My wife runs her own business doing physical rehabilitation/specialized training. Her degree is in kinesiology which puts her somewhere between a personal trainer and a physical therapist. She trains people from pregnant ladies, older people, people recovering from injuries, and professional athletes. She also does massage therapy and meets with her client's doctors on a regular basis. All of this in addition to teaching outdoor training classes.
She ends up driving 200 miles or more per day due to running around client to client. Sometimes she has to carry about 500lbs of equipment which is why we own a Nissan Titan. Suprisingly the Titan does not do too bad on gas despite it's size, generally it averages 15mpg. Up until recently we also owned a 2000 Saturn sedan that she used when the 500lbs of equipment wasn't necessary. The trusty Saturn ran about 35mpg and now has 130K on it. A friend of ours is hot to buy it so we are selling the car.
The rest of our "fleet" consists of a 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 which gets 15-17mpg and my 1970 911T.
Given the miles that she drives it will run about $14786 a year to drive the Titan or the Jeep! That's based on the fuel calculator at
Fuel Economy.gov and a fuel price of $3.45 a gallon for regular.
She does have to drive the Titan about 20% of the time because the equipment is necessary for some clients. Based on driving a more fuel efficient vehicle 80% of the time I've come up with these numbers.
New Toyota Prius or used with HOV stickers
$22000 without Navigation
Annual fuel cost $3600 @45mpg
Tax incentive $757
Used Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe 2WD Auto
$15000
Annual fuel cost $6133 @27mpg
Tax incentive $0
Either car will save us a lot of money annually and the depreciation will be less on the hybrid car. She needs to be able to carry large bulky items like a massage table (approx 4x5 folded) so a sedan type vehicle is out.
Do you guys think we are good candidates for a hybrid vehicle or should I try to find something else that gets in the low 30s? The Matrix doesn't exactly get stellar mileage and it is not a sporty vehicle.
We used to have a Jetta wagon with the 1.8T but it ended up being returned as a lemon. I have thought about trying to find a tdi Golf or Jetta but it would have to be an automatic. They seem to go for the high teens no matter the miles.