Don’t Buy a Prius to Save Money on Gas

Actually I do similar calculations and he has a point, although he exaggerates.
I like to use CAMRY LE vs. CAMRY LE Hybrid. The use of Yaris vs. Prius is not too fair.
Still you are going to pay up to $4000-$5000 more for the CAMRY hybrid (dealer takes higher margin on it).
Then if you live in VA you are going to pay as much as $2000 more taxes and fees on the Hybrid.
So you have to overcome that difference, and it necessitates driving >12000, perferrably >15000 miles/yr.

Of course, you might get the hybrid because its a better car anyways, or to hedge on higher gasoline prices.

When we got our Prius in 2006, almost every issue of Consumer Reports would show the calcs and say hybrids don't make any finanical sense. For 2006, they were wrong because gaso prices went up a lot. Today the (good) problem is there is more competition for Prius from high MPG ICE cars. I have a much harder car choice next time.

 

It's interesting that you can take the same data (I'll use his calculations) and come to a completely different conclusion.

According to his own calculations, if you buy a Prius over a Yaris, you get a larger car with more luggage space and significantly better rear seat passenger comfort. You get a better bigger more featured and probably more reliable car. And all up it costs you no more over 144k miles, which is less than the hybrid drive train warranty in carb state. Sounds like an ok deal to me.

 

Exactly. He calls it an "apples to apples" comparison, but size wise the Prius versus Camry is a much fairer comparison.

 

Yep, his convoluted approach to the maths was a bit of a laugh wasn't it. I too got bored of reading it and skimmed right to his (eventual) final figure which I was able to verify with a single calculation.

Miles to make up for a purchase price difference of $9889, with 51 MPG versus 30 MPG at $5/gal = 9889/5/(1/30 - 1/51) = 144,096. So approx 144k miles.

Actually his conclusion (and title) should have been that you can save money by buying a smaller cheaper less featured car, particularly if you don't plan on keeping it for too many miles. Who would have thunked it?

 

The comments to his article are enough but he should have used a moped as his alternative vehicle as use the Yaris.

Bob Wilson

 

Even by his math, my Prius v is cheaper than the Subaru Forester I had before in under 60,000 miles I am half way there already (less than a year into ownership)

 

am i reading right tony? every 12,000 miles should add $1,176.47 to prius and $2,000. to yaris, but your charts are cumulative?

 

He could have used Maxtrix to compare but then he would have come out with a different result than the conclusion he started with.

 

thanks tony, that makes more sense. if you want a car that's larger, more versatile, high tech and will have a higher resale value when selling, it will only take 120,000 miles to get all that at the same price.

 

If I would have wanted to drive a cheap piece of crap, I would buy one! But, I don't!
If I wanted to buy a 30 MPGish Jaguar, I could of! But I didn't!
I wanted a Prius, because it's a Prius. I liked the technology!
The fact that I get 400 miles with 8 gal of gas, was just lucky I guess!

 

prius really has no comps, size wise. if i compare camry to hycam, similarly equipped (although toyota is too smart to let you equip them exactly the same) camry gets 30mpg and hycam gets 40. so hycam saves a gallon every 12o miles. at $5./gal., that's $500./ 12,000 miles. at around a $4,000. price difference, it would take 96,000 miles to break even. and the hycam is a smoother, quieter more comfortable car imo.

 

I have to agree, both my wife and I really love her Hybrid XLE. She gets about 38 MPG, but she really does not try to hard to hypermile. It's something she has to figure out herself.
But what a quiet, quick, comfortable ride.
If I trashed my 08, I would give a HyCam a serious look!
Of course I would give the Tesla a really serious look too!

 

mmmm, tesla...

 

As if the savings on a Prius stop at gas. How about the simplified transmission, the less frequent oil changes, the high resale value, and the amazing security system? Oh by the way, gas prices are very subjective to the affairs in the least stable region on God's green earth. But if you can't afford a Prius, I understand completely.

 

Yes, everyone can afford a $100,000 car along with the taxes, registration fees, insurance, etc. Cough!