Check My Math Please

If you have a subscription to Consumer Reports, or can get the April issue (the annual auto issue) on the newsstand, you can read CR's evaluation of total cost of ownership. FYI, the Prius is judged the least expensive family car to own.

But you're not comparing apples to apples. The Fit is not a family car. If keeping long-term cost of ownership as low as possible is your only goal, that and several others (Toyota Yaris among them) besides Prius fit the bill. But they lack the features and size of the Prius.

 

The Prius will also cost less to maintain, will last longer, and in a related figure, will retain its value longer (lower depreciation). Look at the recent Consumer Report article that rated the Prius as the least expensive family car to own. Note the difference between being the least expensive to buy, and the least expensive to own.

You should apply the same math to keeping your current vehicle. I think you will find that the least expensive option is to keep your SUV. The cost of a new vehicle will buy a LOT of gasoline.

On the other hand, if you are in the market for a new vehicle anyway, then a Prius is a good option.

Tom

 

After the break in period I haven't got less than 51 mpg and its usually 53mpg. I don't know how big the Honda is inside but you may want to actually test drive both before making a decision on just figures alone. Going to be making any long trips in it? Transporting any children? Is safety equipment any consideration? There are all kinds of things to look at besides just the numbers. Good Luck with your decision.

 

Is it a fair comparison?
compact vs midsize?
Prius has lot of neat features and clean.

Ken@Japan

edit: Jim won the response time.

 

This is a silly post. You say the difference in price of the 2 cars is 9k and in your math your trying to recover the cost difference in the fuel savings. Don't worry you'll get that 9k back and then some when you sell/trade in the car. Say if you plan on keeping the car 4 years (which is over the national average of 42 months). Go onto kelly blue book and look at the value of a 4 year old whatever to a 4 year old prius. Put in the mileage for what you should have at the end of the 4 years. You'll find you'll get the initial price difference back and then some.

 

It is wrong.

Even without the tax credit there are other considerations. As had been pointed out above, the cost of owning a Prius regarding care and maintenances is also lower over time. So if you keep the car for 5-10 years, you'll be doing less oil changes, you won't have belts to contend with, the engine will encounter much less wear and tear than a conventional car. You'll also have much less brake wear so you won't be replacing brake pads as often.

Then of course, you're getting a lot more car and amenities with a Prius. Make sure you drive both before deciding. Going from an SUV to a Prius is a lot less painful than going from an SUV to a Fit.

 

is buying used from a private party a consideration? prius depreciate slowly but you wouldn't be paying new sticker price, would therefore be paying less in taxes and registration, probably less for insurance, and if you're in a state where they charge an annual property tax, you're still ahead there too.

 

Well if you keep a car for 10 years or more you'll get your 9k back in gas and maintenance. Problem solved. In general it just annoys me when someone compares a cheap car to a prius and then wonders why it takes so long to get their money back. About 6 years ago I bought a Honda Accord Ex V6 and my uncle who was looking for a car at the same time bought an impala v6 and laughed at me because he paid a lot less. When I sold my car I got the difference back plus about $1400. Not to mention 2 of the guys that showed up to buy it almost got into a fist fight over it. You mention how the salesman is smug and wont negotiate on the Prius. I had the same experience. I plan on returning that smugness to whoever wants to buy the car from me in 4 years.

 

The way to minimize expenses is to replace the SUV (soon, before its value goes completely into the toilet) with a small clean used car. Buying anything else (certainly any new car, including a Prius) would be a concession to comfort or vanity.

 

It would be optimal to buy a used (2-3 year old) Prius, from a cost point of view. However, those are extremely tough to come by. When I was looking to buy mine, I had trouble finding a Prius newer than 2004 with less than 50,000 miles. I decided to buy new instead.

 

Major Corrections

1. You over estimated the Fit MPG and under estimated the Prius MPG.
2. You over estimated Prius Base Price and Under estimated Fit base price (remember... auto transmission).

One thing you left out was resale. You have two choices.

1. Drive the car till it's worthless (10-20 years). In which case Prius wins.
2. Drive the car 3-5 years. In which case the resale value of the Prius will be more than 4k above the resale value of the Fit, so in this way the Prius wins as well.

In the end... The Prius wins.

11011011

 

When you say you don't figure trade-in value, since you keep cars a long time, you are missing the point of depreciation. Depreciation is a measure of how much something is worth after use and time. Even if you don't trade in a car, if it depreciates more slowly that is an indication that it lasts longer. You may not trade in your cars, but you eventually have to replace them. A car that lasts longer may cost less in the long run. Make sure to add that into your equation.

Tom

 

i noticed you said the dealer (singular) wasn't willing to budge much on price. Does that mean you haven't checked others?

If you go to the Toyota website, you can figure out every Toyota dealer in your area, then send them an email asking for a price quote on what you want. That way, you don't have to drive all over town, and you can go with the most competitive price.

