How I cost-justified our Prius v

i am with you but i have to wonder, do people who buy a Lexus sedan feel they have to justify the cost over a Camry?

 

That's pretty much exactly our thought process - we were comparing to the Rav4, Subaru Forester, or Mazda5. All those get in the neighborhood of 20-25mpg average. We also drive >20K mi/yr, so there wasn't much question that the v should save us money in the long run!

Interestingly, when we were buying a smaller car a few years ago, we went through the same calculations and came to the opposite conclusion. This was late 2007 - looked at the Scion xD vs. Prius or Civic Hybrid. Price premium on the hybrids was closer to $10,000; gas savings over a 200,000 mile vehicle lifetime were only about 1300 gallons, or ~$5000. Never even close to paying for itself, unless gas prices increased dramatically.


Congrats on the new v! Enjoy!
Andy

 

We average over 50mpg on our v. If you do that the economics are skewed even more.

 

While researching cars before buying my Prius, I noticed in general Prius has a higher resale value than most other compacts. This could only get better as gas prices climb up so buying a Prius made even more economic sense.

 

It's a pretty simple basic math but unfortunately there are people out there that just don't get it and these people, more likely, do have a little Prius Hater in them and these are the people you just need to agree to disagree.

 

To be honest, I was a semi-Prius hater. Mostly cause I didn't like the car design. I went towards the Prius because the long run, the Prius had the better MPG, and also forgot the fun times with the Prius' little SUA issue a few years ago. One of the older Prius designs I didn't like was when they had the cowl over the rear wheel areas, but the one thing that was less desired was the rear window design.

I guess I lucked out that the Prius v was available when my car finally had something fair I didn't want to deal with paying and being 15 years old, it was time for a replacement. The v fit the bill of what I was looking for.

 

36.2 MPG average - why so low?

 

First tank was 33 mpg, second tank was 38, and last tank was 37. I do mostly highway driving, so the MPG tanks a bit due the following factors:

1) Cold starts in the morning - No block heater and sometimes the temps have been in the 30s to 40s.
2) First tank, drove the car like I did when I had my Sentra, so it was lots of hard accelerations, not too much gliding.
3) General just driving on the highway, the occasional hard acceleration to get to certain speeds.
4) Some short trips, so gas was burned for the traditional cycles.

Thing I noticed is that I have a hard time getting into EV mode, and it hurts when you are dealing with people who want to get through intersections fast so you have tailgaters pushing you to move faster.

 

Keiichi – For so time now, I have been scratching my head and silently wondering the same “36.2 MPG average - why so low?” question Da-Baron asked of you. I would expect that, after reading my Ten Tips Guide (Thanks for sharing my Ten Tips Guide e-link), you would be putting to practice at least enough key hybrid pre-operative and driving technique tips to point you in the direction of driving “Hybrid $mart” and converging on Ultra-High MPG Averages. I would expect 40-ish, not 30-ish, MPG numbers.

After reading and heeding the Ten Tips, you should have been able to springboard your Pv5ATP driving performance to the level that would be now delivering at least mid-to-high 40s above the Official EPA MPG Fuel Economy numbers (i.e. 110% to 115% of EPA MPG).

To some extent or another, all we Prius Hybrid Warfighters have “COLD START” MPG-Depletion problems, which we have to overcome with “Hybrid $mart” driving after “Powering Up.” Try running at “Idle Speed/No Wake Speed” for the first few minutes after your “Cold Morning Start Up.”

You apparently are not driving your Pv5ATP with “ZEN.” --- You still need to “Become At One With The Hybrid Synergy Drive.” Leave “Hard Acceleration,” in your rearview mirror, and embrace fuel-miserly “Brisk…iMPG = ½iMPH Acceleration.” Internalize my “Prius Hybrid Vehicle Minimum Energy Use/Max Fuel Economy Mode Hierarchy” and operate at the top of the hierarchy as much as you can.

