How have you dealt with your hybrid problems? Most hybrid owners are pretty happy with their hybrid vehicles . 90-some percent of Toyota Prius owners, for instance, would buy another Prius. Still, there are consumers that are unhappy with the performance, usually fuel economy, of their hybrids. Sometimes these hybrid problems are bugs. Sometimes these hybrid problems are based on…

A rough look at pricing Today, buying hybrid cars only makes sense if you think long term, and not even then in some cases. Inevitably, achieving even 10 percent hybrid market share will require far better cost-effectiveness. So, what about natural gas vehicles? My local Honda dealership is selling Civic GX natural gas vehicles for $25,388, while a Civic hybrid lists for $23,650. Thus, those additional upfront costs would require …

Toyota must challenge the CR-Z hybrid Sometimes when you sit atop the world, it’s quite easy to become complacent. Well, when it comes to Toyota’s hybrid kingdom, there certainly has been no complacency. Not long ago there were rumors that the 2010 Third Generation Toyota Prius was going to cost more than the eventual sticker price. However, Toyota didn’t want pricing to be too high, as it might…

Time to go shopping soon If you’ve been out shopping for a Toyota Prius recently, you might have noticed that supplies are thin, or that haggling for a better price was a wasted effort. Now that Cash for Clunkers is over, however, traffic in dealer showrooms should wind down significantly. And, since …

Is it really that cute? Are hybrid cars cost-effective? That depends, but compared to the new Smart ForTwo Highstyle, I’d say hybrids like the Toyota Prius are a fantastic deal. According to reports, the ForTwo Highstyle will begin at $22,461 for the 71-hp version. I guess at that cost, a hybrid version is out of the question.

Cooper Lifeliner SLE – The best tire for Prius hybrid cars? There is nothing worse than buying a hybrid car to save money on fuel only to have to use that savings to buy new tires many hybrid buyers have complained. Unfortunately, many hybrid cars were outfitted with low resistance tires that simply haven’t performed well. In the post Toyota Prius hybrid and unusual tire …

You’re no plug-in, Ford hybrid Today, Toyota is facing a battery shortage for its hybrid cars . By next year, however, Toyota might have enough batteries to produce 1 million hybrids per year. Aside from Honda, no other automaker will produce even 100,000 hybrid vehicles per year until lithium is developed. Even then, many automakers might skip hybrids, instead preferring…

Another sign of Toyota’s forward-thinking? I’ve been casually following the natural gas story since Boone Pickens made this issue his cause. At first, I was extremely skeptical and critical of the idea. Sure there might be a few hundred years worth of natural gas in America, but mining natural gas out of shale and creating an infrastructure would…

The CT hybrid? Lexus has released this interesting sketch of what could potentially be its next hybrid vehicle, the CT. Thus far, Toyota has patented the names CT200h, CT300h, and CT400h, so it seems clear a hybrid version of the CT is inevitable. Other reports have suggested the CT will be a hybrid-only vehicle. Details should be finalized by the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Based on GM hybrid technology Suzuki will bring the Kizashi hybrid to North America in 2011, according to reports . The new Suzuki hybrid will be built on a “next generation” hybrid system developed with GM, which probably means that the Kizashi will utilize GM’s upgraded BAS hybrid drive. A non-hybrid version of the Kizashi

Will cheap, small compact hybrids be a hit? Rumors coming out of Japan indicate that Toyota could roll out a new $15,650 hybrid that achieves 94 mpg. Unfortunately, that 94 mpg is probably based on Japanese fuel economy estimates which are derived from a methodology that is entirely different than that used in the US. So, this new…

Think small, light and foreign according to Forbes Looking for a cheap car? Well, think small and foreign, but don’t think hybrid writes Forbes magazine. While hybrid cars offer greater fuel efficiency than compacts, they are packaged with more options increasing their costs while making them more expensive to maintain and to insure notes Forbes . Of course, if your vehicle offers more options, one would expect to …