Buy 2011 Prius or not?

Yet for some reason, taxidrivers around here who pay for both the car and the maintenance themselves have almost universally switched to the Prius. When I ask them why, I hear about greater reliability, less downtime, lower overall maintenance costs and longer service life in addition to the fuel savings.

 

Taxicabs run a lot of miles a year, so yes, the mpg savings add up for the Prius, not to mention the government rebates on purchase. It certainly makes a lot of financial sense using the Prii as taxi's.

More reliable, less downtime, lower maintenance than what ? If you mean the old Ford Crown Vics, well the new Toyota's better be.

 

The battey is not concern at all. The Prius 2011 has just been selected by CR the best pick amongts green cars and the Hyunday Elantra the best pick for the compact car. CR uses a lot of data from the consumers and do not rely solely on the Prius they test.
I have had Corolla, Honda Civic, Matrix awd and the Prius is the best investment I ever made. With the price of gasoline going up the car is taking value everyday. I experienced a great resale value on my Prius 2008 when I got the 2009 but now the 2010 is the best I ever drove and I went tru a very rough Winter this year with plenty of snow and cold. It cannot be beaten as far as price or MPG even in Winter while all other compacts do much worst that the Prius. Stop teetering and buy a :cheer2rius and you will not regret it.

 

I don't see anything in my user manual about removing a bumper for the headlights. Is that a Gen 2 thing?

If you honestly don't want to believe that the Prius can be a money saver, then that's OK. I think that an apples-to-apples comparison of Prius vs most other vehicles will put the Prius ahead in the long term if gas prices remain at the current levels. But if you estimate that the Prius is going to be a maintenance nightmare, then there's really little I can do to change your mind, since I can't predict the future.

 

I don't do 250K on a car, besides, at 12k a year I seriously might be dead before reaching that milestone. I would definitely be retired and not commuting anymore, and the 2025's would be in the showrooms. Anyway, after 10 years or so, I would replace a daily use vehicle. So I used a flanged up ownership example for 7 years with both cars:
- 12K a year
- 84K total
2005 MSRP for both base versions
2011 KBB - good condition for both cars
EPA hwy mileage (which I matched at the 7 year mark without hyper-mileing) - actual gas prices from 2005-2011 of $2.63 in Houston TX.

When you do this, the Corolla wins, and this just happens to be actual history for me. I share it because if it's close to your situation, and money is tight, you can save some with the Corolla. However, if you insist on MPG bragging rights, get out your checkbook.

 

I have driven both a Prius and a Corolla. The Corolla has purer feel as a car, it feels more connected to the road. That is its only advanatage. With cost overall costs being close I could not imagine anyone choosing the Corolla, it is so much less car it is not even in the same class. If you have the money in hand (no loan) the Prius may actually be cheaper as part of the Prius price often figured in is the financing.

 

Why is it that you keeping trolling here on PC and spreading FUD? Do you work for a competitor to Toyota or a competitor to one of Toyota's suppliers? Or, perhaps you're short TM stock? From looking at http://www.girardgibbs.com/PriusFirstAmendedComplaint.pdf, it appears the complaint was filed in December 2009.

The 3rd gen Prius was introduced in January 2009 and it was known at that point that the 3rd gen no longer had HIDs available as a choice. It was either halogens or LED headlights.

Currently, on new Toyotas, the first two years of maintenance are free. See http://www.toyota.com/toyota-care/?srchid=K610_p339335858. Also, the oil change interval for the 3rd gens is now 10K miles.

 

Sure they can fail, but they are warranted for 8 years/100K miles in most states and 10 years/150K miles in CARB states. Other expensive parts on non-hybrids can fail too that can prevent them from running.

You can find more examples of Priuses w/no HV battery failures after 160K miles at Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity - Hybrid Electric Vehicles. The 1 million km Prius at CTV British Columbia - Hybrids prove very reliable - CTV News didn't need a new battery until 700K km. John's Stuff - Toyota Prius Owner - Jesse 4 got to 349K miles before its life was cut short.

 

When we were on holidays 2 years ago and had to rent a car for a week, I rented a Corolla to try it out. My experience was the different from yours. The connection of the Corolla to the freeway was not nearly as good as the Prius. It was OK on suburban streets however.

 

No question about the excellent warranty but beyond 100/150K (CA), the owner is on his own. A similar non-hybrid failure is a busted transmission which can happen as well but Toyota's (Corolla for example) lasts a long time when maintained well. I believe all these batteries (Toyota, Honda etc) degrade with every charge/discharge cycle.

Interesting links. Notice the decreasing fuel economy over the 4 yrs of operation unlike non hybrids (e.g. Accord) whose mpg just levels off, which means only one thing that the battery is slowly getting less effective. The lifetime of the battery has more to do with the number of discharge cycles than the mileage just like a normal transmission suffers more when driven on city miles vs highway. The mpg in the long term tests also seems low (45mpg) relative to the 50+mpg claims rampant in this forum.





