Money saved on gas with Prius

In my case, fuel savings must be drastic for me to drive a car. Otherwise, I love my Mega Cab 4x4 Dodge Cummins Dually. I'm not comparing it to a car, because I won't drive something in between. I'm not arguing that it makes sense - just the way it is. I get 50+ mpg and 13 mpg in the snow, because I drive my truck. Without such a dichotomy of MPGs, I'd still be in a truck.

With that said, I average 3,800 miles per month. Figuring the difference in diesel and gas price, and the difference in mpgs makes my friends jaws drop - over $750 per month. I drive my vehicle 3 years, then my operations manager drives it the next three.

$27,000 savings in three years, plus probably another $15k over the next three. And THAT doesn't even take into account it $25k less to start with (over truck prices).

We still need trucks, but I'm experimenting with this. If I can work a Prius in every other vehicle, it may be worth it.

Btw, I got 55.1 and 61.7 my last two tanks. Don't know if I will remain patient enough to continue that, but it's fun for now.

 

Given how few people in the USA buy stick I'd always use an automatic or CVT option for a general comparison.

For a personal comparison it's AT/CVT+ cruise control + A/C.

 

Actually it was Consumer Reports "Best Bang for the Buck" for family cars in the April 2009 issue - even comparing it to non-hybrids.

Their 5 year cost was $325/Month. This was the lowest of any car even including smaller cars such as Toyota Corollas, Honda Fit etc.

kevin

 

You're never going to get an argument from me that the Prius is a good or maybe even the best "Bang for the Buck" for a family car, but it's not the cheapest....and that was April 2009.

This is Feb 2011.
I'm not trying to diss Priuses. I'd like to be an owner myself someday instead of just an operator, but the economical mid-sized family sedan market is getting more and more crowded with more and more capable cars.

There are about 150,000 Prius owners out there that for whatever reason, chose the G3 as their 'best' car. For some of these folks----it's a financially sound 'best car'. If I lived in the PRC, where gas is about $0.30 more than it is here---that would skew the math a little. If I were an 8,000 mile a year driver, that would torque the numbers a different way.

You have to make decisions based on your individual circumstances. One quick example:
Factory Towing rating....
Prius = 0
Corolla = 1,500 lbs.
Fit= 1,000 lbs
Elantra= 3,000 lbs (for the ’10 and no, that's not a typo---but you have to get trailer brakes for the factory rating, otherwise it's just 1,000 lbs)

That makes the G3 a non-useable car for some folks.

Crash test ratings are another biggie for some folks. The G3 does well here, but it's not the best in class. That's not a game changer for me, since my Harley has a ‘zero star’ crash rating.

The issue (in this thread) is "Money saved on gas with Prius", and (for me) the numbers, as run by several participants show that you will save money, or at the very least break even on the initial hybrid premium in a G3 over the service life of the vehicle in most circumstances.

That should be good enough!

 

Most TCO calculations I've seen (Motor Trend, Edmunds, etc) put the 5-year fuel savings at $3000-$3500 when compared to a Toyota Matrix, making the total TCO roughly the same. I think they were estimating 15,000 miles driven per year.

 

here is one for thought. how can you compute the environmental impact of vehicles, ie in other words, put a price on the "greenness" of a vehicle. sure you figure the mpg, how many barrells of oil it uses, but how would you put a dollar amount on how little the Prius pollutes?

 

So I did my own calculations factoring in initial cost, tax, dealer prep, freight, block heater, air conditioning tax, and cost of borrowing for financing the Prius II and Matrix with auto + convenience pkg. Since the Prius is an exclusive model, the Matrix was chosen because it is the closest in terms of size and performance.

I used my local $, taxes, Toyota Canada current interest rate, 20000km allowance, gas at $1/L, EPA combined mileage as per Toyota.ca, and no promotions or hybrid incentives. The cost difference at the end of a 4yr term is a staggering $9300 in favor of the Matrix. In order for the gas savings of the Prius to make up this difference, it takes over 12 years.

I have never recommended a hybrid to anyone trying to save money. If you compare hybrids to similar cars, the hybrid premium is too much for the average driver to overcome. Hybrids win if you are willing to give up performance, size, power, luxury, capability, and/or prestige, for the price paid. It's much harder to sell a hybrid Civic, Camry or Ford Escape because consumer can do the math for the two versions. Most people don't even factor in taxes and cost of borrowing, and it still works in favor of non-hybrids.

With manufacturers now heavily focused on compact cars and fuel efficiency, it's harder to justify hybrids if its premium remains this high. The new Elantra is claiming 40mpg and by all early accounts, people love its styling. Let's face it, most people don't care about emissions. The celebrity factor has worn off, so Toyota has take the Prius to the next level in order to compete. Either lower the price, increase fit/finish beyond the mid-size class, or increase efficiency to stay well ahead of conventional ICE.


EDIT:

Using same calcs, I determined that at the end at of 4 years, I would be out of pocket the same amount of money in my Prius V vs a Venza 4cyl, FWD. That's the kind of compromise in terms of refinement, utility, and power I have to give up in order to be green. For most people, they would rather take the latter, give the gas savings back to Toyota instead of the Middle East, and pollution a little more.

