Companies Economy International Corrections Pre-market Trading After-hours Trading Winners/Losers/Actives Bonds Currencies Commodities World Markets Money Magazine Real Estate Taxes Jobs Ask the Expert Money 101 Autos Mutual Funds The Help Desk Loan Center Best Places to Live Ask the Expert Ultimate Guide to Retirement Retirement Calculators Best Funds Best Places to Retire Fortune Brainstorm Tech Apple 2.0 Blog Big Tech Blog Sectors and Stocks Tech Talk Resource Guide Small Business Makeovers Questions & Answers Small Business Video 100 Best Places to Launch FSB 100 Fortune Small Business Fortune 500 Brainstorm Tech Investing Management C-Suite Rankings Main Create Portfolio Edit Portfolio Create Alerts Edit Alerts

Most (and least) cost-effective hybrids

How much it costs to save a gallon of gas varies widely, even among closely-related vehicles.

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNNMoney.com staff writer

7 of 14

Mercury Mariner

Hybrid value rank: 6

Time to recoup premium in fuel savings alone: 6.2 years

Typical cost: $26,588

Compared to: Mariner

Hybrid cost premium: $2,842 (Based on Edmunds.com "True Market Value" and $3,000 hybrid tax credit.)

Overall mpg vs. non-hybrid: 31.4 vs. 24

Annual fuel savings: $458 (148 gallons)

Even though the two vehicles are virtually identical, the Mariner Hybrid will take longer to pay for itself compared to a non-hybrid Mariner because buyers are paying closer to full sticker price for the Mariner Hybrid than for the Escape Hybrid. Sometimes, it seems, "badge engineering" does have an impact.

AOL Autos: Vehicle details

Hybrid vs. diesel vs. flex-fuel

Which will do the most for the environment, fuel supplies and your bank account. (more)

Hybrids: Seven worries, seven answers

Sometimes buyers avoid hybrids for the wrong reasons. But, for some buyers, their worries are well founded. (more)

Top 10 best resale value cars

Kelley Blue Book predicts how much these vehicles will hold their value. A CNNMoney exclusive. (more)

Special Offer:

Home Portfolio Calculators Contact Us Newsletters Podcasts RSS Mobile Widgets Site Map User Preferences Advertise with Us
Magazine Customer Service Download Fortune Lists Reprints Career Opportunities Special Sections Conferences Business Leader Council

Live Quotes automatically refresh, but individual equities are delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET.
* : Time reflects local markets trading time. † - Intraday data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. Disclaimer

Copyright © 2009 BigCharts.com Inc. All rights reserved. Please see our Terms of Use.
MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc.
Intraday data provided by Interactive Data Real-Time Services and subject to the Terms of Use.
Intraday data is at least 20-minutes delayed. All times are ET.
Historical, current end-of-day data, and splits data provided by Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data.
Fundamental data provided by Morningstar, Inc..
SEC Filings data provided by Edgar Online Inc..
Earnings data provided by FactSet CallStreet, LLC.