Why not get a Corolla?

I now own both a Prius and a Corolla.

My Prius is two days old, while I've had my Corolla for over 17 years now. My Corolla has been a great car---just passed 200,000 miles without a significant repair! It's a manual transmission and I'm still driving with the original clutch. My Corolla has achieved tremendous highway mileage on long interstate trips (in excess of 50 mpg) and averages in the mid-30's mpg in the city. The body has just now started rusting a bit around the wheel well; the interior is like brand new.

I realize that nothing will last forever. So, I bought a Prius back in December. After a four month wait, I picked it up yesterday. The Corolla made it through another Chicago winter while I was waiting for my new Prius to arrive.

I really like the Prius so far. I feel like I've really modernized. They didn't even have CD players in cars when I bought my Corolla! But, I certainly won't knock the Corolla. If the Prius lasts have as long it will be doing good!

 

Recently sold our 2001 Prius to buy a new 2006 Prius. At the time we bought the 2001 Prius, I compared it to a Corolla with similar amenities. The purchase price difference was about $4000 at that time.

I should point out that Oregon has a $1500 tax credit, even back in 2001, so the tax benefits for 2001 represent the tax credit and the $2000 federal deduction at the time.

Hopefully the table will hold. This is an excel file. We basically realized 68% of the purchase price on our 2001 Prius.

The value for the Less Sale of Vehicle for the 2001 Corolla was based on the Kelly Blue Book for good condition with same milage and a private party sale.

We reached the conclusion that we were nuts not to buy a 2006 at this point and to cash out the 2001 while its value was so good and the general federal tax credits were available.

We were conservative on the gas savings.

------------------------------------2001 Prius----------------2001 Corolla---------------2006 Prius

Original Purchase Price------------20,500---------------------16,500--------------------29,000
Less Tax Benefits------------------(-2200)---------------------------0--------------------(-4700)
Less Sale of Vehicle---------------(-13950)--------------------(-8000)-----------------(-19720)
Less 4 years free maintenance----(-1000)-------------------------0---------------------------0
Less gas savings--------------------(-1000)-------------------------0--------------------(-2000)
-------------------Total Cost----------2,350----------------------8500---------------------2,580

Cost per year for each of 5 years---470-----------------------1700

Cost per months----------------------39.17-------------------141.67

Excel spreadsheet is attached.

We assumed that we would get a similar percentage of resale at the end of five years on the 2006 Prius.

George

 

Clintd555, I read the same message in the yahoo group and responded much the same way. But postings since have suggested that the problem may not yet have been well diagnosed. The jury may still be out on that one.

Mardikes, I do my Prius cost spreadsheet a lot like yours! But I am staying with the 2001 Prius for the long haul. What did the odometer say at the time of sale?

DAS

 

I traded in a 2005 Corolla for a 2006 Prius. I have to confess, when the car Talk guys referred to the Corolla as a "Granny car," I didn't feel as good about it. I was on the fence anyway.

Peace --

 

Mardikes, I do my Prius cost spreadsheet a lot like yours! But I am staying with the 2001 Prius for the long haul. What did the odometer say at the time of sale?

DAS
[/quote]

Milage was 57,000. George

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(clintd555 @ Apr 10 2006, 04:12 PM) [snapback]237775[/snapback]</div>

Oregon gets a $1500 tax credit. When I put this together, I had heard $3200 for the federal, but it may be a bit off.

I compared the gas savings for the 2001 Prius against the 2001 Corolla using a lower cost of gas. I anticpate the 2006 Prius to get at least 10 MPG better than our 2001 Prius and also expect the cost of gas to be quite a bit more over the five year period. Attached is a spreadsheet I use for comparisons. You can enter your own numbers.

Cost per year is basically the total cost for the five years, divided by 5, the number of years we kept the 2001 Prius.

Note that the 2006 Prius analysis is for the Package 8.

If you go with the package 4 it looks like this:

24,000 purchase price of 2006 Prius
-4650 tax benefits for me based on Oregon tax benefits
-16320 five year value (your equity in the vehicle at that time)
0
-2000
1,030 total cost for 5 years

206 cost per year

Here is the analyis if you use only federal tax credit:

2006 Prius

24,000 purchase price package 4
-3150 federal tax credit
-16320 five year value (your equity)
0
-2000 gas savings over conventional car
2,530 cost over 5 years

506 cost per year

Our decision to go with the 2006 at this time is that we really did not want to eat into our equity, the $4650 tax credit was huge, plus we will get better gas milage, which helps. Good chances we will keep the 2006 for 7 to 10 years, but being able to start the clock again at this window made a lot of sense.






