What's the best car for highway commuting?

[Poiuyt]

My sister has a new job that requires her to drive about 30 miles each way, mostly on a highway. Right now she is driving a Mercury Sable, but that's getting old and will need to be replaced soon. How are the hybrid cars in real life situations? Is one better than the others? Do they get better milage that just small cars (Toyota Corolla, etc)? I should point out that she likes bigger cars though high gas prices may change that. She also thinks the Prius is ugly.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. My good friend has a Prius.

I took a long ride in it with him. It is a delight to ride in and I could notice no issues that would preclude it as a daily commuter.

He does and he loves it.

[Clintmax]

2. Greekspeak rented a Cadillac Deville last week...

It was SWEET on the highway! So smooth you just wouldn't believe it! I'm quite sure it's not as good on gas as the Prius is though.
:rofl:

[billbuckhead]

3. Camry, Accord, Jetta/Golf, Mazda6

Honda has hybrid Accord. VW has diesels.

[localroger]

4. My experience

The problem with hybrids is that they don't get that much better mileage than a normal compact car, and they are much more expensive both to buy and to repair. (I recently read one poor slob's story over on kuro5hin whose nearly new Honda Civic hybrid was totalled in an accident; his chances of getting another are slim to none.)

My advice would be to go with a reliable small car. A new (or better yet, newish 1-2 year old) Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic will get nearly 40MPG and parts and mechanics who can work on them are everywhere. For a little large car a Camry or Accord will get well over 30 MPG. My company bought me a 1992 Camry for my work vehicle and it gets 35MPG real-world highway, which is almost as good as my personal 1994 Corolla.

The pregnant roller skates put out by other companies (Hyundai, Ford Focus, etc.) will also get good mileage but quality may not be what you want; YMMV. That said, I have a friend who has a Ford Focus who raves about how great it is. If the main job is to get your warm body from place to place, payload capacity amounts to wasted gas.

I've seen mixed reviews of real-world gas mileage from hybrids; the overall scheme makes me doubt that they will be much more efficient than ordinary gas cars especially in highway commuting. This in turn makes me doubt that they could pay for themselves in a reasonable amount of time. Added to the service difficulties I'd say go with a normal compact car for now.

[Spock_is_Skeptical]

5. Hyundai Accents have pretty good fuel economy

My 96 Accent gets about 37 mpg highway. I'm assuming the current ones are the same if not better on the fuel economy. Accents are kinda cute 'lil cars, in my opinion anyway.

I don't know much about the hybrids, though.

[Nite Owl]

6. If she doesn't like

the smaller hybrids than maybe she should look at the Honda Accord hybid. I've read it was very good, gets in the 30's mpg I think.

[rateyes]

7. They advertise it as getting 50mpg

..but, don't believe everything you read either.. talk to people who have them and find out for sure...and, don't you get like a 2 or 3 or 4 thousand dollare tax CREDIT for purchasing a hybrid...helps bring down the price a bit. I own a Ford Focus Station-wagon--gets around 33 mpg on the highway.

[sweetheart]

8. Dodge RAM 3500 of course!

Just make sure the yellow ribbon reads: "support cindy sheehan"

:-)