At the risk of bringing up old drama, I wanted to talk about hybrid cars again. I saw this in USA Today when it was first published and meant to write about it then, but just forgot.



One of the biggest reasons I couldn't get on board with hybrid cars was because it didn't make enough sense financially. The only way to justify the increased price of the hybrid was to own that car for more than 5 years. (It was 7-8 when I last checked). That was taking into account the price of gas, the price of the hybrid, and the relative trade-in value on the currently owned car. (In my case, I have no trade-in value since my car is leased.)



However, this just in (as of May 12, anyway):Rising fuel prices and competition among a proliferation of gasoline-electric hybrids have sliced the payback period for hybrids to two or three years in some cases, instead of five years or more that made hybrids harder to justify at lower fuel prices.That's good news, eh? One of the biggest contributers, of course, is rising gas prices. The "payback period" for hybrids will increase or decrease depending on the price of gas over the next few years. So if you think gas is only going to get more expensive, then it might be time to look into the hybrids. 



That was, of course, only one issue I had. Another is the battery itself. I remember when Honda was first releasing their hybrid Civics, the battery had a 10 year warranty. That's great and all, but what happens after 10 years? This technology is still new enough that no one knows how these cars and batteries will react with time. Are they recyclable? I'd sure hate to think I'm saving barrels of oil but adding to landfills.



The other big question was resale value. All cars depreciate with time, but I'd venture to guess that hybrids depreciate a lot more quickly than normal cars. Why? Because of that battery issue. I admit I didn't have time to try very hard, but I couldn't find the trade-in value for a Honda Civic Hybrid on Kelley Blue Book or Edmunds. A quick search brought up this March 2007 column from CNN Money, though, that echoes my thoughts: "Conclusion: A genuine cause for concern."



What if you're the buyer? Are you really going to feel safe buying a used hybrid car that someone has been driving for 5 years? What happens if the battery dies 2 years after you bought it? Will the dealership take care of it? Can you get extended warranties on such a thing? How much will it cost to replace the battery? And does that justify the cost of buying a hybrid in the first place?



Way too many questions for me. I'm not saying I love my gas guzzling SUV and everyone should ignore this hybrid phase. I actually don't like my SUV for a number of reasons. But the bottom line is it's reliable, comfortable, and safe.



The last point I wanted to make is this: What if I don't want a compact car? They make hybrid SUVs, but they aren't really the solution.Not all hybrids make sense. At current fuel prices, the Toyota Highlander hybrid takes 12.7 years to break even; the Saturn Aura, 24.3 years, Edmunds says.



And the $106,000 Lexus LS600h hybrid, compared with the gasoline LS460L - 102.6 years.We're heading in the right direction, but I'm not sure I'm ready to jump into the world of hybrid cars yet.