WSJ: Toyota's Prius Pays Price for Cheap Gasoline

In the UK we have huge tax load on motor fuel but little of it is spent on roads.

 

i'm betting on fiat/chrysler to go out of business.

 

Depends on what you define as "going out of business." Marchionne has never hidden the fact that he wants (needs?) to merge with someone in order to grow FCA. But just 8 months or so ago, who would even look at FCA as a whole? Sure you have some good picks like Jeep and Ferrari. But you have Dodge and Ram and Chrysler and Maserati (I think, did Maserati go away with Ferrari?).... I don't know enough about the Fiat brand in Europe to make a statement but I'd say they're failing in North America. If say Mahindra decided to merge with FCA does that count as going out of business in your view since a merger with someone is Marchionne's goal?

IMO; Marchionne rolled the dice on cheap fuel and an eventual merger (and selling off Ferrari, 12% of FCA's profit in 2014). It's probably a pretty safe bet. But if something dramatic happens (like major war in the middle east and/or Russia) causing a spike in fuel prices the company could fail. That said certain assets are too big to go away, someone would come in and buy the Jeep for example. In the short term my biggest interest in FCA is seeing how the Pacifica hybrid will do in the market. I think a plugin hybrid is a smart play for the brand, but can 30 miles EV get people out of their SUVs and into an 8 passenger minivan at $2.20 / gal? And what will Marchionne shove that drive train into next?

 

<SarcasmOn>Maybe Trump will invest some of his billions when he finishes screwing up the Republican party.</SarcasmOn>

 

Gold plated 300.... I'm in!

 

There is a difference of opinion that I notice often in discussions about one's choice of a vehicle.

There are those who view the choice in the context of a planet warmed by our collective carbon production and those who want to have the fun of driving something large or powerful or comfortable.

 

Well said.
For many, Prius can be both a roomy practical car and a CO2 saver. Best compromise out there.

The argument of environ. vs. utility is a hard one, but we can all agree if you can get both, that's a winner.

 

Is it? Wouldn't just having the one utility vehicle be better for the planet? Only had to mine and refine and ship and build one vehicle rather than two?

 

I think the point is that ONE car satisfies TWO needs.

 

I only looked at my last year's gas bills, which my credit card conveniently tracks for me, and I estimated about a $50 savings per month, if I even get 50 mpg (approximately double my old car's mpg). Sure, in prior years, it probably would have been more of a savings, but I think that's a silly way to look at it because it just means I was paying more back then for the same thing. I would want to use less gas even if it were free.

 

What qualities would that vehicle have in order satisfy all your needs?

 

chrysler has made hay on cheap gas. congratulations to them. i don't believe it will last, based only on history of geopolitics, and when it goes up, they will get caught with their pants down.

 

As the price of oil increases so will the exploration & production from "everywhere else". If the E&P significantly increases along with the price then there may only be a gradual increase.

 

I struggle a lot with "need" vs "want". In my mind if I could only have one vehicle it needs to be at least a 1/2 ton truck with 4 doors and 4 wheel drive. Now one of my buddies (a sports car guy who hates trucks) was telling me awhile ago that my "need" for a truck is a want. I could hire someone or rent a pickup whenever I'm doing yard work or moving something. Living in Denver he's right, they are readily available to rent, and most people who own trucks probably don't use the capacity more than a few times a year. But a truck really does make life more convenient and you have a lot more "friends" when word gets out that you have a truck. The other thing is I truly hate being reliant on someone else, I prefer to have my own tools for the job. If it snows I'm not going to ask someone for a ride, when I'm tearing down a tree, I'm not borrowing a chainsaw, I moved my entire last house into my new house by myself with my truck and trailer (where were all my "friends" that I helped moved? assholes). Now if we broke it down to a true need..... I need awd or 4x4 (I must get through WY no matter the weather or road conditions), I need 2 seats and room for my dog (a jack russell), I need room for about one or two good sized pieces of luggage, and I need to be able to maintain 80 mph over long distances (okay 70 mph is probably fine, but much slower than that is getting dangerous). Going just by those needs here's a list off the top of my head of cars that fit only my needs.... Most two seat (or 2+2 coupes) awd / 4x4 vehicles are probably going to be viewed by the people of this forum as just as wasteful as a truck, but it would fit my "needs" more exactly than a Prius.

 

The new 4Dr Honda Ridgeline might be a good candidate for you. Even has better MPG's than your SRT. 2017 Honda Ridgeline – Redesigned Pickup Truck | Honda

 

@MrMischief
Have you made a post where you talk about your reasons for buying a Prius? I would be interested to know.

 

I really like the old ridgeline and was pretty excited for the new one. I actually saw my first one on the road a couple of days ago. In black it looks really fancy. My issue with the old one was it had something like a 60 inch bed and I just was never sure if that was big enough. The new one is a bit longer (six inches maybe? I seem to recall honda saying it's bigger than a tacoma's bed) so maybe it's better. If my Ram died today I would consider a ridgeline.

 

i have an '05 dakota with 27,000 miles. i used to use it for remodeling, but now, it's just the once a week yard waste vehicle. having owned it since new, and not driving it much, i don't see any downside to keeping it for that purpose, environmental or otherwise. the thousand bucks a year for insurance is another story.

 

I thought I had..... but long story short my daily was a Jeep Commander with a hemi. It was having issues and was going to be replaced. I have a truck (for doing the work), a bike (for being fast), a big car (for going far), a lifted wrangler (for playing on rocks) and my wife has a '69 camaro (I think she takes it to the hairdressers, not sure why we own it). What I didn't have was a true commuter. I was looking for the cheapest car to operate that I could find. Reliability, maintenance costs and MPG were the big factors. Before the Commander pissed me off so badly I was thinking a fiat 500, but the issues with the Commander had me swear off all things FCA (if you look in my garage, that's a big thing for me, I've only owned Chryslers). Ultimately it came down to a Prius or a Civic. As long as gas is at $2.15 / gallon or more and I get 50 mpg the deal I worked on the Prius makes sense. I was looking at it compared to the Commander it was replacing. against the civic it's tougher to justify the numbers but ultimately I went with the Prius because it does a good job of making MPG a game that holds my interest. I tend to keep my daily for 3 years or less, I hope to keep the Prius for 15 years so holding my interest is important. Gas prices went down below my $2.15 limit for a bit after purchase but I've been getting better mileage than I expected so it all works out. I could drive one of the other vehicles for commuting, and I do from time to time, but frankly... I like my other cars and I don't want to waste them with commuting. I bought the Prius just for commuting and it does a very good job in that role. I would have bought a Volt but a week or so before I was going to buy I was in San Diego and one of my uber drivers showed up in Volt. It was the first one I had been in that wasn't a test drive with a salesman. What killed the Volt for me was the car bottomed out several times going around San Diego. Not scratching the nose on bumps, literally the under carriage of the car bottoming out on sleeping policeman and the like. The driver said something like "yeah it does that no biggie." I wouldn't be able to live with that. It didn't look like the 2017 Volt is any taller, they just shorted the front air dam a little, the back seat is still unusable so I scratched it off my list.