I think I saved several hundred dollars that way.

A couple of quick tips:

1. Ask what the out-the-door price is. Dealers may have different fees to hide the true price.
2. Dealers make money not only on the purchase price of the car, but also on your trade-in (giving you less than it's worth) and on extra up-sells. Watch out!
3. If you get an extended warranty, do NOT buy one from the dealer. Any Toyota dealer nationwide can sell you the warranty you can buy from your dealer, and there are several individuals out there on the internet who will sell it to you for pennies on the dollar.

 

I looked at dealers from Miami to Georgia and the dealer I bought from gave me $600 off retail. Even that was a big deal and they had to get approval from the director. It took 2 days to hear back from them (to approve the discount). In the mean time my selection went from 6 cars to 2.
Then they tried to get me on the finance charge. Of course I could have bought an Impala and I'm sure the dealer would have loved to negotiate with me.

 

researcher -- I don't think your question is silly. Any sensible, thoughtful person--which you obviously are--would think hard about a large purchase, like a car, and see how things add up.

I just bought my Prius after admiring them for years. I didn't buy one until now, because I didn't need a new car. The one I had worked fine. I think that it would be very difficult to make buying a new car cheaper than keeping one that you already have and that's running well. Maybe gas prices will go up enough at some point to make saving money in that circumstance possible, but we're not there yet.

Moreover, many sources, including Consumer Reports, caution that buying a hybrid to save money on gas will likely leave you disappointed. There are good reasons for that, many of which have been discussed at length on this site. Sum it up to say that how good your gas mileage really is depends on where/how you drive the car. For example, if you don't commute very far and only use the car for short trips, you won't be impressed with the gas mileage. Another reason is, as you discovered, that you can buy a cheaper car from a reliable manufacturer and get gas mileage that is good enough to make it a better deal.

However, I do believe that there are other, good reasons to buy a Prius. When I bought mine, I needed a new car. Having determined that to be true, I then looked at the cars that I found desireable. It came down to the Prius and a car that cost $5,000 more and didn't get as high MPG. Both are extremely safe, reliable, have great resale value, and offer room for five, so those were not discriminating factors (although they were certainly important factors that I considered). Obviously, I saved money by choosing the Prius, becuase it cost less to begin with and will cost less to own.

I also chose the Prius because it's better for the environment, because I think it's really cute, and because it's super fun to drive. Those factors don't save me money, but they add to my enjoyment of life, and I believe that enjoying driving, since I have to do it every day, is a good thing.

So, if you really just want to save money, I take no issue with your math and agree that you should keep the car you have. However, if you want to relieve yourself of the aggravation of spending that much money on gas every week and knowing that you're driving more car than you need (and therefore contributing disproportionately to the pollution problem), and drive a car that is much cuter and more fun than any SUV or sedan, then by all means go buy a Prius and enjoy life that much more.

 

Researcher
I did a spreadsheet analysis of total cost of ownership of my (then) current vehicle, and several alternative vehicles to determine if purchasing a new vehicle to save gas money was truly economical. In my particular situation buying the Prius will save me about $7000 over the next seven years all told, taking in consideration maintenance, insurance, gas, etc. However, I would have saved even more if I had chosen a Hyundai Elantra. BUT... the Prius had amenities that I wanted that the Elantra did not. I deleted the Fit for the same reasons.

Only you can decide what amenities you want and how much they are worth to you. A prius in Calif can be had as low as $21,000 for a base model. I recently saw a pkg 4 in Sacramento for 23,488 (chose from 5) and this is about 2000 off sticker. If your dealer won't deal, go somewhere else. Prii are readily available in Ca. You will not be able to find a Fit with Auto for $14000. And you will not have all of the amenities that the Prius has.

I suggest expanding your spreadsheet to include maintenance (approx $150/yr for the Prius), many are going close to 100k miles on their brakes with no need to change pads, no timing belt, etc. You will need tires within 2-3 years of purchase, but the tires are small (read much cheaper than suv tires). Also, check with your ins co for rates for the Prius to compare to your current vehicle.

I went from a Lexus RX300 to my Prius and I am perfectly happy. For me, it made sense financially. It wont' for everyone.

Good luck with your decision
Fernsmom

 

I owned a Honda Fit or Jazz as its known in the UK and over 4 years averaged 39 miles per UK gallon. I got my Prius in April 2007 and have averaged 53 mpg during last summer, I`ve averaged 49 this winter so on that basis my average mpg is 51. On doing my maths that should save me 60 gallons of fuel a year on my average of 10,000 miles. In the UK petrol is now £5 a gallon, yes thats right £5 a gallon so I will save £300 a year in fuel alone and as our road tax is around £165 cheaper on the Prius I reckon on saving almost £500 pounds a year by running a car that is far bigger and more roomy and comfortable than the Fit. Hope this helps. Good luck