Comments on: Test Drove the Toyota Prius

By: Funny about Money

Funny about Money — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:31:30 +0000

Another reason to hold off buying for a while: your independent mechanic probably can’t work on it yet. My guys haven’t had the opportunity to take the classes, and they don’t evince much enthusiasm to do so.

This leaves you trapped in Toyota’s service department. Eeeek!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:44:18 +0000

Another plus to consider. A Toyota Prius has held its value WONDERFULLY. I bought a new 2004 model (fully loaded at the time) for about $25K and took possession of it in late 2003. So, the car is almost 5 years old and has about 60k miles on it. KBB indicates that it is still worth about $15K. I have paid off the car and it is great to know that it is actually worth a good amount!

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:20:16 +0000

Check how often the batteries need to be replaced. That part is an expensive proposition.

By: jim

jim — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:50:04 +0000

That’s it I quit, I’ve turned in my degree and CMU gladly accepted it back.

Haha, you’re right CK and others, I put the “free” in quotes because ultimately power comes from somewhere and batteries don’t spontaneously get power.

By: CK

CK — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:13:40 +0000

Jim-

This “free” AC comment may cost you your CMU degree. Running the AC in a Prius will effect your mileage. It takes energy to run AC and the energy has to come from somewhere. Since the only way to add energy to the Prius is to fill the gas tank it’s coming out of your gas mileage. Unless of course you’re pushing it to the top of a hill and using the regenerative braking but I think not.

By: jim

jim — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:47:18 +0000

Haha, by “free” I meant that it wouldn’t cost you gas in the manner AC costs you gas in a conventional car.

By: Posco

Posco — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:42:51 +0000

Like Chris S pointed out, I don’t see in what sense the AC would be “free” in the hybrid. The heat in a combustion engine is free because it’s wasted heat. The AC would be free if something in the hybrid drive ABSORBED heat as part of its energy exchanges.

By: Llama Money

Llama Money — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:35:17 +0000

Don’t forget, you’re comparing your wife’s current highway MPG in her Civic, to the city MPG in the Prius. What would your wife’s Civic get in an all-city scenario? Not sure, but nowhere near 38 MPG. Something to think about.

By: jim

jim — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:04:11 +0000

dieselboi: Yes, very true. We live in suburbia and so it’s difficult for us to escape it. I personally drive very infrequently because I work from home and I’ll be buying a bike soon (within a month I hope) so that I can rely on that to ride to the gym and other local areas I need to get to. Fortunately I can walk to the grocery store, library, and local farmers market so my driving is limited. My wife works 35 minutes away, which forces a drive, but her office will be moving closer which will result in a shorter commute.

Ben: Thanks for sharing the diesel, I think that our fuel efficiency is high enough that it wouldn’t make much sense to change vehicles. I feel for the folks driving sub-20MPG cars though.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:32:12 +0000

My husband and I both drive Honda’s. Like you said there really isn’t enough of a savings yet to push us to buy a Prius. I also wonder what the upkeep costs would end up being on the car in the long run. I really don’t think in our case we would end up saving any money.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:25:44 +0000

How about a 2009 Jetta TDI diesel? or any diesel. I just chose the 2009 because it’s the cleanest diesel to date.

Pros:
Diesel technology has been around for ages.
Engines are robust (300,000 miles is not uncommon for diesels)
Very powerful engine
40-50 MPG depending on how you drive it
Some have manual shift for those who prefer it

Con’s:
TDI/Diesel emissions will not be as low as the Prius, but how does one dispose of the prius battery when the car is totalled, or at the end of it’s useful life?
MPG not as good as the Prius when you’re in stop and go traffic

I know I’m going to get a few people that will complain about the high diesel costs but you have an option to run the car on veggie oil with no ill effects for half the cost of pump diesel, or you could collect your own veggie oil for less.

If I really wanted to be really frugal/cheap then I would buy a used diesel Golf, Jetta or maybe even an old Mercedes and convert it to use veggie oil. Under $10k for the car and maybe under $2k for the conversion, that leaves me with a lot of extra money for fuel.

By: dieselboi

dieselboi — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:46:03 +0000

What about changing the lifestyle to minimize the commute? Maybe think about a bike or walking or public transportation. Until our society starts to realize that urban sprawl and the car culture is the real culprit here, we won’t separate ourselves from the dependency of foreign fuel.

By: mapgirl

mapgirl — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:12:19 +0000

Nice icon Jim!

My friend is a hobby goat farmer. She can pack 2-3 goats into the back of her Prius for short trips to the vet. It’s really insanely roomy. But she also uses it as her daily commuter from the exurbs of DC into the inner burbs. She idles a lot in traffic, so the Prius is perfect for her stop & go highway miles.

But you’re analysis is spot on. If you drive a pretty fuel efficient car already in a fuel efficient manner, you aren’t really going to get a lot of cost benefit driving a Prius. I think I calculated once that it would take me over 5 years to make it worthwhile on a new Prius to replace my Altima. Or if you have a gas guzzling Jeep like my boyfriend, but drive very little (i.e. <100 miles a week), it will take 10 years!

I thought the other key factor in getting a Prius was if you are driving mostly highway vs city. The greatest gains I thought were at speeds less than 45 mph when it barely used the gas engine and ran off the electricity generated? Is that right? Because that would mean that for speeds regularly over 45, it’s not really saving gas, is it? (I say this because I see a lot of speeding Priuses around the DC beltway.)

By: Madame X

Madame X — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:58:58 +0000

I recently had my first rides in two different Priuses, and at least as a passenger I was impressed! My father said he would have considered buying one but that the Prius had the worst braking distances in tests done by Consumer Reports. In any case, I think these new fuel efficient cars will be dominating the roads soon…
But re. the Hummer comparison, of course those people are the ones who have the most to gain, but how many Hummer drivers do you think actually trade in those monstrosities for a Prius!?!

By: Jadin

Jadin — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:54:41 +0000

I *love* our Prius. Luckly we bought a used one a few years back, when fuel was a little less crazy (the former owner was keeping his SUV for “practicality”) and got a good deal–we knew it, had the cash, grabbed it. Hubbie’s car was spitting oil at the time, so this was definitely a step up.
Took a while to get used to the “sedany” feel since I had been driving a CRV myself, but oh do we love it now! A trip to SoCal (from Bay Area) averaged 50mpg!
If I had the $ for a newbie, I’d want one with “stealth” mode, where a button switches you to all electric. The engine is absolutely silent when using just the battery. They’ve had them for a while in Europe, but for some reason not here. Now they’re so backed up, you have to wait for just about any of them [new].
Glad you posted about the Prius!