Langberg: Buying a Prius for the right reason -- money 7/3/2006 Mike Langberg, Mercury News http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews...rg/14942717.htm Excerpts: I just bought a Toyota Prius, the most fuel-efficient car on the market, for exactly the right reason. Not to save the planet by lowering tail-pipe emissions. Not to send a message to the oil companies, or to appear environmentally hip while tooling down the highway. I bought the Prius because of money, and that's important for the future of Silicon Valley, as I'll explain below... Consumer Reports did a detailed cost analysis of hybrid ownership in March, with what I regard as a fatal flaw. The magazine compared the Prius to a bottom-of-the-line Toyota Corolla that costs about $6,000 less and gets around 30 miles per gallon. The fuel savings from the Prius barely cover the extra purchase price in the first five years of ownership, even after Consumer Reports corrected an embarrassing error in calculating depreciation. But that's not a fair comparison in the real world...
Good article. I get tired of the comparisons made between the Prius and the Corolla as if they were interchangeable in every way except their power drive systems. The Prius is in a class by itself; but I think it's closer to the Camry than to the Corolla. My sister bought a 2004 Camry the same year I bought my new Prius. She paid about 5k more for her car than I did. Her car is wider inside than mine; mine has more legroom. She gets 38-32 mpg, I get 48-52. I think I got a deal; Consumer Reports thinks I got snockered. Bob
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(brandon @ Jul 4 2006, 04:18 PM) [snapback]280984[/snapback]</div> Here in the UK, my decision was also based on saving me money, mostly in the form of Tax savings as its a company car and I don't pay for the fuel although the fuel savings were an incentive to my boss to let me have a 'weird' car. (Fuel in the UK is around $6.30 a US gallon... )
I like that he makes the CR mistake known, calls it out, and then points out that they recalled it. Get that information out there for the rest of the world to see and hear about. I also like his spreadsheet. Nice article and it clearly addresses many falicies out there.
I really like what this guy has to say. I never would have considered a Corolla to fulfill my car needs. I was looking at Accords, Camrys and Mazda6's. If I had gotten one of those cars, similarly equipped to my fully-loaded Prius, I would have paid just about the same as I did for the Prius but getting worse gas mileage AND paying more to fill it up at the gas pump to boot. And even with all the bells and whistles those cars come with, I'd still likely be out an SKS and a reverse camera. Both of which I use on an almost-daily basis. Oh yeah, and the versatility of a hatchback.
