Channing Hansen MATH 1030 Final Project Top Hybrid Cars In this report I intend to analyze the value

of seven of the top selling hybrid cars. I will analyze based on base price of the vehicle, miles per gallon, and yearly cost of fuel to determine which car is the best buy over the life of the car. The cars I am analyzing will be the Toyota Prius, Toyota Camry Hybrid, Lexus CT Hybrid, Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, Honda Insight, Honda Civic Hybrid, and Ford Fusion Hybrid. These vehicles were all listed on the top ten list of hybrid cars sold in the year 2012 [1].

Initial Cost Breakdown First thing I analyzed about these cars was the base price. As you can see from the table below, the cheapest of these cars is the Honda Insight and the most expensive is the Lexus CT Hybrid. I will take the cheapest three vehicles for further analysis on fuel mileage and cost, which are Honda Insight, Toyota Prius, and Honda Civic Hybrid.
Vehicle Toyota Prius Toyota Camry Hybrid Lexus CT Hybrid Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Honda Insight Honda Civic Hybrid Ford Fusion Hybrid Base Price $24,000 $25,990 $31,850 $25,850 $18,500 $24,200 $27,200 Cost Over Cheapest $5,500 $7,490 $13,350 $7,350 N/A $5,700 $8,700 MPG (Combined) 50 MPG 41 MPG 42 MPG 37 MPG 42 MPG 44 MPG 47 MPG

Yearly Cost of Fuel Breakdown As seen from the table above the miles per gallon on these vehicle runs from 42 MPG to 50 MPG, which is a range of 8 MPG. The average driver drives 13,476 miles per year [2] and the average cost of regular unleaded fuel on the day of this analysis

was $3.634 [3]. To break down the yearly cost of fuel for each vehicle I will take the average miles drive per year divided by the MPG of each vehicle, then times that number by the average cost of one gallon regular unleaded fuel. As the table below shows the vehicle with the lowest cost of fuel per year is the Toyota Prius, flowed by the Honda Civic Hybrid, then the Honda Insight.

Vehicle Toyota Prius Honda Insight Honda Civic Hybrid

Gallons Consumed Yearly (13,476 Miles) 270 321 306

Yearly Cost of Fuel (Avg. $3.634/gal) $979.44 $1165.99 $1113.00

Cost Over Cheapest Fuel N/A $186.56 $133.56

Making Up for Initial Cost Breakdown The initial cost of these vehicles is what most customers would look at. I wanted to examine how many years I would need to own the car in order for the increase in fuel economy to make up for the money a consumer would lose on their initial investment. First we will examine the Toyota Prius. The Prius initial cost is $24,000, which is $5,500 over the cost of the Honda Insight. The Prius saves the consumer $186.56 per year in the cost of fueling the vehicle as compared to the Insight. With these numbers, it would take 29.5 years to make up the difference in initial cost of the car. $186.56(y) = $5,500 5,500/186.56 = 29.48 years The second vehicle we would examine is the Honda Civic Hybrid. The Civics initial cost is $5,700 more than the cost of the Insight. The Civic would save the consumer $52.99 per year by having better fuel economy than the Insight. With this cost taken into account, it would take 107.6 years for savings from fuel economy to make up for cost in initial price.

$52.99(y) = $5,700 5,700/52.99 = 107.57 years.

Conclusion Looking at only the cost of the vehicles and the years a consumer would need to keep the vehicle in order for the better fuel economy to make up for the difference in initial costs, a consumer would have to go purchase the Honda Insight. Personally, with looking into incentives and consumer reports my family opted into getting the Toyota Prius, as Toyota is much better with maintaining their vehicles in a cost efficient way.

Bibliography 1. Hess, Alexander, and Michael B. Sauter. "The 10 Best-Selling Hybrid Cars." Fox Business. N.p., 28 Sept. 2012. Web. 29 July 2013. (http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2012/09/28/10-best-selling-hybridcars/) 2. "Average Annual Miles per Driver by Age Group." Average Annual Miles per Driver by Age Group. Federal Highway Administration, 4 Apr. 2011. Web. 29 July 2013. (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/onh00/bar8.htm) 3. "AAA Fuel Gauge Report." AAA Fuel Gauge Report. AAA, 29 July 2013. Web. 29 July 2013. (http://fuelgaugereport.opisnet.com/index.asp) 4.