Prius Myths and their Rebuttals

Just goes to show that most of the time, people either don't know how to, or don't bother to do the math for themselves. I didn't for a long time either, until it came to the point where I could either drop $3,500 in my 9 year old car with 200,000 miles on it, or replace it with something possibly better. I don't make a lot of money, especially when I was delivering pizza in my 20-23 MPG Subaru at 35,000 miles per year, so I had to be a little more vigilant on how I spent my money on a car.

When I did sit down and do the math after researching a bit to see if anyone else online was using a Prius for pizza delivery, I was sure I must've overlooked something or made some stupid mistake somewhere along the line. I couldn't believe the results I'd gotten, so I made up a great big spreadsheet where I could run a variety of different number scenarios with a lot more granular information. I looked at monthly expenses and bills over the previous two years-- both necessary and discretionary separately-- and ran the numbers conservatively, liberally, median, and even ran a few extremes for good measure.

In the end, in my driving scenario, there was never a single circumstance in which NOT buying a Prius came out as the better option. I even compared getting a much cheaper car that got more normal mileage-- something in the 30-35 MPG range, as well as something like a Volkswagen diesel. My very worst-case scenarios all played out the same way. Even if everything possible went wrong after committing myself to car payments for the next 5 years, the outcome was still BETTER than those same things going wrong with any other car. At worst, I'd be looking at blowing my credit for the next decade and losing my job and having to find other transportation, but even then, buying a Prius would prolong the process, giving me more time to intervene somehow than I'd have had if I kept my Subaru or bought something "cheaper" that still got decent mileage.

Now that I've been driving it for coming up on 2 years and having added somewhere around 50,000 miles to the odometer, I'm still floored that I bought a new (actually 3 year old) car that I'm making payments on for 3-ish more years and I *STILL* have more money than I had before I bought it-- all without ever getting a raise at work, and even with tips dropping. I'm still sometimes flabbergasted that my math was actually right, because it defied what I'd considered sound logic when I ran the numbers. It was one of those rare cases where what seemed to be too good to be true was actually true.

Would I buy another Prius? In a heartbeat. Unless I can afford and get by on a good quality all-electric by the time I need to replace it anyway. We'll see if Tesla or Toyota or Nissan or someone can come through or not.

 

Holy crap. It's like Prius apologetics.

 

Hi Babybird, your post strikes a chord with my experience in deciding to buy a Prius II Hybrid too.
I work in IT and suddenly found myself made redundant halfway into January this year. Next thing I knew, I was jobless - in the middle of a recession. Fortunately, last month I got lucky and found another job. The pay is much less than I was earning before, but in the middle of a triple recession in the UK, this seemed better than nothing. My new job was right across London - 2 weeks of taking the London Underground proved to be frightfully expensive. I decided with the right car it would be cheaper to drive to work - I needed another car pronto. It did help that my redundancy pay came through too. I was then stuck with a 15 year old Mazda MX-3 1.6i Coupe which while ultra reliable and with only 75,000 miles on the clock was rather thirsty. I'd had it for almost 9 years, but it was now too expensive to run!

My search for an economically viable replacement vehicle for my needs took me through the likes of the 2008 Mercedes A Class CDi Auto, a raft of assorted small engined compacts again with Diesel engines and of course auto gearboxes. Somehow they just didn't fit my criteria. Then while perusing through the Toyota range of econoboxes, I stumbled upon the Toyota Prius Hybrid. I studied its vital statistics with a disbelieving eye, looking for "the catch". There simply wasn't one. I pitted it against the 2008 Honda Civic and 2010 Honda Insight Hybrids....and quickly realised the Prius II was way, way ahead of the class! Finally, trawling through PriusChat helped me make my mind up. I resolved to boldly go where I'd never been before!

I settled on a 2nd hand top of the range Toyota Prius II "T Spirit" Hybrid (Touring in the US). It ticked all my boxes - and many more I was unaware of but pleasantly surprised to discover. Since the 1st of July 2013, I've been crawling through congested stretches of Central London traffic to work and back everyday and still achieving a not unreasonable (indeed somewhat astounding) 59mpg...!!! This car more than doubles the range of my old MX-3 while having a smaller tank!!! It's VERY comfortable, has undreamed of (for me!) luxuries like leather, electronic climate control, power everything, and it's best described as "A lot more than a car, a little less than a Spacecraft". I traded in my old MX-3 and didn't look back. It's changed my driving style completely - it's almost like flying an airborne craft. BUT....the biggest coup has been the fuel savings in my pocket!! 40 litres of fuel gave me 433 UK miles before I chickened out (with 2 bars to go) and refilled her (30 litres). On my new tank, I've already done 195 miles @ average 67.8 mpg (70% motorway this time). I've still got well over half tank left. My old car would give me 230 miles out of 40 litres (50 litre tank - NO reserve warning).

