Considering Buying A Prius

While mileage is lower for city driving, your savings are larger. The Prius suffers in stop and go, just like any car, but it suffers a *lot* less than standard cars.

How long is your wife's commute?

Tom

 

I like 50 mpg!
Best car for the money right now!Get one if you can.
What are you driving now? might pay to sit tight!

 

Welcome to PriusChat.

There are tons of threads here that discuss the Prius pros and cons. IMO, Prius excels in technology, high MPGs, low emissions, low maintenance costs, interior comfort and cargo capacity. Recent Prius owners, report that the price is going up sharply, and supply is diminishing rapidly. If price and availability is important to you, you better poop or get off the pot.

 

Currently with the tsunami and rising gas prices, you won't get much back on your Santa Fe and you will be paying a premium for the Prius. So, you need to do some calculations to see if it is worth it.

Personally, i would just get a cheap Corolla or 2012 Ford Focus or something like that for now.

 

I just got one went from a crossover that got 22mpg. Have to jump fast and look for a dealer not charging any market adjustment. because of rising gas prices and the earthquake very hard to find a 2011 and choices are few but used prius are almost as much as new in some places. My wife wants to drive the prius even though she bought a new car 6 months ago we love the ride, features and mpgs.

 

That commute sounds good for the PHEV and perfect for an EV.

 

Good Lord!!
Hope you get your Prius soon!

 

They are fabulous for what the OP wants but right now cost too much to bother with IMO. There is a huge price premium right now. I'd frankly consider holding off and see how things look in 3-6 months or so. You're unlikely to get a good price on a used or new prius at this time.

 

10-12 miles a day, you're spending $4./day for gas? prius can probably save you a thousand bucks a year. consider that when you look at trade in deals. the only caveat being how high will gas go?

 

OP, what needs are you trying to meet: minimize total costs? maximize reliability? minimize pollution and use of petroleum? The answer depends on the question. If you want to know whether you might like it, take some long test drives.

 

Excellent city commuter. Quiet and smooth. Very small turning circle making it easy to parallel park and maneuver.

Poor blind spots, perhaps particularly bad if she's short. (However, poor visibility seems to be common in modern vehicles with the wider pillars that give side and rollover protection). Center console sucks: unless she carries a small purse it won't fit and it'll end up on the passenger seat (or by your feet if you're with her). PWR mode is closest in response to a normal car, although it's not quite the same. I quickly got accustomed to using a heavier foot in ECO mode, but my wife switches between a Civic and the Prius and uses PWR mode.

As far as driving experience goes, the Prius is a Marmite/Dr Pepper car, you love it or you hate it. Until she gets in and test drives one (test drives are free ) you'll never know.

I have a II so I can't tell you about the nav system or the higher package amenities.

If it's just going to be a commuter or errand runner, and you're thinking in financial terms because of higher gas prices, the Prius is a loser. At 51mpg compared to 40mpg at $5/gallon it'd only save $0.32/day compared to a Honda Insight and would never pay back the difference in price. Payback would be even worse compared to one of the various subcompacts you can get with AT+A/C+CC for $14k.

The Prius is a car for higher mileage drivers or people who are willing to pay extra money to reduce gas consumption. If you'd be taking advantage of the high mileage and also using it for a good chunk of additional "family" miles (which I'd recommend) then the TCO balance shifts towards the Prius.

If you can afford the difference there's great potential to get the Prius PHV next year. There's always the possibility of the LEAF or Focus BEV. But that all depends on financial position and what other miles you would do in the car.

Drive the Prius, and try the Insight and some of the efficient subcompacts as well. You should both do the test drives since if you pick a car you both like you'll be able to put additional miles in it together to save more gas.

The more options you have the better deal you can get when buying. It's tougher right now with the combination of higher gas prices and supply problems, but as more Japanese suppliers resume production things should get somewhat back to normal. Don't panic and overpay for a hybrid when many of the efficient subcompact alternatives are less affected by the problems in Japan.

And remember that whatever car you're driving, sensible driving techniques can allow you to improve mileage. Particularly in city driving, timing and smart braking to maintain momentum at lights and yields, coasting to reds and using buffering to avoid unnecessary braking can give you significant savings on gas consumption, brake and tire wear without even costing you travel time. Free Money!

