Toyota Prius

[Buckgnarly]

This thread is two years old.....

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Prius v Ranger is a false comparison. Ranger cannot seat four, doesn't have interior luggage space and the Prius obviously isn't a pickup. I am no fan of the Pious but to be fair, if you are arguing for a heavier safer car you'd be talking about a vehicle that weighed more and was probably more expensive. It would likely not get anywhere near the 50 mpg combined that the Pious does and would be lucky to get half of that. For someone driving 18,000 miles a year that means quite a bit of savings on fuel. Roughly $1350/yr at $3.75/gal. More if combined fuel economy of the comparator is less than 25mpg. Most safer cars are heavier and probably get more like 20mpg combined. A regular pickup crew cab gets more like 15-18 mpg combined so Pious savings would be closer to $2500 per year. Drive it for ten years and the Pious is free compared to owning a standard pickup.

I see this is old. I don't think a Prius was designed to carry ops load, and a 4cyl ranger gets a tad better mileage than an explorer. My calculations were derived on driving 30 days a month, not 10 times a month per the op just to show if you drove everyday. So, cut mine and your numbers. So, payoff would be triple the time or more. My original argument mentioned devaluation. If you could find a prius worthy for $3000-5000, let me know. Thanks.

 

[RobertN]

I can not even look at a Prius without thinkinghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrbrpKoXHoE&feature=related about Jeff Dunham's skit, as mentioned two years ago in this thread

Jeff Dunham - Blue Prius - YouTube

Jeff Dunham-Blue Prius - YouTube

 

[IslandTractor]

Old thread acknowledged here too but the debate is still relevant.

Not sure what you mean by factoring in depreciation. My point was simply that a Prius driven for roughly 180,000 miles (about ten years for average drivers) would save enough in gas to essentially pay for itself compared to an average car. In other words the gas savings pay for the Prius outright.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Not sure what you mean by factoring in depreciation.

Ultimate cost of driving down the road. Buy a $25000 car, put 36,000 miles a year on it (like I do), and see what it's worth after 5 years of ownership. Maybe $3000? That cost is real. The op wanted to save money.

Buy a used vehicle that gets decent mileage for $5-8K and your money ahead.

 

[Spindifferent]

I really appreciate all of the responses.

The only reason I am interested in the Prius is gas mileage. My milk delivery is a 100 mile round trip. Dairy farmers are always responsible for transport, and the gas used in 100 miles eats into the little profit I make. My Explorer averages 23 mpg on my milk delivery runs, so I'm trying to find something considerably better than that.

As for loading, the tanks are put in the back of the vehicle empty. They are food grade plastic with stainless steel fittings, so they are light. The milk is then pumped into the tanks, and when we get to the destination, the milk is pumped out of the tanks. No loading or unloading heavy tanks, so that is not a consideration. The tanks are usually only half full. Most of my runs are only with about 50 gallons, which would weigh only about 400 lbs. It seems to me that having 2 adults in the back seat could equal or surpass that. On milk runs there will only be a driver, usually my wife, sometimes me.

So, maybe I will just keep using my Explorer when the tanks are more than half full, but I would think it would be OK with half full tanks.

I own a 2010 Prius and the "total load capacity" is 825 lbs according to the owner's manual. Total load capacity is defined in the manual as the "combined weight of occupants, cargo and luggage".

I highly recommend the Prius! Real-world MPG averages right around 50 MPG (the onboard computer tends to slightly over-estimate MPG), the car handles and drives very well, and the cargo space is very large with the rear seats folded down.

I have no experience driving it in snow here in Central Texas, but you may find info here: PriusChat

- Spindifferent

 

[houstonscott]

You didn't factor in a $14000 battery replacement to go 180K miles.

HS

 

[troutsqueezer]

You didn't factor in a $14000 battery replacement to go 180K miles.

HS

Maybe because that price is nowhere near reality.

My wife has a Prius, 2005 w/70k miles on it. Never a problem. What gets me is that some compare the Prius to an econo-box, as if the only difference between the two is that one has batteries. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Prius is entirely different on many levels than gasoline-only automobiles, from the continuously-variable transmission to the constant rpm gas engine to the four CPU's that run the whole thing. It cannot be compared to an "equivalent" gas-powered car. The features are many, too many to list, many of the same features as found in most gas luxury cars.

I didn't watch the Jeff Dunham video. No need to because, really, anyone who slams the Prius usually has a political agenda and has never driven one. I originally bought mine because of the high-tech nature of the thing, nothing to do with saving the planet.

 

[IslandTractor]

Ultimate cost of driving down the road. Buy a $25000 car, put 36,000 miles a year on it (like I do), and see what it's worth after 5 years of ownership. Maybe $3000? That cost is real. The op wanted to save money.

Buy a used vehicle that gets decent mileage for $5-8K and your money ahead.

Yes, a used car is typically cheaper to own. Just for kicks though consider a four year old used $8000 car vs new $25000 Prius and put 100,000 miles on each in three years.

After the three years the used car is worth maybe $3000, has required maybe another $4000 in repairs and maintenance plus 4000 gallons of gas at 3.75/gal. So, $5000 depreciation, plus $4000 repairs/maint plus $15,000 in gas for a total of $24,000.

The Prius would cost $25,000 and sell for $12500 at least with nearly no repairs and maybe $1000 for tires, brakes and oil. Gas would cost $7500. Total cost to drive Prius for 100,000 miles is therefore only $21000.

For someone driving 36,000 miles a year it seems the Pious makes more sense $ wise.

 

[IslandTractor]

You didn't factor in a $14000 battery replacement to go 180K miles.

HS

No way you'd pay that much if anything. Battery replacement is more a function of age and number of charges. Lots of Prius owners get high mileage with no battery replacement and i believe the warranty covers the battery for 100,000 miles or so anyway.. As I recall battery cost $7000 anyway replacement. (Edit ?$3000)