pjay

Thank you very much for your thoughts!

Interesting that you don't think there's an economic case to be made for the Prius, given my driving habits.

If I were using my vehicle to commute, I could make an economic case for the Prius pretty easily.

Thanks for letting me know about the idle time affecting Gen 1 moreso than Gens 2 and 3. Nice that Toyota incorporated what it learned from its customers into the subsequent model years.

Yeah, many of my trips are short, though most of my mileage comes from 70-highway-miles-each-way trips that I take to see family.

Heh. Thanks for saying I sound like an ideal Nissan Leaf owner. Wish I could be one, but I live in an apartment complex with no infrastructure for charging.

Good to know you don't think the Prius's batteries would be in trouble if I were to use it in the way I'm using my CR-V!

Thanks again!

While there are certainly non economic reasons to own a Prius, I do not think you can make an economic case for the Prius at 8000 miles a year.

Worse, and I have no hard numbers for this, but I feel a Prius lasts more miles if never turned off. Big city taxis get huge mileage in part because the computers keep everything charged up, if the computers are not on, they are not protecting the batteries.

There is some hint idle time effected Gen 1 more than Gen 2 and that Gen 3 is not as prone to going dead while parked. Toyota DOES learn from what happens to owners. Gen 3 seems to be able to shut down more of the electronics when 'off'.

Again your trips will not get great gas mileage, as they are too short to let the engine warm up to where the computers are not focused on pollution controls. (You sound like a a ideal Nissan Leaf owner) Aside from that, I do not think any of the batteries will have trouble.