Now wait a minute....
It worth discussing people miles per gallon.
Heck, lets even fudge a little and say the Suburban gets 25mps and the Prius gets 50mpg
If you put 1 person in a Prius and 1 person in a Suburban, obviously the Prius wins. It gets double the people mileage.
Now lets put 1 person in a Prius and 2 people in a Suburban. The score is even. You are moving the same amount of people for the same amount of fuel.
Of course, if you make the comparison fair, you put 2 people in each vehicle and the numbers favor the Prius.
And that's the point.... fair comparison. Houstonscott is not interested in a fair comparison.
Just as no one buys a Suburban for the purpose of saving fuel, no one buys a Prius to transport 9 people and their camping gear.
The argument that it takes 4 Priuses to transport the people and camping supplies that a Suburban can do in one trip is just plain lame. Extremely lame. As in epically lame.
However, if you already own a vehicle that is not as fuel efficient as a Prius, and you think you want to sell it and buy Prius to save a ton of money on fuel, you must do your own comparison to find out the time it will take to get your energy savings payback. If you're going to lose $2500 dollars on the trade, its going to take you a looong time to get that $2500 dollars back in fuel savings. It only pays if you drive high mileage over several years. For average people driving 12-15,000 miles per year, chances are you will NEVER see that energy savings payback before the vehicle wears out. However, if you can trade even or even get cash back, then you will come out ahead. But you won't have a big, roomy car or truck. You'll have a Prius with its advantages and its limitations.
I agree.
I've said all along and it's been written in nearly every article about the Prius that because of the cost, you will save little money, if any, by buying a Prius. Cost is not what it is about. Almost all the back-and-forth in this thread has been about cost, ignoring all the other ground-breaking features the car has brought to the market.
I knew going in, it was going to cost me more than if I had bought say, a Corolla. BTW, a lot of people compare the car to a Corolla. I have both, and there is nothing similar about them. The Pruis has features that can only be found in cars much more expensive than the Corolla. I would say that Houston's BMW is closer to the Corolla than the Prius, but not as sophisticated. He also keeps harping on how small the Prius is, as if it is some kind of Econo-box. Nothing could be farther from the truth, another claim that has no basis in reality. It's a hatchback, the hatch opens wide, the back seats fold down, you can fit huge boxes inside and tie them down using the built-in tie downs in four places. The interior space is considered MID-SIZE, Google it. And there's still space left over in the hidden trunk. Four adults can fit easily, each with a cup holder and armrests on both sides for both front and back passengers.
Did you know that Toyota had to come up with a completely new way of running the air conditioner for this model? If the engine is not running at stop lights, the AC must keep running somehow so they had to come up with a solution that would keep it going while not running the batteries down in a hurry. There were many other technological advancements needed to get the Prius rolling.
The HSD (hybrid synergy drive) system has been licensed to Ford, Nissan and Mazda. GM, Chrysler and BMW (yes, BMW!) are all copying Toyota's HSD system and putting their own spin on it. Is the world rushing to copy the VW TDI technology?
The car is cutting edge. Some people are afraid of cutting edge and will stick with their Corellian Cruisers no matter what, all the while slamming what they don't understand.