Wanna buy a Prius? It'll cost you

[Steve321]

Wanna buy a Prius? It'll cost you

With gas over $4 per gallon, on average, across the country, there is now a carpet bagger economy on the Toyota Prius.

[echase]

A day late, and I'm $2000 short!

I just accepted an offer of a bit over $24K for my '06 base with 20K miles from my insurance (it was totaled) since I had a tough time finding good documentation of the pricing crises.

Oh well, the offer covers my out the door on a new Pkg 2 (which I *should* be getting July 2) so I can't complain too loudly.

[Fraser]

The reporter's comparison of Civic and Prius is, on the surface, valid. Civic is a good car. The hybrid version works differently than the Prius. But in reality they are two different machines. Hard to compare apples and red fruit.

[daniel]

Curiously, the reporter advises waiting before buying a Prius because "the price of gas may go down." He neglects to point out that if the price of gas continues to rise, the cost of a Prius will go up even more. And he claims that several companies are coming out with cars that will get even better mileage than the Prius, but he fails to acknowledge that if such cars do appear, and gas continues to go up, they, too, will command hefty premiums. I'll bet if gas hits $6 a gallon, even my Zap Xebra will start drawing attractive offers.

[Fraser]

Originally Posted by daniel

Curiously, the reporter advises waiting before buying a Prius because "the price of gas may go down." He neglects to point out that if the price of gas continues to rise, the cost of a Prius will go up even more. And he claims that several companies are coming out with cars that will get even better mileage than the Prius, but he fails to acknowledge that if such cars do appear, and gas continues to go up, they, too, will command hefty premiums. I'll bet if gas hits $6 a gallon, even my Zap Xebra will start drawing attractive offers.

There's another factor regarding buying a Prius (or other high-mpg) car. Even if prices go down to $3, that is still expensive against three years ago. Compare expense of driving a Prius at any given moment -- you're still better off with a higher-mpg car regardless of pump price. We tend to accept a lower price of fuel only by comparison. I firmly believe that a high price for gasoline is 35 cents a gallon, so anything above that is too expensive. I just can't do anything about it, except carp.

[daniel]

Originally Posted by Fraser

There's another factor regarding buying a Prius (or other high-mpg) car. Even if prices go down to $3, that is still expensive against three years ago. Compare expense of driving a Prius at any given moment -- you're still better off with a higher-mpg car regardless of pump price. We tend to accept a lower price of fuel only by comparison. I firmly believe that a high price for gasoline is 35 cents a gallon, so anything above that is too expensive. I just can't do anything about it, except carp.

Except that at 35 cents a gallon, a $15,000 car that gets 35 mpg is cheaper to operate than a $25,000 car that gets 50 mpg. A Civic or a Corolla is an excellent car. If your bottom-line concern is the cheapest possible transportation, a Prius becomes the cheaper transportation only when gas reaches a certain price (dependent partially on how many miles you drive during the life of the car).

I was not looking for the cheapest transportation when I bought my Prius in 2004. But the cost-per-mile calculation is driving the present market price of the Prius, and as gas prices continue to rise, the market will continue to reflect this calculation.

[Fraser]

Originally Posted by daniel

Except that at 35 cents a gallon, a $15,000 car that gets 35 mpg is cheaper to operate than a $25,000 car that gets 50 mpg. A Civic or a Corolla is an excellent car. If your bottom-line concern is the cheapest possible transportation, a Prius becomes the cheaper transportation only when gas reaches a certain price (dependent partially on how many miles you drive during the life of the car).

I was not looking for the cheapest transportation when I bought my Prius in 2004. But the cost-per-mile calculation is driving the present market price of the Prius, and as gas prices continue to rise, the market will continue to reflect this calculation.

Sorry, Daniel, gotta disagree with that. It's only a CPA who would include (as I assume you do) purchase price in operating costs. Just look at the gas costs for now. If I pay 35 cents (or $3.50) a gallon for fuel, I will pay less if my car gets better mileage than your car. Doesn't matter if mpg are 25 vs. 26. I don't buy a car or a house or a lawn tractor based on rate of return. I buy them to use. And if it works out, I want to pay less for use when I buy a given product. Sometimes I think the faux economists on PC and elsewhere make things too complicated. That, or my simple mind can't comprehend those details.

[daniel]

Originally Posted by Fraser

Sorry, Daniel, gotta disagree with that. It's only a CPA who would include (as I assume you do) purchase price in operating costs.

Really????? So if a $300,000 car got 100 mpg you'd buy it because purchase price doesn't matter? Only ongoing fuel price matters? Perhaps most Americans are too innumerate to accurately calculate lifetime cost per mile, but they certainly understand that the purchase price is a factor. In fact, when I bought my Prius, all the Japan haters were talking about the fact that you would not save enough in gas cost to pay the difference between a semi-luxury Prius and an econo-box. Now that gas is $4 a gallon and rising, people are willing to pay a premium for a Prius because they understand that the extra cost can be amortized against the gas savings.

[breagerey]

Originally Posted by daniel

Except that at 35 cents a gallon, a $15,000 car that gets 35 mpg is cheaper to operate than a $25,000 car that gets 50 mpg.

Apples and carburators comparison though

I understand what you're saying, but I've heard lots of people compare a new Prius to a new Yaris making the same point...
But it's really a false comparison.
The Yaris and the Prius are significantly different classes of car. The Prius really does a pretty good job of making you feel like you're driving a nice car where the Yaris really lets you know that you're driving an ultra econo box.

For most people the choice when buying a new car isn't between a $15k car and a $25k car... it's between different cars around the same price.
If you're going to spend ~$25k the Prius is about the best bang for the buck.

[Fraser]

Originally Posted by daniel

Really????? So if a $300,000 car got 100 mpg you'd buy it because purchase price doesn't matter? Only ongoing fuel price matters? Perhaps most Americans are too innumerate to accurately calculate lifetime cost per mile, but they certainly understand that the purchase price is a factor. In fact, when I bought my Prius, all the Japan haters were talking about the fact that you would not save enough in gas cost to pay the difference between a semi-luxury Prius and an econo-box. Now that gas is $4 a gallon and rising, people are willing to pay a premium for a Prius because they understand that the extra cost can be amortized against the gas savings.

No, I didn't say purchase price isn't a factor. I just don't accept that purchase price is a factor in operating cost, which entails fuel, maintenance, repairs and normal replacement, and probably some other factors. But not capital outlay unless, again, you want to use generally accepted accounting procedures for some specific purpose.