Trying Not to Lust After the Prime

Hear, hear!

 

I love the Prime and would have one in a heartbeat but 4 seats is a deal breaker for us- we need a 5th seat regularly.

I did a calculation on fueleconomy.gov and though not totally accurate, for our driving we'd only save $50 a year with the Prime.

If I were to go PHEV right now, given the 5 seats constraint, it would be the Honda Clarity- 47 EV range, although the hybrid mpg pales in comparison to the Prius.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

cars are entertainment for some people. in that respect, financial considerations are somewhat altered.
i like disneyland, go figure, it's not cheap.

 

our friends went hiking in italy, no one told them it was a waste of money.

 

Come to think of it, buying Prime was probably the biggest impulsive purchase I have ever made. But do I regret it? Not a bit. You live only once. Enjoy!

 

Mid-Life Crisis Manager

 

That's why I suggested the list - PRO vs CON. If you lay it out in front of you that way, I'd be very surprised if you had enough PROs to overcome the CONs of trading in a near new car. And particularly trading a 2018 down to 2017 which some have suggested.

Unless there is a significant fiscal gain in running costs, there are some distinct advantages of keeping the PRIUS - it's got a bigger boot (trunk), has better back seat space (50% more!!). And, on a long trip where you're not plugging-in, fuel economy is likely to be at least as good in PRIUS (it's 140kg lighter) - I suspect PRIUS would be better.

 

That could be correct in USA - the comparisons I made here in Australia with our higher fuel prices, with comparable vehicles (premium models with RADAR Cruise, HUD etc), there was a significant saving in fuel costs over a 3 or 5 year projection.

But we also need to consider that fuel prices rise over the life of a car (+9% here in last 6 months) - whereas the capital cost remains static.

 

Yes, true, I agree, EV mode is addictive - but then so is driving anything which gives you a buzz, whether it be the roar of an AMG Merc (which, I assure you becomes tiring on a long trip)[*]. Also it's tempting to have a 2 seater convertible on a pleasant winter's day on a good driving road.

I bought PRIUS 2 yrs ago, generally keep cars till the warranty runs out + a little. I've got SOLAR on my home so electricity is cheap and a PHEV would be my logical car in some ways - but there aren't any here other than high priced AUDI/MERC/BMWs. But IONIQ will be here soon, and I suspect other manufacturers will follow them quickly. So that's where I'm looking to change to in 12-18 months.

[* In 1973, I drove 1200 miles with a mate in his Valiant Pacer - similar to your Dodge Dart. The PACER came with sports exhaust - by the end of the trip we both were wondering about the wisdom of the sports exhaust - which sounded good when going for a short run up the mountain, but not seemingly endless miles on the highway.]

 

ah - the MLCM again

 

I pay 19.5 cents per kilowatt here at home. To fill the battery would cost a bit more than the $3.90 I would get out of the battery. That would get me somewhere around 22 miles on only electric. I'm currently getting north of 60 MPG. Gas is around $3.50 here these days. It's much cheaper to run on gasoline. My time for lifetime altruistic behavior has passed. I am retired on a fixed income. I'll keep my standard Prius for some time. I hope to drive it until it falls apart.

 

Just for your information, if your electric rate is $0.195/kWh, then "fill-up" PRIME traction battery will cost you $1.2285. That's 6.3 kWh for full charge on Prime. Not your calculated $3.90. That would be a cost for charging 20kWh battery capacity, which PRIME is NOT equipped with. At your gas price of $3.50/gal, it is still cheaper to run PRIME on electric only EV mode at your electricity rate.

PRIME takes 6.3-6.7kWh to fully charge from zero EV range to full range. so your cost is less than 70 cents. It's like 55 cents.

 

Yes, with that cheap fuel - in comparison, here fuel is about $5.50-$6 /(US) galleon.