Hybrids won't save drivers money, Consumer Reports (April 2006)

based on gas mileage costs alone, maybe not, but check out the thread about gas mileage reinbursement. there is more than a few making good jack by that route

 

Heh, and something like a year ago CR suggested that Plasma HDTV set prices had levelled off. They were wrong B) . According to the mercurynews article CR's analysis uses gasoline prices ranging from $3 to $4 per gallon over a 5 year period. How can CR possibly know that gasoline prices are going to be that stable? What if those guys the other day had managed to blow up the primary Saudi oil distribution center? Would gasoline be as cheap as $4 gallon? Not likely. The folks at CR must be smoking hashish.

Personally, I'm less concerned about saving $$ and more interested in the geopolitical and environmental aspects of using less fossil energy.

FWIW I'm a CR subscriber.

...edited a typo...

 

OK CR compare a Prius to what??? you haven't given us a viable vehicle to compare it to. On top of all that I drive a hybrid to prove that it works. And it works damn well. for what it's worth, screw CR.

 

actually... i can see CR's point... saved probably $2000 in gas in a year and half... but have spent over $1000 on mods...so at this rate, i'll never make my money back...hehehe

 

I looked at the article, as I am also a a CR subscriber and I feel they are pretty dead on with their car reviews. However, I respectfully disagree with their assessment that you should compare the prius with a toyota corolla. That is just false. I did my comarison with a Toyota Camry LE vs our Prius with #3 and I came out break even at $3 in about 2.5 years. (at the time I did the analysis regular was over $3 in boston). There was only a $2900 premium over a comparably equiped camry. Now the camry is larger than a prius and can confortably fit 5 adults but I tell you, a corolla cannot comfortably fit 4 6 footers like the prius can.

After owning a prius, I started to think that perhaps the MAtrix is more of a comarison for the prius. I'll do an analysis on that get see if I'm still out ahead.

 

I agree; CR's car reviews usually are spot on. I suspect the mercury news reporting may be leaving some relevant bits out - most media outlets do these days. <_<

Will reserve judgement on the CR article until it shows up in my snail mail.

- XBones

 

The time that I save on the 110 going to work everyday (20 minutes each way) is well worth any additional cost/ The gas savings are just part of the savings.

 

The Prius saves me over $200 a month on fuel, thats more than enough to offset the higher cost for me.

 

Hi All,

Well I took a look at the article and this stood out for me: "

In its April auto issue, due on newsstands Tuesday, the magazine said the six most popular gas-electric hybrids end up costing owners from $3,700 to $13,300 more over five years compared with similar gasoline models. Much of that comes from the higher purchase price of hybrids vs. non-hybrids,

but they also will lose more of their value, the report said. (tried to bold this but could not in fast reply)

Lose their value huh? What have these folks been reading or smoking? These cars not only seem to hold their value in some cases they have already been sold used for their new price or even a bit more.

And incidentally, when was the last time you purchased any item other than precious metals, gems, stocks and real estate and based your decision solely upon whether or not the item would make you money.

I bought my car because it was, is and remains the best technologically advanced and environmentally responsible vehicle available that would fit my driving needs. As for the replacement costs of the battery, if it ever needs to be replaced during my ownership, I expect that either the state warranty will still be in effect or (since the traction battery is actually a battery pack comprised of individual cells and not one single piece) it would only be a cell that needed replacement and the cost for that would be nominal indeed.

Incidentally, my car is 1 year 25 days old and thus far my total maintenance costs have been under $200 and that included the replacement of a tire that I popped, purchase of road hazard insurance for 5 tires, a tire rotation and my 30,000 mile service. I did a costing out and determined that my car costs me $0.06/mile to drive factoring everything in and a comparable non-hybrid car would cost $0.10/mile.

Now my math skills may be rusty, but the last time I checked, 6 was still less than 10 right? The bottom line for me still is and remains the same. When you add the cash value of that which you can calculate to the incalcuable value of trying to help do a little less damage to our environment, dollar for dollar hybrids really are the best deal in town.

Take care all and have a super day!

Tisza

 

How can anyone say a Hybrid costs more???? Mine was 26,000.00 in 2004, my Chrysler Concorde was 26,000.00 in 1998 and the Prius is far superior. My wife's Infiniti was 35,000.00 and doesn't have Bluetooth or a nav system nor a lot of other goodies. I used to spend well over $100.00/mo on gas and now its around $30.00. Someone is duuuuumb and its not us.

 

Anyone who does not see the advantage of hybrid technology is clearly stupid.
Sooner or later they will all end up going hybrid anyways. :lol:
They are the ones missing out.

 

I own a vibe(matrix)also. Its smaller than the prius, also it gets about half the MPG of my prius I can stay in the 50's all summer in the Prius and have yet to break 28mpg in the vibe and the prius has more power But I bought it used for 12K so I would have never saved enough to buy a 2nd prius

 

With the tax incentives, my Prius cost me the same net amount of a similar Corolla (which incidentally was not comfortable for my 6'2" frame) or a similar Civic (same on the comfort).

That, along with the extra savings, my net carrying cost is much less with the Prius. The only wikdcard, will be the hybrid battery situation/cost down the road.

 

Sorry CR...i paid no price premium on mine...my gas consumption is down by 2/3rds over the last 2 years...maintenance cost over the last 2 years...oil and filter changes...otherwise $0.00...so your assumption is dead wrong...i compare my cost vs a grand marquis(97) which i had...i drive 18000+ a year, and just for kicks we drove to California and back last summer (6000+ miles), and had no trouble whatsoever, and spent approx $200-235 approx on gas round trip...spent more on food...

 

Here's another way of doing the comparison-

Assume a 3000$ premium,(less I know)
Assume 6% interest and a five year note,
Assume $2.25 a gallon for gas,(we should be so lucky)
Assume 50 MPG in the Prius, 25 MPG in the comparison vehicle,

The cost added to the note would be 58$ per month. To break even on cashflow in this example you would need to drive 1288 miles per month.

I won't add in maintainance as it is unknown but so far it is less than average.

Similarly, the cost of adding the nav and bluetooth to the Prius is about the same 58$ per month. How will you recoup that?

CR is not supposed to have an axe to grind but in their reports on the Prius, the assumptions that they make show that they clearly do. Their equivalent vehicle is simply not equivalent.

 

By the time we actually need to have the batteries replaced, the replacements will probably be lighter, cheaper and more powerful than the current ones. I'm almost looking forward to it. The one question I have is whether the extended warranty is necessary but I'll probably go for it when the time comes.

 

Why is it always "five years"? Maybe in the 1970s it made sense to plan to buy a new vehicle every five years, but modern cars are much better engineered and will last much longer. Remember how the dashboard odometers rolled back to zero after 99,999 miles? Even the manufacturers didn't expect them to make 100,000. Modern cars are able to last easily twice that.

We made a spreadsheet to determine the most cost-effective vehicle over the course of ten years, based on initial cost, our own city/highway driving mix, conservative fuel efficiency estimates, and the price of gasoline. The Prius was the CLEAR winner, which is why we bought one. Little did we know how much fun it is, too!

 

I'm expecting the Prius to last 10 (if not more) years. I'm hoping it will last 15...

This was the first and probably last new car I buy, so it's gotta last a looooong time!!