Prius is not the king anymore

I think most people are missing the point of this article. Yes the Mercedes cost twice as much, yes diesel fuel costs more, yes it costs more to maintain , yes insurance costs more. They are not trying to say The Mercedes is the more economical. The Prius probably costs half of what the Mercedes costs to operate. The Prius was designed to be a fuel sipper, Its super aerodynamic, very light weight, has a sophisticated hybrid system, it has skinny LRR tires, everything about it was for maximum economy. The Mercedes is a bigger, much heavier luxury sedan and economy was probably the last thing they were thinking about when engineering it, but with the 4 cylinder diesel it gets near Prius fuel economy, (and during their comparison beat the Prius in FE) that's a pretty big accomplishment.

here is the link to the Road and Track article:
Mercedes-Benz E250 Bluetec vs Toyota Prius MPG Battle - Road & Track

 

Would that be closer to 100,000 or closer to a million ? In my world that is quite a bit of difference.

My wife and I went car shopping today to replace our aging Subaru. The choices have come down to a used 2011 Prius 5 for 20K, a new Fit for $16 -17k, or a used 2007 Fit for $12k. The car will be almost entirely used for city running about, and less than 100 miles a week so questions of comfort, fuel use and fuel costs do not really play much of a role. I hope my wife likes the 2007 Fit, but I am OK with any of these choices. I'll tempt her by promising to invest $8k in PV if we buy the less expensive car.

 

The way Prius and its owners/drivers are referred in this article, we sure aren't missing the point.
"Buy a Benz" - imperative tense.

 

We chose a new Fit.
Our 18 year old Subaru was worth $500 to the dealer, so the final cost was $15,500. I will handle the TTL.

 

Who gives a rat's **s, what are these guys, 16 years old?

 

In our state with the federal and state incentives a brand new Leaf with all the options is well within your budget. $28K base, $7500 back from the feds, $6000 back from the state. 100miles a week, around town commuting, sounds like a perfect match. Also much more comfortable than a Fit.

 

The LEAF was one of our short list of 3 models. Prius and Fit were the other two. My wife started out with an even shorter list of Prius or Fit, but I twisted her arm to at least go and check out the LEAF and take a test drive.

The LEAF was the first car up. No base models were available and I do not have enough tax liability to gain the entire $7,500 credit, so used was the probable choice. We were offered a tricked out 2012 LEAF ($38k new) with 6k miles for $23k. It seemed like a lot of money for a car that is not going to be used very much by us, and the price really drove home the point that these cars have hefty depreciation. I had to admit to my SO that the LEAF in New Mexico is not particularly environmental, and she is not inclined to join the bleeding edge. And to be honest, after driving the LEAF for a second time I decided that EVs will improve dramatically in price and value in the next 5-10 years, so I was quite content buying a car that would hold it's value and allow me to exchange it in a few years without taking a big haircut if my EV urges overwhelm me.

All that said, I agree with you that the LEAF is a nicer ride than the Fit overall, and as most of us know, the electric drivetrain is awesome.

This afternoon we took our first long city drive, a ~ 40 mile round trip from our home in the near suburbs of Albuquerque to downtown for a few stops and then back home. The Fit's MPG meter for the trip was 42.9. I drove Prius style and was hoping for 50 MPG, but my wife assures me 50 MPG is just a broke-in car away LOL.
I enjoyed the freedom from my OCD of monitoring the Prius meters but sorely missed regen. I think a perfect car for me would be a Fit type car with an ultra-cap that allows for start/stop and regen. I think it would let me hit or beat Prius numbers (about 65 - 70 MPG today) and be a better value.

 

Isn't the fit about identical to the prius c, I have parked next to them and it looks like toyota stole the car and changed this and that put in hybrid system and called it prius c. many of the trips I get that mpg. today I drove 14.2 miles with mpg of 88.2, it is like 70 deg and the mpg is getting so much better. Looking forward to summer

 

88.2 MPG is brilliant if a round trip.

The Prius 'c' is about the same size as Fit; and as you say the cars are pretty easy to confuse with a casual glance. When I said we had another Prius on our short list, it included both the G3 and the 'c.' We both liked the 'c', but at least in our local market a used G3 Prius was a better value. The 'c' was designed to offer hybrid tech to the consumer that wants to be in a conventional car with a big gear shift and key ignition. The effect on us was to encourage us to consider a cheaper conventional car. FWIW, the only reason a lowish MPG car was even considered is our anticipated use of < 100 miles a week. The ~ $4000 I didn't spend will be invested in PV that will produce about 4000 kWh a year for the next ~ 25 years, the equivalent of ~ 100 gallons of oil a year or 2,500 gallons of oil over the lifetime of the investment. In terms of environmental benefit for the $, the Fit easily won.

