Five 2012 Hybrids to Avoid Buying
Green Car Reports has spotlighted five hybrids for buyers to avoid.
The greenie watchdog based its list on factors to do with performance, price, and gas mileage.
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2012 BMW ActiveHybrid 7
Green Car put this luxury sedan on its list because, it says, the 15-kilowatt motor isn't powerful enough to move the car's body. With an EPA rating of only 20mpg, the lack of performance isn't offset by considerations that lead consumers to choose hybrids.
It should be noted that BMW is substantially updating the model for 2013.
2012 Honda CR-Z
Green Car also highlights performance issues as a problem for this two-seater. The car's heaviness prevents it from behaving as sportily as Honda's CRX. Combine that with its lack of practicality, and gas mileage that's good but not great (37mpg combined), and Green Car suggests giving this hybrid a miss.
Honda does offer the CR-Z as the only hybrid on the market that comes with a manual transmission option, but the stick-shift version offers even few mpg's (34 combined).
2012 Honda Insight
This subcompact hatchback, of course, strongly resembles the Prius - which, Green Car implies, only serves to highlight it's inferiority to the Toyota offering. It offers less gas mileage and is less roomy than the Prius; and has the disadvantage of competing against Honda's other subcompact, the cheaper, better-reviewed Fit.
2012 Lexus HS 250h
Another offering that Green Car rates as heavy and underperforming, both in terms of handling and gas mileage returns (35mpg). Combine that with a noisy engine and a price tag starting at $37,000, and you have some understanding of why the HS 250h won't be on the market in the US next year.
2012 Lexus RX 450h
Green Car is more equivocal in its negative assessment of this hybrid.
The RX 450h is popular, but whether it hits the EPA's combined gas mileage rating of 29 mpg depends on whether it's driven around town or on the highways. If it's used locally, Green Car says, than the driver will see the sort of gas mileage returns that made them choose a hybrid.
