How much would you save by having a Prius?
(2010-11-26 15:05:19) 1. Says: Compared to Corolla, how much would you probably save in 10 years by buying a Prius? Consider gas price, gas mileage, vehicle price difference, tax... etc.2. Says: not a lot considering the cost of maintenance, ownership, and replacement batteries. if you're looking to save cash, you'll be a lot better off with an older Civic or Volkswagen TDI.9 thumbs down in 15 minutes? sounds like a single loser with 9 accounts...3. Says: Toyota claims that the batteries will last the life of the car. What we don't know is if that is true. The car is more designed to be a city car (as opposed to a freeway car). With gas prices being what they are, you will probably make back the extra few thousand dollars in price in a few years. The question then is whether the savings will be eaten up by a new battery. One more thing to consider, The pollution created to make the battery is greater then the pollution created to build a Hummer.
good luck finding the truth.4. Says: most of the answers are true yet partially... The myth that Prius saves fuel is not very true. It saves fuel if and only if you are driving constantly in a stop and go traffic jammed city... Go on a highway and you will be doomed. Try going up a slope, and you will be even more doomed. The idea is that the Prius is equipped with a smaller engine and yet it weighs much more than a Corolla. So the smaller engine will be working harder to pull the car. (They say the motor will help, but don't forget that this is only applicable for the first 1 mile, above that the battery is drained and you are doomed). When an engine works hard, it has to burn more fuel with each stroke, and this causes knocking. So they have to retard the spark to prevent the knock which reduces the efficiency of the engine.
On the other hand, Prius is like driving a fridge or a washing machine... There is nothing interesting that. If you want a nice green car, go and get a TESLA ...5. Says: It depends very much on your driving habits. If you are going to put relatively few miles on it, or if your miles are mostly highway miles at 75 mph, it will be more expensive than a Corolla. My wife puts about 15K miles a year on hers, mostly in town, and has had it for 8 years. In 111K miles it has burned about 2500 gallons of gasoline at an average cost of about $2.50 (gas is expensive here). A Corolla in the same service gets about half the fuel economy so it would have burned about 5000 gallons. The Prius has used about $6,250 in gasoline and the Corolla would have used $13,500. When we bought her Prius it was about $5000 more than an equivalently equipped Corolla, so at this point it has saved us about $1000. KBB.com says it is worth 5700 in a private sale while the Corolla would be worth 4625; if we sold the car today we would be about $2000 ahead. As long as we keep it we save about as much as we spend on gas.
We have had no repairs besides windshield replacements, which are a fact of life in Arizona, the Land of Flying Rocks. It would be fair to say we have saved the price of one or two brake jobs (I do my own maintenance so there is no actual labor cost); the brakes have more than half the pad left. Batteries (the main one) are lasting about 200K miles on these first generation Prius, so we have a ways to go before that becomes an issue. It appears few second and third generation Prius will ever need a main battery replacement.
If you sell earlier you take more of a depreciation hit and recoup less of the premium for the hybrid system.6. Says: Let's assume the Prius gets 50% better gas mileage, say 50 MPG versus 35MPG
And assume you drive 10,000 miles a year.
And assume gas is $4 a gallon.
The Corrola will use $1142 of gas. The Prius: $800.
With the Prius you save about $350.
But if your car loan is at 10%, that only covers about $3,500 of extra original cost.
I suspect the Prius costs a whole lot more than $3,500 more
Plus after a certain number of years it's going to need a new battery. Not cheap.7. Says: My 2004 Prius with 115,000 miles has cost 12 cents per mile for dealer maintenance, tires, and fuel combined.
The battery is a non-issue. It's not particularly expensive and until a number of Prius hit the 300,000 to 400,000 mile mark we won't even know what the mean time between failures is.
The times I've driven a Corolla on my normal commute it used about twice the gas that the Prius does. I expect dealer maintenance to be about the same on a Corolla because the service done is the same.