For me, the 2008 Toyota Prius II "T Spirit" makes perfect economic sense. Now I see it.......!!!

 

I'm loving my Prius but my "friend", who has never made a comment about my new used car spouted "how are you going to pay for a $7,500 battery when it goes out?? I couldn't believe it!! Where had he heard those numbers?? He didn't say but I quickly told him that it wasn't nearly that expensive and you could even replace the bad cells if you knew how to get in there and test them. I think he was just miffed because I didn't ask his opinion on the car - I did my research and bought it and heaven knows women aren't capable of doing that on their own. (<sarcasm)

 

I recently found myself amongst a group of lads busy extolling the virtues of their cars. The high powered cabriolet owner boasted about how cool his car was and particularly about its astounding 0 - 60mph capabilities and growling engine. The petrol engined Audi A6 waxed lyrical about the opulence he enjoyed, and how he could still give sports cars a run for their money with his powerful engine. Mr Mercedes Benz snorted at the others with unconcealed derision as he droned on about how his powerful car was the ultimate luxury in motoring! Then I weighed in with my honest admission - "I drive a Prius....". The silence in the room was initially deafening, followed by the moans of exasperation; "You bought a Prius? OMG......why?".

Unbridled sniggers followed as three sets of mean eyes bored into me accusingly, as if I'd just admitted to the ultimate taboo. Undaunted, I went on to explain my reasons. The soft quiet "jerk free" ride of my Prius rivalled, if not surpassed those of all their cars. Where one "Happy Chappy" was handing over £400+ a year for Road Tax, I was paying only £10. Even my motorbike was £16..!! And then there was the comfortable leather clad spacious interior, climate control and of course the truly futuristic Hybrid Synergy Drive that saves me great wads of money, letting me glide around in a big car (by European standards) effortlessly at a rewarding 66mpg all city driving! The icing on the cake was announcing that I'd presently gone 575 miles on under 45 litres of regular fuel. My car was actually cheaper than taking the tube!!! The sneering slowly petered out, replaced by wide-eyed disbelief. Yes, I had to confirm that I didn't need to plug it in to charge up. The HSD takes care of everything. I left them with my head held high, having sown fresh seeds of "Prius Envy"

 

Love it. People constantly ask why. Pickup trucks hate me. I drive normally. I've even been told that, don't worry. Things will get better. You'll be able to afford a normal car soon.

 

A myth... Prius are ugly and the ugliest car in the world like the gremlin or pinto.. Imho prius is beautyfull and nice

 

If you stick your left hand out the window, the Prius turns.

 

1- It's a decent economy car. Like a cobalt or focus.


2- Neighbor asked me why I would want a cheap car with no resale value

3- was told by someone at a local oil change place they wouldn't do the oil change because the car battery could blow up

4- auto parts stores offer free 12v batter installation, and free wiper blade installs. Normally I don't do this but was feeling lazy. Had him install the wipers, and he wanted me to disconnect the HV battery because hybrids are dangerous to work on

 

They were doing you a favor. Go to someplace with some actual competency.

 

My 1996 Ford Mondeo (sligtly larger than a Focus) got 28mpg and my Prius 40mpg...

At almost 10$ a gallon I wish I was getting your numbers...

 

Same as Galaxee's post - my fiancé has worked on Prii for years and said when we first met and were discussing cars that I "would not have problems with my Gen III." I am still loving the car and all the bells and whistles it came with.

We have a cute red 2006 in the driveway now and replaced the bad cells in the traction battery pack with good cells and that battery is still going with 4K in miles... that particular battery is now on a shelf and a newly repaired battery is driving the Gen II with no issues.

My sister, who had a 2006 Honda Civic hybrid with 250,000+ miles on it before it started getting battery warnings, wishes she had held on to it so my fiancé could have worked on it.

We also had some guest Prii visiting here - a Gen I and another Gen II that were getting miles under their newly repaired batteries so it has been fun to experience Prii from the copilot's seat.

 

All of a sudden, Prii are quite popular again!
$4.30 a gal, you make friends fast at the pump with questions!

 

A Suburban, Yukon and an Expedition over 270,000 miles? Impossible. I own a service garage and have serviced these parts gobbling, rusted gas hogs for years. In Michigan, there is no way these make that kind of mileage, nor only 109,000 on a Prius. Most of my Prius customers are well north of 109,000 iles.

 

Myth: Prii are slow cars with no get up and go.

