Goodbye Prius Family

Hahaha - lots of assumptions and speculation here regarding operating costs. Sorry I wasnt around this weekend to get in on all this fun.

Here is my thought - On the prius C, I paid $23k For the Volt I will be effectively paying $25,500 - so as far as cost - $2k is pretty much a wash in my eyes.

As far as operating cost, Yes I will for sure save money with the volt over the PriusC. I am an analyst for my job and pretty much everywhere in life - So believe me, I have gone over this many many times in my head.

First off I will say, I love the Prius, and I love the Prius C - they are fantastic cars and I have absolutely nothing bad to say about any of them. The reason for my decisions was not cost, as I make enough money that I could be driving a much more expensive vehicle, cost is a non issue to me.

Factors to consider in my decision
1. I have been hooked on Volt Technology since 2007 when it was announced, in fact I used to drive electric forklifts in a warehouse back in 2003, I was already looking into why this technology did not exist.

2. Looks - I prefer the Prius C to the Prius on looks, but in all honesty, I think the Volt is one of the most beautiful vehicle designs on a Efficient vehicle today - its sleek sporty, and just looks good.

3. Performance - I mean really no question here. Volt ~150HP high Torque electric motor vs PriusC with a combined ~100HP.

4. I know there are political views and opinions here, but It does feel good to buy an American ASSEMBLED vehicle, the Prius is still assembled in Japan, and the purchase of a prius does send some money out of the country, while I agree toyota in general provides thousands of jobs domestically, the Prius is stil assembled overseas.

So as you can see here - I dont really care about payback period or anything like that - it purely regarding the fact that its something I want and something I can afford. I dont hear people comapring payback periods regarding Lexus, Mercedes, or Prosche etc. Again Nothing personal - everyone is entitled to their own opinions and I respect everyones opinion regarding that - This is my personal preferance, and what I choose to do.

Regarding Operating cost... Some factors to consider

1 - Very low electric rate of 7 cents per kWh where I live, so on a Volt I am looking at about 77 cents per day for a full charge that should cover my M-F work commute of 34 Miles per day.

2 - Opportunity Charging, My weekend Job is 35 Miles away 1 way, but I am able to charge for free at that job - already been discussed with the Owner, so that 70 Miles round trip on the weekend commute should be mostly electric too ( and with half of it for free ).

3. All my other miles come from Road Trips - I take a few trips to visit Parents a year at 150 Miles one way, will take about 3 Gallons there and 3 Gallons back considering My parents will let me charge at their place.

4. The Volt is offered with a 0% interest Loan right now, so the savings on interest offset the $2k effective cost difference.

5. Lastly - regardless of what other people get in their Prii, My Prius C has proven to me over and over that on a highway driving the speed limit, It will only return 40-42MPG - Dont know why its lower than everyone else but thats how it has been - I have 24,000 miles on the C to back that up. If the volt returns me 35 or better Highway, the cost difference should be negligible. A trip to Colorado in March I reset trip B to monitor the trip MPG and it came in at 39 MPG for the trip. (FWIW, My Gen3 with the 1.8L returned 45MPG for the same CO trip). The 1.5L in the C just works a lot harder at those high speeds.

So that was my justification - that will be my driving expense - I have a huge elaborate spreadsheet created to map out expense, and I will save money with the Volt, Savings will be in the the $400 a year range with all things considered ( including registration, insurance, elec, Fuel, maintenence (volt requires less), and payment ).

The volt I purchased is Black - I also ordered some wheels, tint, 100sqft of MegaMat, and have some other ideas for customizing as well. Here is a picture of the car with the wheels I ordered. Have a great day everyone and Much love to the Prius People of the world - we are all shooting for the same goal - I am just choosing a different path to get there.



Edit- One more thing to consider, I pay a lot of money in Taxes, so getting $7500 back ( and still paying in more than most americans) will be a win for me in my book - I hate paying taxes to support a government that does not necissarily have my best interest in mind all the time. Aditionally My current transportation outlay is $390 a month on the Prius C, and $210 a month on My Motorcycle - or $600 a month in total. My intention is to use the tax credit to pay off the bike, with the downpayment on the Volt my monthly expense is going to be $525, so that will free up an additional $75 a month in my budget, while effectively refinancing the bike to a 0% interest loan saving money there as well, the bike is currently at 13% (they say credit is not much of a factor because the loan was small - but I call BS - they just charge that BC they can) the motorcycle loan was not my smartest move, I should have just paid cash for it - but I will ocntinue to play this debt leverage game, as I find it exciting all the time - keeps my mind on point.

One more edit - In case anyone wants more detail on Operating Cost...
My calculations show that that I will burn 360 Gallons of gas per year less using the Volt than the Prius. Some assumptions I used
- Volt 35Mi Elec Range and 35MPG Gas ( People see higher in real world on both of these -im being conservative)
-Prius C 45 MPG - This is literally my 1 year MPG tracked to the gallon and mile, I know others get better MPG, I do not - also why I went low on the volt estimates

My driving pattern ( Iwork 365 nearly days a year - weekends and Holidays - what are those? )
34 Miles * 200 Days
70 Miles * 151 Days
150 Miles * 4 Days
3000 Miles * 1 Trip
The remaining driving to account for the ~25K miles a year would be from small in town trips like groceries, concerts, entertainment, etc...

 

Yes Negative Equity sucks - but as I mentioned above - Cost is a non-issue. I chose the C for looks when I traded in the 2 year old Gen3. I Paid $23 for the Prius C, put 24,321 Miles on it in 1 year and 3 weeks, It needs a windshield replacement, and the tires are halfway used up. (Tires - $600 for a good LRR so lets say $300 in tires, Windshield quote $700). I got $17k for the trade in so I paid $6000 to drive the car for a year minus the cost of repairs ($1000) because that would have come out of pocket had I kept the car. So effective loss on the vehicle was $5,000 for 24k Miles or about 4.8 cents per mile to drive. Because of toyota care, my first year maintenece costs were non existant, so still a pretty good deal in my opinion. But what it comes down to agian - I dont care about payback or cost - I could be driving a $70k escalade getting 14MPG if I wanted - I choose cars with the lowest operating cost, to free up money for investments for my future. ( I want to retire before age 60 ). I think its great that many of you show so much concern for my financial best interest - like I said - Prius people are great, just like the cars!

 

I paid $13450 in Federal Taxes last year - I can assure you - I am eligible for the full $7500. I know it does not work for everyone - I am not trying to make a case for anyone to buy anything - People should focus on what works for them - in my case - the Volt works for me - The Prius C worked for me as well, I just prefer the volt today.

 

That would be a tax deduction man, this is a credit - definition of a credit is a direct reduction in the amount of taxes owed, not to exceed the full amount of taxes paid. As opposed to a refundable tax credit - which is refundable in the entire amount of the credit even if that amount exceeds the total taxes owed. Believe me this I am positive of - was an accountant - and know 3 people personally who spend their 7500 credit last year... I think you are getting those Credit - and Refundable Credit confused.

 

Yeah - I think we are on the same page - I was just a little behind and that was in response to DrDiesel - I just forgot to quote in the response.