Toyota Prius

[yooperdave]

Does anyone here own a Toyota Prius?

I test drove one today and was very impressed, though I wish it were a bit bigger. It was so different and high tech. It did get up to 70 mph and was very quiet.

It specs out as 55 to 60 mpg.

My dealer seems to be taking orders for the end of year at $22,350 which is higher than MSRP.

How does the $3,000 + tax credit work? Is the fiscal year for cars the same as the calendar year?

Any input would be appreciated.

Yooper Dave

 

[Bird]

Dave, go over to Tractorbynet's sister site Countrybynet and there's a "vehicles" forum. A couple of the members have Toyota Prius. They seem to be well satisfied with them so far.

 

[heehaw]

when you can buy a corolla for $14,000; it would take a long time to save the $$ price difference in fuel, even at the soon to be $3 a gal. according to the latest consumer reports mag: the prius gets 44 mpg with an automatic transmission: the honda insight gets 51 with a manual trans. our corolla got over 36 mpg with a manual transmission, i don't know exactly what the mileage was, because the speedometer and odometer was off by over 10%:
heehaw

 

[boustany]

A friend has one and loves it.

However, financially, they just don't make sense currently. As noted, you can buy a whack of gas for the primium in price, and, at least the last time I checked, replacing the batteries (mui $$$$), which have a fairly short life (roughly the duration of the warranty) would start the clock all over again.

The problem is, fundamentally, people don't differentiate between a capital cost (expensive car) and expense (the price of gas).

But, the Prius can be a statement, and not one which is too expensive as these things go. Eventually, I believe the premium will come down as the cost of batteries and the other hybrid bits come down, and these will be more than cost competitive with other comparable high efficiency vehicles.

Until then, I'd consider a VW TDI or just a small car with a manual transmission ...

 

[BillG_in_TX]

<font color="blue"> How does the $3,000 + tax credit work? Is the fiscal year for cars the same as the calendar year?
</font>

The tax credit is $2000. Here's more information.

 

[PhilNH5]

To expound on HeeHaw's point. I saw the numbers crunched with a Civic versus a Civic Hybrid. The premium paid for the Civic Hybrid is $4K over the regular Civic. With gas at 2.25 a gallon the savings in gas would not recover the 4K cost difference. So a direct apple to apple comparison does not show this technology to be economically viable.

However the numbers should look favorable on the Hybrid SUVs.

Phil

 

[sneaky_pete]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( it would take a long time to save the $$ price difference in fuel, even at the soon to be $3 a gal.)</font>

I came to the same conclusion as you and Boustany a couple of years ago when they first came out. I'm a Toyota fan, but even the increase in mileage from my 13-14 mpg gas guzzler would take a long long time to pay out the purchase price of the Prius versus my old truck which is reliable and has been paid for for a long time.

 

[jmc]

I've read most articles I stumble across about hybrids and while they like to marvel at the economy of high mileage, no discussion about economy is meaningful unless you consider the cost of consumable batteries. I think the press has done a disservice in covering this. I haven't seen how much they cost to replace but judging from the cost of other OEM parts, I bet it will be in the thousands$. And maybe we think that we'll trade it before the batteries go bad, but that looming expense is going to lower the resale value.

 

[hazmat]

Tax year is Jan 1 - Dec 31. What ever year you buy the car, you get the credit.

 

[lloydp]

Yooperdave,

We have one. Got it in July and have 1,800 + miles. Doesn't drive much different than our old Honda Accord. We live in the Dallas area and most of the driving is freeway.

So far 42.5, 47.2, 49.2 and 47.4 mpg on the fuel. Probably won't save the difference in price, but it was the idea than made us decide on a hybrid.

We paid MSRP several dealers wanted more. They said 6 - 8 month wait, ours came in 3 months. When we picked it up I think they said they had a waiting list of 30 something and it is a pretty small dealership.

I'm not sorry we bought it, probably would do it again.

Lloyd