New Prius shortage coming?

Green, I'm not quite following your point, but I am feeling very, very smart since I bought my Prius. I'm saving a lot of money because I don't buy as much gas, I definitely don't spend as much on maintenance compared to conventional engines, my insurance is cheaper (I'm not sure why) and I'm having just a whole bunch of fun driving a really cool car.

P.S. I bought my 2010 Prius III for a lot less than $25K (including TTL). I bought a used dealer demo with 5K miles. I'm one happy old man!

 

i agree! the local toyota dealer near me must have 50+ Prii on their lot. all lined up nice and neat, huge selection.
however...no buyers.

i don't think the economy is as good as we've been lead to believe...

 

My point is that buying a Prius will save you money on gas, but will not save you money in absolute terms. Since this is the case, there is no shame in paying MSRP for the Prius in high-demand times like today, because you never were meant to save money with the Prius in the first place, only gas.

 

I'm glad to hear y'all say that Prius inventory is good. Honestly, no one except sellers wants to see this car caught up in a supply/demand situation.

 

I'm confused...I was going to lease either an A4 or GTI instead of the Prius I ended up with...I'm paying less for the Prius (at least $500/yr) and saving well over $1000/year in gas, maybe more. Not including maintenance (not included in Audi), premium gas surcharge, insurance and any repairs. Plus tires...low profile 235/245 are nearly $300! Just bent a rim on my E350 on Wilshire Blvd pothill (right in front of LACC)...that was $285

Had I paid sticker for my Prius, much of my savings would go out the window.



How is

 

I see your point. Thinking in absolute terms, no car will save money except shoes and even that has a sole expense. (That was almost a play on finance terms.)

 

Hopefully they don't resort to making the Prius in America.

 

I totally disagree. I bought my Prius SOLELY to save money on gas. I'm not interested in making 'statements', as a matter of fact, I almost DIDN'T buy the Prius just because of the 'stigma' that they have. The stigma is that of tree-hugging lunatics that don't have a clue on how the world really has to run, and that oil is here to stay, even if they may have a windmill in their back yard. I specifically bought a winter gray prius rather than the barcellona red just because it's less conspicuous. Anybody who buys a car .... any car ... 'to make a statement' .... is pretty shallow.

My Prius II cost me $21K after a $1500 discount and a $1500 rebate. Try finding a decent Corolla, Elantra, or Civic for appreciably less than that (I said a DECENT ONE). They're all right about $19K and they're NOT as well equipped as the Prius. I'll save more than that $2K ($2400) in gas in the first year ... driving 20K miles per year over my previous 08 RAV4 that got 20 MPG.

It's not fair to take a mid level Prius's price ($25K), and compare it to a low level econobox ($16K), and then say see ??? $9K difference. Only a fool compares apples to oranges to make an ill-concieved point.

If I had it to do again (and I may) .... I'll get another Prius II at the best discount I can find over any Corolla, Civic, or Elantra. I LOVE the Elantras, and I HAVE an 05 Corolla S with 148K miles on it, so I like those cars, but the Prius is surely a step above, both in mileage, technology, and it's just plain fun to drive.

Thinking you're making a statement with the car you drive is about as valid as man-made climate change ...

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Those cars are horribly lacking in headroom and legroom. We could all save money buying used motorcycles by that logic.

 

That actually depends on a few factors:

1) How much you drive.
2) How long you'll own the car.
3) How high the price of gas gets.

If you own it for 10 years and the price of gas goes to 8 or 10 dollars a gallon, it will save you quite a bit if you do a lot of driving.

I expect higher gas prices going forward. I looked at a ton of cars. They all cost between 20-30K. I went with the Prius because it was just roomy enough (barely) and had the best mileage. Lots of cars in the mid to high 30s, a handful could get 40, and the new Lexus could get 42. But none of them could match it.

 

If you go to CarMax, which sells new Prii at the Laurel Toyota dealership in Maryland, the savings is only at $252 on each unit, instead of about $1K under MSRP as in previous months. At least they are not over MSRP, which the Camry Hybrids were in 2007. Once a waiting list situation kicks in, this should bump to $1-1.5K over MSRP. They still have 14 in stock as of this post.

