The Economics of a Prius 2?
 

Ok, so I was bored at lunch today..

had a look at the Nissan Leaf as Old Mech's thread has be intrigued.. its £25000 here ($38500) so I'm out the game there:eek:

What else is available either electic or hybrid that I could afford?! A quick search found me this 2008 Prius

2008 Toyota Prius T3 Hybrid 1.5L 5dr

Initial inspection looks promising- nice colour, low miles, 1.5 lump-reasonable price plus warrenty...

So I got thinking- What would be the savings to me if I swapped the iS for a Prius?

My car spends approx 75% on the motorway, mostly journeys under 30 miles. Rest of the mileage is either Town or country driving

This is the result.. (spreadsheet attached-xls format)

Based on 15k miles PA
Same % over epa applied to COMBINED IMP MPG for both cars (113% so is 39.6mpg, prius 74.3mpg)

Taxation based on 12 months

Depreciation based over 5 years (typical loan period) WITHOUT compound interest-I'm not that good!

Repair cost for Prius set at 1/2 the iS (includes tyres/brakes etc)

Servicing set at same rate

Fuel priced at £5.91/ imp gallon (£1.299/litre)



Interesting to note that even without the monthly repayments on the £9000 loan being factored in (I'd reckon the loan for the Prius would be circa £200/month for 48 months)

I'd be 1p per mile better off in the iS.. that's £750 over 75000 miles.


I know that I'm not including several factors (actual repair requirements/tax increases/ residual value at end of 5 yrs etc) but it's an interesting start point..


What is your take on it?

Thanks

Neil

U.S. calculations here, but I made a chart comparing a Saturn, which I could acquire for ~$3000 vs. a Civic Hybrid Gen1 and a Prius Gen 2.

Total cost of ownership includes fuel cost (rising at $0.20/year) and value lost to depreciation. Spreadsheet assumes all cars would be a cash purchase.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2.../Capture-3.jpg

y = $Cost of Ownership
x = years of ownership

I made it a flexible spreadsheet, so I can post it if anyone would like to look at it. There are very few cars you could put in that cost less to own after a couple years than a Prius.

Excellent!

Thanks for that,

I think the main issue is that my iS cost £513, and the prius is £9000

If I could get one circa £8000 it'd just about break even..

I also dont know if 113% epa in the Prius would be possible with my 75% motorway miles- I imagine the ICE would be working fairly hard (in comparison to a Prius in town!)

Do you have the spreadsheet available?

This goes to show that sometimes the cheapest stuff is the stuff you already own.

of course, bying an other car hardly saves money.

i have some remarks to make.
here in europe the epa of hybrid car is not the same as for non hybrids. due to the rules the epa is a little better and so harder to reach in the real world. maybe you will not get the same 113%.

on the other hand, u can calculate the repair costs at the minimum, u can imagine. my prius has done 190.000km with the stock set of brakes now, and the end isn´t in sight. every 15.000km some engine oil (3,2l) thats it, almost exactly.

however, if you go for it, you will expirience a whole new kind of driving and you will never ever want to change it back. other cars are simply yesterday...
:thumbup:

My spreadsheet takes this into account. All you have to do is set your current car's value to what you would get if you sold it. All cars are treated at their current value caluclated from a depreciation table so only total ownership cost is considered (buy car, drive it, sell it, total expenditure).

Here is an unrefined copy I have on my work machine...

Yeah- you're right re buying a car never being cheap..however, a £2000 diesel that did 55mpg would break even easily within the 5 yrs..even with the higher cost of diesel here.:confused:

I was aware that the Prius may be more difficult to hypermile via driver input-thanks for confirming it:D

point taken regarding the servicing/repair..so far my iS has only used 1/4 of the pads and discs fitted to it- so I can see them lasting circa 60k miles, not too bad for non regen breaking:cool:

I may still blag a test

Funnily enough, most of the clean, sub 150k miles iS with MOT and Tax I can find are actually around £600-1000 depending on spec, so I'd be up some:D

cheers for the spreadsheet- I'll download it once back home!

I've taken a look at the spreadsheet and your conclusion looks OK, however a couple of comments if I may ;)

Firstly as Kurz taps the Prius experience is very much something "different" to any other car. The location of the component that generates the "field of smugness" remains a mystery but it works especially well :D

Your assumption you will match EPA/over in the Prius is probably conservative - although Mrs A is not doing well (I've given up tracking it :rolleyes: ) she is about 15-20% up on where she was with the Octavia on straight MPG, plus of course petrol is cheaper. Even on the motorway if you are not in a hurry (say in the 50-65 range) it will do very well, its only if you go over that (such as dashing to England and back) that it starts to dip. Even then we have never seen much under 40 which is better than the iS does on your sig.

Around town you will get much better figures and if you Hypermile as you do then 113% will be a bad day :D I've adjusted your sheet so if you change the % on the right it adjusts the Prius figures - somewhere in the mid 130s% they get to be the same per mile ;)

I nearly got one when I got George - why did I get George instead ? For me the deal was about saving money overrall - lower insurance as well as tax and not spending a lot of ready cash which is lucky now given our new budget :( I would consider one now though.

Have a test at least.

And then buy a 320d compact :D

Fair comment:D but at the end of the 5 years (when the prius is 8yrs old) the iS wont need a new battery pack;)

I'm just shocked at how close it was- I initially thought the Prius would walk it..:eek:

I may just book a test for next weekend- test the Prius and the leaf..

As for the budgetry constraints- thats another issue- having a loan for teh £9k would eat into my (already fully disposed) disposble income..

And as for the 320d compact..just no!

now an e36 330d compact could be fun, If I could get the engine to work...

*scouts salvage sites*

If you ever feel the urge to buy a Prius, rent one for a day or so.

You can hypermile a Beemer and make it sip like a Prius - well, sort of.
But you can't make a Prius handle like a Beemer ;)