what about a small diesel car like the Passat?
I’d go with a Jetta instead of a Passat, the Passat requires the urea injection, the Jetta doesn’t.
Hyundai Sonata hybrid is a nice car and gets great mileage. In my opinion, it looks better and drives better (my opinion - I drove both) than the Prius. Try it - the warranty is good.
Few cars other than hybrids are as reliable and get the mileage of a Corolla.
Why don’t you want to keep the car you have? Nearly always keeping what you have will be the cheapest way with all things considered.
In any case telling us why you don’t want the car you have might help us pick a good car for you.
Whitey - you specifically recommend the Insight and the CRZ.
From owner reports, the Insight gets near 50 mpg highway in the real-world and the CRZ gets around 40 mpg (the CR-Z is a LOUSY excuse for a hybrid, IMO).
Or you could get any one of the numerous compact sedans that now get around 40 mpg highway.
That means $0 in gas savings for the CR-Z, so it can’t cost even one cent more than a compact sedan to pay itself back. For the Insight, you’d save roughly 120 gallons of gas per year if you drove 24k highway miles per year. Even at $5 per gallon, that’s just $600 per year, so you really put much $ up now in terms of price differential if you’re going to save money in the long run.
And don’t forget to consider the value of having a decent car - the Insight has received horrible reviews…
The Civic HF would be a good alternative to a hybrid for mostly highway use.
eraser1998, the CRZ is a sport hybrid, so I wouldn’t expect as good of fuel economy unless you always ran it in “economy” mode. It is designed to be fuel efficient compared to other sport cars, not other hybrids.
People who buy sport cars aren’t looking for return on investment, like those who buy the Prius and the Civic hybrid.
The Insight was designed to be a lower cost hybrid than the Prius, so, again, I don’t expect fuel economy and refinement as good as the Prius. It’s marketed for people who want a hybrid, but don’t want to pay as much as they would have to pay to get a Prius.
When you consider the additional cost of a hybrid, it makes little sense to me to buy one for highway use. They get little better gas mileage then a Corolla. I would recommend a Camry or Accord, new or used for better riding comfort. To heck with the added fuel use which is just a little more then most compacts but Becomes well worth it in comfort and long term reliability. Your buttocks will thank you for the better ride. 100 miles a day should be done in comfort. You’ll be better rested by days end.
With these larger, more comfortable but still economical cars, you make your self more available for car pooling. One passenger effectively doubles the passenger miles and makes it much more efficient then a hybrid driven by a lone driver…
“Size isn’t really an issue but, for comfort sake, I don’t want a sub-compact”
I suggest test driving those sub-compacts. You may find it comfortable. Don’t assume. Do a test drive.