Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The Toyota Venza is gaining popularity

The Toyota Venza seems to be gaining in popularity, based on the increased number of people who are searching PriceHub for actual sold prices on this 2009 crossover vehicle.

While the Venza hasn't officially been rolled out to the general public, some car experts have the MSRP of the Venza pegged at somewhere between the MSRPs of the Camry and Highlander , $18K and $27K respectively. So far, we don't have any actual sold prices for the Venza, so any of you lucky early adopters, please post your price!

According to a recent Consumer Reports 'Sneak Peek', the Toyota Venza is going to satisfy those people who were sad to see the Toyota Camry Wagon discontinued. Consumer Reports says the Venza is an interesting mix of a Camry, Avalon and Highlander.

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Are Hybrids Really Worth It?

With gas prices continuing to soar, more and more people are looking at hybrid cars, SUVSs, and trucks. However, in taking a closer look at hybrid performance, it seems that they are not as cost effective as we think they are. For example, most hybrid owners report that their vehicles don't achieve anywhere near the published miles-per-gallon fuel efficiency. Most owners are getting 15-20 mpg less than their EPA published ratings (Toyota Prius getting 35-40 mpg instead of the EPA rating of 60 mpg, Honda Civic Hybrid getting 25-35 mpg instead of the EPA rating of 48 mpg, and Ford Escape Hybrid getting 22-25 mpg instead of the EPA rating of 33 mpg). In addition, new hybrids MSRP's are typically 20-30% more expensive than the conventional gas-powered equivalent. So, for a hybrid owner to breakeven with his/her gas-powered counterpart (for example, a Honda Civic Hybrid vs a Regular Honda Civic), the hybrid owner would have to keep the car for 7-8 years and/or gas prices have to hit $7-9 per gallon. How's that for hybrid economics?

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