Hybrid sport utility vehicles may be the best overall choice for consumers and auto manufacturers alike. While there are plenty of groups and individuals who would profess quite the opposite opinion, each time I go looking for a new vehicle (or a new, used vehicle) I come to the same conclusion. Hybrid SUVs end up at the top of my list.
Without question, you have lots of options when it comes to buying an automobile. Not only are there cars, trucks, vans, and SUVs – but there are a multitude of choices within each vehicle category (small, fuel efficient, all wheel drive, luxury, sporty, fast) and the list goes on and on.
So, here are some of the questions I ponder when considering my next ride.
1. Would I rather have a small, medium, or large vehicle?
2. Would I prefer to have rear wheel drive, front wheel drive, or all wheel drive?
3. In terms of driving visibility, do I prefer a lower or higher seating position?
4. Do I want a vehicle that gets good gas mileage, or poor gas mileage?
5. In most cases, will I need a vehicle with seating for 2, 4, 5, 6, or more people?
Obviously there are many other ones that could be listed here. For me, I don’t want a tiny car or a huge one…medium size works best. Where I live, the weather isn’t always sunny and 75 degrees. Given the choice, I prefer a car that has all wheel drive. I don’t like sitting so low that I can’t see over or around the vehicle in front of me, but I also don’t want to sit so high that it feels unsafe. I want the best gas mileage I can get, without sacrificing the options I need. Most of the time, I need a vehicle that offers seating for 4 people, but I also like a little shoulder and head room, a bit of space between the kids in the back seat, and enough room to haul the dog, golf clubs, suitcases, and at times other stuff I’m moving around.
Ultimately, a medium-sized sport utility vehicle works best for our family, and one that offers the best possibly gas mileage without breaking the bank is icing on the cake. Given the current options, the Ford Escape hybrid (or Mercury Mariner hybrid) and Toyota Highlander hybrid are my top picks, but I also think even better choices will be available in the next few years. (I was really hoping for a 2-mode Saturn Vue hybrid, but that’s not going to happen now.)
Here are a few recent articles that seem to support my opinion.
1. Chris Baltimore (Reuters) wrote an article about how SUVs are down but not out here. One interesting quote was ”For the typical two-car American family, one [vehicle] might be an SUV for local trips and the other a smaller, more fuel-efficient model for long-haul excursions. For many Americans, the choice between buying an SUV or a fuel-efficient hybrid seems to be about meeting family demands of carpools and soccer games.”
2. In an article by Associated Press auto writer Tom Krisher, there was some interesting insight from Mike Jackson (Chairman and CEO of AutoNation, Inc. – the nation’s largest car retailer). Jackson stated, “I was an idiot last July when I didn’t have enough fuel-efficient vehicles, and now I’m an idiot because I have fuel-efficient vehicles.”. Jackson said he is changing his dealers’ mix to larger vehicles, from mid-size cars up to sport utilities, because that’s what people want to buy.
3. The British Columbia Auto Association recently released a hybrid cost comparison study, concluding that you will still pay a premium to purchase a hybrid, but over five years, many models come close in cost to their conventional counterparts – some will even save you a few dollars. In the Hybrid SUV category, the vehicle with the lowest carbon footprint is the Ford Escape, which also comes out on top when comparing emissions with comparable SUVs – 36 per cent less than a conventional Escape.
4. Rick Kranz of Automotive News (subscription required) recently wrote in this article - The numbers are eye-popping. The government wants new vehicles sold in the 2016 model year to average 35.5 mpg vs. 25.3 mpg this year. So does this mean that U.S. roads will look like Europe’s — a sea of small and smaller cars with hardly a pickup or SUV in sight? No. The new-vehicle fleet in 2016 will look remarkably similar to today’s lineup, with pickups, SUVs and large, medium and small cars. But plenty of changes are coming under the hood.
JPMorgan recently predicted that hybrid vehicles will account for 1 in every 5 vehicles sold by 2020. That is a huge increase over the roughly 500,000 hybrids sold last year, accounting for less than 1% of global auto sales. Fueling the growth will be the drop in hybrid drivetrain costs. While the premium to buy a hybrid in 2008 was estimated at over $5,000, analysts expect it to be less than $2,000 ten years from now.
My guess is that I will be driving a hybrid SUV for several years to come, at least until an affordable plug-in hybrid SUV or all electric sport utility comes along. To steal a line from Van Halen, Jay-Z, and Miley Cyrus – they offer the Best of Both Worlds. Do you agree?
