Would I really do that much better in a Prius?

[stevey_frac]

Ok, so this is a bit of a hypothetical, because i'm not going to replace the Cobalt for hopefully another 500k kms, but, I got wondering the other day, and my conclusion wasn't that favorable to the Prius. I've seen a lot of reviews where the driver gets around 5.0 to 5.2 L / 100km on the highway. That's like... .3 L / 100 km better then what I regularly get on my cobalt. Which is peanuts. That being said, I beat the EPA in my cobalt, and i see no reason why I wouldn't beat the EPA in a Prius. I don't know.

I'd still buy a Prius for the 'gadget cool stuff' factor... but i'm not entirely sure I'd do much better on the highway.

Thoughts? Am i missing something here?

-Steve

[SVOboy]

Sure, they are not at their peak on the highway, but probably better than the cobalt by a bit. Go to the dealership and ask to drive on the highway and see what it gets

[joey]

Of course you would. But you'd also never make back the money you'd lose from purchasing one in the first place.

[stevey_frac]

Originally Posted by joey

Of course you would. But you'd also never make back the money you'd lose from purchasing one in the first place.

Not on a new one no. But i was considering buying an old high mileage vehicle.

Based on my research an intuition, the stop and go driving that kills other vehicles dosen't impact the prius nearly as much, and as such is not subject to as much wear.

The only ?? is the battery pack, and there is now aftermarket rebuilds that replace individual worn cells at a fraction of the cost of a new pack.

^^ All theory though.

[guudasitgets]

Ah stevey; a used one, I wouldn't touch one with a ten foot pole, Do you how much the controller cost to replace, more than the cars worth, In my case it would'nt pay, there isn't that much gain, I have three friends with them and drive in my rural area and they get about ten mpg better than my car, so the math is my car is paid for, a new motor in the crate if I need it is $1300.00 (US), My engine I'm guessing has about 60-70,000 miles on it so it should last awile. So if I bought a Pirus it would set me back $20,000; cut that up by 10 more mpg's and I drive an average of 13,000 miles a year and I get 42mpg average, all my Pirus friends get around 57 or 58 driving around here. So now we have the equation 13,000/42= 309.5 gallons x $2.69 per gallon = $832. A Pirus driving the same distance would cost ( 13,000/57mpg= 228 gallons x $2.69= $613.51 a differance of $219.11, at that rate it would take 91 years to pay for itself with the differance. If I bought a new Kia Rio for around $13,000 with all the goodys (as little as there would be) they get around the same milliage as my car, so the cost differance would be about $10,000 more. To make up for the differance I would have to drive the Pirus only 45 years. This is not including all the extra cost to maintain the Pirus unless sombody shows me how that car is less expensive on replacement parts than a normal drivetrain car, I thought so, it isn't. See now how people can get taken for a ride, no pun intended.

[NiHaoMike]

Originally Posted by joey

Of course you would. But you'd also never make back the money you'd lose from purchasing one in the first place.

Except possibly for business use. I have read about a communications company (Windstream?) that has purchased a fleet of Prius to cut costs for small maintenance jobs and residential installs. Compare that to the big trucks that get maybe 12MPG (remember, mostly city driving) and it's obvious just how much could be saved on jobs that do not need the big trucks.

Of course, for personal use, aerodynamic modifications offer extremely good value. Indeed, an old Civic with $400 of aeromods can easily outperform a Prius on the highway.

Ah stevey; a used one, I wouldn't touch one with a ten foot pole, Do you how much the controller cost to replace, more than the cars worth, In my case it would'nt pay

The inverter is actually one of the most reliable parts in a Prius. If you can find an old Prius cheap enough, you'll have an excellent platform for a DIY PHEV conversion.

[roflwaffle]

Originally Posted by guudasitgets

If I bought a new Kia Rio for around $13,000 with all the goodys (as little as there would be) they get around the same milliage as my car, so the cost differance would be about $10,000 more. To make up for the differance I would have to drive the Pirus only 45 years.

Your assfire (My friend's name for his ) gets 29/38 as opposed to 27/33 for a new Rio, and 51/48 in a new Prius, so you're looking at $400-$750/year w/ a bit less than $3/gallon gas, and a ~12-25 year payback based on mileage alone compared to a Prius, assuming gas doesn't keep on going up. Of course, comparing a Prius to a Rio isn't exactly kosher because the Prius is much bigger. A Prius is closer to a Spectra, w/ a bit more cargo capacity and a bit less interior room, so a mileage/cost comparison should probably be based on that, not a sub-compact.

Originally Posted by guudasitgets

This is not including all the extra cost to maintain the Pirus unless sombody shows me how that car is less expensive on replacement parts than a normal drivetrain car, I thought so, it isn't. See now how people can get taken for a ride, no pun intended.

All the new fangled drivetrain components are warrantied for 150k miles, so I don't think you'll have trouble w/ those. For most people, it's a wash. Fewer brake jobs, but the battery replacement costs wipe that out over ~200k-300k miles. A DIY'er can install their own larger pack and plug-in setup for the same cost as a factory battery pack, so there's probably some cost savings for the home mechanic compared to a conventional vehicle. No brake jobs w/ judicious driving is nice...

[guudasitgets]

I think I'll just keep the "Assfire" (I just call it the sh!tbox). Up to now I have $1000 in it and just about everything is replaced with new. And now with everything running right I always get low 40's MPG. I just went into both Toyota and Kia's website and got the prices, I don't care about the room but if the Pirus is bigger thats fine, I always drive my car alone and if there is any baggage it's one suitcase, both cars fit that as does the threadstarters Cobalt. So; Kia Rios' 5-door lists at $13,325, the Pirus is at $22,000, a difference of $8675. My 13,000 miles per year based on your estimation of the highway miles per gallon (thats mostly what I do) amounts to a $331.16 gas cost diffrence. So using your figures, your pretty close. It would take 26.2 years to get the extra purchase cost back in the car with the gas milage. Thats assuming you would purchase one of either car and keep it for 26 years, if you buy new every 4 years you will never make that back up. So does it make sence? For me the figures are pretty clear. If we took the threadstarters Cobalt, you would have to drive it 25.95 years to make up the cost of the car. I looked in the garage and the BEST Prius mpg average lifetime is just over 75mpg. Using the price differance over a Cobalt getting it's EPA Highway rating would still take you 11.72 years to make the extra cost back up even using that 75mpg. There you have it. The choice as they say is yours!

[evolutionmovement]

But he didn't give his annual mileage and 13k is really low. I bought a new car because I put over 30k a year on (which I get to write off—very nice) and the Subaru at about 270k, trouble-free as it was, wasn't getting any younger and a day off due to a car is money out of my pocket in lost work, sometimes more than the car payment. So I agree that in most cases it makes sense to keep the old car,but it depends on his situation. But I didn't buy a Prius, I bought a Mazda 3 and, though it's a good car, it's only a car. The Subaru is a great car with more personality than way too many women I've dated and I'm trying to get through restoring it so I can sell the Mazda. Already had to swap a strut on the Mazda and I definitely found out how spoiled I was with the Subaru.

People are always mentioning brakes and I don't get it—they're about the easiest things to do and even being hard on them, I've never had them last less than 35k on any car (the Mazda's rear brakes most frequently as they use organics in the rear, but ceramics in the front and I like to exploit the electronic brake control with my left foot in turns).

[stevey_frac]

I drive about 60k a year. Right now i'm running around $3000 / year in gas alone.

I'm honestly not worried about the controller. That solid state stuff will last longer then the engine/body will. Battery pack on the other hand is a known wear item.