Musing from an eager and will-be owner...

[DaveSheremata]

Eight or nine days until it's over and I pick up my new '06 #8. Honestly, the amount of time I spend browsing PriusChat and daydreaming about the new car is NOT healthy. After all it is just a tool so I can get other things done - namely by transporting me from A to B. One big factor for me is that my A-B route often involves loading up guitars and amplifiers, and sometimes a giant bass amp or a drum kit.

Whenever I read about the "hidden" costs of hybrids, the "exagerated" fuel economy ratings and all the other negative things in the press, I'm generally apprehensive and suspicious of the sources of th e information. Especially when I think realistically about my first new car, the 1997 Isuzu Rodeo that I bought 9 years ago. The Rodeo is a lot of car, but not a lot of good car.

Actually, the Rodeo is a HORRIBLE "car". The fanciest thing about it is the power windows. It has cost me a fortune to maintain and if I drive that thing all-out-agro, I can bring the fuel economy down from the EPA's 19 down to 14 - that's a BIG drop.
I know I could get 38mpg commanding a Prius poorly with bad driving habits - but I fully expect to be able to use feathering techniques and the like to achieve the EPA's numbers. As a matter of fact, when I tested a prius for an hour last year, I got 60mpg with no expertise or inkling of techinque whatsoever. The cars MFD started "training" me from the get-go.

The main reason that I bought the Rodeo was to build up my credit, and the second was to cart band gear all around town and to and from band practice. In the last 2 years that truck has cost me a LOT of grief. Between the catalytic converter that went, the new shocks, new tires, CV joints and a head gasket I've spent over $8000 alone in keeping the bucket o' bolts rolling. What's more is, all the while, because of a defect in the engine where there is blockage in the oil channels to the push rod ends, it sounds like a diesel with all the valve clatter.
In the end, it did serve it's two original purposes very well, although in a costly and ecologically harmful fashion. Realisticly, I would have done much better with a minivan or a volksy euro-van in '97, but I had just enough adolescent "image-consciousness" left in me that I couldn't do it. I became and SUV driver. Oh how I've sinned Since then I usually drive a '94 Honda and only use the Rodeo for gigs and practice.

Reliability in cars is something that fascinates me nowadays, having lived with the Wazuzu for so long. If you go over to about.com and look at how the Prius Synergy drive works, it's AMAZING. No starter... no clutch, no alternator, no throwout bearing, no torque converter... it's designed as though the most failure prone parts are either done away with or redesigned. I imagine that other fault-prone in the ICE would only last longer as well by the way that the middle motor/generator starts it up - in terms of water pumps, warping cams, catalytic converters, etc. All this, plus Toyota's track record - http://www.autooninfo.net/ReliabilityPerce...nksSmallCar.htm
- of their vehicles in the past 18 years - could it be that this car will outlast anything before it?

Back to the negative press - often one reads commentaries about how the battery back (which costs about $2200 according to parts.com) has to be factored into the "cost savings" of driving a hybrid vehicle. It may not be easy or possible to do, but none of these writers ever discuss the maintenance that a prius owner opts out of. There's the speculative list of parts above, but what about the obvious ones - like no brake pad replacements? (has anyone ever replaced their brake pads on a Prius gen 2?) No clutch pad or throwout bearing replacements, EVER. The ONE belt that I know of in the Prius, the serpentine belt - costs $12.50, whereas with my SUV it costs $60 to replace the $90 worth of belts every 2 years. It seems to me that over a period of 7 or 8 years the Prius' battery pack's cost of under $2500 is a savings compared to other expected maintenance.

Then there's the comparison to alternative "green" cars, like the Jetta or Golf turbo diesels. I've always been a fan of Volksy Diesels - but when you look at cost of maintenance for them over recent years I have to feel a little sorry for Volksy, esspecially if you look sback at the link up above and scroll down from the Toyota lines at the top. How great an advantage is it to save a few thousand at the bank when you pick up a car, only to have to pay the same money to a mechanic down the road? What's more, not at YOUR time of choosing... just whenever fate chooses to incurr the expense and leave you carless.

Then on the green front again there's the Civic Hybrid. It has the same space problems. Even still, while I'm sure it's about as road-worthy as the Toyota lineup, it's not AS green, as well equipped nor even as peppy as the Prius.

But none of these cars do the one thing that I needed an SUV for in the first place: they're nowhere near as spacious and "able to deliver rock" equipment as the Prius is. Well, I could be overlooking the Toyota Matrix and the Subaru Forrester here - but no bluetooth, nav and mp3 systems - they're just not as much car.

A lot of critical reviewers will suggest that an Echo, a Yaris or a Corolla will cost less in the long run when you consider the cost of the Prius's inevitable battery replacement. True as that may be, there isn't as much *car* - I can't fit a giant amplifier in one of those, let alone along with a drum kit! In comparing a Camry to a Prius, what is the difference when I add in VSC, bluetooth and Nav to it? How much car for the money is the Camry at that point I do not know, but I'm gathering it's close to the cost of my decked out Prius. The Prius seems to be as much *car* in terms of interior space as the Camry, but the problem is the same with the Camry as it is with the Echo, when it comes to gear.

Honestly, I actually don't play a half stack very often, and my music is definetly a lot lower key than it used to be. I'm older now, and I find little Mesa Boogie amps to be a lot easier to lug around, if not a little lighter as well as more versatile. However, with the Prius, I know that I could bring the Marsall if I wanted too, and not be driving a minivan!

Whoah.. I didn't know that this rant was going to get so long.... Ok, back to my day dream where I'm not driving a clackity gas sucking Silly Ugly Vehicle

Dave

[Rancid13]

LOL, my coworker also has a Rodeo (I think either a 98 or 99?) and she feels the exact same way about it as you do yours. I swear, it's in the shop at a minimum once a month, sometimes two times in a row to fix the same exact thing that had just been 'fixed'. She doesn't care if it gets scratches from parking too close to bushes or a tree because as she puts it, it's a POS anyways and she'd be glad to be rid of it. She told me she hopes someone steals it so she can make the claim w/insurance and replace it.

She lost traction recently on a local tollroad and ended up doing a few spins and ended up facing the other direction in the far left lane (she was driving in the far right lane at the time-4 lanes in all). Luckily there was no traffic at all, she was able to get the thing turned around and off the toll road asap so she could catch her breath.

I don't know why she doesn't just get rid of it already, she's been talking about getting a Honda Civic Hybrid for months now. I have no idea what she's waiting for. I think when I get my Prius and show it off, it may spark something for her to get a newer (better) vehicle.

[SomervillePrius]

Nice write up. I enjoyed reading it. I also obsess way to much over my soon to be owned transportation device :-)