Cannot pull the trigger to buy Prius v

they are nice cars

 

you will like it

 

1) All the power an adult could need, just not all the power a boy could want. Trust me on this, you cane 'race' all day in a v and no one outside the car will ever know. It is quiet, there are no jerks when it shifts, you never need to put it in a different gear and it is relatively uncommon to spin the tires long. Not a car for a boy wishing to show off, no.

2) If you leaving out side over night you will hear it about a block. Garaged or outside on warm dry nights, nothing.

4) I am getting 5.9 l/100km or 40 MPG in US gallons without hypermileing at all. Assuming you drive long distances (over 10 miles/16 km) in your commute, you just need to compare that to your current yearly mileage.
(as a cargo mover, a Mazda 5 or small SUV is comparable)

 

If you buying a Prius based on financial decision, you would not buy one.

Reasons for buying a Prius (or any EV/Hybrid) are more of social responsibility reasons in a era of climate change, oil wars, oil terrorism, oil dictatorships oil corruption of politics (in US anyway).

 

none of those reasons ever entered my mind, I bought it because I liked the car, and frankly even after being here on this site and owning the car...they still don't....I just like not having to put much gas in it to keep this weeks $ in my pocket

 

You are spending $5K upfront vs. $5K over time (5-7 years for most drivers) so your financial decision is bad one. In the case of the person who started this conversation, with a $10K premium for the Prius V, even longer though Australian gasoline prices are higher so likely an equal 5-7 year break even point.

 

He just said that he didn't choose it from a financial standpoint.

 

If you never drove it, this would be true.
The more you drive it, the more false this is.

As an example, this gentleman had 165,800 miles on his 2012 Prius v already on April 1st, 16 months at over 10,000 miles a month. (He traded in a 2009 Prius with 465,000 miles on it) my back of the envelope guess is that he has saved $13,500 on gas already. (he saved about $34,000 in gas with the 2009)
Prius v: 100,000 Mile Club | Page 7 | PriusChat

I do not drive that much, in the 8 months I have driven mine I have 'only' saved $1600 in gas, but I owned my last Toyota for 20 years, so I still have time to save $50,000

 

for me it came down to a taurus or a prius, both the same price, one gets nearly twice the mileage as the other, so I liked the prius and it is the one with better gas mileage...I bought it... so I am saving money right NOW!!!!

 

The Prius v is a complete "snore" to drive although its technology is fascinating.

The Mazda6 Sport Wagon (petrol) costs about the same as a baseline Prius v in Australia and would be infinitely more fun to drive - unless you need the third row of seats of the Prius v.

The main reasons we bought the Prius v for my wife is that it is fairly compact, is a wagon/MPV and, most importantly, is available with the Pre-collision system - available on the much more expensive Priuv v i-Tech in Australia. The seven seat Prius v/+/van is not sold in North America as it is in most of the rest of the world.

 

A tiny fraction of ultramilers are the exception, not the rule. They end up using five times more gasoline and generate five times as much climate change pollution as average driver in Hummer.

They need to go home and rethink their lives. They are the problem, not the solution.

For the average driver, the Prius is a social responsibility purchase not a financial save-money-on-gas purchase.

 

I got mine simply by form n function. I commute about 45-50 miles one way for work.
I was driving a 2000 Chevy blazer which was getting only 20mpg. This literally cost me $20us a day to drive to work, or about 700/mnth if gas was over 4/gal.
With kids and playing drums, I needed something of similar size.

I first looked at a cruze, but quickly ruled out based on size. Started looking at lift back Prius and doing a little research, then the v was announced.

It was a tuff decision to get 50mpg or 44.
Ended up with the v2. It's same size as blazer and on my commute at about 60mpg I can pull off 47 mpg calculated.

The brake thing people are talking about is only in early morning or after a rain. The rear rotors rust, due to their minimal use, after the first or second application of the brakes, it's gone as the rust is rubbed off.

I've had mine since last July have 20k miles on it and no issues.

Drive it again and spend a little time in it. I think you will come around. By the way the mileage offset the payment by half. I only spend about 300/month on gas including the wife's minivan.

 

pure "save money on gas" purchase for me

 

I have no issues with the brakes and put on about 3k miles per month which saves me about $125 at current gas prices in the US. That extrapolates to about $10,500 over 7 years that I will likely keep it. I'll probably get 3 or 4k more for it than an equivalently optioned and priced regular drivetrain Camry which was my second choice. I only looked at Toyota and Honda due to their reliability, resale and personal experience with our ultra-reliable 08 Prius.

With that said, if you drive 1k per month and don't usually have a clean car for resale in 7 years, you don't have a financial decision factor. Unless gas shoots up by 50%, after which the price you are being offered now will be a fond memory and the waiting list will be months.

Ultimately it is a smooth car that can maintain 85mph all day long on our hot Texas highways with AC second to none and tech features making up the initial price difference, particularly in the US. In California, Prius is the number one selling car! They drive a lot and don't have time or patience for low quality. What's your patience level?

 

Edmunds.com has a nice feature called True Cost to Own. It calculates how much it costs to operate a vehicle for 5 years, including gas, insurance, maintenance, resale, etc. Obviously it won't work for Australians but if cars being compared are available in both countries, then you can use it as an index. For example, 5 year ownership of a Prius 2 ($38k) is less expensive than a Civic LX ($39k). In other words, it took 5 years to make up the $4k price difference. 5 years is a reasonable time frame.

A $10k differential with an 8 year payback is a simple decision to me. You buy the less expensive car if you want to save money. I always say I will drive a car into the ground but the most I ever did was my Corolla at 9 years and 220k miles. Gave it to my aunt even though the car was in sound condition because she needed a car. All the other cars, something expensive broke and I decided because I have two girls, to buy a safer newer car.

It really depends on your own calculations and needs. I'm of the opinion that the chances of you saving money is slim to none on such a large price difference. However, you are in the right place to have someone convince you into a Prius, though.

 

I am sorry we are invisible to you.

An interesting theory not based on reality. Since moving to MS, I have driven 30,000 for work every year, no matter what vehicle. America benefits more if I use a cleaner, more efficient vehicle. Any Xerox copier installed in or near the Mississippi delta, I visit to install networking. I support 13 sites in 5 towns for a local mental health organization, for which HIPPAA regulations require secure commucations for patient records. If I quit doing so, some other individual has to drive those same miles, even if they own a Hummer..

The Hummer H3 (the smallest and most frugal of all Hummers) has an EPA estimated 12.2 tons of CO2 a year (The EPA uses 15,000 miles a year in their estimates) My 2009 Prius generated 4 tons per year, based on EPA numbers, so even if I drove 5 times as much as a Hummer driver, I would not pollute twice as much. Hummers H1 and H2 would pollute even more than the H3.

I will alert the media that Mississippi will revert to the 19th century, no longer selling, nor installing copiers, computers, nor VPN networks. Or perhaps I will just dismiss your fantasy that any business is having their employees drive long distance just for the hell of it.

As printed I agree with this, I just do not believe it applies to the average Prius driver, as they self select to be those who drive the most.