Prius dinosaur?

I would of waited for the plug in prius but since I'm still in school, there's not always a reliable place for me to plug in overnight. So the next best choice was a non-plug in Prius.

 

The Volt sales in June were identical to the May sales so they are holding their own.

Bob Wilson

 

I will wait while you find where Toyota claims 100 MPG for the Plug In Prius. I am not sure how you can blame Toyota for GM's dishonesty.

 

They don't. Aftermarket providers do, but some of their upgrades feature much larger battery capacities.

Toyota's will place a high priority toward being affordable. For roughly $4,000 you'll get about a 25 MPG boost to overall efficiency. Their data-collection rollouts of the plug-in now will confirm or adjust what is ultimately marketed as a factory option.
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Let's not forget that there is also a government rebate, so the plug in option will be less expensive than the nav option and much more useful. The pack is really small though. I would expect that the 2015 would have a bigger battery and real world mileage boost, and this would come out in 2014, and of course even the existence is pure but informed speculation. Better cars are coming, but to the OP they are coming slowly and depreciation is a funny thing.

 

Something else to consider is diminishing returns.

If you spend $1,000 in gas to go a certain distance in a 25 mpg car then:
- A 50 mpg car will cost $500 in gas and thus save $500
- A 100 mpg car will cost $250 in gas and thus only save $250 compared to the 50 mpg car.

All things being equal, going from 25 mpg to 50 mpg is twice as valuable as going from 50 mpg to 100 mpg, even if we only consider gasoline cost.

If the 100 mpg car is a PHEV, we need to add the cost of mains electricity to its gasoline cost and the incremental benefit of the 100 mpg car drops further.

I'm sure that their day is coming but until the incremental initial cost of a 100 mpg car over a current Prius is relatively low, or other factors become much more significant than they are today, the financial benefit in changing will be relatively low for many people even if they can recharge a PHEV conveniently.

 

I came to a 2009 Prius from a 2001 Forester. The Prius is quieter, smoother, has way more rear seat foot room and leg room.

Acceleration was a wash, the Forester has 55 more HP at the engine, but wastes more being AWD than the Prius does. The Prius feels faster off the line but slower over 60.

When I lived at 5000 feet and worked at 6500 feet, AWD was a BIG plus, now I can drive 125 miles and gain 50 feet, so AWD does not buy me much. the Prius had twice the mileage.

In the Forester, the room above my load was inside, in the Prius the room above what I am carrying is outside the glass. But the volume below the windows is not much different.

 

Well living between 7000ft and 10000ft on a mountain, AWD is nice but not neccessary. FWD like the Prius is just fine. RWD is a death trap.

I can get up the mountain just fine in my FWD Honda and FWD Prius. There may be less "thinking" required with the AWD Lexus and AWD Toyota, but they all manage just fine. It comes down to the driver, not the machine. Soccer moms in awd SUVs are always crashed into mail boxes and/or the curb in the winter getting up "the hill" whereas in my vehicles I go right on by no problems. Just because you have AWD doesnt mean you can drive any differently. And there is no benefit when it comes to stopping on ice

 

I don't think the market will collapse on the recent Prius models when the "2014 plug ins" start rolling out.

1. There will be a price increase to get the plug-in. Yes, there may be a rebate in place, but the battery has to be able to store a certain amount of energy (5 kw?) in order to qualify. Not everyone will want to pay or can afford to pay the extra money.

2. The battery pack may not be convenient for certain families
2a - Those with long commutes where the pack runs out partially through the commute and now are hauling around extra weight.
2b - Those who can't plug in at home or at work for various reasons.

You'll take a hit with any new car you purchase. If gasoline prices shoot up again like they did 2 summers ago, then your Prius will hold its value a lot better than a conventional car. In the meantime, you'll be getting much better gas mileage for the next few years.

 

That might be true for many people, but I bought the Prius mainly to save gas, not money. If it ends up saving money because gas prices are spiking up again, that's a welcome bonus, but that's not why I bought the Prius, or why I will buy the next plug in car or EV.

If I find myself on a tighter budget next time around I shop for a car with cutting edge fuel efficiency technology, I'll probably pass on all the nice extras like nav, sunroof etc

 

The chances of plug-in prius sweeping the nation in 2014 are low, IMO. It is more likely the Toyota-Tesla EV.

My suggestion ?
- Buy/Lease Volt
or
- Buy/Lease Leaf and rent a car for longer drives.

 

You may worry about things like that if you want to. When something new or better comes out and I want it, I simple whip out my home equity line of credit checks and buy it.

 

Today's Outback will be even more of a dinosaur in 2014 than will today's Prius.

I still have an older Legacy wagon, non-Outback, and plan to keep it until the new hybrid version is available. Toyota is part owner of Subaru, and at last word is helping put some form of its HSD system into an upcoming Subaru.

 

Very low!

A hybrid ICE generates electricity directly and much more efficiently to the battery than the grid can transmit to a homeowner's garage.
Energy saving potential of a plug-in on any national scale is doubtful and efficiency from a global viewpoint even more dubious.

The benefit, and the only benefit, is enabling cars to run in a congested city area with minimal pollution. That's good but the nation, and the planet, still pays for that generation of power -- admittedly, we hope, the pollution is created in a less populated area than where the car runs.

In other words, the plug-in hybrid is a great answer for dense commuter areas. But that's it.

If you commute and drive only in the city, by the Prius plug-in. If not, stick with the excellent hybrid you have.

 

if you buy for the future, you will never buy

 

What ?! That makes no sense - we hardly use any oil at all to generate electricity.

Hmmm .... why ? Again this makes no sense. Today, if every car were to convert to a plug-in with 40 mile electric range, you wouldn't need to import any oil from OPEC.

 

What about Hummer?
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He said ENERGY, not oil and he is correct. Energy costs tend to approach the same cost per BTU no matter the type of energy. There is no ECONOMIC advantage in plug-ins. The ecological and political advantages depend on how the grid electricity is produced. If by oil; no advantage and poorer efficiency. If by other fossil fuels; some political advantage with reduced foreign oil but no carbon reduction. Nuclear has local political and waste disposal problems. Wind, tide, solar etc. have advantages but are expensive. Hydro is the best. Wait till the plug-in owners get their first electric bills! Then there will be a road tax shift from petroleum to automotive charging grid electricity. Road maintenance money has to come from someplace.
EVs will have little, if any, cost advantage but as the charging grid moves from fossil fuels there will be great advantages elsewhere.