What driving a hybrid will really cost you

[judibob]

Interesting article - not too deep with information, but another comparison......
Would like to know what their assumptions were in this, especially fuel cost & mileage driven.

MSN Money - What driving a hybrid will really cost you

[Tempus]

They're still comparing the Prius to a Corolla

[john1701a]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tempus @ Apr 26 2006, 07:41 PM) [snapback]245822[/snapback]</div>

They're still comparing the Prius to a Corolla
[/b]

That's a dead giveaway that they are doing nothing but number crunching, not actually doing real-world comparisons like owners do. And those numbers take the liberty of deciding what should be included.

My parents have a Corolla. So I end up playing chauffer in it for them from time to time. The quality differences between it and Prius are surprisingly plentiful. There's all kinds of little things that those with insincere intentions could easily dismiss as something to mention in an review article... supposedly not worth paying any extra money for. But those doing comparisons in-person notice though and do mention about them being well worth it. There are some less obvious benefits from Prius too, like the idle being rather significantly smoother, than never get mentioned... but should.

Of course, how often do smog-related emissions get mentioned? That commonly gets dismissed as something no one would ever be willing to contribute some money toward with the purchase of a new vehicle.

The popular media, in general, is very disappointing. They do a terrible job of reporting hybrid information. In fact, they routinely help to spread misconceptions. That's rather scary when you think about just how much that have mislead consumers, preventing realistic solutions to some problems from being accepted. Just imagine how different the automotive market and oil situation would be now if sincere efforts to properly report hybrid information would have been done 6 years ago when Prius was first introduced in the United States. And now we have our president saying "I strongly believe hydrogen is the fuel of the future". It is a complete dismissal of hybrids, setting the focus on technology that won't be affordable or for that matter even available for quite a few years still. How the heck is that suppose to help the problems we are dealing with today?

[usbseawolf2000]

Based on five-year ownership costs, the Prius is a slightly better value than the Toyota Corolla LE. It beats the Civic Hybrid, too ....[/b]

Comparing Prius to a Corolla LE!! There are many standard features that Prius has but not Corolla do not. Do people really expect Prius to pay the buyer the touch screen Climate Control, Heated Mirrors, Air Bags, ABS, Traction Control, Steering Wheel buttons, etc... ? No mention of those extra features in the article at all. Have they been into both cars? They are like in completely different league. Is it because they both are Toyota, they assume the interior quality and features are the same?

I think hybrid owners are too defensive. We need to speak up very loud and go offensive. Let's compare Prius to Camry XLE V6. Hey, let's ignore the 268 hp because acceleration performance does not matter the same way they ignore the emission, smoothness and responsiveness performance. The extra standard features doesn't matter also as both are Toyota. Let's see how they stack up in 5 years:

Toyota Camry XLE V6 - $24,425
Gas Cost in 5 years for City driving (People who can afford / want to buy cars live in the city) of 75,000 miles at gas avg price of $4.50. Camry gets 22 mpg - $15,341

Toyota Prius - $21,725
Gas Cost in 5 years for City driving of 75,000 miles at gas avg price of $4.50 - $5,625

Prius will save you $12,416 in 5 years!! That means Prius will pay for the next generation Prius upgrade!! Instead of buying Camry XLE V6, buy Prius now and trade it in for a brand new 2011 Prius for free!!

Someone do the rest of the honor It is late here and would be fun to see more comparison like this!

Dennis

[andrewgs]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(usbseawolf2000 @ Apr 26 2006, 10:49 PM) [snapback]245935[/snapback]</div>

Someone do the rest of the honor It is late here and would be fun to see more comparison like this!
[/b]

Here's one I posted on another forum:

Here's a simple way to calculate what it costs to buy and fuel different cars that I've been using while making my decision on what economical car to buy. Take the MSRP of the vehicle, subtract the rebates or tax credits and add the estimated fuel cost for three years using EPA estimates.

Below is an example using some of the vehicles I'm personally considering due to rising fuel costs. All of the examples are as closely equipped and optioned as possible with automatic transmissions.

MSRP minus rebates and/or tax creadits:
Chevrolet Cobalt LT - $17,035 minus $500 rebate = $16,535
Chevrolet Malibu MAXX LT - $21,480 minus $750 rebate = $20,730
Ford Focus ZX5 SES - $18,435 minus $2,500 rebate = $15,935
Toyota Corolla LE - $19,403 minus $750 rebate = $18,653
Toyota Prius PK1 - $23,588 minus $3,150 tax credit = $20,438
Volkswagen Jetta TDI - $23,379 no credits or rebates = $23,379

Cost of fuel for 3yrs. at $3.50/gal. - 75% city driving:
Chevrolet Cobalt LT - $6,057
Chevrolet Malibu MAXX LT - $6,564
Ford Focus ZX5 SES - $5,832
Toyota Corolla LE - $4,923
Toyota Prius PK1 - $2,763
Volkswagen Jetta TDI - $4,374

