Wait a year to buy and save $$$$$

Easy for someone who already has a Prius to say.

 

If the gas prices don't go down you can wait 5 years and they will still be expensive.
Maybe if other car companies will make comparable hybrids, then you can have hope for good prices.

 

I am tempted to sell when the perfect storm reaches its pinnacle. Not sure we are quite there.

But in reality, there is too much inertia for me to do this, not to mention having to pry the Prius fob from my wife's cold, dead hands.

 

I think you have to take more factors into consideration. Before the Prius I had an old SUV which got 15mpg on a good day. It needed $3-4k+ in repairs. I got rid of the SUV before putting any more $ into it and am now saving $$$ on gas. Did I get the best deal on the purchase of the Prius? No, but I expect to out ahead in the long run given the cost of gas & reliability of the Prius. I tend to own my cars for a long time; the SUV was 12yrs old, my other car is 8 yrs old.

 

You'll almost always save $$$ by waiting. I say almost because there could be cases where getting a G3 now might save you some money if you drive crazy long distances to work.
If nothing else, there will be more used G3s on the market a year from now and you could then choose to drive used rather than new.
G3 production will rise to meet demand, and then prices will stabilize....either that or somebody else will build a more affordable hybrid/EV and the demand will be met that way.

 

"Regression to the mean" is a term used to describe the tendency for events to return to status quo following an unusual event. Simply stated, on average, things are average. Interestingly, the "earthquake phenomenon" is frequently used to illustrate regression to the mean, as seismic activity tends to return to average following an extreme event. History and the law of averages suggest that the tragedy in Japan and the unprecidented gas prices should regress to the mean if other circumstances don't intercede. Let's hope that Prius sales help rehabilitate the Japanese economy, while our memory of $5/gallon gas spawns innovation.

 

Guess it depends on what one is driving and how much gas it takes. Some people could make a payment on a Prius for what they spend at the pumps.

 

I won't predict the future, but FWIW I was pretty taken aback yesterday when I saw on Kelley Blue Book that my car is worth thousands more than when I bought it a few months back, and it has 5000+ more miles on it now! Suggested retail is $5000 more than what I paid. Even trade-in is more.

 

Not really. But it certainly doesn't apply to inflationary prices. Unless you seriously expect that prices will return to the mean for the last 100 years, for example.

 

I know I am! I was driving a subaru forester xt and was getting 17mpg in city. The turbo on that thing was killing me.

I am now getting 56-58, and the way I see it I am making the payments with the money I save simply from gas.

With the subaru, I had to use premium, which is no w up to $4.10, regular is at $3.69. With that in mind, and zero percent interest, I think it was well worth it to buy. I bought the day after the tsunami because I knew what was going to happen...

The only thing I would have done differently was to buy a IV instead of a III, but I am happy nonetheless.

When the C comes out, I will hopefully be able to get it as a second car as medical school will be stressful for my wife and I with only one...

Regardless, if the circumstances align, there is not a bad time at all to buy a prius. :rockon:

 

It really depends on multiple factors. Supply is definitely part of the equation, but as has been said, so are fuel prices and fuel economy of your current vehicle.

 

Esteban, we bought our cars the same day. My gas bill was $470. The month before. Bought my Prius and tore up the Chevron card. Woot!

 

Regardless of what gas prices do, I believe the price of a Prius will decline in about 6-12 months. Why?

1. Prius production will resume once the factories are restored.
2. Toyota will want to regain market share lost during limited production.
3. Competition!
a. Kia/Hyundai are releasing hybrids this summer
b. GM is looking to reduce the price of hybrids they produce
c. Ford is releasing new hybrid/EV models as well

 

I think it will still be high - but leveled off due to a normal production- due to the gas prices being high in 6-12 months.

But in California the demand will be huge for Plug in Prii due to the carpool sticker they will get. The old carpool stickers will expire (which means 85,000 Prius owners can no longer go in carpool lane)....and they will want to buy the new one.

 

^What a wasteful sham. Why can't the stickers be renewed without buying a new vehicle?? Unless you mean the plug-in will be so attractive as to make upgrading more attractive than sticker renewal.

 

I agree with OP probably. If gas stays high/gets higher it will be hard for Toyota to make enough Priuses to give us 2010-type prices, though.

Well inflation is a historical normal trend to some degree, too, if you use a straight line to flatten the variances. Right now gas has spiked and I do believe it's going to drop down because bubbles _always_ burst.

 

Although I have a Prius now, I bought it for $21K after rebates and discounts in January 2011. I wouldn't pay $24K or more if they''re adding to MSRP as they are now. As far as I'm concerned, as much as I love my Prius (and I truly do) ... it's a $21K economy car ... nothing more. You can pay $30-35K for one, but it's STILL a $21K economy car with a bunch of add-ons ... most of them outrageously priced and fairly silly as far as I'm concerned.

If I were buying now, I'd probably buy a 2012 Ford Focus, or a 2011 Hyundai Elantra for about $17K They both get 40MPG highway, probably 35 combined, and it would take about 12 years to make up the difference in gas savings for those 15 MPG combined difference. I did the math. At $21K the Prius is awesome ... at $25K ... it's overpriced .... simple as that.

If I didn't already have my Prius, I wouldn't be buying one now. I'd be buying one of the above 2 cars. I drove the 2012 Focus yesterday while I had my Prius in for it's 5000 mile service. It was one of the tightest and quietest cars I've ever been in. I'm looking at potentially trading in my wife's Corolla on either a Focus or Elantra.

REV

 

hard to say. could be a year, could be a few years. but i would be surprised to see toyota produce enough to flood the market again. if you ask me, six months ago was the perfect storm for buyers.

 

You and I have similar tastes, rev (and apparently bought the Prius at roughly the same time at roughly the same price). To be fair with the comparison, though, the Focus hatchback auto with cruise is more like $20k, and the Elantra Touring hatchback isn't the gas saver that the sedan is. But if someone were to ask for my opinion, I would certainly give a nod to those two cars in their sedan forms.