An auto research firm collected detailed data for two years and was able to calculate the real cost of a vehicle, converting it to “dollars per lifetime mile” to make it easy to understand and compare vehicles.

They found these to be the Energy Cost per Mile:

• Honda Accord Hybrid — $3.29
• Conventional Honda Accord — $2.18
• Industry average of all vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2005 — $2.28
• Hummer H3 — $1.949

The most expensive car to operate is the luxurious Maybach from Mercedes Benz, costing the owner an average of $11.58 per mile (not surprising given the $300K+ purchase price). The cheapest is the ungliest Toyota ever built, the Scion xB, at just $0.48 per mile.

We believe this kind of data is important in a consumer’s selection of transportation. Basing purchase decisions solely on fuel economy or vehicle size does not get to the heart of the energy usage issue.

Ah yes, one of those “feel good” decisions that doesn’t turn out so well in the long run. Yet lots of liberals are happily humming along in their tiny hybrids. (Personally, I’d take a Hummer, but not that wimpy H3 — I want the real thing.)

Hat tip to NRO’s Jonah Goldberg, who notes:

It seems to me that pro-hybrid car types would make the argument that they’re trying to create a market for new technologies which would bring these energy costs down and would help wean us of our “addiction” to foreign oil. Both of those are good arguments but this study  — and this is just one study — does seem to undercut some of the sanctimony we occassionally hear about how hybrids are good for the environment right now.