The Problem With Hybrids

Gas prices are causing many people to change cars and one of the most popular options is hybrids. They get better gas mileage than normal gasoline cars and most are still practical. Now that gas is over $4.00 per gallon the amount of money you pay up for a hybrid can be made up quicker through gas savings. These cars can be made much better in lots of ways. A Toyota Prius gets about 45 MPG, but that is only 3-4 MPG better than a Volkswagen Jetta 2.0 TDI. They need to make a diesel hybrid, that would get over 60 MPG. Toyota could easily do that, just take a Camry or Corolla, put their 135hp 2.0D-4D engine in, and their hybrid batteries in the car. 

Almost all the hybrids have problems with them that ruin most of these cars. The Toyota Pruis has a terrible ride, is $2,000 overpriced, and shudders over bumps, bumps that in most small cars you wouldn't notice. The Pruis also has only 110hp (using both gas and electric engines), but a base model Corolla has 22hp more and similar equipment for $6,000 less. The Ford Escape/Mazda Tribute/Mercury Mariner hybrids can't have stability control, but the normal versions have it as standard equipment. That means these SUV's can flip over simply by  swerving at 35 MPH (the Escape without ESP failed the tip test in the government crash tests). The Lexus GS450h has a trunk the size of a shoebox and the LS600h gets worse gas mileage than a LS460. There are good hybrids though, for example the Chevy Tahoe/GMC Yukon hybrids are the best versions of those vehicles. The Chevy Malibu/Saturn Aura hybrids, Toyota Camry hybrid, Nissan Altima hybrid, and Honda Civic hybrid are all good cars and make sense as alternatives to the normal cars. The only real way hybrids can be a solution to high gas prices is to make diesel hybrids.