we consume our resources. But...

I don't think there's any way to avoid our current situation. Difference will be that in the not-too-distant future we'll be talking about precious metals instead of fossil fuel and oil.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/12...rgy-bader/index.html

And from the International Energy Agency:

https://iea.blob.core.windows....nergyTransitions.pdf

The more things change, the more they stay the same.