I compared the gas savings for the 2001 Prius against the 2001 Corolla using a lower cost of gas. I anticpate the 2006 Prius to get at least 10 MPG better than our 2001 Prius and also expect the cost of gas to be quite a bit more over the five year period. Attached is a spreadsheet I use for comparisons. You can enter your own numbers.

FORGOT TO ATTACH IT.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mardikes @ Apr 10 2006, 03:25 PM) [snapback]237753[/snapback]</div>

Hey George, do you know how the Oregon credit works?... what if you live in Washington but work in Oregon? and even bought the prius in Oregon?

After a little digging around, it looks like you have to be a resident.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(windstrings @ Apr 10 2006, 10:02 PM) [snapback]237912[/snapback]</div>

"Qualifying hybrid electric vehicles can earn a tax credit for Oregon residents and business owners"

From the Oregon Department of Energy web site. Do you own an Oregon business?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Mar 17 2006, 07:11 PM) [snapback]226145[/snapback]</div>

Your advice probably is sound for the average consumer, but I can afford the paymenst, and I'd MUCH rather pay the interest on my Prius than drive the car for which I could have paid cash! Besides, I moved the balance of my car loan to a credit card at 1.9% until the balance is paid off. Any decent money market fund will make more than 1.9% after taxes, so it doesn't make sense to pay more than the minimum payment. Now if I ever screw up and make a late payment and that rate goes to 19%, I'll have to find a Plan B. Of course, I'm expecting to pay off the credit card with equity left when we sell our house soon.

 

We just bought an '06 Corolla. Still have an '05 Prius ("my" car). For us, it worked out better. My wife will be driving the Corolla only 6 miles each way to work. This is not enough time for the Prius to really get warmed up enough to get the higher mileage (in my experience).

Factoring in the $8,000 savings (about $5,000 after the tax credit)), the lack of a big difference in MPG (for such a short commute), and the fact that we were able to avoid financing a Corolla, the Corolla was a better deal FOR US. Besides, the wife liked the Corolla and after 25 years of marriage, I've learned.

So, now we have both a Corolla and a Prius.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ShavenYak @ Apr 11 2006, 02:52 PM) [snapback]238114[/snapback]</div>

'Affordable monthly payment' is wishy washy car dealer talk at best, and an oxymoron at worse. Amortization does not cause debt to magically disappear.

If you can pay cash and decide not to in order to arbitrage, that makes sense; but that is not your case.

Putting large debts on credit cards have other downsides than the one you mentioned. Specifically for you, it will cause your credit rating to go down which might put you in a higher mortgage note category; will likely worsen your monthly cash flow since most credit cards require 1.5 - 2.0% monthly principal repayment; and will also affect how much mortgage you will be allowed when you go to buy your next home. You may also wish to look into credit card 'universal default' provisions -- they exist on most, but not all, credit cards.

As for spending your home equity on a car -- <<shrug>>. If the equity could have been used to make a down-payment large enough to otherwise avoid PMI, that is *another* ~ $100 monthly fee on top of everything else.

A silver lining does however exist: you bought a Prius, and not an SUV or truck

 

Is there any followup to this ugly rumor?

 

All,

Here goes my two cents...

It depends of what type of vehicle you NEED. If you are looking for a small compact commuter vehicle or second car, the corolla make a whole lot of sense. If you like the Prius for environmental reasons, take the extra money you save and plunk $800 down and replace your '80's era fridge with a high efficiency energy star qualified one. You'll save the same equivalent amount of CO2 relative to what the Prius will save vs. the Corolla - and you'll save a whole heck of a lot of cash.

As I've stated in a few other posts, as a single homeowner who likes to do a lot of work on my house, the Corolla is just too small and doesn't include a hatchback. It just doesn't work for me. I can also imagine that a family of four would do much better in a Prius as the primary family vehicle. More interior space and a larger trunk. Plus the "Noisy Child Sound Supression Technology (NCSST) that comes standard on the Prius is quite helpfull. Alright, thats just a joke, but heck wouldn't it be great?

It all depends on what your needs are. Seriously, if you are looking for a solid decent second car, but a two to three year old Corolla, and invest your extra cash in other energy saving technology in your home.