(P.S. This is OT... but I've already said before I, unlike many others here, have no vested personal or financial interests in the Prius, Volt, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, GM and any entities associated with them, except , of course, that we all own part of GM whether you want to or not.)

 

Here's another expensive little item: $350 Brake lights which in economy vehicles cost $5 or less to replace. Call the Prius anything but an money saver, the costs of parts and service are not in the same ballpark as the typical economy car. Buy it if you want to save gas.

 

So an economic discussion turns to social responsibility, and I must buy Prius and keep it for 250,000 miles for good citizenship?
While you choose to pay Tokyo an extra $7,400 up front while I pay US oil companies in Irving and San Antonio TX for extra gasoline over the 20 yrs it takes to break even while risking breakdowns and higher maintenance in the 2nd 125,000 miles. Is that your social responsibility model? I prefer my economic responsibility model where I give consideration to the next generation's oil supplies while not being an economic burden. After all, I could drive a king-cab, dual-tired, Dodge hemi that's raised by a foot or two; they pass me all the time on my commute.

 

Given the number of miles driven (over 40,000 per year), those are probably mostly highway miles, which is rated at 45 MPG for the Gen 2. City driving is where the Prius tends to really shine.

 

I honestly can't remember the last time I had an issue with my tail lights on any of my cars. This sort of stuff is pointless without an expected failure rate. LED lights are supposed to last a very long time.

 

Probably so. I haven't seen any mpg charts for highway miles at different speeds.

The cost of parts and service is why economy cars do not have LED/HID lights, expensive MFD's and their associated controllers, smart keys, automatic climate control, TCS etc etc
They are engineered for cheap servicing.

 

No, they're built to a target cost and target price point to make them competitive in the marketplace. The service cost to the end user is a very minor consideration when designing a vehicle.

 

I see a lot of posts that make these valid personal money arguments for and against getting the Prius versus the smaller Corolla and others.

However, I also considered the issue of less fuel used by me, at least, even if the dollar savings weren't there. That lowers the amount of fuel used and needed in the US, which helps the US strategically.

I also considered fuel shortages, when, regardless of cost, you just can't get the gas. Perhaps some of you were around for the fuel rationing in the 70's (twice in that decade) and I didn't want to count that out. Not to be a prophet of doom, but just something else to consider.

In those cases it works out to be a personal tax perhaps.

I do see considerable savings since I would either get a mid-size sedan in the $30K range, or the Prius (mid-size sedan in the $30K range). Let's see, 21 mpg, or 51mpg for the same price and the same size car...?

 

Personally, I don't think anyone should buy a Prius soley on its fuel economy. Factor in usuable space, hatchback, interior room, maintenance fees, interior quality, and frills. And of course, the purchase price and expected resale value down the road.

No one item should be the basis of a buy decision. You weigh how important each item is to you, then get a feel for an overall desirability. My decision to buy, not just one but TWO Prii, was the fuel economy, size, hatchback, interior features, and price. It just made more sense for me than any other hybrid vehicle or diesel. I don't regret my decision a bit. For others, there may be something that holds keeps them from buying. That's fine. But don't go blaming it on batteries, headlights, brakes, or whatever. If you don't like the car, buy something else. In the end, you buy what you want. And of course, when gas hits $4 or more per gallon, you live with that decision.

Vic

 

Yep. The bolded part is right. I actually agree w/evpv here.

The 2010 and beyond Prius does NOT have HID lights, optional nor standard nor does it have a MFD, unless one buys the optional nav system.

FWIW, "economy cars" are starting to receive features that have been migrating down from more expensive cars. The Ford Fiesta and Nissan Versa have an optional smart key system (Intelligent Access with push-button start in Ford parlance; Intelligent Key in Nissan parlance). Even in the absence of SKS, an increasing # of cars (even economy cars) come standard w/keys w/a chip inside along w/a remote fob. Those are also not cheap to replace and reprogram, if lost.

The Versa has available traction control and stability control. Even the cheapest Ford Fiesta and Chevy Cruze come standard w/stability control (a step beyond having just TCS). The Cruze has available auto climate control.

I've owned my Prius for >5 years now. This is the first time I've heard of the claim of $350 brake lights, which should last the life of the car.

To the OP and other potential buyers, look at the Prius' and Toyota's overall reliability record over the years in Consumer Reports as well as all their other vehicles. Compare to other manufacturers and look at the links I and others provided. Ask yourself if a non-Prius owner that seems set on scaremongering and bickering w/others here on PC is a very valid source of Prius knowledge.

 

That's because they must.

Spend more time in this excellent forum.
Everything I have brought up here can be found using the search feature.