The Essential Hybrid Car Handbook: A Buyer's Guide [Paperback]

Nick Yost (Author), David Friedman (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2006

A passionate, upbeat and  highly informative look at hybrid cars, their innovative technology, and the cultlike devotion surrounding them.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Wonder if now is the time to buy a hybrid car?

The Essential Hybrid Car Handbook gives you all the information you need to make a decision. With a thorough comparison of all models on the road today, this one volume covers price, cost-effectiveness, technology, and ecological advantages.

To make sure you have the fullest perspective on all your options, Nick Yos also charts the advantages and disadvantages of every viable alternative fuel - ethanol, biodiesel, hydrogen, natural gas, electricity. And he takes a close look at how the new fuel-sipping minicars stack up against hybrids.

About the Author

Nick Yost has been an automotive columnist for newspapers (Reading [PA] Eagle and Times, Washington Times) and magazines (Men’s Health, Robb Report) for more than thirty years.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press; 1 edition (October 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599210193
• ISBN-13: 978-1599210193
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,967,203 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars South Park was Wrong! Hybrids, and This Book, are Cool!, October 19, 2006

By 

Dary M. Matera (Chandler, Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Essential Hybrid Car Handbook: A Buyer's Guide (Paperback)

Seems the boys from South Park got it all wrong. Hybrid car owners aren't smug, they're cool! And this is the book that certifies their coolness. In addition, it tells in vital detail everything you want to know about the Hybrid car industry, how these vehicles work, their pluses and their few negatives. Well written and entertaining, the strength of the book is that it's not a political statement saying something like "you should buy these crappy cars to save a tree" but is more a veteran, gas-combustion addicted gearhead saying "what do you know, these smooth, clean, gas $$$ saving babies work great and here's precisely why."
Anybody considering buying one of these vehicles - or those who already own one - should absolutely buy this definative book. - Dary Matera

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent resource for hybrid car purchasers, March 29, 2007

By 

mrav8r "mrav8r" (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essential Hybrid Car Handbook: A Buyer's Guide (Paperback)

This is an excellent, clearly written book that brings together lots of different details about hybrid cars, all in one place. I would also recommend "Plug-In Hybrids: The Cars that will Recharge America" for some more information on hybrids around the world, and the new feature of converting a hybrid into a plug-in hybrid.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book stuffed with information, October 20, 2007

By 

Charles Hall (Raleigh, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Essential Hybrid Car Handbook: A Buyer's Guide (Paperback)

This is a very good book and I read it from cover to cover as soon as I got it. The author summarizes the various hybrid technologies and then dives into a model by model analysis of what was available at the time of writing, 2006, and as far into the future as the car manufacturers would let him peek.

There are two caveats however. This book may not age well as the information is so specific to current hybrid offerings, and more awkwardly, all of his MPG ratings are in a now-obsolete scheme. As of 2008 ALL fuel economy ratings have been recalculated using new formulas. For instance, the Toyota Prius, formerly rated at 60/51 city/hwy is now recalculated to 48/45. So none of the MPG values shown in this book will be found on any new car stickers you'll on the lot as of late 2007. These new numbers are said to reflect actual consumer experience more accurately.

That said, comparing MPG's for various vehicles within the book to each other is still perfectly valid. Or you can convert these old numbers to new using calculators on the www.fueleconomy.gov site.