 

Now is not really the time to buying a Prius if you can hold off, doesn't make sense paying sticker price plus the usual tax, fees, etc., Here in California, roughly 10% - 11% is added to the selling price of the car in terms of tax, dmv, fees.

A Prius II at sticker is $24k, add $2.4k = $26.4k for a Prius II!! No thanks!

 

I'm discouraged to hear this. I'm in a position where I need to sell my current car, then fly to NH where I'll be for the summer (I'm on the west coast normally). I was planning on buying a prius when I get to NH and then driving it back across the country in September.

The prius is definitely the car I want, but I know this is not the optimal time to buy one. In NH, luckily, there is no tax.

Hmmm...I don't really have a choice - i need to have a car in NH and I don't have access to a free loaner.

Bummer. How much more will I be paying than I could expect to pay when Japan recovers / gas prices cool off again?

 

Short answer....about 3-4K.

I ran all kinds of numbers about 6 months ago (they were on sale then, and you could get one for MSRP minus a couple thou... )and got some hard quotes on a new G3-II. The math didn't work out for me then, and the G3's are about 3K more expensive now than they were then.

Do you need to unload your current car...or do you just really want to? Only you can answer that.
If you've "got" to get a new Prius, then it's gonna cost you about 3K more than what it would have six months ago. This is not to say that the price will go back down six months from now, and the extra three thou may not be that big a deal for you.

If you're looking for the least expensive way to lug yourself from point "A" to point "B", Priuses aren't the cheapest way to do it---but if you drive lotsa miles, it can pay you back a larger percentage of your initial investment than if you'd fallen in lust with say.... a Camaro.

Right now (May 2011) Econoboxes still trump Ecoboxes if you look at TCOs dispassionately....unless you're one of those poor souls that have to drive 40+ miles or so to work and back every day. The only thing is.....you'll be stuck driving an econobox instead of an ecobox.

If you look at what the "experts" say...(and remember, an "EX" is a has-been, and a "SPURT" is a drip under pressure!) Priuses aren't in the top five for any list of cars to drive with the lowest TCO. Forbes had them at #8 and this is presuming that you can buy a stripped out G3-I at MSRP....something that's getting harder and harder to do. Priuses are not even on some lists. The fact that every "expert's" list is different from every other is indicative of how people do interesting things with math, and their perceptions of value. Car manufacturers make more profit on options that they do on the car itself---and they're really big on the up-sell. This is why G3's have almost the same driveline components for a car that starts out at $23K and rockets very quickly to $35K
We usually help out.
People usually "want" a specific car, or "have to have" a specific option....and bend their "bottom line" numbers accordingly.

Synopsis:
If you want a G3...buy one.
If you want the 'greenest' car out there, the G3 should be close to the top of your short list of cars to consider.
If you want the cheapest new car to drive in terms of TCO...then you're going to be stuck with something like a Versa, Yaris, Elantra or some other Econobox.

Good Luck!!!
(Let us know how it shakes out!!)

 

Are the Prius's (Prii) actually selling for over the window sticker price or just at the window sticker price right now? Myself personally, if it is at the window sticker, the price is fine, if it is below the window sticker price, great, a better deal. If it is jacked up over the window sticker, screw that dealer, go somewhere else or wait out the buying frenzy. The Santa Fe is an awesome CUV but I know what you mean by the ugly gas mileage in town. Please keep us updated on what your ultimate decision is to buy a Prius or whatever else you decided to do I myself will be waiting until June 2012 to buy a Prius Five. Meanwhile I drive my 16-20 mpg Saturn Vue AWD and the rental Prii when I am on road trips

Mike

 

We picked one up two weeks ago today. MSRP was ~$24700. Ours was a cash deal with no trade-in. I managed to talk them down a few hundred dollars, but that was it. The dealer only had two other Prius's left and weren't expecting any more for a month or so (at least that's what they told me). I'm located along the central coast of California where gas is expensive ($4.25 today) and Prius's are very popular so the Prius shopper doesn't have much leverage with the dealer. That may be different in your area. I'm loving the car, but am kicking myself a bit for not picking one up a few months ago when I could have gotten a better deal. Good luck!

 

Wait till Sept-Oct or so to buy a prius. Now the prius prices are inflated by almost 3-5k over msrp. I want to trade my 09 but decided against it. Trade in values are crap and the sales price are through the roof. Basically the dealers are screwing you from front and behind