wow, could they pick a more obscure venue to debut the model? no wonder it's only being sold in 8 states...

On my last tank of biodiesel, I got 66 mpg.

Please.

Dear Ernie,

The Beetle has HALF as much power and no usable back seat for full size adults. You also have about one third the trunkspace and your EPA rating is 34/44 with an automatic transmission, 38 combined, thus worse than the Altima. Your EPA Air Polution score on a scale of 0 to 10 is 0. Yes, ZERO. The polution from an '03 TDI is about 20 times as high as a PZEV car. Thanks for trying though.

Why would this offering be ridiculed? Nissan produces a sporty, roomy and well-equipped sedan that will likely go 0-60 in a touch over 7 seconds AND get 39 mpg combined? How is that a bad thing?

It cracks me up - some people on this site will never be satisfied until 100% of the public is commuting in Smart cars, Segways, and bicycles.

See this should have come about instead of the Prius. It should have been family car from the get go.

Nissan living up to the name as the conservative second who learns from other's mistakes.

See this should have come about instead of the Prius. It should have been family car from the get go.

Nissan living up to the name as the conservative second who learns from other's mistakes.

I think the key to this vehicle, and the Toyota Camry Hybrid, is that they have the potential to replace six cylinder vehicles in the future. I've never owned a 6 banger myself, but it seems that 200 HP is a fair amount of juice. I can't imagine a use for a mid size family sedan where 200 HP just will not get the job done. The hybrid version gets 39 MPG, the 2006 6 cylinder version gets 24 MPG. That is an efficiency gain of 62%. With a slight tweak in the american consumer's mindset, we could see these type of hybrid vehicles start to replace the more inefficelt segments of the auto industry (possible, hopefully, well probably not, but it's nice to hope...)

Peace,
Cosmo

Lets run the numbers on this one.

Over the V6 version, assuming 39mpg combined and 10,000 miles/year, then you’ll save $400 a year at $2.50 gal gas.

Over 5 years that’s $2,000.

If gas is $5/gal, or you drive 20,000miles a year then this becomes $4,000

So to my mind the hybrid can only charge between $2,000, and $4,000 premium over the regular V6 model.

There may be other benefits, such as reduced brake wear, but this may be offset by more complexity, which may in the long term increase warranty/repair costs.

Andy

Over the V6 version, assuming 39mpg combined and 10,000 miles/year, then you’ll save $400 a year at $2.50 gal gas.

The V6 version is rated at 23 mpg, so over 10,000 miles you'd save 178.4 gallons, which comes to $445.93 at $2.50/gal.

You can make up any kind of scenario, number of years, whatever, but the rule of thumb is a $4K premium for hybrid technology (which goes down over time) and 15K miles/year driving. You could get more precise by using National Personal Transportation Survey data, then assume it takes 10 years to drive 133,900 miles, and put on 10,000 miles thereafter, with a rule of thumb that a vehicle will last 200,000 miles (conservatively).

Then all you do is just calculate the payback period in miles, or in time, if you like. And since the value of fuel savings persists regardless of who owns it, the fuel savings annuity value is embedded in any resale premium a hybrid will have over its conventional counterpart.

Average gas price in 2006 has been $2.72.

Given those assumptions, payback comes at 82,445 miles, or a shade over 5 years. The tax credit will of course reduce the payback period, and of course there are other possible incentives to value as well (eg, less time fueling, free parking, reduced insurance, enhanced prestige, and so forth). Plus, some people would prefer a dollar go to Japan instead of to the Middle East.

This is a perennial argument against hybrids, one which the naysayers ever win.

I hope this model does very well for Nissan. That would change Carlos Ghosn's mind a bit and give the opportunity for further hybrid developments at Nissan.

This year hybrid Altima with 39mpg combined.

2 years from now with strong sales? Perhaps then we'd see a hybrid Sentra with 50mpg combined.

Passat and Altima are probably the best two to compare as far as size goes.

Pizmo -- You forgot to factor in the expense of maintaing two engines (yes there are two engines in this vehicle and they will both certianly incur and need maintenance)and the expense of replacing the batteries two times (if the vehicle is kept for 200,000 miles then one can expect to replace the twice AND if the vehicle is then resold after 200K and it is still in good shape then the next owner will have to replace them for yet a 3rd time -- not exactly cheap either).

Not to mention gas won't be $2.50/gal cheap much longer..
Not to mention the savings in external costs, e.g. pollution

One note:
The hybrid credit is large for the first x thousand models sold for any company. The credit for the Prius has now dropped in half. Since this is Nissan's first hybrid, it will be eligible for the full credit. That's around 3 thousand dollars. That alone makes the Altima hybrid more attractive than the Camry hybrid and covers most of the cost for the "hybrid upgrade".

I do want to know how the pricing compares to the Camry hybrid. Anybody?