<5 miles commute to work After lurking thru this site over the weekend I noticed that many of you are posting your daily commuting miles to/from work. Well my commuting miles is less than 5 miles. I understand the 40+ MPG is a great benefit, however, should i just be looking for a civic? Will the short commute to work be a disadvantage for me since the motor turns off after 2-3 min and it takes me 8 min to get to work? Just curious if the Prius will be the right vehicle for me with such a short commute? Will i be hurting the motor/batteries in the long run by only driving it for such a short time by turning it off and on for about 20 min a day?
It's upto you. In winter the car takes longer to warm up, especially if you have the heating running high too. In summer the Prius warms up very quickly and you'll benefit from improved mpg's even over such a short journey. Will it be worth the extra $$'s over the Civic for fuel savings? Probably not, but then if you're just after cheap running costs a 15 year old Ford worth $400 is probably the best bet.
We have a gentle 1.5 mile commute. Lifetime average is 50.3 mpg actual. But that is aided by 50-60 mpg on the freeway and up to 75 mpg in longer town drives. My guess is our ultra short trips net around 40 mpg. Best bet would be a PiP, but they are not available here yet. Our worst winter tanks are 40 mpg (snow, defrost, heater, fewer longer trips).
Well the summer in Vegas Is starting to heat up so I doubt the car will need to be warmed up at all. So that's a good thing. I also may not be saving money on fuel but I think parts and maintenance in the long run I would assume the civic would be cheaper and a lot more people can fix a civic than a Prius.
That would be "< 5 miles". Unless the local temperatures are above about 170F, the engine will still need some warmup. And even above that, the catalytic converter will still need some warmup. But this is also true of non-hybrids. The Prius will definitely save fuel over a Civic, over any commute distance, short or long. But if your driving is only a few thousand miles per year, the saved fuel just won't add up to enough dollars to ever pay for the more expensive car. So, how many total miles do you drive in a typical year?
Thanks i fixed it in the title but i guess i can't fix it on the heading. I was being facetious about warming up the engine. I have a few other cars for different occasions. But for my daily driver to/from work i would say less than 10k.
If you drive less than 10,000 miles a year then just about any 30+mpg car will do. Choose a car that best suits your needs and desires. An electric would be a sweet option for such little driving.