Like I said, just my two cents,
Cosmo

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(richard schumacher @ Apr 24 2006, 07:41 AM) [snapback]244236[/snapback]</div>

Oops, sorry. Yes there was followup posted in the Yahoo toyota Prius group on 14 April message #93205. The HV battery was found to be without fault and the transmission was replaced. Mostly paid by Toyota; I think Phillip said his out of pocket expense was in the $900-1000 range. It is a 2001 Prius with 67k miles.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Jan 26 2006, 01:57 PM) [snapback]197966[/snapback]</div>

WOW! A Lot of discussion based upon comparing apples to oranges! I think the thread finally got to it though, a PRIUS is much larger than a COROLLA, is more comfortable.and is more technologically advanced, and at last check seems to require less servicing. After accounting for the tax benefit, and adding in the delta savings in gas costs (which are getting higher every darn day it seems!) the Prius is a great buy for a mid size, quiet, and luxury based car. Now - no one mentioned the primary reason the PRIUS sells so well in it's top 5 markets across the USA -and that is the Feds finally allowed Hybrids to ride Federally funded or subsidized HOV lanes. In Virginia, that saves me 2+ hours a day in commuting alone, not to mention the toll on your body and soul. It's fair I think to set a cost on at least the hours you reclaim to your life. For me, that's about 10 or more hours a week, and at even the lowest hourly wage you want to give yourself, you can payoff the difference in your PRIUS in months.

Corolla, Camry, no way - not even close. And - I grew up with muscle cars, still have corvettes and street rods, but I love my Prius - best customer friendly vehicle to come along in 30 years or more, and I love it more every day I drive to work, and every week or so when I fill up!!

 

This thread illustrates how effective Toyota's marketing department is at determining the design/features in a vehicle for a given market segment. The Toyotas mentioned (Prius, Corolla, Camry, Matrix) are all very good choices in their respective market segments. The point being, not one of them 'trumps' the others outright. Rather, each one is a perfect fit for someone (the gas mileage/initial vehicle cost negate using either as a primary criteria for deciding). So, trying to compare them directly to one another isn't really accurate.

I like all four and wouldn't hesitate to recommend any one of them, depending on the buyer's needs/budget. I, personally, wanted the space of a flat open rear area (my previous vehicle was a Mazda MPV minivan), so the Corolla/Camry sedans were out. The Matrix was close, but I'm put off by the 'crossover' styling that seems to try too hard to mask the fact that it's just a Corolla station wagon.

So, for me, overall, the 'big hatchback' Prius was the best fit. It's positioned between the Corolla and Camry in size, but Toyota was smart enough to change the design of the latest version from a sedan to a hatchback to appeal to a wider market and avoid stealing Corolla/Camry sales. It was a brilliant move that I think is responsible for the wider acceptance of the Prius as a mainstream vehicle and not some curiosity suitable only as a low-volume 'niche' vehicle.

Ironically, Honda's ground-breaking Insight was of a similiar design as the current Prius, but was so small and impractical, it didn't sell well, and Honda seems to have compensated by making the Civic Hybrid just another version of the standard Civic 4-door sedan. The problem is that it's now not different enough from the non-hybrid Civic to justify the higher cost.

Like I said, Toyota does an amazing job of building just the right vehicle for virtually anyone's needs/budget.

 

This is a long thread, and I'll confess I haven't read all of it. But, for what it's worth, here's my own experience:

I was repacing a '98 Chevy Cavalier Z24 convertible. That was a Coupe, and with it being a convertible, there was no 'side bar' that could block my vision merging into traffic. I totalled my car and needed one in a hurry. I'd always heard the Prius was hard to get, so I went out shopping for other cars like the Scion, Corolla and Civic. All of them had this 'side bar' that was in exactly the wrong place - I kept trying to have to peer around it to merge into traffic. The first dealer I went to had a used Prius for sale and a 2007 Camry, and I test drove those. The Camry was OK but VERY expensive. But when I got behind the wheel of the Prius, I noticed that I had an absolutely great view! And, although it's small, it is roomy inside, and quite luxurious compared to the Scion, Corolla and Civic.

I found several 2006 Prius's available or coming in within a week at Toyota dealers within 25 miles of my house. I wanted package 3 as a minimum and package 6 as a maximum, would not take silver as a color and was reluctant to take black (had a black car in the 70's and it was unbearable in summer, even with A/C). I got a white package 5 below MSRP 8 days after I became 'carless'.

No question I could have gotten a Scion, Civic (non-hybrid) or Corolla just as quickly and maybe even faster. But given that I'd be spending at least $15,000 just for basic transportation, spending about $5000 more (counting the tax credit I'll get) for a car I REALLY, REALLY LIKE with LOTS of LUXURY OPTIONS was a real no-brainer for me.

I paid about $20,000 for my convertible 8 years ago, and really loved that car, the first new car I'd ever owned. Previously I'd always driven 'beaters' until they died in a year or two. So my second 'new' car had to be the Prius I'd secretly wanted since the 'new' models came out in 2004, but couldn't justify buying when I had a good car with only 50,000 miles on it. I may decide to let my oldest grandson have my Prius when he gets a license (he's not quite 5 yet), and I MAY buy something new then <g>

So why did I get a Prius - 'because I WANTED IT, THAT'S WHY!!!!!!