Vacillation

[madbaker]

We need to dump the 10-year-old Saturn wagon. It's got 145K and was never designed to go that far. I have regular (and increasingly expensive) maintenance performed, but entropy is still winning. Mostly little things - the indoor lights are broken, lots of plastic has broken, the driver seat belt holder is duct-taped together, etc. But it's also burning oil and sounding rougher and rougher. Basically, it could die at any time, or need so much repair that functionally it's the same thing.

We've been looking hard at the hybrid Toyota Highlander. It meets a number of our needs/wishes for SCA camping, and the mileage is lousy for a hybrid, but still far better than a regular Highlander or other light SUV/car crossover.

But.
Toyota hasn't produced many for this year. They're very popular, especially in the Bay Area. Each dealership is expecting about 2 per month, and they have hundreds of people interested.

So many of the dealers are putting them up on E-Bay. Which I don't fault, really - it allows people to get stupid and overbid if that's a "fair" trade for getting the vehicle now. I'm not so willing, which means I'll probably have to wait until next year. The tax break for hybrids goes down substantially next year (and probably away the year after). That's not a deal-killer, but it factors in.

See, I looked at a number of articles at Edmunds.com; while generally positive, they point out that at regular base prices and current gas prices, hybrids cost more in the first four to five years. If I wanted the hybrid I'd have to overpay, so it might push out the break-even point to six or seven years. Again, that's not a deal-killer; I expect to keep this car for another ten or so.

The other side of this is the possibility of going out, say this weekend, and buying a regular one. Right now. Getting rid of all the annoyances and worries embedded in the Saturn. Allowing us to do SCA events more comfortably. Having a CD player and air conditioning. (Which is a big deal with a black car, even in the temperate Bay Area.) Right now.

So it'd cost me more after five or more years. Is that a deal-breaker? When maybe the technology will be better by then. (The Prius is on the way to its third recall.) I've been planning to get a new car this year for some time. Am I willing to wait for exactly the right thing?

Shrug. I'm not leaning one way or the other... but last week I wasn't undecided.

What I'm reading: Andrew Bridgeford, The Hidden History of the Bayeux Tapestry (yes, I am a geek)

Comments

[roswtr.livejournal.com]

I haven't looked at the hybrid Highlander, but I did look at the hybrid Escape a while back. Like the Highlander, the mileage is lousy for a hybrid, but that's because people still expect the engine to be as powerful as the non-hybrid version; thus it doesn't rely on the electric power source as much.

Which, in my view, makes it almost not worth buying a hybrid SUV at all. Especially with the increased early year costs and disappearing tax breaks.

I'm hoping that we can replace the pickup in the next month or so, too, but at this point, I'm just planning to go to our friendly neighborhood Ford dealership (where we've bought our last several cars) and pick up a nice, used SUV-like thing. Since it'll be a "business" vehicle, mostly dedicated mastersantiago to and from magic shows, with the occasional SCA camping trip thrown in for good measure, it won't run up a lot of miles, and I won't mind waiting for large vehicle hybrid technology to improve.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

Whereas I will run up a lot of miles -- my commute adds up. As I'm sure you are well aware.

Of course, that much freeway driving takes down hybrid mileage, too.

[roswtr.livejournal.com]

Can you switch the vehicle plan? Use the smaller, more gas efficient vehicle for commuting and leave the behemoth for camping?

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

Then we'd have to buy two cars.