Toyota USA: Prius has saved 1.1 Billion gallons and 2.9 Billion gas money stayed in US

Confirmed ^^^

From my 200,000 mile summary, http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/57091-200-000-mile-club-28.html#post1428250

*205K miles now

 

Excellent article/speech! Thanks for posting!

If everyone in America that could afford a new car (capable of) ran out and bought a hybrid (Toyota and Ford), oil imports and payments outbound for oil would quickly decline, and we could turn this economy around in no time!

I like this part of the article:

 

I figured out that we have saved over 10k over the last 3 years compared to our Explorer.

 

Once the argument changes from saving the Earth to saving your hard earned cash, the more people will change to fuel efficient vehicles.

(to some people global warming is bad whereas others are indifferent or don't believe, whereas everyone likes to save money )

 

The TRUTH ^^^^ has been spoken.

Now that there is a full complement of Prius vehicles, enough to appeal to a huge crossection of the driving public, this one point should be pounded and pounded and pounded into the buying public at every opportunity.

 

We are saving about $40+ per week compared to our Voyager minivan and the gas savings help make the car payment. Basically my wife is driving a brand new Prius for only $80 a month more than the gas cost of the van!

I sold a 3 banger Geo Metro to a guy that drove a F150 truck 240-280 miles per day, though he gets 51 mpg compared to my 60 he called me a few weeks later to let me know he was saving about $150 every three days!

 

Usbseawolf... to that point, if Toyota had applied ALL of their aerodynamic accomplishments to the shape of the 2500 pound Prius c with 1.5L, it just makes me wonder what Toyota is CAPABLE of achieving on highway mpg with a 2500 pound Prius c. Of course, I am glad that Toyota compromised with styling, as I would like to see more main stream society buyers jump on board with hybrids - plus, it's intended as a city (no highway wind drag forces) car anyways.

But I am curious if Toyota could have hit the EPA 55mpg highway mark.

 

So the average Virginian is paying ~$5000/year for gasoline now, but due to Prius I am personally about half (50-60%) of that amount (under $3000), even though I also drive a minivan (lesser used vehicle).

 

If you look at the vw xl1, you can see all the tricks - aero and otherwise to maximize fuel economy. It gets to be a much more expensive car though. 55 should be relatively easy though with a car the prius c's size - can I say aqua instead. The aqua is 6% higher in cdA than the prius, change cd down to .25 like the prius and sonata and keep the frontal area and its cda is 5% lower because of lower frontal area. Now all you have to do is make the engine more efficient, and toyota says they have NA versions in the lab at 42% peak efficiency versus the prius's 38% or the aqua's 37%. Combine those and you get around 57 mpg.

 

This is why I bought a Prius C. Going from 20mpg to 50+mpg is going to be great.