The Economics of a Prius 2?

[320touring]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

You could ride either one of these.
1971 or 2011.

regards
Mech

Much as I'd love to, I'm not a fan of the concept of motorcycles.. my PERSONAL opinion is I dont like the lack of "buffer" should anything go wrong.

With the combinations of

S M I D S Y and the "gay power ranger" fanaticism over here, I wouldnt have any motorbike

Originally Posted by Arragonis

There is an assumption in the second part of this that little or no regulation exists in the rest of the world - not so. Emissions regs, safety regs and so on exist all over the world - some are less strict than the US and some more.

With the exception of some vehicles (e.g. Tata Nano) most car makers try and make their vehicles suitable for all markets otherwise they end up having to spend money on modifications - e.g. as FIAT did to get the 500 into the US which was probably not considered when they designed it, unlike the BINI which was always destined for the US, India, EMEA and Far East - i.e. the world.

I've heard instances in Germany where people fitting a tech2 kit to their e30 ( a factory designed/made kit, that was an optional extra new) have to provide TUV certs FOR EACH Panel..

As it uses less fuel the payback period will be much longer though, maybe you could get Excel out ? I think you also qualify for "alternative fuel vehicle" road fund tax which is £20 ?

an LPG adapter at £10 would allow me access to the whole of europe and their cheap LPG!

oooh, cheap roadtax is always good

[niky]

Originally Posted by 320touring

As an aside- could you LPG the Prius?

I'm pretty sure you could. My worry is keeping the coolant system warm enough to keep pressure in the lines, but since the engine in the Prius already cycles on to bring the heat in the engine up, it shouldn't be a big issue.

One issue with some cars is valve wear. But the Prius uses so little gas that it will probably be a looooong time before this becomes an issue.

But the fact that it uses so little gas means that your Return-on-investment in LPG, typically two to three years in a regular car, might take much, much longer. Especially as the LPG system turns off when the engine turns off, and the engine restarts on gasoline first, then switches to LPG when warmed up again.

EDIT: looking on the net, there are some companies that actually convert Prii. Cool.

Better, though, if the car is designed as an LPG car from the get-go, like Hyundai's Elantra LPG-electric hybrid.

[tjts1]

Originally Posted by 320touring

I'd prefer LPG tbh- Lot more LPG than charging stations available in the highlands..

also, due to staying in flats, I have no access to charging whilst at home (no provision in carpark and no direct line to run a cable)

Thats been a problem for some people over here as well ever since the Chevy Volt came out.
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[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by niky

...One issue with some cars is valve wear. But the Prius uses so little gas that it will probably be a looooong time before this becomes an issue

LPG kits here usually come supplied with a valve (aka top end) lubrication kit of some kind to address that issue.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by 320touring

As an aside- could you LPG the Prius?

Sure, there's quite a few of them on LPG - and a very small number on CNG.