An interesting article at money.com that exposes the saving money myth behind hybrid cars. The assumption is that since hybrid cars get better gas mileage, they save you money. While they do get better gas mileage, the reality is that overall they don’t save you money:

A hybrid Honda Accord costs about $3,800 more than the comparable non-hybrid version, including purchase, maintenance and insurance costs. Over five years, assuming 15,000 miles of driving per year, you’ll make up that cost in gasoline money if the price of gas goes up immediately to $9.20 a gallon and averages that for the whole period.

This is not to say that hybrid cars are bad. In fact, I think they make a social statement of support for more environmentally friendly vehicles. It’s important, however, to be able to distinguish between the two and to realize that better gas mileage doesn’t automatically equate into saving money.