bear with me if you will..... FYI, my wife has a Prius and I love it sans the option packages. I want 17" wheels and the LED headlight but I want a sunroof. Most of my driving is in town and thats when a sunroof shines. So I am in the market to replace my Chevy HHR SS which, well we have a love hate relationship. The hate is greater than the love. I do have a bad back and had surgery last fall. I drove the Prius on a 700 mile round trip in one day and found it very good for my back. I ahve also driven it a few weekends in town. I have been looking for a luxury car/crossover for the ride quality. I have driven the following: BMW 328i Audi A4 Caddy CTS Lincoln MKZ (fancy Ford Fusion) Volvo XC60 Crossover Volvo V70 Wagon Nissan Rogue Of all of those expensive cars (some near 50K) the Volvo was the best but possibly not what I really want which I will state is I don't really know other than it is to be a wagon type vehicle. I will never forgive myself if I get anything else. What really strikes me as ODD (being a car lover) is the Prius with the exception of horse power and AWD does everything else better than all the above listed save for the XC60 that I will drive again along with the Nissan Murano. None get even remotely decent fuel mileage. I will drive this replacement vehicle about 10K miles a year and 90% is city driving which most of the SUV's/Crossovers get 16 city..... Even with AWD, this is the best the manufacturers have to offer? And I sit here complaining about options. It does make me wonder what manufacturers are thinking except people keep buying theses monster vehicles (that I am stupid enough to be looking at). I am willing to bet that I end up with a Prius and a 10K savings in sticker plus the fuel economy. I look forward to an electric vehicle in about 4 years once the technology has been proven. Comments/thoughts are extremely welcome!
It sounds like you are really doing your homework on your next purchase. One item that raises a flag for me concerning the Prius is 90% city driving. Is most of your driving short trips (less than 5 miles) with a lot of stop and go driving? The reason I ask is that this is probably one of the worst case conditions for the Prius. Of course, you are probably talking of a drop of mpg down to about 40-45 mpg versus 50-55 for longer routes.
less than 3 miles to work. It's hell on any car's mileage. evnow- I refuse to be one of the first testing the technology. I do that daily @ work with computers, we are always on the bleeding edge.
Even on short trips around town - not necessarily its forte - the Prius will get far better mileage than most other vehicles. OK, all other vehicles, unless you're going with an EV. I hunch you'll find the power adequate, though admittedly it's no sports car. It's not a wagon, either, but the hatchback is very practical and surprisingly roomy. I think you've already made your choice. You weren't really expecting us to disagree with you, were you?
I have to smile, we went through a similar situation last summer. We decided to shop around and test drive many cars (add to your list to drive a Jetta TDI wagon, that had a fantastic quiet sunroof, but reliability is an issue). Our other vehicle is an Audi A4. No, the Prius doesn't have the power and AWD of the A4 and others we drove, but it has a lot going for it. We got to the point that all other cars were measured against the Prius. Like you, we found it's comfortable, has plenty of space in the hatch, less expensive and gets fantastic mileage. Our daily trips tend to be short (it's 8mi and 4 stop lights to work), but there are frequent longer trips. We've put about 10k on it in the past year and averaged 52mpg (calculated) - more than doubling the average mpg of my older Audi. The only downside, it's not as good in the snow as my Audi is or old Subaru was, but I didn't replace the tires that came on it to see how they'd do (Bridgestone Ecopias). At best, they were marginal on our poorly plowed roads. I've had FWD cars before (Saab & Honda) that were fine in the snow. I'll be getting better tires this fall.
You mean you don't "Suit Up!" to ride a bike? (which is probably easier than getting into traditional riding gear.. but what do I know?) @Sneezy: A HiHy or an RXh would work if you want AWD and an SUV. (Or a FEH if you want something smaller but it's not as luxurious). How much do you want to carry in the cargo area? If you don't mind a smaller hatchback, there's the upcoming CT200h with the same powertrain as the Prius but with a "L" and the associated luxury items and cost with it. The hatchback looks smaller though (something like a Mazda Protège 5 size)
I've been doing the "daily @ work with computers" for a couple decades now. Never gets boring As to Leaf, ofcourse, being where you are, you can anyway only get the 2012 model !
What are the prices of each? How long do you plan to keep the car? How will you pay for your car (cash? financing it?) Average number of miles you drive in a year?
Good questions I would add. Both good cars What model / package of each. There is quite a price range. What shape is the Prius in? Do you know about any accidents?
The Prius dealer is asking $17,000 and the Honda Fit dealer is asking $16,500. I plan on driving it around 20,000 miles a year. I plan on keeping it for as long as I can.
I'm sorry, but it's a well known fact that luxury cars sell, and subsequently price, their vehicles based (primarily) on image, prestige and exclusivity. Certainly performance and features factor into the equation...but not nearly enough to justify some of the obscene prices for many of the "luxury" rides. They're selling image, and to most folks, higher cost means it must be better. Sometimes it is, but then that brings into play the economic construct of diminishing returns - ie, spending more money gets you smaller amounts of "better".
Iris, my call would be the Fit. Four years from now, you'll have 80k miles on the Fit. On the Prius, 120K. You'll have plenty of fresh miles left on the Fit, with the Prius, you'll be thinking about major maintenance or trading it in. If the Prius had lower miles, say around 20K, Maybe I would go with the Prius.
I'm not going to deny that fact though they do offer a few (very few) extras or ride quality/handling. Compare the Camry and I still think the Prius is better.
