Hybrids won't save drivers money, Consumer Reports (April 2006)

I was a loyal fan of Macs until I realized they refuse to run the software I use at work. That makes it difficult for me to put-in an extra 2-3 hours from my bedroom.

As for reliability... they are made in the same Foxconn factories as the PCs. There's no real difference if you match the PC to Apple's pricepoint.

And speaking of price: Most times the PC costs only half what the Mac costs, due to Mac being a sole source, where PCs have economy-of-scale and competition.

And finally the biggest issue: Software support. I am still using my Windows Vista PC from 2007 (upgraded to Ten). Meanwhile my Mac from the same year is collecting dust, because Apple stopped supporting it with OSX 10.7. It's a perfectly good machine, but Apple's planned obsolescence has terminated it.

 

Mainstream support for Windows 7 has ended too.

 

I meant Ten (see my corrected post).

Also I was not specifically talking about the OS. I was talking about the HARDWARE where modern Microsoft OSes will happily run on ancient/slow/limited memory machines. I've seen people running Windows 10 on machines originally designed for XP!

i.e. Microsoft Ten works on 15-year-old computers.

Now try installing a modern Apple OS on anything older than 7-8 years...... the OS will simple refuse to install. Even if it could work, the Apple programmers read the BIOS, identify the machine, and then flat-out refuse to install. It's a deliberate, planned obsolescence so you HAVE to go buy a new Mac (or iPhone). I don't like being forced to buy new hardware when the thing I have is still working.

 

There's been fairly strong evidence that the Prius is a much more reliable car than some other hybrids on average. See 2015 Subaru Outback and Legacy | Video Review - Consumer Reports

While that does not necessarily mean you won't ever have battery problems with your Prius, the odds are considerably more in your favor compared to the Civic hybrid you had before.

 

That may be true. But I have kept these hybrids about as long as I have previous ICE cars...except my current one of course. At one time I had a 2001, 2004 and 2010 being driven by different family members. Then a while later a 2004, 2010 and 2012 PIP...so you shouldn't assume that I own one at a time.

Mike

 

I think your Username was too obvious

 

Well, there's your problem. You went Honda instead of Toyota.

 

I call BS on this post. PCs are made from commodity hardware, and Windows is horrifyingly unreliable. That 9 year old Mac can still do the things it did when it was new and will outlive any PC you own. Windows 10? NT kernel with a Fisher Price interface.

 

ive heard honda's battery failure rate is crazy high

 

Unfortunately, the same basic mistake as in the 2006 article is still common today. Even some professional auto journalists still fail to properly calculate the depreciation of the "hybrid premium".

 

Yes Macs and iPhones are made in the same Foxconn factory as PCs and Android phones. Macs/iphones use commodity parts built by the same underpaid Chinese laborers.

My 9 year old Mac won't run anything.... the various programs (like Safari and Chrome) keep telling me to upgrade to OS 10.11 minimum, and then refuse to run. That would be okay but Apple blocks me from upgrading to higher OSes (10.6 was the last supported). Planned obsolescence.

Oh well. I used to love my computer. First a Commodore, then an Amiga, and in the 90s/early 2000s the Macintosh.

Then I grew-up and realized loving an appliance was really stupid of me.

 

So why is it when you buy a hybrid, it becomes a debate as to whether you'll make back the "hybrid premium"? When I bought my Mustang, I spent extra money on the V-8. Strangely, even though I've yet to make back the extra cost of the bigger engine in gas savings vs the V-6, and suspect I may actually be paying more for gas, nobody has ever questioned the financial soundness of that decision.

But of course, it's not all about money, I save a handful of seconds on every commute because it takes less time to get up to the speed of traffic. That's got to add up to a few minutes a year.

 

Nobody has to put up with preachy Mustang owners that think that they're saving the entire planet all by themselves, and that people that drive non-Mustangs are uneducated, unwashed Philistines who are too stupid to appreciate all of the benefits of driving a rear-wheel-drive vehicle powered by an engine with sufficient BHP and the ability to drive at 2x the speed limit.....

 

And I call BS on yours....sorry, you are incorrect.

And the Mac is charging 3x more for their computers. Do a search for "hackintosh" and see how you can build a $3000 mac for under a grand. Because Mac doesn't make any hardware that isn't 100% PC.

You're paying thousands of dollars more so you can run their OS. For a $30 piece of software. It's RIDICULOUS.

 

OTOH......maybe Prius drivers aren't so bad.

We use PC's exclusively in Big Bell, with phones that start predominately with "i-"
They gave me an i-tablet-thingy about 3 years ago, but they took it back about a year ago because we couldn't really do anything useful with them that we couldn't also do with i-phones------once Apple caught up with droids in screen size.

I couldn't imagine my beloved company spending $1000 on a very fragile notebook sized computer that's not compliant with any of the software that we're required to use to interface with the various gear that we have to provision and troubleshoot, when a more robust model can be had for less than $500.

Of course.....they don't look nearly as cool.....but sacrifices must be made in the name of productivity.

Prius and Mac worshipers.....

 

yep - same for Linux - when our daughters' 16yr old PC got bogged down & seemingly ready for the circular file because of ever increasing swap file sizes - you find a few new drivers & Linux has resurrected what Windoz refused to support anymore.
.

 

I think tpenny67's point is fair that price or savings aren't always the main reason people buy things. Reliability and gas savings happen to be the reason I bought a Prius, but there are other reasons people buy hybrids as well.

Just like people buy computers for different reasons, as the "mac vs pc" discussion is proving.

 

While it may not save money at today's gas price, it does when gas is over $3 gal. The other benefit is, it does piss off an oil company, and I think that's a good thing.

 

I was well aware of this, as I originally wanted a Honda Civic 2.2 Turbo Diesel - but then discovered that it didn't have any CVT / Auto version. Looked at the Honda Insight, was tempted till I read about the very high battery failures on both it and Civic Hybrids and I was puzzled by the low powered electric motors.
Then I compared the Insight to the Prius - and the Prius was a pleasant revelation! Kept looking for a catch.....couldn't find one. Especially after sifting through the misleading myths about inevitable HV traction battery failures under 3 years. Complete rubbish! Scary hokum.

Real user info on the Prius 2nd Gen indicated it was a solid reliable over engineered vehicle metaphorically as robust as an A10 Warthog!

I bought used with good maintenance history, and I can assure you, NO REGRETS. I've already got my money back - fuel costs a bomb in the UK. Ditto, public transport, and I bought this vehicle as my everyday commuter for business - the most shrewd motoring move I ever made.

The Prius vs Honda Hybrids of that era? No contest. It's cruel to even compare a vehicle with a 13hp electric motor (that only works in conjunction with the Honda engine) to one running a 67hp electric motor that WILL work independently of the Atkinson Cycle ICE when conditions require it to do so. Or when you press the EV button .

I chose wisely. I chose the Toyota Prius. No regrets!


iPhone ?

 

A friend of mine has just given me an obscure but fully functional Netbook PC with an Intel Atom Processor and 2GB of RAM. It refused to upgrade to Windows 10! (Claims, no graphics drivers!)

I've just installed Linux Mint on it. It works flawlessly. It's fast and there's no lag. It crawled with Windows 7 on it!


iPhone ?