The Prius is a mid-sized car, the Corolla is a compact. The Prius is going to cost more, duh. The Prius also has more luxury and safety features then the Corolla such as vehicle stability control which you can't get on a Corolla at any price and is a lot more fun-to-drive. You can live cheaply by renting a one-room apartment and eating canned beans too.
Lifestyle impact -- How much does changing fuel cost affect a Prius owner.
Gas -- Amount of gas purchased
Miles -- Actual miles driven
$/Mile -- Gas/Miles
12 months prior to Oct 2004
Gas: $466.13 Miles: 13,333 $/mile: $0.0350
Cost of gas based on 16,000 miles: $559.37
12 months prior to Oct 2005
Gas: $686.77 Miles: 16,631 $/mile: $0.0413
Cost of gas based on 16,000 miles: $660.71
12 months prior to Oct 2006
Gas: $708.38 Miles: 14,716 $/mile: $0.0481
Cost of gas based on 16,000 miles: $770.19
12 months prior to Oct 2007
Gas: $825.08 Miles: 17,963 $/mile: $0.0459
Cost of gas based on 16,000 miles: $734.92
12 months prior to Oct 2008
Gas: $889.01 Miles: 15,855 $/mile: $0.0561
Cost of gas based on 16,000 miles: $897.14
12 months prior to Oct 2009
Gas: $774.33 Miles: 20,641 $/mile: $0.0375
Cost of gas based on 16,000 miles: $600.23
12 months prior to Oct 2010
Gas: $613.65 Miles: 14,589 $/mile: $0.0421
Cost of gas based on 16,000 miles: $673.00
As of November 22, 2010 fill
Gas: $73.50 Miles: 1,818 $/mile: $0.0404
Cost of gas based on 16,000 miles: $646.86
I had a VW TDI, it cost 22 cents per mile for just dealer maintenance over the 95,000 miles I had it (This does not count the blown engine at 80,000 miles that was covered under warranty.) In addition diesel is about 18% more expensive than the regular gas that the Prius uses so the effective mpg is 18% lower than shown. And every fill is a smelly mess.
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As far as gas mpg on the highway here are two trips, each a week apart, from Texas to Nebraska:
Date________ODO___Increment__MPG(l/100…
--- First three are city commutes:
06/28/10____109831____637____67.6 (3.5)
07/28/10____110452____620____67.9 (3.5)
08/10/10____111064____611____67.2 (3.5)
--- Trip to NE starts here
08/13/10____111690____625____59.8 (3.9)
08/14/10____112308____618____60.0 (3.9)
08/20/10____112972____663____64.2 (3.7)
08/22/10____113411____438____58.9 (4.0)
08/31/10____113922____510____61.8 (4.0)
--- Trip to NE ends here
So although the Prius gets lower mpg on the highway it's still very good mpg.
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As for the NiHM battery being environmentally unfriendly, that FUD has been disproved so many times that it's becoming boring.8. Says: I have had a Toyota Prius since May 2005 and I LOVE IT!
I get about 45 miles to the gallon and have been saving a ton of money. I bought it when the government was giving a big tax break to those who bought hybrid vehicles. The money I save in gas, goes right towards the payment. Since the price of gas is so HIGH, what I would pay for gas is the car payment. It's like paying for gas and getting a car for free! I work about 30 minutes from my home, and have to fill up my car once every two weeks! I drove from my home in Pennsylvania to Myrtle Beach last summer and it only took one tank of gas!
We you get a hybrid, you learn to drive differently, taking advantage of coasting, etc. . . It has awesome power and is really roomy inside, despite how small it looks on the outside. I would recommend this car to anyone!
The only downside this car has is starting after it has been in frigid cold for a few days without being run. It kills the battery and requires a "jump", which is very different from "jumping" a standard car. With this car, you have to actually "charge" it off of the "jumper car" for about 30 minutes. I found this out when I had to park my car at the airport in January. But other than that, this car is the best!
Be "green", and get one and start loving to drive again, while keeping some "green" in your pocket. Tag: How much would you save by having a Prius?