 

First of all, as you pointed out, you got $3000 of your Prius during the year end sale which included the unusually large rebate. So what makes you think people wouldn't ask for a discount on their Corolla, Civic, Cruz etc.,? Who still walks in and pay sticker price these days? Local dealers around me are unloading current generation 2011 Civic LX and Corollas LE for $2k+ off msrp ($16k after discount) with the corolla having additional rebate. So yeah, only a fool can't see the $9k saving.

And yeah, you have a Prius II, not a III. The mid model Corolla, Civics, etc., are all similiarly equipped to your Prius II: power everything, AC, CD player, ABS, airbags, and keyless entry remotes. The only exception is the Hybrid system.

 

Hurry up and buy NOW before it's TOO LATE !!!

 

You guys are just making up scenarios in which the Prius will save you money (eg. comparing it with a luxury car, or considering exorbitant gas prices). Admittedly I’m making up a scenario in which the Prius won’t save you money, but I’m only playing devil’s advocate.

Oh you disagree? Read what I posted before you!

Last time I checked, SOLELY and ONLY were synonyms.

Newsflash, saving money on gas IS your statement!

Say wha? Now you've just invalidated all your common sense.

 

I've had my Prius less than two months. I was at my dealer's service dept. today. I saw my salesman, said hello, He asked how the car was, blah blah blah.

Then he put out a feeler, wondering if I was interested in selling back my car....

Interesting. I asked how many they had in stock. Three, and this was a fairly large dealership.

P.S. I'm keeping it.

P.P.S. My brother, who drives a Roush Hustang, was giving me B.S. about my car. Ridiculed the styling. I said "We'll see how it looks when you are paying $80 for a fillup and getting 240 miles on a tank.

 

And the automatic climate control ...

And the CVT transmission ....

Ane the delayed power retention system ...

And the smart key system ...

And illuminated vanity mirrors ...

And the fuel economy ...

And the cargo volume ...

And the rear hip room ...

And the automatic headlights ....

And the disc brakes at all 4 corners ...


You're right .... hardly ANY differences at all ...... apples to apples ...


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Saving money on gas is an incidental fact ... NOT a statement ....

Still believing in man-made climate change invalidates all your arguments Green4u, even Al Gore doesn't believe or perpetuate that anymore .... that's why you haven't heard from him in the last year. No more money to be made on those lies anymore ... so he's out. Only the most gullible still believe in what science has disproven so completely, and what has proven to be the biggest hoax ever perpetuated on the human race by a bunch of scientists that turned out to be a bunch of politically motivated frauds.

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I'm not making up a scenario at all. I've stated a fact. A Prius will absolutely save you money depending on how long you own it, how many miles you drive, and what the price of gas is.

If you drive 10 miles a year and gas is a dollar a gallon, it won't save you anything. If you drive 60,000 miles a year and gas hits 5, 6, 7, 10 dollars a gallon it will absolutely save you money.

None of the cars you listed were on my list due to headroom/legroom reasons. The cars I wanted were all in the 20-30K range. Some were 5 year old luxury cars, some were 3 year old sports cars, some were other cars, and then there were the 2010/2011 Prius models.

None of us know how many miles we're going to drive per year, but assuming we keep our current jobs we have a pretty good idea of it. None of us know where gas prices are going, though I'm sure we all have our own best guess.

You can do the math yourself. A Prius, even a 30K Prius, will absolutely save you money over a 5 year old Civic given enough driving and a high enough price of gas. Only time and conditions will tell if it will actually save you money or not.

 

Wow, automatic headlights, smart key and vanity mirrors for a extra $9k. Wow, you sure got a lot more in terms of extra options besides the hybrid system for $9k.

I don't know when did headroom and legroom became a dealer add on option. Given the choice, the majority of people would opt for the traditional rebuildable transmission. CVT are not rebuildable and cost $4K new before labor cost for a gen 2 prius. Wouldn't exactely brag about owning a car equipped with a CVT.

With the exception of the hybrid system, your right, I'm glad you prefer to pay so much more for a couple of really needed options like automatic headlights and a right to flash your fingers to open the door.

 

The point was ... you aren't comparing equal cars ... still stuck on that $9K figure huh ?

It's a rare CVT that goes bad ... making even more stuff up ?

WHy not throw a $10K battery pack in too ?

I'd cancel that order if I were you .... the Corolla is soooo much better. $9K cheaper too !! LOL !!

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