we all concentrate on MPG's as a good guide towards how well we are doing on mileage but it simply does not drive the message home to non-Prius drivers. most have an inflated perception of what kind of mileage they are getting which lessens the impact of a 50 mpg statement. i now post my LT cents per mile figure as another indicator of how much we are benefiting ourselves and others by driving a Prius. I was in Port Orchard, WA for a family function this past sunday and was stunned by the price of gas... no, not what you think. despite having 3 bars left, i filled up at $2.799 a gallon before returning to my hometown of $3.03 a gallon, Olympia. that tank gave me 5.2 cpm (cents per mile). that is paltry compared to my alltime low of 3.14 cpm or my last summer average of 3.5 cpm. but much better than my previous fillup of 5.9 cpm. my last two fillups have still been enough to bring my LT cpm over 4, but at 4.14 cpm... no one i know can even come close to touching double that. now THAT really sends a message!!
Dave, Factor in the relatively high resale of a Prius and your total cost per mile is even more impressive (and with relatively low, or no, maintenance costs).
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(200Volts @ May 2 2006, 04:04 PM) [snapback]248780[/snapback]</div> It always gets me when you see all these articles about cost of the Prius and comparing it to cars with which it has little in common. The incredible lack of maintenance and the time required for maintenance is a huge factor for me. Getting 45+ mpg is just a bonus as far as I am concerned. But when I do my mileage for work....I am smiling.
Well I calculate my "gas" C/mi but I have not yet included the other factors such as oil changes etc to the cost. I know I should but that would involve well "work"
Dave, Are you figuring all running costs in your calc or just fuel? Ie. cost of oil, filters, service, lamp replacements, etc. I'm just curious 'cause I've setup a spreadsheet to track all of it. I am currently at 4.579 CPM for gas only. I have yet to incur any routine maintenance costs but will very soon.
mine is gas only. but i have also done 4 oil changes 2 @ 31.99 plus tax. one at 33.95 and one at 28.95 and a cabin filter (forgot how much i paid for that. like $30 ish??) so add that. i dont factor in oil changes in because its a basic maintenance item that i assume everyone would do and would do at about the same rate. that cost CAN be mitigated by do-it-yourselfers which i feel skews that data unfairly. i would have also included other "basic" maintenance cost items. i think that if i used synthetic oil (i dont) then i would factor in the additional cost since it does reduce cost of ownership in increased mpg's but would only factor in the difference in cost from standard oil
Here's some interesting math: Mobil 1 now is about $6/qt times 4 qts/change =$25 additional dollars per oil change. Assume 20 oil changes for the first 100k miles and I will spend an additional $500 versus standard oil. Oh yeah, I could have bought the extended warranty for $1,200 total and ran regular oil, plus had bumper to bumper coverage (for only $700 !!!).
Road and Track just sold their long term test Prius. It cost .24/mile all expenses included for about 50K miles, versus their average of .41/mile for all test cars. Of course, they only got 41 MPG for their test period
To get 24 cents a mile is great! I'm sure R&T includes *everything* during the test period minus the price it sold at. I think they (or maybe Edmunds) were estimating that a Prius would run 42cents/mile over 5 years. Right now, for *everything*, including such details as car washes I'm running 77cents a mile. Gas only, under 4.09cents/mile.
Total cost of ownership (cents per mile) smiles on Prius. I am now about 22-25 cents per mile with 2001 Prius 87k miles, assuming I sold it now at market price. I won't, of course. I DIY as much maint as possible, but even the "don't touch it" owners ought to be making 30 cents per mile (not counting car washes!). AAA says that typical cars cost about 50 cents per mile. Even without considering emissions, Prius is a very cheap car to run. Probably that's one reason why we're all here.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA @ May 2 2006, 12:00 PM) [snapback]248643[/snapback]</div> Great point! Uh-oh. Do you "know" me... Darell the EV driver? I've got some cents sense for you! Now that my PV system is paid off, I have about 27 years ahead of me of ZERO fuel cost for my EVs. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA @ May 3 2006, 10:32 AM) [snapback]249130[/snapback]</div> Ah... but only a basic maintenance item for internal combustion vehicles. NO oil changes or tune-ups on EVs. (I'm not being too annoying here, am I?)
The Road and Track analysis did include everything. Service was apparently done at dealer prices. It even included 8 new tires
It costs me 11 cpm for my Prius after 40K miles since 2/10/2005. I used the reporting options in MS Money. This includes: gasoline, maintenance (service at dealerships, Kragen's Mobil-1 oil, 30K service), registration, new set of tires, extended warranty, repair shop deductible, HOV stickers & next-day express mail for it, and rideshare credit from work. This does not include tinting, car payments, accessories, and FastTrak. For just gas, it's 5 cpm. It would be 81 cpm if you include the purchase price of the Prius.
if i factor in oil and air filters, etc. (cant do car washes since i didnt keep track.) it adds less than a penny per mile. also my car waxes (dont do much of this i admit) was provided free from my sis when she did the paint and fab protect on my car. she also provided the maintenance kit that comes with it also at no charge. that was about a $300 value i think. so adding that would add just over a penny so that leaves me at less than 7 cpm. and darrell, i already am well aware of the fact that your cpm is low and dropping every day since you have no additional energy costs and if electricity buy back rates go up, you are not allowed to gloat about any negative cpm figures~!~!
On a similar track, with my old car getting summer/winter avg of 26, the Prius what seems like it'll avg 52 (at least), my savings pay for a significant portion of my payment. At even $3.00 a gallon (we're about $3.08), my annual fuel cost driving 39k miles a year was about $4400, with the Prius, about $2200. The 180+ a month savings pays for 2/3 of my car payment. Add in the lesser maint. costs of a new car vs the 8 year old car, etc etc, I'm basically driving an new car for about $90 a month.
