Top 5 Hybrid Cars with Greatest Resale Values!

Choosing just five Hybrids that have great resale value was kind of a tricky thing. First of all, I cannot focus on the high end models since many of those models are out of reach for the average American consumer on a budget.
I'm not here to complain but it seems very odd to me that people have the money to spend $89,000 for a BMW Hybrid that get a combined mileage of only 18 mpg. It has a 480 horsepower V8 engine with an electric assist system. Seriously makes no sense to me when you can get a decent smaller Hybrid for less than $25,000.

The low priced models are still about 15% to 25% more costly than their gasoline only counterparts. This is why I am focusing my top five Hybrids with high resale values on the lower price end of this business sector.

Some cars on this list are the grandfathers of Hybrid car technology, yet a few are fairly new to our streets and highways. Is it too incredible to think that maybe someday every car and truck will have some form of a blended technology power source? It was not too long ago that we could only dream about having a Hybrid production car, now we have almost two dozen!

1) Honda Insight 2010 Hybrid.
Honda makes some of the most desirable and reliable cars on the market today, and this Hybrid is no exception to that rule! This models looks a great deal like the Prius but it is smaller and has a bit smaller gas engine. the 1.3 Liter four cylinder gives up about 98 horsepower. With fuel mileage at 40 mpg in the city and 43 on the highway! This model is considered to be a "Compact" car. As with all Honda models the basic amenities are really quite impressive. The sound system is pretty advanced for an inexpensive little Hybrid. Resale on these newer models is complicated, but used 2006 models are being sold for about $13,000 to $15,000 here in Northeast Ohio, and that represents a resale value of over 65% Oddly enough these older Insights got better fuel mileage than the new models by almost half! Oh and they got rid of those odd little side skirts on the rear wheels, so that is a huge improvement!

2) Toyota Prius 2010 Hybrid.
This is the 3^rd generation of this particular vehicle which makes it the grand daddy of this lot of Hybrid cars! With a 1.8 Liter gasoline engine with 134 horsepower it is not hard to imagine this car getting really great fuel economy! Along with an electric motor this car gets incredible mileage at 51 mpg in the city and 48 mpg on the highway. For just around $23,000 you can drive your own Prius out of the dealership and start saving on fuel that very same day! Watch out and listen for the new "humming device" which is being installed so that pedestrians can "hear" the car coming! This model is considered to be "Mid Size" by EPA guidelines. Prius cars hold their resale better than most regular cars and they are in the top five Hybrids every year. 2006 Prius cars are being sold in our local newspaper for $13,900 to $15,500.

3) Honda Civic 2010 Hybrid.
The Honda Civic badge is a very simplistic platform from which to build this robust fuel sipping machine. These cost right around $24,000 and with your savings on fuel alone you will be able to afford more frequent car washes! The beauty of this Hybrid is it's simplicity. It is one of the Subcompact class Hybrids out there today. You really get quite a lot of car for the money. Resale on these is staying very good at around $13,500 to $14,750 average resale for a 2006 model Civic Hybrid.

4) Toyota Camry 2010 Hybrid.
This model is a testament to great copycat engineering and it was a very wise move to use such a reliable and well known platform to base their Hybrid on. The Hybrid Camry has a 187 horsepower four cylinder engine that is coupled to the electric system for dynamic braking and parallel acceleration. For just over $26,000 you can be saving fuel in style! The mileage spec shows that this Camry is reasonably efficient but there is room for improvement. With numbers like 33 mpg city and 34 mpg highway and I for one am not impressed. The resale has been strong for these Camry Hybrid cars, for example there was a 2007 in our local paper this week for $16,500. Average resale for a 2007 Camry Hybrid has been between $14,500 and $17,500.

5) Nissan Altima 2010 Hybrid.
With this Hybrid car Nissan is making some serious inroads into the Hybrid market. Their simple brilliance is obvious when you see how they have "recycled" a highly popular platform from another model and from that they have created a very desirable Hybrid automobile. Costing right around $20,000 this car is a steal. Looking through the auto ads in my local paper I found one in particular that was a 2007 being sold for $12,299 which is a bit lower than the normal average resale value. With the peppy 158 horsepower 2.5 Liter In-line 4 cylinder. Fuel economy is not really exciting to look at with only 35 mpg city, and 33 mpg highway. I thought Hybrids were going to knock our socks off when it came to fuel economy but so far they are still just getting what regular sub compact cars are doing now!

As I see it now we will always be dependent on some form of motorized transportation and Hybrid technology is going to become more and more prevalent in every make and model!

When you are out looking for your next new car, ask yourself, is there any good reason why you would spend $30,000 on a regular car when you can get a Hybrid for around $20,000??

Technical specifications and prices were found at the Cleveland Auto Show and the following sites:

www.NissanUSA.com

www.toyota.com

www.honda.com

Thank you for reading my articles on AC-Yahoo!