Prius?

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Wait a few months if you can. The 2013 hover cars will be out in June!
 
I bought the Prius c Thursday. It's the 'city' version that's a bit smaller. It's perfect for us tooling around town with our two kids. We drove many many small subcompacts and it has the best characteristics of ride, fuel savings and interior layout. Our other car is a pilot, so the severe lack of hauling capability was a non-issue for me.

The battery comes with an 8 year 100,000 mile warranty.
 
I like the idea of hybrids but I cannot get on board with the Prius and similar designed hybrids. So ugly. I understand the design is aerodynamic and improves fuel economy. I would happily purchase an accord or camry hybrid. I've driven both full gas versions and been very happy with each.
 
Just focus on driving and not that goddam "how much gas am I saving" screen. Us motorcyclists thank you.
 
I like the idea of hybrids but I cannot get on board with the Prius and similar designed hybrids. So ugly. I understand the design is aerodynamic and improves fuel economy. I would happily purchase an accord or camry hybrid. I've driven both full gas versions and been very happy with each.

While I have never driven any hybrid, my buddy has a Camry hybrid and loves it... I ride with him in it once going from Salem, OR to the Portland airport... about an hour and a half. It was comfortable and quiet, I can say that much
 
There really is not reason you should ever buy a hybrid. At least not yet, they will get better eventually.

If you are doing it for the environment well that went out the window. The ore for the battery is mined in canada, shipped to Europe for refining then shipped to Japan for installation. Huge carbon footprint.

If youre doing it for the gas savings, the battery goes out and that is a huge expense. Like 6k + out of warranty.

If you want to get good gas mileage, get a Jetta TDI. Friend has a Jetta TDI wagon and gets 40+ on the highway. Nonwagon gets around 45+ highway.
 
There really is not reason you should ever buy a hybrid. At least not yet, they will get better eventually.

If you are doing it for the environment well that went out the window. The ore for the battery is mined in canada, shipped to Europe for refining then shipped to Japan for installation. Huge carbon footprint.

I have doubts that the footprint of a single item being transported once across the globe is more than the footprint of the gas burned in a similar non-hybrid vehicle and the footprint involved in the transport and processing of gasoline.

If youre doing it for the gas savings, the battery goes out and that is a huge expense. Like 6k + out of warranty.

I've seen those batteries online for around $3k. I'm not sure what you're seeing there. Also, I believe the warranty period is 8-15 years, depending on the state where you purchase the vehicle.

I do agree that hybrids are not the cost-cutting options people think them to be. I've seen several analysis that even with the tax credit for purchase the offset in gas requires over a decade of ownership to break even. It's probably an accurate analysis although I wonder how much the electric motor reduces wear on the gas engine and the costs of repairs on that side.

If you want to get good gas mileage, get a Jetta TDI. Friend has a Jetta TDI wagon and gets 40+ on the highway. Nonwagon gets around 45+ highway.

I agree, there are a lot of competitively prices vehicles that get comparable gas mileage and there's a lot of room for improved fuel economy in full gas vehicles. I think you get less value out of a hybrid civic than a hybrid SUV.
 
Fyi, the Prius c batt retails for around 2500. The regular 2nd Gen Prius batt is closer to 2800. Parts only.

Crapload of labor to install (huge pita, plus highly dangerous). Our Toyota dealership has only replaced 2 batteries since the first Prius came out 10 years ago.
 
I have doubts that the footprint of a single item being transported once across the globe is more than the footprint of the gas burned in a similar non-hybrid vehicle and the footprint involved in the transport and processing of gasoline.



I've seen those batteries online for around $3k. I'm not sure what you're seeing there. Also, I believe the warranty period is 8-15 years, depending on the state where you purchase the vehicle.

I do agree that hybrids are not the cost-cutting options people think them to be. I've seen several analysis that even with the tax credit for purchase the offset in gas requires over a decade of ownership to break even. It's probably an accurate analysis although I wonder how much the electric motor reduces wear on the gas engine and the costs of repairs on that side.



I agree, there are a lot of competitively prices vehicles that get comparable gas mileage and there's a lot of room for improved fuel economy in full gas vehicles. I think you get less value out of a hybrid civic than a hybrid SUV.

Done by Toyota themselves and they found that "In fact, when looking at the "materials manufacturing" phase of the car's life cycle, the Prius was worse than the class average across all five emissions categories."