Poppycock! Try telling that to all the road going commuters I resoundly fly past, on my 18 mile journey to work every morning. In order to beat the stress of traffic (not good for my failing health) and thoroughly enjoy my journey to work, I make my journey between 5.30am and 6.00am. The roads at that time are virtually empty, and leaving at 5.30am ensures a 25 minute "flying time". I arrive at work for 5.55am! As I use the infamous (albeit relatively deserted at that time) A406 ring road for well over 90% of my journey, I make very good time indeed.
If I'd aimed to get to work for 8.00am.......my journey would be 90 minutes of traffic jam hell. Hence, the early starts!

Of course, the principles of "hypermiling" are always utilised when I drive these days. The route also has several inclines which I ruthlessly exploit during my commute. There's a portion where I can travel for 3 miles at over 50mph (or faster).....while still achieving 99mpg.

At that time of the morning, a lot of cars are barrelling down the highway, equally enjoying the empty road. Many of them have long learnt that Prii are anything but slow! Yes, some will go screaming past you initially, four pot engines burning hydrocarbons like it's 1999......but perplexingly, without driving like them, I soon not only catchup, but whizz by at warp speed - usually on a downhill slope - and the momentum from those hills can carry me for a long distance too.

Taking off from the lights, I don't spare the electrons. The 67hp electric motors act like "turbo boost" and fling me ahead of the pack. It's true; get up to speed quickly in a Prius, then feather that throttle pedal to maintain speed - and always take advantage of favourable inclines on the road.

Oh, sure, a few insane Mercs and BMWs DO leave me (and everyone else) standing as they zoom by, breaking the road going equivalent of the sound barrier before they disappear over the horizon......but that's truly dangerous driving!

The fact is, a lot of ordinary cars DO try to keep up with the Prius, and fail, because they can't comprehend what amazing technology lies under the bonnet. I'm not even the fastest Gen II pilot out there. I regularly get "dusted" by other Gen IIs and Gen IIIs going at a rate of knots that I find truly fascinating.

I've had a few occasions where I've been forced to dump the "hypermiler's" code, and just.......dump injected fuel (and electrons) into the afterburners, simply to get away from some ill-mannered git repeatedly attempting very dangerous overtake manouvres.
Believe me when I say, being flung back in your seat "Tesla Model S" style, and propelled towards the horizon, while the idiot getting on your nerves recedes into the distance.....is nothing short of pure gold! Usually works too. They'll be astounded enough into hanging back after that (even after you've dropped back to sane speeds), or even if they DO deign to pass you later, they wouldn't dare look you in the eye!

Let's be clear about something; I'm no speed demon, and I spent my first year of Prius driving literally sticking to the speed limit. Now I don't just keep up with the traffic........I leave it behind while driving in an urban environment - where it's safe to do so.

On 70mph motorways, you'll still find me cruising at 65mph in the slow lane.....BECAUSE I WANT TO.

Not because "the Prius is slow"......!!!

 

great keeping up with this post. just push liquify and the prius hums. $10/gal for fuel ouch. just paid $1.92/gallon in quartzite yesterday. makes owning a prius way less sexy. they really are great roadcars.

 

Remember when CNW released the Dust to Dust "study" that claimed a Prius would last just 100,000 miles?

10 Best Cars to Get to 200,000 Miles and Beyond - Consumer Reports ... Prius is on that list - mine is about to become one of them.

 

I'm not too far from 200k on a fairly young 09 2nd gen Prius. As I'm currently at 163k. But its not the mileage that counts as that's meaningless to the age of the car. On cargurus, there is a 09 Prius that was painted yellow, obviously used as a taxi cab with 292,661 miles on it. Many of these taxi Pruis cabs have 300k-600k miles on them but racked up in a very short time rather than how old the car is.

 

Mileage isn't 100% meaningless. But I agree, mileage and actual age of vehicle both play an important component in longevity of a vehicle.

 

No doubt that mileage and age are important, but when I buy used cars, I try to determine the driving habits of the previous owner.

Baseline: 25 to 50% of cars fail with mechanical problems at an Indy 500. Even if you use the best materials known to humankind, they can fail if you stress the vehicle hard enough. Hard stops, fast acceleration and hard turns wear cars out.

I looked at a 3 year-old BMW M3 over the weekend. It was a beast of a car, with a huge V8 engine. And it had obviously been detailed to death. You can tell by the circular marks on the hood from the buffer. But you look at the rubber molding and see caked in dirt, then open the trunk and remove the stowage panel to reveal deep scratches all over, and you can tell the car wasn't treated the way an $80,000 car should be treated.

Prius' are low to the ground. When you get under one, you'll see some scratches for sure. But a mistreated Prius will have gouges, especially right under the front bumper. That's also where you can look for any misalignment from bigger dust-ups.

By the way, I'm not a professional car wheeler-dealer guy. I'm just talking about my personal vehicles.