Is a Prius a Good Value?

Buy less gas. (Big Period at the end)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(usbseawolf2000 @ Jan 31 2007, 01:54 PM) [snapback]383513[/snapback]</div>

Assembly of a car is the "cheap" part of the vehicle - The high investment portions include engineering and the manufacturing of the vehicle parts, including engine, transmission, electronics, etc...

At the end of the day, profit and high tech portions of these cars belong to Japan. The only reason Toyota assembles in the USA was to assuade Congress in the 80's - (remember? Japan in the eighties was the same as China is today).

Although for the moment Toyota is making a better product than their American counterparts - As an American, I would hope you root for your own countrymen. That does not mean you should subsidize them - but at least work to move them towards being better.

I don't know what business you are in, but you live in America and work in America. Aren't you glad that American's support whatever business you are in? Or would you rather hear us say that you are ripping us off and that we should be giving our money to some guy in Japan instead?

Folks: Think about what you say sometimes... What if the tables were turned, what if something was being said about the industry you work for?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(John in LB @ Feb 1 2007, 06:13 AM) [snapback]383782[/snapback]</div>

Some noble and admirable sentiments. I believe many of us are American rooters although we voted with our pocketbooks. The Japanese that have our money have invested in this country by buying our bonds, our real estate, and other stuff. Since Americans don't save, someone has to support our lifestyle.

 

When we bought our Prius, we were looking for a car that would seat the three of us -- each of us being 5'10 or better -- and which would be economical to operate and maintain. Over the expected lifetime of the car -- for us that's at least 185,000 -- we imagine this to be a no-brainer.

We figure the crossover point at which the Prius has paid for its premium price would be at approximately 6 years -- or 8 at the absolute most. This means that it will for sure be equal to and probably more cost effective than the Honda Accord EX, which was the alternative we evaluated. We could not fit in the EX comfortably, so actually, we had no choice. The civic was also too small. If one is 5'10" tall or more, one's head is stuck into the ceiling when sitting in the back seat of either the Accord or the Civic.

The only theoretical alternative was the Camry, which was more expensive than the Prius at the time, and not available. It also affords poorer gas mileage. All of our calculations assumed 3 dollar per gallon gas. Right now, the gas is cheaper, but we had no way to know that at the time. Nevertheless, that just means a slightly later crossover point. We imagined and planed for identical maintenance costs, but frankly, I think the Prius might come in cheaper in that department. We shall have to wait and see.

So, we actually see this as the most economical choice. We were not willing to get a Corolla, though I admit it seems like a great car. It would not have seated the three of us comfortably. My son is only 14, so it seems reasonable to buy a car that we can take a few more trips in. I don't know, maybe I am missing something here, but I am really surprised to read that folks don't see the Prius as economical.

By the way, we certainly did NOT pay 34K for it. We paid 24,500 for a Touring model that has everything except leather and Nav. We will probably get the tax credit due to some complicated circumstances... So it came to about 4K more than the Honda Accord EX 4cylinder non-hybrid.

And another thing. It has no timing belt. It does not require a smog check, and its brakes will surely last longer. These things are worth a lot to me in money and in stress that I don't have to spend. It has a 5K minimum gap between oil changes. All of these are factors we did NOT consider in our calculations. So, gee. we are really optimistic about this choice.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(John in LB @ Feb 1 2007, 06:13 AM) [snapback]383782[/snapback]</div>

You are talking about my industry. I currently live in a small town in Eastern Tennessee. We have five Japanese owned and two German owned automotive suppliers that account for about 75% of the industry in this area. The only large American owned manufacturing company was Magnavox but they moved their production to China.

My company assembles transmissions. It is a family owned Japanese company that has been here since 1989. They purchased land (from an American), built a factory (using American labor and materials) and now employ 250 Americans. They paid $2 million last year in US taxes, paid out $10 million in salaries to Americans, and only took $2 million back to Japan in profit. So a whole lot more money from this business is staying in the US than going back to Japan and we are glad to have them here.

If you think tons of money are made in selling parts you are sorely mistaken. Parts are a commodity. The contract goes to the company that offers the lowest price with acceptable quality and delivery. Profit margins in the automotive parts industry are tiny. We get our parts from all over the world (USA, Japan, Korea, China, Brazil, India, Italy, UK, Sweden, Czech Republic, etc.) We also sell our product all over the world.

I'm not wishing the US industry to disappear but I'm not going to worry to much about the country that a company happens to call home. All large manufacturing companies are for the most part multinational. Which is more American, a US assembled Nissan Titan or a Ford F250 assembled in Canada? How about a Volvo assembled in Sweden or Honda Accord assembled in Ohio? How about a GM owned Kia assembled in Korea?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jhinton @ Feb 2 2007, 10:25 AM) [snapback]384502[/snapback]</div>

Great Comments! We really are part of a very complex integrated global economy.

Regards,

Keith

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tech_Guy @ Feb 2 2007, 09:05 PM) [snapback]384768[/snapback]</div>

If I have a choice, I vote American - that's all.

I own a Toyota, I certainly don't speak ill of them or your job in Tennesse. However, I sure wish GM or FORD can make a product better than a Toyota or a Honda.

Its too bad they don't right now...

 

Nobody has asked the next obvious, yet pressing question:

"Do consumers really recoup the additional cost of a stereo upgrade in any car?"

 

That was a good video.

I didnt buy my prius for the gas mileage, Most people think that I was trying to escape the High gas prices. I bought my Prius for the sake of reducing my impact on our planet, I would be dumb to think that I could save money on gas by buying a car that is nearly 3X's as much as the car that it replaced. The gas mileage was only a bonus with the PZEV rating.