 

It was a round trip, about 1/2 in 25 mph zone. I am using 91 octain and I think it may be giving me better mpg. I will run several tanks of both 87 and 91 E10 that we have here in oregon. I really didnt think I would get any different mpg I got the gas because a co-worker challenged me to race their ford focus and I wanted all the power I could get. after all the miles I have put on this tank my mpg seems much higher and the outside temp is only a little warmer. I guess time will tell about the 91 gas.

 

Except for the fact one would be stuck with a Honda Fit. (Ewwww)

 

It's pretty hard for me to average 40 mpg on my 3rd gen...they must be driving it without mpg in mind.

 

This is our second Prius. MPG averages have always been in the lower 50s calculated tank to tank using the same gas pump when we can. I've never been able to drop below 46 MPG, even under the cold Winter conditions we had this year.

Mercedes Benz make great luxury cars, at equally great price points. This comparison between these two cars was a hoot. A fancy old school looking sedan vs a modern, quite useful aero design. I'm sorry. Not a fan of the 3 box design that's been around forever. Prius looks way more than just fine as far as I'm concerned. I love aero efficiency. It looks purposeful. While the 3 box design looks just like the cars my grandparents drove.

Unless you are the very fortunate person who buys a very expensive car like and Benz and then has absolutely no maintenance problems with it, you're gold, if that's the kind of vehicle you like driving. But if you are like most people and buy a Benz and end up with the same types of maintenance issues that most of these cars tend to generate from time to time, you will pay an incredible premium, above and beyond the premium you pay for that car in the first plac.

I always hear about the hybrid premium, but we bought our Prius for around the average price paid for an average family 5 seat car. Our Prii have been exceptionally maintenance free. Just oil changes at recommended intervals, and replace tires every 35,000 to 40,000 miles.

If you add up the high cost of diesel, the urea that must be added at $5.20 per gallon if you go to an auto parts place or the $32 a gallon urea you pay at the Benz dealer (so they can include the "flush" to keep the stuff from crystallizing in the tank), the insurance costs and heaven forbid, the occasional maintenance mishap, it will definitely make the Mercedes Benz King of expense compared to the lowly and wonderfully reliable Prius. Wow, that was a long sentence.

And don't even try this comparison under those clogged commuter conditions that most mortals will have to deal with on a daily basis. Might take a much larger quantity medicinal smoke to help make this comparison come out as positive for the Mercedes vs that lowly Prius.

 

It has a 21 gallon fuel tank...that's how it gets 900 miles. As a VW Jetta tdi owner, I enjoy not paying 35 to 50 cents per gallon more for fuel or the maintenance cost. Then if I had $60k to spend on a car I may be driving a Mercedes. They should of compared similar cost and size cars.

 

I bought my Prius IV for $16,400 certified preowned and I am averaging mid 50's for mpg. My insurance and fuel costs both went down over the Civic I had before. If anything, I find the Prius the very model of cost savings. The tank may be smaller, but I also only pay $28-32 to fill the tank. Someone who thinks they will save money buying a Mercedes diesel obviously hasn't checked the price per gallon of diesel fuel and hasn't had to maintain a Mercedes. When I sold cars a number of years back, my manager bought a Mercedes for his wife. I can tell you that he regretted that car all the time. He said it cost over $1200 just to do a routine maintenance service appt on it. No thank you. Soon after, he sold the car and bought a Ford Edge.

 

Just saw a Mercedes commercial comparing the diesel E to a Prius, and specifically citing this Road & Track "test." So...they're milking it.

 

How many miles were on the Subaru.?

 

The Prius shape is not very modern..... been around since the 80s (hatchback CRX).

in 2001 the diesel-powered Passat, Jetta, Gulf, and Beetle were already EPA-scored 49 mpg on the highway. Owner at TDIclub routinely reported over 50 miles/gallon in real world driving. This beat the Prius 1G's official score.

The author of the article must be very young if he thinks Mercedes is the first car to get hybrid-like economy. (They also appear to be unaware of the new 3 cylinder cars that get very high MPG.)

 

I don't see any 2001 diesel Passat in the U.S. market.

The TDI Jetta, Golf, and New Beetle highway mpg ratings didn't beat the Prius by enough to compensate for diesel's higher carbon content. The user reports to Fuel Economy are consistent with this. The Prius had lower highway carbon emissions.

For Combined and City ratings, Prius handily beat the TDIs.

Of course, in 2001, all this didn't matter. By any measure, the MPG King was the original Honda Insight, a gasser.

 

Fuzzy1, you have to remember, this guy Troy Heagy lives in a Honda/VW fantasy world. You're really wasting your time by responding to him. Let him live his fantasy alone.