I drive my 2014 Corolla about 60 miles round trip daily. 25 of which is interstate. Is the Prius worth it if driving the interstate that many miles?
probably not, but you have to do the math: how much will it cot you, net? how many gallons will it save you per year x $/g? how old a prius? who will service it?
Welcome. My current commute is about 26 miles round trip. At least 20 of them are on. 60 mph state highway. In the summer I regularly get over 60 mpg on my Prius that was rated at 52 combined mpg. Winter here in Virginia is not that high though.
On gas, the Prius would save you roughly $2-2.50 a day in gas. Times five days a week, that's maybe $12.50 a week? But that's just the commute. The more you drive, the more the cost difference. And the more expensive gas gets, the more the cost difference. I think if it was me, I'd keep the Corolla a while longer. It would take quite a while for the Prius to pay for itself ... unless you just really want one. Then it's an emotional decision rather than financial.
Lets Pretend that you do 75 MPH on the interstate, I think a Gen 4 will do 45 MPG+. If the 35 miles is at 61 MPH, I think you will get 55 MPG+. If instead the 35 is all stop and go, I bet 45 MPG. If I had to guess, you are getting 35 MPG in the Corolla? 30 miles each way is a little short, in the summer you will drive 5 miles with Corolla like MPG then Prius like. In the winter it can take 15 miles to warm up and only 15 miles of great mileage. Like the others, I am skeptical that $2 gas will pencil out. (I paid for my Prius easily with $3.50 gas) If anything happens to the Corolla, THEN think Prius.
Don't forget to add in the possible cost of a replacement hybrid battery down the road. My mom's purchase of a Prius compared to a "normal" sedan due to how many miles she drives - close to 30k/yr. Compare 35 MPG vs 55 MPG over 30K miles at $2.50 for gas. 35 MPG = 857.14 gallons = $2,142.86 55 MPG = 545.45 gallons = $1,363.64 = $779.22 savings per year for the Prius. $2.50 is a good general estimate for the price of gasoline. Naturally this fluctuates with quite a range. Used prices should be comparable between Prii and Corollas, unless you live in an area where people overvalue the worth of their Prius (typical of Prius and Insight owners). A new hybrid battery is $2500; DIY installation is easy. At 30k miles per year, the fuel savings will pay for the inevitable battery replacement every 3.21 years. Most Prius batteries last at least 2-3 times as long. To justify purchasing a Prius, I would consider a hybrid battery every 5 years as a good benchmark, even though we know the hybrid batteries generally last much longer. $2500/5yrs = $500 savings required per year to justify purchasing a Prius over a, say, Corolla. At $2.50/gallon standard price of gas that is 200 gallons, or 19,250 miles/year. Other than that they seem to be pretty bulletproof cars if you do the research. On higher mileage Prii or Prii that weren't properly maintained, the transaxle ("transmission") will eventually need to be replaced, but such is the case with many automatic transmission vehicles. If you do your research, the Prius is quite a bulletproof car - as most Toyotas and Hondas are. The Prius generally has fewer issues, but those few issues generally cost a bit more to repair, unless you learn to DIY, which I highly recommend for anyone who owns any kind of car. Another thing to consider is that it is harder to hypermile the Prius than the Corolla. In the winter it is hard to beat 50 MPG in the Prius (haven't driven one in the summer yet) but 50+ MPG was easy in my '04 Civic that I used to have before purchasing my Insight, and the Corolla is the closest non-Civic car to my Civic. In other words, driving style affects these numbers as well. Best of luck.
Here's the relevant part of my PiP tracking spreadsheet after 25 months and 33,880 miles. Average cost per 100 miles and cost savings compared to 49 and 28 mpg. This includes two trips from FL to OH and back, one of which was in the winter with strong headwinds both ways along with rain and snow. NASTY trip! This is just gas and electricity.
Measure it for yourself - with a simple spreadsheet. Depends on your fuel price. I set up a spreadsheet with the 4 or 5 cars I was interested in, calculating fuel, insurance, likely depreciation and other expenses across 60,000km and 100,000km. For me, from that spreadsheet, it was chalk and cheese - the PRIUS was much cheaper. But - your fuel costs and other expenses will be unique to you. I could just slip in extra rows with other cars - and dream about a Bentley or whatever as well.
I did something similar a few years ago. The Corolla worked out better on paper until we realized we needed more cargo space than the Corolla and the big black grille phenomenon is butt ugly, IMHO !
I agree - with current models, the 2019 PRIUS is actually one of the cleaner TOYOTA designs: But I think the OP is talking about an older one.
I just calculated what It has cost me to drive a 2016 for 100,000 over the past 36 months here: 100,000 Miles @ $0.365/Mile | PriusChat While everyone’s numbers will be different — I drive a lot and bought the most expensive Prius available at the time and paid cash — any saving I saw from getting 2x better gas mileage paled in comparison to the other expenses of driving a brand new car. But then again money is not everything.
It would be interesting for you to project the cost of the next 100,000 miles. The hybrid battery seems to do well for people who drive a lot per year, so you probably won't need one. Cost for the second 100,000 will be a lot less, maybe half.
If you have any historical Corolla data to compare there could be other areas which might make the comparison more clear for you. Everyone has different driving conditions and styles but the elimination (or nearly) of brake pad changes, reduced time spent at the dealer for mechanical services, less trips to the gas station etc are interesting things to consider. It can really add up over 5yrs or 100k miles.
