Recently I had to borrow a friend’s car. It was a hybrid. This was the first time I had ever driven one.
Holy crap. What a weird car. Most of the time, especially when the car isn’t moving, it’s completely silent. You don’t hear an engine. I’ve driven loud sports cars for most of my adult life, until I got responsible a few years ago and bought my Maxima. Yet even my Maxima has a sports car engine. So I’m used to very loud, strong, rumbling engines whenever I drive a car.
With a hybrid, you get none of that. It’s almost like you’re driving a bicycle. Much of the time it’s completely silent which means you can’t tell if the engine is even “on”. When the engine does kick in, it’s still very quiet.
This silent stuff also confuses you when you exit the car. Since it’s silent, your monkey brain assumes the car must be “off”. But oh no, it’s still “on”. Several times I left the car in my garage only to return to it several hours later with it complaining its battery was almost dead because I was dumb enough to leave it on.
Shit.
Can’t complain about the mileage though. I drove it for several days and the gas indicator barely moved the entire time. A world of difference from my 21 mpg gas-hog Maxima with its V6 3.5L engine.
At some point, I’ll be buying one of these hybrids despite their weirdness. The money in saved gas is too irresistible. They still weird me out though.
Hopefully by the time I’m in the market for a new car they’ll have some cooler-looking hybrid models. The current choices they have now of “college student” and “emasculated husband” don’t really turn me on.
We’ll see.
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Steven
Posted at 08:30 pm, 16th September 2014I’ve read that the money you save in gas can eventually even out when it comes to the maintenance expenses.
Hybrids may require more expensive parts, and specialized labor.
Have you looked into that yourself?
Caleb Jones
Posted at 08:42 pm, 16th September 2014No, I haven’t. Though I have heard about that. I like to own a car for about 10 years before I get a new one, so maintenance costs are very important to me and a key factor. When I go to actually buy a new car I’ll be doing some serious research.
Alex
Posted at 01:26 am, 2nd December 2017Hi Caleb,
So I’m interested. What performance cars did you use to own?
And can you please write an article on what your thought processes are when you purchase a car?
Thankyou.