"Toyota Isn't Quitting on the Prius Just Yet"--Jalopnik

[Fat Charlie]

In 02, my wife wanted an SUV. The lot at work was full of used XJ Cherokees for 10-12k. But the back seat didn't have headrests and we were looking at having kids, so the 22k XTerra was safer. Guess what we got? When we finally sold the Nissan at 217k on CL, do you think either kid had ever sat in the back seat without being in a child's car seat?

FWIW, paying down credit card debt not only gets rid of high interest debt, it frees up room on the card for emergencies. Which, once you're working on paying down credit card debt, you define differently than you used to.

[vskid3]

Originally Posted by Xist

Let it be known that I hereby bestow upon Vskid3 the Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Trying award!

My efforts haven't all been for naught, one of my brothers was looking for a car a couple months ago and ended up with a 2005 Accord hybrid. They're not the hybridiest of hybrids, but he's getting about 30mpg out of it. A selling point for him was the car still being able to run if the IMA battery dies (I believe his was replaced a few years ago). He doesn't have emissions testing where he lives, so the check engine light wouldn't be an issue.

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

Should've gotten a Sienna, capable of 30 MPG highway lol!

Minivans were a no, even the mini-minivan Mazda 5. Oh well, not my money.


Back to the Prius' poor sales, I think its biggest problem is that it no longer holds the monopoly on high efficiency. When you're just about the only 4 door car that'll get 50mpg, people can look past shortcomings like being slow or ugly. Now pretty much every EV is cheaper to drive and some small crossovers like the RAV4 hybrid are getting MPGs in the same ballpark. Factor in that complaining is the only thing most people want to do about how much it costs them to drive, and the Prius doesn't stand a chance.

[Xist]

The Sienna sounds like it would have been far better, but their reasons against minivans seem as rational against anything else.

Do you think that Toyota will continue making the Prius look completely different than the previous generations and from every other car? I do not know if that worked for or against them, overall.

Fuel economy continues to improve, but I think that people are less concerned with saving money than they think they are.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

I for one think the Prius sits too high coming from my Insight. I suppose it's just all about perspective.

Yeah. When I switch between the Insight and the Miata, I think the Insight sits too high :-)