Media Reasoning

I traded in my previous car because I broke a leg and no one in the family knew how to drive (or wanted to learn how to drive) a car with a stick-shift transmission. I bought the Prius because of the technology and because it promised to give me twice the mpgs, which it had done. This is a very nice car indeed.

 

I would just like to point out that the Topic of this Post is an Oxymoron

 

I love my Prius, but I wish the interior was as nice as the Jetta. The only thing I regret about buying my Prius (driftwood #9) instead of the car I was planning to buy (VW Beetle TDI) is the slightly less comfortable interior. I really wanted leather and MP3 support.

Well, that and the Prius cost about $10K more. thanks to dealer mark-up and the exended arranty, though I returned that.

Otherwise, though, I agree. To me, the Prius isn't "extra" or "more expensive." It's just a $20K car. No matter how many news report make the claim, it isn't a Camry or Carolla. It's a Prius. The only thing I care about "making back" over the life of the car is the $3K dealer "market adjustment." Which won't even matter once the car is paid off, which should be in about 2 years.

 

I believe the "they cost more" myth arises from the Honda Civic Hybrid, which I gather costs about $2K more than the Civic non-hybrid. Since there is no non-hybrid Prius, there is no way to refute the claim, other than the subjective comparison of cost vs features and quality between the Prius and other cars.

In my opinion, the features:cost ratio of the Prius, along with Toyota quality, is such that there is no extra cost for the hybrid drive train, compared to conventional cars.

But reporters who have never driven one will not take my word for it, and other people will not agree with my opinion, and the reporters will continue to parrot the myth, citing the $2K difference for hybrid in the Civic.

It would be interesting to know if the hybrid Civic has value features that the regular Civic does not have, making the real cost difference less.

I do believe that Toyota is keeping its profit margin narrow on the Prius, while it breaks into the market.

 

amen to that!!

now if you had entitled it

"Media mind control"

or "media madness"

or "Misleading media propanganda"

or ....

 

I might not be typical but I bought ours because I'm a techno-geek and an early adoptor. It has cost me a lot of money over the years and puzzled my friends and family but I'v had fun. I was the kid in HS that set up the movie projector for the teacher; I bought the first tape recorder in our town in 1954; in the 60s it was Accutron watches; my first DVD player cost over $1000; surround sound the first time available; early Apple II; Mac 512; Direct-TV first week available; digital camera; recumbent bikes; Hi-Def TV; DVD burner; etc, etc. All this on a salary of less than $40,000/year. I'll die poor, but happy. :lol:

 

I bought my Prius as I drive on average 100 miles a day - every day - including my days off of work. I was also having serious reliability issues with the vehicle it replaced. This also put me into the situation of trading in my second vehicle in 18 months. I could not afford to get into another problem car. A co worker and friend already had one, and had excellent luck with it. Toyota's quality reputation also factored in. I cross shopped the Jetta wagon TDI as well, but the Jetta was just incrimentally smaller in all the wrong places to be viable as a vehicle that could also adequately carry passengers. Add to that, the rubber band driven camshaft on a design that will gurantee engine destruction, if the rubber band breaks, in addition to VW's resurgance of quality control issues. The Prius stood out hands down. The $20k price tag was moot in the regards that my cross shopping all fell in the same general price range.

On top of all this, in order for me to keep a vehicle long term, it has to keep my interest. The hybrid system and the techno goodies in the car fill this need nicely. The car's quality and fuel mileage will all save me real money in the long run, and will mean getting the car paid off before having to replace it - unless some idiot wrecks into it. To that end, my gap policy will take over.

The environmental benefits did not really weigh into the decision. Any benefit is a bonus, IMO.

 

It is VERY difficult to compare feature to feature. I just tried the Toyota site to see what a Camry outfitted with the standard features of a Prius would cost and couldn't. TRAC only available as a package (with VSC) on LE and above, but there wasn't even a place to select packages. Of course there is no 'CVT' available, planetary or otherwise. Likewise trying to create an equivilent Prius package - side and curtain airbags available as an option on Camrys but no way to select it. I would have to say that the Camry is, possibly, more expensive since a Camry LE costs the same as a base Prius. They might come down on MSRP but I think that would not be as much as the cost to add on the standard Prius things if it were possible.

 

Thanks for making this point.

I paid $23K for this car. I'm not sure there are other cars that cost less than this that meet my requirements which include:

. Best or near best in class safety rating
. Front, back, and head airbags
. Good entry heighth (important for us older folks)
. Good rear seat leg room (my friends really appreciate this, especially in comparison with my former Audi A4)
. Traction control
. Stability control
. Automatic Breaking System
. Lift back for hauling large objects
. High intensity headlights
. Stylish, has character
. Best in class fuel mileage
. Best in class emmission control (part of the solution rather than the problem)
. Excellent sound system, especially when compared to other non-premium sound systems
. Very quiet
. Turns off the engine at stoplights (all cars should have a way of doing this automatically - such a waste - so poluting)
. A really nice interior
. A good automatic climate control system
. Extremely reliable without even little things to fix on service visits
. No added cost pearlescent paint schemes
. A display that doesn't require me to look down through the steering wheel
. Good, safe handling, even in inclement weather
. Good pickup and passing ability
. CVT like transmission (doesn't 'hunt' for the right gear, no manual shifting)
. Power windows with one touch control on drivers side
. Fog lights
. Rear window wiper
. Good visability while driving (at least for me; I'm tall)
. Obvious, best in class engineering refinements (Okay, so I'm a bit of a geek)
. Easy, uncomplicated control of all audio and climate control adjustments
. Steering wheel controls for audio and climate control
. Comfortable, even on long trips (I was pleasantly surprised on my most recent 2,000 mile round trip trek)

Although not a requirement, our wonderful multi-function LCD display would be a pretty expensive add-on if other cars featured it. Also, I love being able to monitor my driving habits with that sophisticated fuel use monitor.

Also, not a requirement, but I've truly grown to love the smart entry (the car knows who you are) that the Lexux TV ads so proudly promote. I wonder what the monetary value of that feature is.

No, I really do believe this car provides real bang for the buck. I'm really not sure at all that I'd be able to find all these features in any other similarly priced car.