The begining of the end of the Prius - Time

Ok,

Here is my 'best guess' about Prius and Chevy Cruze prices. I used Ebay for the Cruze prices but could not find a single new Prius on Ebay to get Prius prices. But since Fuel Economy numbers seemed 'close enough', I used their numbers. If someone has better MSRP numbers, let me know. The sites claiming to have MSRP number really want me to request a quote from a dealer and I don't have time for that nonsense. Regardless, here we go:

• City MPG - this is what separates a hybrid from ordinary cars.
• Cruze price range - from Ebay motors listings, not completed.
• Prius price range - from Fuel Economy
• MPG - from Fuel Economy

CONCLUSIONS

City MPG shows the Prius are at least 2x more efficient than any of the Cruze. The purchase price ranges of the Prius models bracket the Cruze, Ebay prices. So using 'back of the envelope' numbers:

• ~25 MPG City Cruze
• ~50 MPG City Prius
• 15,000 miles per year - SWAG, mine is 20,000 miles per year
  • 600 gallons/year Cruze
  • 300 gallons/year Prius
• 300 gallons * $2/gallon = $600/year
  • ~11 years average USA fleet age
  • $6,600 savings by Prius over 11 years

Bob Wilson

ps. My use of city MPG is just as valid as those who tout vehicle highway mileage. Feel free to lookup the composite MPG and make a more conservative saving estimate.

 

- and, to presume carbon fuel will for ever remain cheep is foolish. So, when/if we head back up to $4+ - then one is looking at $13k over the life of the car. Where is Toyota's marketing department when you need to give them something to do!

.

 

cheap gas has defied all logic imo, and $4. is still relatively cheap.

 

to get prices of what buyers paid, use truecar.com.
Easy to use and don't have to sign up.

 

I've got to run into work, late. If you have time, perhaps you might use the their tool and give price ranges for the different models?

We need minimum and maximum prices for new cars having less than 10 miles. I won't have time until later this weekend to fiddle with learning a new car system.

Bob Wilson

Hummm, you've given me an idea!

"Innumerology" cuts both ways. So let's use the "average gas price for the last <n> years." Credible candidates:

• 3 years - for the Prius 3/36000 mile warranty
• 6 years - for the Prius 6/60000 warranty
• 8 years - for the Prius 8/100000 warranty
• 10 years - for the Prius 10/150000 warranty, CARB states

I suspect these gas price averages are higher than the current $2/gal seen locally. <GRINS>

Bob Wilson

 

i can tell you what i've paid since 04/26/12.

gas is still $2.50 here.

 

FYI,

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5	Column 6	Column 7	Column 8	Column 9	Column 10	Column 11	Column 12	Column 13
0	2006	2.360	2.326	2.468	2.787	2.953	2.930	3.025	2.999	2.606	2.293	2.275	2.359
1	2007	2.289	2.323	2.609	2.891	3.187	3.102	3.011	2.834	2.849	2.853	3.128	3.070
2	2008	3.095	3.078	3.293	3.507	3.815	4.105	4.114	3.833	3.756	3.112	2.208	1.745
3	2009	1.840	1.975	2.011	2.102	2.316	2.681	2.582	2.670	2.609	2.605	2.706	2.663
4	2010	2.769	2.699	2.824	2.900	2.890	2.785	2.782	2.783	2.757	2.853	2.913	3.048
5	2011	3.148	3.264	3.615	3.852	3.960	3.735	3.705	3.696	3.667	3.506	3.443	3.326
6	2012	3.440	3.640	3.907	3.958	3.791	3.596	3.498	3.780	3.910	3.812	3.521	3.381
7	2013	3.391	3.736	3.779	3.638	3.675	3.689	3.661	3.645	3.604	3.420	3.322	3.357
8	2014	3.392	3.434	3.606	3.735	3.750	3.766	3.688	3.565	3.484	3.255	2.997	2.632

This is 8 years of national, average gasoline prices, easily over $3/gallon. For CARB, we would use California and the past 10 years.

Bob Wilson


I'm hoping Patrick Wong might check my math:

A $600/year savings does not account for the income takes. Assuming we're all in the 25% bracket for Federal and State income taxes:

• Earn $750 to pay for the $600 extra cost of a Cruze in the City

Bob Wilson

 

I'm not Patrick, but ...

I figure that as just a 20% tax bracket. At 25%, one must earn $800 to pay $600.

 

Now we know another reason why upper income folks like the Prius - tax avoidance.

Bob Wilson

 

the thing is, the majority of cars are sold in California. That might be a good place to start - for calculating fuel costs over the past 3, 8, 10 years . . . . as undoubtedly thats where most of the gas is being sold.
.

 

do you think the majority of the buyers switching to cruze are also in cali?

 

@bwilson4web Great chart, but it seems like it would be much improved to have a gallons/100miles Y axis rather than a MPG. As you and everyone else here knows, the gap between 40 and 50 MPG looks the same as the 20 and 30 MPG (same # of pixels), but the actual fuel usage dffierence is much different. Since a graphical chart is intended to provide visually-digestible info, I think this would be a great improvement. My $0.02.

 

Careful what you ask for:

Bob Wilson

 

I am not at all sure how committed Toyota is to saving resources with their hybrids given how crappy I find the seat and awful, impossible-to -adjust-decently seat position of this Prius.
I'm just waiting for gas prices to go way up if you know what I mean

 

oh, i think crappy seats save a lot more resources than comfy ones. i wouldn't hold my breath on gas prices.

 

Re: crappy seats. Honestly, if there is a PiP replacement, and even if it meets all my hopes and dreams - yet, has a driver's seat similar to the one in my 2010 level v, then that will be a non-starter for me. It is that bad, IMO.

 

How come Toyota is selling only 400 something Prius Plugin per month in the US?
I Thought PiP was supposed to compete with Volt. PiP is getting whupped.

 

If you are following another thread going on, virtually zero (maybe a few) new 2015 PiP's available outside CA. I have no clue what Toyota's PiP plans are, but I must assume priorty is to stock only CA with PiPs until the green HOV stickers run out in the next few months. I gotta assume 90% of the recent PiP sales are in CA and nobody else has any to speak of. I am expecting CA PiP sales to go down a lot after green stickers are gone. Green HOV sticker sales in CA have been on-again off-again for last 12 months so if Toyota was trying to match that demand, it has been a moving target.

 

Because their hearts not really in it any more. The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is outselling the PIP by about 10 to 1 over here. The Outlander PHEV costs less, has 3x the EV range, has more power, 4 wheel drive, Chademo fast charging etc. Toyota could compete if they wanted. I just think they no longer want to and are pumping r&d into hydrogen.

I am curious what the gen4 Prius and gen2 PIP will be like. To me that will show where Toyota are heading.

 

And another benefit of the cheaper than the PIP, PHEV Outlander;

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Now Vehicle-To-Home Capable

Seriously, I think some of you lot will love the car when it's available. It's the number one selling BEV/PHEV in Europe with sales above the Leaf and PIP combined.