From http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101018/OEM01/310189979

And some info from here http://www.newcarpark.com/blog/68/hybrid-cars-negative-environmental-impact/

I just think that currently, hybrids dont represent a good investment monetarily or environmentally.

Also people look dumb (looking at you Leonardo Dicaprio when he drove his Prius to the oscars several years back) who are all smug because they think they are doing something great for the environment by driving a prius.

If you really want to help ride a bike.
 
There are certainly a bunch of them around here, but I think you are required to buy a F350 4x4 or larger first (just looking at the driveways). I suspect my wife's next car will be a full electric. She drives 16 miles a day, so the engine barely gets warm.

The only person I know that owns a Prius loves it. Seven years of zero trouble.
 
My wife has one. She averages 45+ miles a gallon easily. Screw the environment , well not really, but that's deff not why she bought it. We travel quite a bit and its been a lot easier on the gas bill then my civic. Plus we got a great price, got tax credits and 60 months no interest. Had the car for 3 years. She loves it.
 
How many people have you ran off the road while staring at your computer screen?
 
I am attracted to the idea of saving money on gas, but we both work at home, so we barely drive 6k miles a year. Maybe even less.

So instead of going with a Prius or other hybrid, we are looking more at saving on the purchase price of a vehicle that gets average to above average gas mileage, and focusing more on our comfort and that kind of stuff.
 
We're looking at Prius for mpg, dependability/durability, decent creature comfort and wow it's a hybrid, neat-o mosquito.

Priced a battery. $2,718.10. Warrantied for 8 years or 100,000 miles of free replacement. Premature failures are low and many, many people are reporting battery life of over 100,000 miles. The car overall has performed very well over the past 10 years.

Don't care about the projected image.

Already own a motorcycle.
 
Funny thread. I'm going from 17 mpg in my pilot to 53 mpg in the Prius. Seems like a reasonable thing to me. 18.5K for the civic and 20.5K for the Prius C. This isn't fuzzy math anymore. But we each vote with our own dollars!!
 
Personal opinion but you'll never catch me in a hybrid as long as they look like they currently do. Styling is absolutely horrendous. Diesel FTW?
 
Zul'jin said:
many, many people are reporting battery life of over 100,000 miles.

We see them all the tine over 100k without issue. Had a lady in the shop today with 196k on her Prius. The only thing it needed was tires.

I'm not saying hybrids are the best solution for everyone, but from a dealership perspective they seem to hold up pretty well. Personally, I like my turbocharger too much to give it up! :ban:
 
I've 2 Prii (or whatever the bless the plural is) A 2004 with 140k mile and a 2009 I bought lightly used that now has close to 20k miles. Lots of misinformation and hate in this thread for some reason.

The battery is pretty expensive when it comes time to replace. Probably cancelling out the gas savings to that point :D

Which dealerships and Toyota servicemen will tell you is rare... even after this vehicle has been on the road for 10 years now. It's a typical scare-tactic not based in fact.

If youre doing it for the gas savings, the battery goes out and that is a huge expense. Like 6k + out of warranty.
Ummm, no, it's in the 2-3k range. Cheaper than the 3 transmissions you have to go through on a typical Chrysler to get to 140k miles. :drunk: From a 2008 article on the topic (note costs in 2008... the replacement cost today is cheaper)

The good news, though, is that the chances of needing to replace the battery in your hybrid is low, even after the warranty coverage is up. Honda says that less than 200 of its hybrid batteries have failed post-warranty, despite over 100,000 vehicles on the road. How about Toyota? Its post-warranty battery replacement rate sits at just 0.003 percent.

Total cost of ownership is one of, if not THE lowest of any car on the road. Reliability and maintenance costs are excellent and very limited, respectively. Edmunds and similar ratings have consistently said as much.

If you want to get good gas mileage, get a Jetta TDI. Friend has a Jetta TDI wagon and gets 40+ on the highway. Nonwagon gets around 45+ highway.

Ok, the diesel junkies weigh in. Always unbiased :rolleyes: I agree, diesel is a nice option if you do a lot of highway driving and can get over the fact that VW's are relatively costly to maintain (wish there was a wider range of makes/models available in the US)

Then again, when I venture into Chicago traffic, I usually get 75 mpg sustained (although I only typically get 45-50 mpg given my typical route to/from work). My wife averages 55 mpg over the course of the year in the 2004. Your "sweet spot" will vary based on what kind of driving you typically do, so keep that in mind.

