hi all

ive been a lurker here for perhaps a week and love reading all your experiences with your new HCH cars. But i cant imagine how all you afford to buy such cars in such short periods of time, such as upgrades a few years from your previous cars,

is interest rates really cheap there or something?

anyways we too have to HCH here in Australia however the 06 version isnt out yet, it is retailing for $29,990 before dealer delivery and stamp duty fees, ive read articles here that the HCH here has a fuel economy of 6l/100 kms or for you americans 39mpg, which isnt that exciting as the standard HC has fuel economy of 31mpg,

there have also been articles that it would take years to pay off this car by the savings in fuel as the HCH is $29,990 whereas the standard is $22,000, ofcourse these are all australian dollars

also i have seen some Prius around, mainly council ones but have yet to spot a Honda Hybrid in this part of the world!

 

Welcome Clayton!

I am a relatively new HCH owner - had my 2003 since October. I know what you mean when you talk about cost. I purchased my 2003 at about half the retail lot price just before the gas prices sky rocketed. The same car two months later was going for $3000 more.
In an interesting turn of events the 2006 models are priced at about $25,000 while the 03-05 models when for $27,500. My dealer had a couple of 2005's left after the new ones came in. He said he had to sell them at less than the new ones and did not make a cent on them.
I read all the posts daily on this forum. It really keeps me enthused about my car. Sure the fuel efficiency is not all it is cracked up to be but think of the big picture. The FE really takes a hit in our great Canadian winters as well. But besides using less fuel overall, we are not pumping out as many pollutants into the air. I also found that the HCH is much quieter than a regular Civic and you get many more options for the price.
The above $ values are in Canadian bucks (for my friends to the south of Canada). We also get a $1000 sales tax rebate from the provincial government. It is not as nice as the rebates that I hear about in the States, but at least it is something.
My advice would be to get a HCH and to start the ball rolling in your neighbourhood, your area and your country. Although there are about three dozon HCH in my town of 43 000 many people still come up and ask about the car. After we have talked many can see the possibilites.

 

I paid 0.9 percent interest on my '04 HCH loan (from Honda) and 3.29 percent on my '05 FEH loan (from eLoan).

Welcome to Greenhybrid!

 

Clayton - welcome!
Fascinating to hear from someone around the world (from most of us, that is).

I'm not sure how it is in other countries, but it's VERY easy to buy a car here. You can walk into a dealer without so much as a dollar in your pocket and leave with a car. Also, most 03-05 HCH owners do very well on a trade, so they likely had some $ to put down, and probably got a car payment very close to the one they had before. I think the logic goes that if you're paying $450 a month for an 03, and can get an 06 for the same payment, that may be worth 'starting over' on the loan. Anyway, I got 0.9% on my 03, so yeah - interest rates were very low during that time.

A lot has been written here about "payoff" or return. It's a function of three main things: how much you drive, how long you intend to own it, and what the fuel economy was of the other cars you considered buying (not necessarily a standard Civic). For example, a standard Civic did not interest me - the hybrid made the difference. Had I not bought the hybrid, I'd likely be driving an Acrua RSX or used BMW 3-series - something like that. I "broke even" with the $1800 hybrid cost (US dollars) in about 3 years. That is compared to the mpg I was getting in my previous car (Infiniti G20). There's a dozen other great reasons to get a hybrid besides mileage too. So even if you never 'broke even', you're still using less gas, creating less polution, etc.

 

I never finance cars. I walked into the dealership, took a car for a test drive, agreed on a price for the car and a trade in value, wrote them a check and waited a few days to get the car in the color I wanted with all accessories installed.

 

Well aren't you Mr. Fancy pants that pays cash for cars....your not bragging or anything.

 

It's just smart. Why pay all that extra interest when you don't have to? I don't consider myself rich. It took me a long time to save up all that cash. But I'll be ****ed if I'm going to hand a bunch of it over to a bank for a loan.

I would only finance if I could get a Detroit-style 0% financing deal, but no one does that anymore.

 

Hi Australia;

I live in the USA and the name of the State that I live in is Tennessee.

Nice to here from someone over there.

Say you have not Met {Crocodile Dundee} have you?

A Little Humor

Terry

 

The way you word it makes you sound pompus "I never finance cars"

 

If I have to finance a car, that's a clear sign that I can't really afford it. Simple as that.