Originally Posted by
MetroMPG
One other benefit: if you care about efficiency and you've ever driven an EV or hybrid, it's just plain discouraging to go back to an old-school vehicle where pressing the brake just converts kinetic energy into heat & brake dust.
On the other hand, the hybrid system adds a lot of weight, which also has to be accelerated and de-accelerated. And as the energy regeneration isn't anywhere near 100%, it's hard to compensate the extra weight.
Recently we made a trip with 2 cars transporting each 4 adults. A Honda Civic Hybrid, and my Space Star. The Honda didn't perform bad, 22.7km/L, but my Space Star was not impressed, and did 24.8km/L on the same trip (about 80km non-city roads).
While the Honda has about the same interior space, it weights about 450kg more. That's hard to compensate, apparently.
Maybe a city trip would have shown a different picture, as then more break energy can be recovered.
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View my fuel log 2013 Space Star Cleartec Intense 1.0 manual: 55.7 mpg (US) ... 23.7 km/L ... 4.2 L/100 km ... 66.9 mpg (Imp)