The Economic Un-feasability of a Prius For Me

Try Prius 4 w/ solar roof. The softex, Hd, larger nav screen, heated seats, HUD, and 8-direction power adjustable seat are totally worth it. Also you get an auto-dimming rear view mirror. Toyota should pay me for this post.

 

Congrats!

 

I bought a 2011 Prius in January. I did not need it. It did not really make economic sense because I had a perfectly good Hyundai Sonata with about 50K on it. But I am 53 and I decided, By God, for once I was going to get the car I have really wanted since it was introduced. I don't regret it.

 

No. You've obviously already convinced yourself you should upgrade to the Prius. You just want some confirmation.

Absolutely do it.

Way cooler car especially the edgier look of the 2012. Internet/car/nav/satellite radio interfaces are fun 21st century stuff. 50 mpg saves money and planet.

 

The 99 accord, being still in working condition, has far more trade in value now then it will have after the transmission fails. Therefore, you are better off trading it in for a prius before it fails than after. The odds of transmission failure at its age are high so trading it in removes your exposure to this risk. Buying a newer car can be viewed as a means of financial risk minimization. It probably increases your costs but lowers the probability of the extra high costs scenarios where you pay for a new set of tires right before the transmission blows, or rebuild the transmission and buy a new catalytic converter right before the engine blows. In the case of the prius you are also minimizing exposure to fuel price volatilty. For two years my gas expenses were steady at 1800 per year, then they went up to 2200, now 2600 over the past year.

Also if you closely examine the maintenance list on the accord and compare to the maintenance list on the prius, you'll find that the prius is a lot easier to maintain. This also applies to the civic.

There is also the new features aspect, as I'll bet that accord does not have a backup camera. There are about 300 fatalities per year from backup accidents, a third of them toddlers. I don't ever want to run over a toddler, not even a trespassing one who should have been better supervised. Yet they are too short to see them through the rear window when they are right by the bumper where the camera is. In the new prius the navigation package comes with the backup camera.

I wish edmunds total cost of ownership calculator let you choose longer time horizons than five years because I think the longer the time horizon the better a Prius is compared to other cars. Typical transmission life in a prius is 200,000 miles but it is worth rebuilding/replacing. I've heard of a Prius with that many miles trading in for 9k. If you don't want to ever pay for a transmission rebuild, you should trade in your cars around 150000 miles to minimize that risk.

Congratulations on your new fancy prius. I was much more in favor of maintaining older cars two transmission failures ago.

 

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keep the Civic dump the accord while they still will give you ok money for it. my wife has a 2010 civic and we both like it. they seem to be giving pretty good $ on trades at dealers right now, used market is inflated pretty high right now. better to get rid of a good car while its still good than have a costly problem and it is either worth nothing or have to pay a bunch to make it worth something.

also a new car is way safer if you happen to get in an accident. so better fuel, more reliability and safer. all wins

 

I did not need a new computer when I bought it.
I did not need a new saw when I bought it.
I did not need this iPad.
I didn't need 4 of the last 5 cars I bought over the last 27 years, they still started.

I WANT a Prius 4!

 

LOL!!! Personal utility at work...

 

When replacing a car the numbers never work out -- the new car is always more money. It is "in the purchase" of the new car that you need to figure out the costs.

And it is the figuring out of those cost that you need to decide how the Prius fits -- does the higher MPG offset the the cars negatives in relation to the other cars of equal and in many cases lower initial cost.

The other item is safety -- most of the smaller cars from the 90's are not as safe as any new 2012 ... and anything from the 80's is going to be lacking almost any of the basic safety devices found on cars today.

 

I find this discussion hilarious. The average cost of a new car sold in USA is $30,000 and no one is asking if that that $30,000 expense is cost effective. Yet, the ~20,000 Prius (or under in case of Prius C) has to be cost effective to purchase.

 

Very true Big Steve. Most of the time we just want something better or newer or fancier.

 

How many miles do you drive annually? What kind of mpg are you getting now? Do the cars need any repairs?

 

We've had this conversation over and over.

Many of the potential buyers:
- are choosing between a cheaper conventional vehicle or a hybrid
- are deciding whether to replace an existing, but less gas-economical vehicle.
- are sacrificing driving enjoyment for better fuel economy and reliability.

It's natural that cost analysis is used more with hybrids than other vehicles.

 

why would that be? Are hybrids so special?

 

Friendly_Jack -- it is because at any given price point for the different versions of the Prius an alternative exists that is better at doing what we want a car to do .... The Prius is a compromise.

People change cars all the time .......spending money to do so -- often for something ...but many times "just for a change". If you want a Prius for whatever reason ... get one. But you can't justify it with $$

Rarely does it make economic sense to switch out of one car and into a similar vehicle -- you do it because you want a new car.

In the end it comes down to -- I need a new car ......what do I get .......and does the Prius work for me. Even in this example it is hard to make the case for the Prius with a 5k usage each year.

This will continue as more options are available -- we are going to see a lot of options if gas goes above $4 and remains.

 

Congratulations on your purchase!

No more Prius Envy, Now you can save money used on the psychiatrist.

 

Yes, they are special. While some of us may value the objective benefits of lower emissions, lower fuel consumption and less noise, I'd suggest that most people think more subjectively and to them a hybrid's sole benefit is saving money on gas.

People want to use their money to buy happiness. If people consider hybridization doesn't buy happiness directly then they're just going to treat it as an investment to buy future happiness. The result is lots of discussion of TCO and ROI.

The OP's point in creating in this thread was saying that he's not like most people. He's like many of us, a person for whom the Prius experience is a happy one. He was asking us to persuade him that he'd be getting a lot of pleasure for his money, either because the relative TCO is better than he thinks or because the pleasure will be greater than he thinks.

As somebody with a frugal nature I understand the OP's difficulty. And congratulations to him on his purchase. I'm sure his stomach will stop churning in a week or so.