Why You Shouldn't Buy a Hybrid Car

If you're planning to buy a hybrid car to save on gas mileage, you might want to reconsider.

Hybrids have been touted as money-savers, but many drivers would be better off getting a smaller, lighter car such as a gas-powered Honda(HMC) Civic.

Jalopnik.com road-test editor Wes Siler says the hybrid trend is more about feeling like you're making a difference -- instead of actually making one.

Last month, Toyota(TM) announced that the Prius had broken the one-million-sold mark, truly a milestone for the poster child of the hybrid car movement.

With those sales numbers, you'd think that the hybrids are saving people money, but the deeper figures suggest that the trend toward green isn't about saving money or gas at all.

As one example, Chevrolet(GM) recently released the Tahoe Hybrid SUV. The company reports that the V8 four-wheel-drive hybrid model gets an estimated gas mileage of 21 city/22 highway, while the regular gas four-wheel-drive Tahoe with the same sized engine gets mileage of 14 city/20 highway.

Don't Drive Less; Drive These

According to the latest pricing from Chevy, a standard Tahoe Hybrid at MSRP will cost about $48,100. Furthermore, owners will qualify for a $2,200 tax credit because there have been less than 60,000 of the model sold. That would put the average final price of the Tahoe hybrid at about $46,800.

The gas-powered Tahoe, on the other hand, will cost about $35,800 for the closest matching vehicle, making the hybrid version a full $11,000 more expensive than the matching standard model.