A long hard look at the Prius

Hi Rbasho,

Diesel technology is not catching up to the Prius at all. Just check the city mileage of the 2009 Jetta against a Prius. And also consider that diesel has 13 % more fuel energy than gasoline.

The third generation Prius is even better than the second in both city and highway fuel economy.

 

I'm not one to rush out and get the latest and greatest... I think I would give Gen 3 a little while to shake out the bugs... though, I suspect that it will have some really good advances!
Right now, it is a buyer's market on Prius... if you have the ability to buy one, you can score a really good deal about now, with anticipation for the next gen coming, plus gas prices, plus the credit crunch. Cash verily is king.

The 2010 does have some things worth waiting for, too, if you decide to wait. At least, that's what they tell us!

 

Touche!
I just purchased a 2009 Package 5 for $5k below invoice! If you know how to work the dealers, it is definately a buyers market.

 

I agree with Rae Vynn (and not just because we're close personal friends). Car dealerships are pretty dead just before Christmas. You should be able to get a great deal.

 

rbasho:

if you are looking for a low speed commute only option. get an EV. there are multitude of possible choices, some of which wont even use batteries, that may be available in the next 16 months or so.

but if looking for something that will be used for occasional long distance trips over say 100 miles one way, get a Pri. there is a lot of cars that come close, but nothing there yet. other options like the Volt, may simply never be a viable option... The Pri is here and now with a pretty good track record going for it so far.

 

I'm having trouble believing that. Do you mean $5k below invoice or below MSRP?

 

I'm new here too, just wanted to say that I laughed at "long hard" look! LOL

 

You mentioned that you are interested in emissions. The 2009 VW Jetta TDI is simply the lowest emission diesel in the world. However, it does not have lower emissions that the Prius.

The diesel Mini is a nice car and gets better fuel economy than the Jetta but it isn't lower in emissions.

 

You can't use the Air Pollution Score at Fuel Economy This score does not relate to actual emission data, just the classification of the vehicle. Vehicles are rated by their worse emission not a total of all emissions. With this method a vehicle will a 0 0 0 0 5 would be rated a 5 and one with 4 4 4 4 4 would be rated a 4. Which is lower 5 or 20?

You can get actual data from CARB:
Subject Top Page: On-Road New Vehicle & Engine Certification Program

The EPA:
Annual Certification Test Results & Data | Cars and Light Trucks | US EPA

Or for EU vehicles:
VCAcarfueldata.org.uk - Home Page

The subject of Diesel vs. Gasoline vs. Hybrid emissions has been debated endlessly here at PriusChat. The most recent is:
http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-hybrid-news/55824-volkswagen-diesel-car-wins-green-car-year.html

 

rbasho,

Research is good. I hope you're getting out and test driving cars too. If you're not getting enough from the 10, 15 minute dealer test drives, Prius can be rented from Toyota dealers and Hertz-like places as well.

Prius is like no other vehicle I've ever driven. It is so incredibly smooth with its CVT and the ride is very plush. Mine averages about 55 MPG without working hard at it. It must have a really strong battery or something.

Welcome to Priuschat :welcome:

 

Rae, shake out what bugs?
It will still be a Toyota won't it?

 

Of course, Pat.
I seem to recall that the Gen 1 and 2 both had a couple of little issues that were fixed via recalls... I would make the assumption that Gen 3 might have a couple of similar 'gotchas'..
Naturally, since it is Toyota, they will be quickly resolved, but it's something for people to think about. Not everyone wants to be a beta tester

 

issues with new products are par for the course. in retrospect, cars have viturally no issues at all when compared to other similarly complicated items...

look at the Blackberry Storm, the new i-phone when it was released (we wont mention the biggest culprit of all time which would be ANY WINDOWS release) etc. the list goes on. they all came out with multiple issues that had to be fixed.

electronics manufacturers should learn from the QA testing programs that car manufacturers use because even the WORST car does not compare in issues to probably the smoothest new electronic gizmo intro