Toyota Prius

[txdon]

Speaking of fuel cost, lets say that you buy a Prius to replace your suburban, then do like brain55 suggested and rent a Suburban for your three trips per year each of which is 4 days long (a total of 12 days of car rental).
Lets also assume that fuel costs $3.50/gallon, you drive 10k miles per year, the Suburban gets an average of 15MPG and the Prius gets an average of 50MPG.
You used to spend ~$2333 on fuel for the Suburban, now you will spend $700 on fuel for the Prius thus you would save $1633. HOWEVER you will spend $157/day on renting the suburban (based on the Enterprise web pricing for renting a "Premium SUV" aka a Chevy Suburban, Ford Expedition XL or similar which seats 7 from 5 Dec to 9 Dec), so if you buy a Prius, and rent a Suburban for those 12 days per year (assuming that the rental cost doesn't go up), you will lose $254 (only looking at fuel and rental expenses) compared to driving a Suburban full time (this also assumes that you don't count time spent to go pickup the Suburban and that there is always one available to rent when you need one).

Aaron Z

Refigure to the real world 30K miles a year and $4 a gallon.

 

[IslandTractor]

Refigure to the real world 30K miles a year and $4 a gallon.

I agree, few people who drive a total of 10K per year need a Prius and those who have them drive considerably more.

And, if all you need for your three or four trips a year is extra cargo and passenger space, join Costco then rent a minivan for less than half the price of the Suburban rental. .

 

[troutsqueezer]

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.

 

[bcp]

Why do you guys keep comparing a Prius with driver only to a Suburban with six people on board??

I wonder which will come out ahead if you put four in the Prius and only the driver in the Suburban?



Bruce

 

[Dr_Zinj]

Island is right. When comparing equal passenger loads, the Prius beats Suburbans and 15 pax vans hands down.
If you're going to transport more than 4 people; trying to compare to a Prius is a total logic fallacy if done accidentally, or totally dishonest if done intentionally.

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

Is the world rushing to copy the VW TDI technology?

Hmm, let's see now... VWs latest TDI technology (developed by Robert Bosch GmbH) features turbo-charging and direct injection via high pressure common rail where fuel is fed to electronically controlled piezo injectors at approx. 44,000 psi.
That "technology" is now used by virtually every car and truck maker on the planet that offers a diesel vehicle.

Gasoline direct injection is basically the same principle. So for all those who dismiss diesel engines as too costly to repair and maintain in comparison to a gasoline engine, well, you now have GTDI engines, like the Ecoboost that are just as expensive!

 

[MossRoad]

Just remember this winter when I pass your Prius on the freeway with my two hunting buddies, two dog carriers, three shot guns, all the hunting bags, waders, and decoys, and I might have even left the weed eater in there and 100 lbs of goat feed by accident because I forgot to take them out the day before. I'm getting more miles per person (better fuel efficiency) then you are, hard to swallow but true. HS

Houstonscott.... its one thing to argue a point if you are even close to a majority... say even 30%. But 95% of the folks here do not agree with you on your stance on the Prius. 95%. That's a clue that you are on the wrong side of an issue. You're becoming that old man down the block that everyone tells their children to stay away from.

 

[MossRoad]

Refigure to the real world 30K miles a year and $4 a gallon.

The average American driver puts in a little less than 14K per year.

 

[aczlan]

I agree, few people who drive a total of 10K per year need a Prius and those who have them drive considerably more.
And, if all you need for your three or four trips a year is extra cargo and passenger space, join Costco then rent a minivan for less than half the price of the Suburban rental. .

Looking on their website, a minivan ("Chrysler Town and Country, OR SIMILAR" runs $82/day (for a 4 day rental from 5 Dec to 9 Dec) which would be $984 for 12 days/year.
As someone who has a minivan and a suburban in their immediate family, there is no comparison on cargo or passenger space... A minivan with 4 buckets and a bench will seat 6 adults and their carryon luggage. Good luck with much more than that. A suburban (2 buckets in front and 2 benches in the back) will seat 7 fairly comfortably along with 2-3 times as much luggage space as a Caravan

Refigure to the real world 30K miles a year and $4 a gallon.

The average American driver puts in a little less than 14K per year.

With 14k miles/year and gas at $3.757/gallon (2012 average per U.S. Regular Reformulated Retail Gasoline Prices (Dollars per Gallon) ) a Prius would save you $2454 in fuel. If you rented a minivan for those 12 days at $82/day (could be more depending on where you were driving it, unlimited mileage around here is just in the northeast, they charge you per mile if you were to go down to FL for example), a Prius would save you $1470/year.

Aaron Z