Consider our real world case:
We bought a RX400h which costs ~$5K more than a comparably equipped RX330.
If we had bought a ML500 instead of a ML320, the delta would have been ~$10K; the result would have been more HP and worse gas mileage.
With the RX400h, we get more HP and better mileage. In fact, 50% better mpg than our RX300. Following the Mercedes ML example, I can justify the RX400h higher price just by better performance.
When we sell the RX400h, it'll retain 50% (at least) of purchase value, so true out of pocket cost is $2.5K (ignoring time value of money in a world of 3% money market rates).
Going from 15.5 mpg with RX300 to 23.5 mpg with RX400h (our real world experience with thousands & thousands of miles of real data), we save $72/month at 1,200 miles driven per month and gas at $2.75. Breakeven is less than 3 years. Again, this assumes zero value assigned to much better performance.
Take into account real-world $2K tax break and effective out of pocket cost is now $500, or just 7 months of ownership...again, this assumes zero value assigned to much better performance.
It's a no brainer...RX400h any day over gas-only RX.
Slashdot Mirror
Consider our real world case: We bought a RX400h which costs ~$5K more than a comparably equipped RX330. If we had bought a ML500 instead of a ML320, the delta would have been ~$10K; the result would have been more HP and worse gas mileage. With the RX400h, we get more HP and better mileage. In fact, 50% better mpg than our RX300. Following the Mercedes ML example, I can justify the RX400h higher price just by better performance. When we sell the RX400h, it'll retain 50% (at least) of purchase value, so true out of pocket cost is $2.5K (ignoring time value of money in a world of 3% money market rates). Going from 15.5 mpg with RX300 to 23.5 mpg with RX400h (our real world experience with thousands & thousands of miles of real data), we save $72/month at 1,200 miles driven per month and gas at $2.75. Breakeven is less than 3 years. Again, this assumes zero value assigned to much better performance. Take into account real-world $2K tax break and effective out of pocket cost is now $500, or just 7 months of ownership...again, this assumes zero value assigned to much better performance. It's a no brainer...RX400h any day over gas-only RX.