Forget “Tailgaters,” and the rest of those mindless members of the gas-guzzling herd scurrying around you on the road. Recognize that you are driving your Pv5ATP at the “Center-Of-Fuel-Sipping-Universe.” lane:

 

Well, also on the first tank, that was with the car sitting on for 3 hours sitting in the drive way while the tinter was doing his work on my car as well, so the engine kicked on.

Also, still working on the 'travel' speed, as for the idle speed, I think I am getting the hang of it, althought it is damn hard to read the yellow text on a green background.

 

Our average on Fuelly is 33.8. The first fill was really low (29.9) since the tank probably wasn't full when we picked up the car. Subsequent tanks have been around 36. Our Spring temperatures may be colder than many on this forum and we are still running studded snow tires since it is still that time of year. Completely satisfied with the mileage. If it even approaches 40 with my wife driving the car, that would be wonderful.

 

I think he is referring to me, Richard. I am in California. Santa Barbara to be more specific. The temps have been sort of all over the place, even for a south coastal type location I am at.

Also on some of Catgic's terminology, I am trying to parse some of it, but also on the case of getting onto the freeway, I tend to push versus gradual due to having to deal with flow of traffic. Right now, my current calced MPG is now at 41.2-3, the last tank it was around 40 so I am gradually tweaking my driving style.

 

Actually, I replied since I didn't think your Fuelly average is all that unusual. Especially if you choose to use the car as regular transportation. Many on this site are closer to the tails of the bell curve and there is nothing wrong with that. Even skewed low with the first fill, our Fuelly average is still over double what our Sienna was getting with the same driver. I don't think my wife is interested in any high mileage driving techniques though she does try and keep the HSI out of the red zone now.

 

Keiichi - Duly noted on the "damn hard to read the yellow text on a green background." Thanks for the constructive feedback. I will take action to change the YELLOW TEXT to another color to enhance its readability.

Good on you for breaking through 40 MPG to 41.2 >>> 41.3… and rising. lane:

 

Still working on it, I am in the experimental stage. Also, I think you might want to 'cliffnote' some of it to. Some of the lengthy parts made me go... Zzz on some of it.

For me it is also just seeing as well as 'reading' it.

 

Keiichi – Keep on keeping on with working (i.e. “experimentingâ€) towards achieving your full transformation into a Prius Borg. Trust me…Thar Is MPG Gold In Dem Thar Santa Barbara Hillz!

I am well aware that certain detailed discussion areas and the overall length of the Ten Tips Guide tend to make it a ZZzz-z-z-z… generator. Hence, my “BE FOREWARNED!!! There is much information, and many details to digest in this 10 Tips Hybrid Basics/"Best Practices" Guide material†heads up warning, the Microsoft® Word Readability Statistics Assessment 17.4 Flesch-Kinkaid Grade Level Score and 26.7 Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES), and my recommendation to first-time, newbie readers to charge up their favorite mega-ounce drinking vessel with coffee, tea or other beverage of their choice, prior to digging in and commencing a studied read of its 16,000+ words.

The freebie web page software I am using for the Ten Tips Guide web page is courtesy of my Earthlink (Trellix) cyber-hose connection to the WWW. It is very limited in what can be done with it to address your “ ‘Cliffnote' some of it,’...lengthy parts made me go... Zzz,…and just seeing as well as ‘reading’ †comments and input to turn it into a more “elegant†web page.

I think, considering and working within the limitations and shortfalls of the Earthlink-Trellix software, a solution might be to trim it down to a separate, more concise “10 Tips Hybrid Basics/‘Best Practices’ Guide For Dummies,†Cliff Notes-sized web page document sans the hybrid driving philosophy and history and the extra side-bar commentary and discussion about Learning To Drive “Green†To $ave A “Green Back†Petrolbuck...The Kammback Design & Rearward Blind Spot Zone...etc.

I may put creating a “10 Tips Hybrid Basics/‘Best Practices’ Guide For Dummies,†on my THINGS TO DO LIST. Until then, I may just “Rearrange The Deck Chairs On My Titanic-esque Ten Tips Guide Web Page†with your comments in mind.

HAPPY HYPERMILING/ECODRIVING on your daily commute on the “Take Your Life In Your Hands†Freeways of SoCal. lane: