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I'm going to have to agree with Matt here.
I'm a huge fan of the Acura NSX. I have two friends who own and drive them every day. I do not know what the expected lifetime of a prius is but I know for a fact their engines and drive train have had no adjustments or maintenance other than standard oil changes for trans and engine. Doing that yourself is still only going to run you 20ish bucks a change for every 2,000 miles so over 220,000 miles break pads and basic realignments coming in at another 20 per 20,000 your total vehicle maintenance for 220,000 miles is well under 4,000 dollars.
Neither friend bought theirs new. Bought them used for 20 grand and 50-70k miles. If I had the choice between a Prius and we will call it fully loaded with leather seats, warmers, air conditioned seats, free GPS navigation, and whatever else you want to tack on and call it normal fine, I still would chose a 96 NSX with 100,000 miles. Very few cars on the planet compare to the NSX's ability to handle. I bet I could roll a prius. I can't roll an NSX unless the governor is off and its charged or I've got lots of space to get to 155 MPH and then try and turn at 90 degrees. Even then I predict it would just slide.
Back to a real argument. You can get a Honda Civic brand spanking new with every feature and option they offer(including some really hideous ones, remote engine starters and a first-aid medipack) and it costs 29,000 rounded up. Thats with leather evertyhing navigation, blah blah blah. oh and its highway is 36(its high end biased)
The basic Prius looks like you get nav, and leather and beyond that someone else will have to fill me in. Sorry Toyota's Build your own Prius function does not work. for 24,000 and 48 highway.
The civic had replacement wheels for a grand, moonroof, starter, partial bra, that apllique to the whole car that keeps it from getting scratched, film covers for the door joints. . .all kinds of things that nobody puts on a car from the dealer. The prius might have a moonroof. . .can't tell Toyota is not showing it off at all if it does. The point is the base civic starts at 15 and the deluxe everything coated in layers of leather is 23K. You could just get leather for 17 and install GPs yourself(400 bucks once and 200 a year? save yourself a couple grand).
It's 12 MPG essentially for 5,000 dollars. . .If gas were 20$ a gallon you could get a ROI the first year. at 4 a gallon it takes 5 years.
Another issue to consider is. . .the prius is relatively new. If something like the Ford Taurus effect were to show up in the Prius. . .it will take a while for it to show.
Just now the oldest Priuses(prieces?) are turning 11. We'll say the average person puts down 30,000 miles a year(12,000-15,000 is what it really is) it would still take 4 years to catch something like the Taurus effect or in real conditions it would take 8-10 years.
So far it looks like the Prius will escape that but test conditions favored continuous driving to simulate 180,000 miles. At continuous driving the batteries remain constantly charged. Park it overnight in the cold and then try and run it and it will cause a drain on the charge pack possibly below its tolerance threshold to maintain integrity. That said replacing the power pack for 2,500 every ten years is not bad but you only save money on operating cost(gasoline and repairs) if gas stays above 2.50 otherwise the gas engine is cheaper to operate and maintain.
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