Cost of vehicle and fuel for 3yrs.:
Chevrolet Cobalt LT - $22,592
Chevrolet Malibu MAXX LT - $27,294
Ford Focus ZX5 SES - $21,767
Toyota Corolla LE - $23,576
Toyota Prius PK1 - $23,201
Volkswagen Jetta TDI - $27,753

[eak354]

sigh! when will they get it? when talking about gasoline counterparts the Prius has NO counterpart!! this has been an old topic of debate. they can ramble all they want about the civics, accords, and camrys... but to say the Corolla LE is comparable to the Prius... that just makes me laugh out of pity that the writer doesn't know what he's talking about. the corolla.... yeah right! come to think about it... why don't we hear them talking about the savings of owning a NON-V6 counterpart of a V6 car like with the Camrys, Accords, etc. sigh!

[clintd555]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(AndrewGS @ Apr 26 2006, 11:07 PM) [snapback]245942[/snapback]</div>

Here's one I posted on another forum:

Here's a simple way to calculate what it costs to buy and fuel different cars that I've been using while making my decision on what economical car to buy. Take the MSRP of the vehicle, subtract the rebates or tax credits and add the estimated fuel cost for three years using EPA estimates.

Below is an example using some of the vehicles I'm personally considering due to rising fuel costs. All of the examples are as closely equipped and optioned as possible with automatic transmissions.

MSRP minus rebates and/or tax creadits:
Chevrolet Cobalt LT - $17,035 minus $500 rebate = $16,535
Chevrolet Malibu MAXX LT - $21,480 minus $750 rebate = $20,730
Ford Focus ZX5 SES - $18,435 minus $2,500 rebate = $15,935
Toyota Corolla LE - $19,403 minus $750 rebate = $18,653
Toyota Prius PK1 - $23,588 minus $3,150 tax credit = $20,438
Volkswagen Jetta TDI - $23,379 no credits or rebates = $23,379

Cost of fuel for 3yrs. at $3.50/gal. - 75% city driving:
Chevrolet Cobalt LT - $6,057
Chevrolet Malibu MAXX LT - $6,564
Ford Focus ZX5 SES - $5,832
Toyota Corolla LE - $4,923
Toyota Prius PK1 - $2,763
Volkswagen Jetta TDI - $4,374

Cost of vehicle and fuel for 3yrs.:
Chevrolet Cobalt LT - $22,592
Chevrolet Malibu MAXX LT - $27,294
Ford Focus ZX5 SES - $21,767
Toyota Corolla LE - $23,576
Toyota Prius PK1 - $23,201
Volkswagen Jetta TDI - $27,753
[/b]

Andrew, what MPG and amount of miles per year are you using to come up with your figures?

[nerfer]

This is my feedback on the article, since they provided a link for it:

Interesting comparison, but I'd like see a little more on how those numbers were generated. The numbers of miles driven and the estimated gas price. For instance, the similar Consumer Reports article said they used gas prices going to $3/gal then $4/gal over a five year period, but they gave enough details that you could work out that they actually used gas prices of $2/gal for the first three years, but they didn't tell you that.

Another criticism is comparing the Prius to the Corolla. They are not similar cars, and that's beyond the extra 3" of legroom in the back of the Prius. The Prius includes items previously for luxury cars, like the low-tire-pressure sensor, a multifunction display for audio, climate control, and engine monitoring, push-button start, side-curtain airbags, CVT and LED taillights standard. Upgrade features include back-up camera, DVD/GPS navigation, etc. not available on the Corolla.

And the third thing to keep in mind - cars are not investments. They all depreciate over time. People realize this innately, and may try to justify it somehow, but basically you have a dollar range in mind that you can afford to spend, and you look for a car that has the features you want in that price range. And for some of us, those desirable features include an advanced engine and emissions system that reduce emissions beyond that reduced by just using less gas (such as with their thermos to keep engine coolant warm between trips, allowing the engine to warm up faster and run cleaner sooner on start up). People spend extra for things like A/C, AWD, automatic transmission and they aren't chastised because it "doesn't pay for itself". We're unusual indeed in that we can buy these features on a Prius and actually hope to recoup that expense.

Rob Neff
Chicagoland Prius owner"

(I know it's not really CVT, but I doubt the editor of the article would distinguish between CVT and the planetary transmission. LED taillights are new for 2006. I didn't research which cars have the low-tire-pressure sensor, but I believe that to be accurate.)

[JackDodge]

Of course, I wonder if they do this kind of story on, say, a Hummer or a Suburban. Just how much do those gas guzzlers really cost you? Do they do this kind of story on all vehicles or just hybrids?

[skruse]

Too simplistic and no consideration for air quality impacts and cost.