Jetta TDI or Prius?

[SwamiSalami]

let me just tell you...

prius, prius, prius.

i just got rid of a tdi and i can honestly say that i probably tried about 100% harder at obtaining good mileage than the average soccer mom who drives a prius and "she" still beat me! very frustrating.

[spacer]

I'll toss in a vote for the TDI, or at least one that hasn't been monkeywrenched as much by regulations. My little brother loved his hybrid, right up until he needed a new battery pack, then after a little figuring, it turned out that he'd have been better off, financially, with a purely gas powered car.
Sure, there's a trade-off for everything, but I'd personally wait until batteries are reliable enough for the manufacturers to provide a longer warranty for 'em.

I won't put down early adopters, though. They're the whole reason anything new ends up marketable, from cars to computers, and everything else that has room for improvement.

[MetroMPG]

spacer - out of curiosity, which hybrid did your brother have?

[Xist]

SwamiSalami, thank you for confiding with us that you let a soccer mom beat you. I will treat your secret with the utmost respect!

I have been trying to find numbers on the Prius since before I found this site. According to HowStuffWorks, Prius batteries have come down from $5,500 to $2,400 (1) HSW does not date their articles, but their most recent source is June 25, 2009, so that is a reduction of 56% in nine years, or 6% a year. They also stated that "Honda has cut its battery replacement price from $3,400 to $1,968." (2) In an article about Lithium-ion batteries, Green Car Report stated "the rate of performance increase has averaged 6 to 8 percent a year."

I finally found my numbers! "Toyota's out-of-warranty battery replacement rate has plummeted from about 1 percent for the first generation Prius to 0.003 percent for the second generation." (2)

I am also curious which hybrid the brother had. People have very different experiences with the same make and model depending on their attitudes, driving habits, and maintenance. Green Car Reports included the Honda CR-Z and Insight in "Five New 2012 Hybrid Cars To Consider Steering Clear Of." (4) One of the others is a BMW and two are Lexus...es.

(1) HowStuffWorks "Hybrid Battery Replacement Cost"

(2) HowStuffWorks "5 Ways Hybrid Battery Packs are Being Improved"

(3) How Much And How Fast Will Electric-Car Battery Costs Fall?

(4) Five New 2012 Hybrid Cars To Consider Steering Clear Of

[Varn]

What kind of expense do you have in 4-6 years when the Toyota's batteries decide to take a dump? Shouldn't you figure that into the running cost? Pretty hard to quibble over 5 mpg when you have an expensive battery pack hanging over your head like the sword of Damocles. IMO there is a moral problem with recycling these corrosive materials.

I like the styling of the Prius but I can't see one in my future as I keep cars a long time.

[MetroMPG]

Varn: the materials are recycled. There is zero problem with these packs going into landfill - Toyota will pay a bounty for old battery packs. Also, the 2nd+ gen Prius packs are extremely reliable (see post #14). (1st gen Hondas, not so much.)

[Xist]

Also, the 4-6 years would depend on how much driving is done, because they are warrantied for 8-10 years and 100,000-150,000 miles. I can find the link if you insist, but Toyota states that they recycle every component of their batteries.

Honestly, I think that more Jetta owners have needed to replace their turbos, or have at least been told so by their dealers.