120 mile round trip commute

Well, you're asking in a biased forum of course. Why wouldn't we recommend a Prius? I have a 140 mile round trip commute 5 days a week, and this is my second Prius running that route. The car can't be beat for MPG and reasonable maintenance costs. Take good care of it and it will take good care of you. There are other posts in the forum about handling in snow and it appears to do well. Snow tires will help. Can't speak to that personally since the only snow I ever see is on the mountains or maybe a flurry now and then.

 

Of all the cars you mentioned, Prius on average will last the longest with the fewest repairs, however when you get past 100k and things start to go wrong it can get expensive. If it were me I would get a Camry Hybrid, or an Avalon Hybrid, because comfort and speed sometimes trumps top gas mileage.

 

Man, 120 mi commute is gold for a Prius. Yes, it won't get its top mileage at 75, but it will still get much better mileage than any other car. You would "get your moneys worth" out of it! Of course, if the oil companies have to start paying US to take their fuel, maybe not.

I doubt very much you would find "things starting to go wrong" past 100k, but who knows? It is a Toyota, and the second most reliable one!

 

Crunch the numbers for a 120 mile commute. When gas was $4/gallon I paid list price for a Prius. At current gas prices, $1.89/gallon, I could not justify the $4000 premium over cars that get less mpg. Unless you lust over hybrid technology, the numbers likely point to something else. Then again I doubt anyone's currently paying list price on a Prius. The big plus for a hybrid with those commute miles is near zero brake wear. Non-hybrids will be at a disadvantage.

 

Start shopping for a Prius now.

 

4/2012, Prius 2 @ 24,500 before tax. That is a 3,300 drop which reflects the current market.

At that price, I may be back in the market for a new Prius for my 140 mile commute. I have no complaints with the seating. I'm not sure we know the whole impact from the VW diesel issue and how many other manufacturers were/are doing the same thing. Could have a major impact on final MPG going forward once EPA retest all the MPG claims using new test methods. If pricing between the 2 are within $500, Prius should be the clear winner given it's bullet proof history for the Gen 3.

 

some find prius seats brutal. you would really need to try them out before making a $20,000. mistake.

 

2015 Prius 2 are hitting $17,xxx now.


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I find the seats in the Prius more comfortable than the Cruz. I have rented several cars for an 1100 mile trip to pick up/ drop off one of my children in college and that the Cruz seats are not as good. Just my opinion, though.

 

Where?

 

This, and the Prius may or may not be comfortable for you without the power seats of the Prius Four or higher. 120 miles each day in a seat you're not comfortable sitting in will be misery. Be sure to try a Prius out for a few hours...to see if you find the seats good or not. Sadly, the power seats will cost you around $3,000 more than the base model Prius.

I'd not waste the $$$ on any hybrid other than the Prius. Those platforms are not built from the ground up to be hybrids, and the rate of return on them is worse to the point of being laughable. A quality Camry will get respectable gas mileage for a daily commuter.

 

What $4000 premium? I paid just over $20K for my Prius two years ago, and you can easily get a better deal than that today. That's within spitting distance of the Civic, Fiesta Ecoboost, less than the Cruze diesel (MSRP $25,660), Jetta TDI (MSRP $24,075), etc.--which are all compacts--and a far better deal than comparable midsize cars.

 

Prius 4 (among other things) has lumbar support and a power driver's seat. Very useful for my 100+ mile daily commute. I picked up my Prius 4 (base 4, no solar roof) for just over 24K earlier in the year.

 

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Plus sales tax. NO other fees and they pick you up at the airport if you choose to fly in.

 

In greater Los Angeles/Orange County???? May be with all possible rebates such as $3K rebate, college grad, military, but it's unlikely people will qualify for all of the rebates.

When I was researching I saw a deal for less than $16K for Prius 2 in North Carolina. dont know whether any incentives were includes, but regardless that's a really sweet number!!

 

The $4000 premium was in 2012. See attached chart for price of a gallon of gas and my untimely purchase of a Prius. Toyota dealers had zero stock and sold their Prius' the day of or before they were unloaded off the truck. Not a buyers' market at the time. The 2012 Cruze Eco with automatic listed at $20,320 and was only rated for 39 mpg highway.

Times have changed with a gallon of gas at half the cost and competition raising their list price. It's a buyers' market today. Enjoy it while it last.

 

It was posted twice by another member recently. I tried to search for it using the search function with "$17," but corny find it.

I know at the time I was looking for a prius 2 base, they were going for $18,xxx.

I passed because I think it was more prudent (financially) to get a used Prius PHV instead.

However, with the prices continuing to drop, I probably would have done better waiting until the end of December or early January, but I needed the car now.


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If it can be had for $17,XXX with $3K rebate in So Cal, I think it's an awesome deal. I would be interested to find out which dealer it is.