We are long-time SAAB owners (42 years, 14 cars) and, for reasons that are obvious if you follow the news, we have to move to a different ride. The new 9th gen. Honda Accord is on the short list.....but the list is pretty competitive. We probably won't do any test driving until we can drive the plug-in (for us, probably Summer).

 

Welcome. I assume you are looking for a hybrid.

Are there any Volvos on your list?

 

Or perhaps one of these..I Want This One myself.

 

We are being compelled to look at hybrids more and more, because conventional cars in a suitable size just don't get significantly better mileage than our SAAB ('04 9-5 sportwagon 2.3T, 26 city 30 hwy.) The advertised fuel efficiency for the new Gen. 9 Accord with the 4 cyl. is very good, and it would be difficult to consider the plug-in Accord at its stated price without significant tax credits / rebates.
The only conventional car in this size range that delivers significantly better mileage than the SAAB is the VW Passat TDI, and I'm not sure we're prepared to move to diesel, plus I have questions about VW reliability.

We have driven a Volvo, a friend's S80, and find it handles too much like a Buick for our tastes. I am considering driving the S60.

 

Definitely understand the gas mileage concern. My daily commute is only a few miles so its not a big deal. But the wife and I have a s60 and v70 and only get 24-25mpg on average.

 

We are retired, so our commute is zero. I guess it's the principle of the thing, to some degree anyhow. The four cylinder turbocharged four in our SAAB was brought to market in the 9000 series in the mid-1980s, and I'm chagrined that automakers haven't been able to do more. OTOH, these marginal improvement in the conventional internal combustion engine are bound to be smaller and smaller, laws of physics and all. The Prius is the only hybrid we've driven so far, an impressive car in many ways but of course the performance is underwhelming....

 

Yeah I feel like Hybrids haven't been getting too much better lately either. If I were you I wouldn't rule out the diesel. There is something to be said for a car that can get 55mpg+ and not be a hybrid. There is a reason almost every car is europe is a diesel. Not that I am a big VW fan. I wish Car manufacturers like Honda would offer their cars in diesel here like they do there. I guess they think the US just isnt ready for diesel.

 

Unfortunately, hybrids are under the same constraints as conventional cars. They're able to do what they do by taking internal combustion engines built for extreme efficiency but reduced power and supplementing that power with the electric hybrid drive system. It's an incremental gain in efficiency at the expense of greater complexity.
Pure electric cars, according to many, are the answer, but such an "answer" is no more immune to the laws of physics than an ICE. The skeleton at the feast in electric car design is the battery. Conventional batteries have seen a number of incremental improvements since Alessandro Volta stuck some metal plates in a vat of acid in the 18th century....but the lead-acid battery in wide use today isn't all that far removed. And no matter what combination of elements are used, the battery is limited by the energy inherent in the weak nuclear force...whether it's NiMH, Li-Ion, or whatever. A quick peek at the empty weights of hybrids or pure EVs (and don't forget their significantly reduced payloads....most standard cars are rated to carry 1200 pounds or so, a Prius is 825.) shows how much more mass they're moving down the road, in the form of the HV battery and related components.

 

What ...pray tell happens when and if your car wont start and you need a jump start from the guy driving by in his 1995 Lincoln Town-Car.?

Sorry to interject, but that just happen'd to pop into my head.

WheelBrokerAng

 

We recently purchased a 2013 Accord for my wife and she loves it. We considered the 2012 Camry Hybrid (I've been driving a 2011 Prius since March 2011, and have averaged 50.4 mpg over 23,000 miles) but my wife only has a 3.5 mile commute to work, so the fuel efficiency wasn't as big a deal for her and she liked the Accord a little more than the Camry. She had her last car just short of 11 years and it had only 46K on the clock.
FWIW.