 

That guy worked with me when I retired. He believed that truth (facts) is what you say it is; ie. assumptions and perceptions.

 

Really? How did you end up with such a large difference? Are you properly considering expected depreciation? If you don't look at depreciation, things look a lot worse, because that essentially assumes that the Matrix and the Prius will be the same market price at the end of the period (so the value of the hybrid system is essentially $0, even under warranty). Both Motor Trend and Edmunds estimated the TCO of the two vehicles to be within $1000 of each other over 5 years. The Prius depreciates about $1900 more, finances for $700 more, taxes for more, etc, but the $3000+ fuel savings roughly make up for all of that. I realize the calculations are different for you because you're in a different county, but I consider the Prius to be an economical choice, assuming that the buyer's going to keep the car for at least 5 years.

 

Base Prius + 12% sales tax = $33,348
add 3.9% financing over 4 years ($751.47 x 48 months) = $36070.56

Matrix auto + conv pkg + 12% tax = $25179.29
add 2.9% financing over 4 years ($556.21 * 48 months) = $26698.08

Difference: $9372

Gas difference in my scenario is only $700 more/year for the Matrix.

I didn't count in depreciation. I don't count cars as assets, unless they are of the Ferrari's, Bentley's, Lambo's or collectible variety.

Check the pic. Prius on the left, Matrix on the right.

 

Thanks for sharing your numbers. The high tax rate certainly makes a difference (~$650 increase over my scenario), as does the difference in financing rates ($700 savings on Prius with 2.9% financing). But the real killer is probably the residual value remaining in the Prius. It's hard to do an apples-to-apples comparison here, but from what Google tells me, a used '07 U.S. Prius sells for around $3000 more than a used '07 U.S. Matrix, and the original MSRP difference was a little over $5000. IMHO, it's fair to take the used car's expected depreciation/value into account when evaluating cost.

 

That's good to know that the Prius holds that value against the Matrix. I gave residual value some thought after my post and I do agree that it is important. Everyone has their own calculations and there are many variables to consider. But even the most optimistic will say it takes 5-7 years to make up the hybrid premium.

What I did get out of this exercise is a spreadsheet. Now, it's easy to compare different cars, interest rates, term, gas prices, etc. I should add residual to that too

 

I was happy to read about a recent CMU study that determined that the "Jetta TDI and Toyota Prius came away as clear winners in terms of retaining a greater percentage of their initial purchase price." It made me feel better about my purchase.

You're right, everyone has their own calculation. I think it's all a matter of what question you want to answer. If you want to figure out how long you have to keep the car before the "hybrid premium" pays for itself, and you would consider selling it after that, you should probably consider how much you can sell it for. If you intend to drive the car until it falls apart and want to know how long it will take until the gas savings are "free money in your pocket", then the resale value won't matter, and you're looking at a longer commitment.

 

Folks, you are going about this incorrectly. The amount you bought your vehicle for has NO bearing on how much you have spent per mile.

(I know 90% of you have just fallen out of your chair)...lol, but bear with me...


You would get a more accurate account of total cost per mile by using "APPRECIATION" and "DEPRECIATION" values over a year.

EX: You bought a used prius for $8,000. Insurance for a year is $1250. Maintaince cost for that year is $250. You traveled 12,000 miles and averaged 48mpg with average fuel cost @ $2.88 per gal.
Vehicle DEPRECIATION = $500 (you could sell your prius for $7,500)

You spent a total of $2720 to go 12,000 miles. Which is a real cost of $ .2267 cents per mile.

 

The problem with depreciation is that you're relying on a market being available to buy your car for top dollar. If you trade it in into the dealer, you get raked over the coals. OTOH, if you sell it privately, you have work to do......safety it, put ads in, wait for the right buyer, people to meet, lowballers to deal with, and the possible inconvenience of being without a car between sale of the old and purchase of the new.

Market sentiment, supply/demand, trends also affect residual.

I do envy those who make a hobby out of buying cars low, driving it for a year, sell it, and break even or maybe make money.

 

Point taken. But keep in mind you are really not wanting to sell, you're just wanting the VALUE difference from time of purchase until now. A good starting point would be to go to NADA right now, and take the retail value. Next month, do the same thing and subtract the two, that is your depreciation value.


But quite a few post I read were trying to justify paying $10,000 less for a vehicle and converting that over to gallons of fuel compared to the more expensive vehicle, and that is NOT an accurate comparison because in the end, you are left with vehicles that are of different values.

I could buy a Volt for $40,000 drive it for a year, and sell it for $35,000. - OR - buy a Prius for $25,000 and drive it for a year and sell it for $20,000. I loose $5,000 either way is my point, even though I paid more for the Volt.

 

The way I like to look at it is that the oil and gas companies are paying for my new prius!! Traded in 1992 toyota land cruiser that got 10 mpg which i drove on average 2200 miles a month that's 220 gallons at 3.30 which is about $725/month. 2011 prius 50 mpg 2200 miles/month 44 gallons about $150/month. $575 difference makes the payment plus insurance and a little extra. I just send the money to toyota instead and the good thing is 59 more months and i get to keep the money too!