Well, the day has come. Wifey needs a newer car and Bonnie is officially going to be retired.
Bonnie has been our family car for 12 years. Numerous trips to the east coast from Michigan, all over the place for vacations. It has been a wonderful car and I am very sad to see her go.

I am getting a post ready for the trading section of the site, but we are really stuck on what to get next. We have been looking at hybrids due to the FRICKING crazy gas prices ($4.19 here now). I've been overseas for two months and the FRICKING gas prices are outrageous and get ready, cuz they'll be in the $5.00 range by the end of the year.

As long time Bonneville owners, nothing, and I mean nothing is living up to our car requirements (I warned my wife about this in 1996 when we bought Bonnie; then we thought GM would make Bonnies forever, bastards). We have looked at a *pre-puke* Camry Hybrid *puke* and hated it. The Nissan Altima Hybrid is really nice and gets 40mpg, but they are extremely expensive for what you get. We were thinking we could just save a bunch of money up front and get an 04 Bonneville SE with 21k miles for $11,995 at a local dealer, but then the gas costs would be forever high. We are even going to test drive a Civic to see if it is large enough for an around town car.

I now officially hate driving.

Your recommendations?

To be honest, look at the cost of the car, vs the gas mileage difference and figure out which one will be the best deal. In looking at the additional cost of hybrids, you may not see a return on the extra cost for 4-8 years over a car that gets slightly less mileage. Plus, the cost to repair a hybrid is going to be much more expensive than say a bonneville.

Say you are looking at the Nissan Altima Hybrid, which gets 40mpg. On a 400 mile trip, you use 10 gallons of gas, at $4.19 a gallon, that'* $41.90 to fill it.

Now lets say you go for the 04 SE, which gets 28-30 mpg (we'll use the lower one) so going 400 miles will be 14.23 gallons, which is $59.86.

The difference is $17.96 per 400 miles. Assuming that you drive the average 12000 miles a year, that would equate to spending $538.80 extra on the cost of gas per year. Now, looking at the difference in price, you can figure out how long it would be til you evened the cost out.

Now, just be aware that other factors, like resale, maintenance, warranties, and such also play a factor but for strictly gas mileage, it isn't always the best choice (unless you are going from a 13mpg truck/SUV to a 38-45 mpg compact/hybrid

Buy the G8

Maybe a new, or off lease Malibu Hybrid may do it for you. I *think* it'* est. 32 mpg highway, but don't remember exactly. New one is 24K +, but an off lease(if and when available) will be more attractive if money is a big issue.

http://www.gm.com/shop/results.jsp?f...id_|_gm_hybrid

G8 too spensive.
We looked at Hybrids today. Also too spensive.

Cars suck.