We see them all the tine over 100k without issue. Had a lady in the shop today with 196k on her Prius. The only thing it needed was tires.

Yep, 140k miles on our 2004. Brakes only need to be done about every 100k miles because the magnetic recharging system takes considerable strain off the brakes. Tires every 50k miles, and that's about it. Gas mileage is as good now as it has ever been. We are about due for shocks and struts... on an 8 year old car with 140k miles (many in and around the city), that's about right.
 
All right! Prius owners.

On long term mpg. Sounds like the Prius keep their mpg very well. Yes? Our Kia Spectra has declined on mpg. What used to be low 30s is now high to mid 20s. That's with properly inflated tires, full fluids and regular oil changes; all that good stuff. We've also had a failed O2 sensor changed twice and the car looked over at the dealer each time. They say it's fine. Dealership creditability is always up for debate (no offense), but really, the car seems fine. It just doesn't get the mpg it used to. It now has 63,000 miles on it.

And for the record, the Kia dealership we use is awesome. No complaints, at all. :)

Tires. Do I have to keep low resistance tires on it to keep good (upper end) mpg? I've read the stock Goodyear tires are fair to midland, as we say in Texas. On the bike, I have found tires do matter, a lot. Not so much mpg but handling. IRC Grand Highspeed was ok. Dunlop 404 was more ok. Metzler 880s are :rockin: How does it work on the Prius?

How about octane? We've used mainly 87 in everything. Cars, trucks and my bike to. Does just as well as higher octanes. Is the Prius made to make better use of high octane or will 87 do just as well?

Since we have a dealer guy, thepartsmancometh, what is the most common repair you see needed on Prius? How much does it cost if not warrantied?

About the Kia. It aint the car we wanted. It's the car we could get. In 63,000 miles, we've had two O2 sensors replaced and front brakes replaced once. It's an inexpensive little car that gets us around. We've taken some road trips in it too. It'll do for that, but that's about all I can say. But hey, it's never left us stranded. It's best suited as affordable around town transport. We are looking for a car that's a good step or two (or two ;) ) above the Kia in comfort and overall niceness.
 
Im waiting for the tundra or even the tacoma to come in a diesel.. I have a 2010 tundra gas and she is thirsty!

Oh ya the prius is a nice ride. I spent $5 in gas driving around for 3 days.
 
Zul'jin said:
Tires. Do I have to keep low resistance tires on it to keep good (upper end) mpg? I've read the stock Goodyear tires are fair to midland, as we say in Texas. On the bike, I have found tires do matter, a lot. How does it work on the Prius?

How about octane? We've used mainly 87 in everything. Cars, trucks and my bike to. Does just as well as higher octanes. Is the Prius made to make better use of high octane or will 87 do just as well?

Since we have a dealer guy, thepartsmancometh, what is the most common repair you see needed on Prius? How much does it cost if not warrantied?
With regards to octane in your fuel, most vehicles are not able to advance the timing enough for the engine to make use of the extra knock resistance. If the vehicle is not designed for premium, it usually doesn't help.

Tires are 1 of the most important things that you could purchase for a vehicle. Most priuses seem to come with goodyear integrity ( or assurance fuel max) tires on them stock. I am not particularly a fan of this tire. There are several low rolling resistance tires available including the bridgestone ecopia, goodyear assurance fuel max, and the yokohama db super e-spec. I have not personally used any of these "eco" tires, so I cannot comment on their actual fuel savings.

The same things break in a prius as break in other cars: trim, latches, wear items, electronics (radio, etc.) In my opinion, the more fancy crap in a car, the more fancy crap breaks. Fancy electronic gizmos (radios, nav, butt warmers, etc) have a tendency to fizzle out and cost $$$ to fix.
 
Zul'jin, yes it is ideal to keep low resistance tires on it. As thepartsman mentions, the stock tires are low resistance but are very mediocre. The second gen Ecopia's added, I **** you not, 5 mph to my wife's car. Great, great tire, IMO.

87 octane or you're wasting money. Fuel economy as good now at 140k miles as ever.

We have driven all aroud the country, seen both coasts and the Gulf of Mexico. Awesome car for a couple or small family. We have 2 young kids, and we would buy a car-top pod long before we considered getting a minivan or SUV.

When we bought the first one, we were surprised how high the drive sits compared to most similar class vehicles and even though I am 6'3", I still have plenty of extra headroom.
 
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