Am I crazy?

welcome! only you can decide. that's quite a change tho. driving ev is a blast imo, all the best with your decision!

 

I'm with you on the "not wanting to pay the high prices of gas anymore".

Before I got my car, I was questioning myself much in the same way. In my case, I spent about $250 per month on gas just commuting to and from work (not counting after work errands and weekend travel). We can all afford to pay for gas (if you cant afford gas, you shouldnt be looking to buy a new car ) .. but would you rather be spending that on something else? In my case, yes..

You will be giving up a fair amount of luxury going from your LS to a PiP.. but I guess it boils down to if that luxury makes your daily commute (or weekend driving) that much better.. or would you rather have the extra money from fuel savings to spend on something else.. in other words, would you pay the $5-$7 per day in gas to commute in relative luxury?

* these $ figures do not include the cost of electricity.. so that's something to think about too.. in my case, half of my commute's electricity is "free" from work.. and someone will probably say the most economical decision is to continue to drive your car since a new car costs money.. so consider that too if you want

 

Trading the luxury of a 430 for an economy PiP is a personal choice more than an economic one. If the PiP works as your ride, enjoy all the benefits. You can also keep both, for a little more money.

There is a certain amount of added luxury not having to stop at a gas station.

 

You are not crazy. We have quite a lot of Prius owners coming from Luxury cars. The fact that there is $5k off the Advanced model (plus 0% financing) and the price of gas currently, it is a smart move.

 

A million people (I'm probably only marginally exaggerating) have gone from larger faster nicer cars to a Prius.

This using less gas can be a drug. I have a Leaf now and an ICE car. Until 2 months ago I loved my ICE. It was bad on gas but drives well and is very fast. I now basically hate it. I hate driving it. Even a relatively short trip and I've toileted away $4 on a gallon of gas. It's so decadent, so pointless to be doing that in 2012. Just makes me feel dirty. It's so grotesquely inefficient.

If the lease were up on that ICE, with prices where they are at the moment on the PiP it would be on my short list as the other car for the house hold.

If you're doing 30 miles on a weekday and start each day fully charged but don't charge in the middle you're looking at around $2 (maybe a touch less) to cover those 30 miles based on $.11 kWh cost and $4/gas.

 

Of course you can keep the speed and not worry about the gas every day with the 40 mile EV range of the Volt

I have a 44 mile daily round trip and only used 1 gallon of gasoline in September. 1400 miles total, charging every day. I might stop at a gas station again in January.

I just retired my LX450, which replaced an LS400. I gave the Prius to my daughter.

 

I feel that I have the best of all worlds, an '02 LS 430 we use mostly for long road trips, the PiP (our third Prius) for most everything else, and a '91 Miata strictly for fun. I know I sacrifice mpg's for comfort on my long trips, but the LS does get me 27 mpg cruising at 70, which isn't bad, considering the size and weight. Unless your friend is going to give you a sweet trade-in price, and you just don't want an extra car, I would go with John Hatchett's suggestion to keep it.

 

I still have a couple Lexus, just don't put the miles on them now. They just opened the 130 tollway with 85mph speed limits so I guess I should go see how bad it sucks down the EV at that speed. My round trip these days tops out at about 65mph but the bulk of it is around 50mph. Consequently I get between 45 and 50 miles EV.

It is easy to get up into the 80's without warning though, no engine noise, even compared to the LS.

I picked up the Volt for $12/day. It saves me $12/day in gasoline vs the LX450.

Go drive a Volt. Throw it into "Sport Mode" and "L" and have a bit of fun.

Status .... All the women at Whole Foods ask about the Volt when I plug in. I've even seen some wait around until I come out and unplug. Maybe the lack of that 5th seat says something.

 

Oh, come on. You must be trolling. If you don't really need the 5th seat get the Volt.

If you want 5 seats but if you don't care about gas consumption you could also hang on to try a C-Max Energi.

 

Not crazy at all. Got rid of our CLS 55 AMG for our Prius. We now have two, the plugin and a IV

 

Not crazy at all. I gave up my Mercedes E350 with AMG sport package for the Prius. My monthly gas bill has dropped from $550 to $150! My overall commute costs (monthly payment, insurance, tolls etc) is about 40% what is was earlier.

It was a pure economic decision - ofcourse, there is no comparison between the Mercedes and the Prius - the comfort and luxury is night and day but money I am saving is awesome.

 

Now, also factor in the cost to repair the Mercedes. MB's reliability ratings haven't been good. How much does it cost to do a brake job?

 

two grand.

 

heh, there is a reason why these things are best leased.

I think Mercedes are the best looking luxury brand out there now. Their styling is fantastic. A low end one isn't even too expensive Of course that doesn't include the AMG lineup.

 

That buys a lot of gas!

Also, driving in the HOV lane is a lot more relaxing than in the regular lanes.

 

$75 gas bill every few days - about 15mpg and premium fuel...and every few months there was something that needed to be fixed - and nothing is ever done on these cars for much less than $1,000. The final straw was the "oil change" computer. It said at one point I had 25 days until an oil change was needed. Was out of town - did not even drive the car - and when I started the car - the days were reduced by a week. However, I will say that the car was a blast to drive.