Dubious Polk study: "only 35% of hybrid vehicle owners choose to purchase a hybrid again..."

Bet you a lot of manufacturers are scared of the Prius. Likely they are just initiating FUD in hopes Prius sales will somehow decline while they begin to contemplate the agonizing thought of, gasp, copying the Prius.

What are the chances of the regular liftback Prius not being copied (just like Camry, Accord, Fusion, Altima, Sonata are all copies of each other) in not too many years from now?

Pretty low IMO.

Think of what the 4th (2016?), 5th (2022?), 6th, 7th generation regular Prius are going to be like.

Camrys and Accord are both like 8th or 9th gen. They've had plenty of time to gel. Remember the original Accord? It was tiny.

I'm not worried about Prius.

 

Very common to hear others say they don't want to pay more upfront (there is a case with that) and have to deal with a $3k hybrid battery in x to xx years.

 

I noticed that too. The worst mpg Prius (old) vs the best mpg Focus (new) with no account of the year or advancements.

 

Bingo

Sometimes I think these people who frame the entire hybrid/Prius debate in terms of personal finance further limit any argument to calcs they can perform on two thumbs.

 

My main point was a 20 year horizon is a little long for these payback comparisons. So you could hold onto that 2001 prius or get a new prius (or other hybrid), or a focus or fit today. I used the focus since that was the most popular small car last month. That would more correspond to the 10.8 yo average age of the fleet.

If you look back at 2001 you could have gotten a civic hf back then instead of the prius, and it got about what the new focus gets. now, but the focus follows today's emission and crash standards Or you could have bought a used geo metro that was a little less crash worthy but similar to the gen I prius fuel economy. Car and Driver got the same economy in a metro as the gen III prius on their road test.

If you had taken that difference in cash in 2001 and invested it in apple, you would have been much better off. Then again you might have bought lehman brothers or gm instead. That would have been a bad investment. Either way unless you are driving a lot of miles a year, a hybrid doesn't make great sense as an investment.

It also doesn't cost that much more to use less oil. I like that, I also like the fact that the engine turns off when I'm stuck in traffic. Some like the hsd transmission.

The Media seems to be giving hybrids a raw deal. Without the false information IMHO hybrids would be getting a much higher market share.

 

Unfortunately, the FUD keeps spreading and keeps getting picked up by more of the news media. Look at how many times this "story" is picked up by TM Headlines | Toyota Motor Corporation Common Stock - Yahoo! Finance. Many/all of these link to http://content.usatoday.com/communi...utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=110940#.T4YU9dmjL5t ...

Sigh...

 

I will disagree with this, though I must say I drove a truck before I drove my Prius.

I would not have saved as much money if I would have bought a fuel efficient gas-only car AND (here's another big factor) I would have had to sacrifice space to get a fuel efficient gas-only vehicle and that wasn't an option. So midsize hatchback + fuel efficiency, that's real savings I'd wager. I mean, I've hauled my 6 foot ladder in this thing with PLENTY of space for another passenger and other items. That's not an option in a Corolla or a Focus to my knowledge.

I realized that my fuel savings would basically pay for much of my car payment. Plus, I drive a lot of miles. So my savings were exponentially greater. Plus, gas went up one dollar since I bought my Prius.

I figured I would begin saving money on my Prius in 5 years. My savings have only accelerated theoretically with the increase in gas.

Maybe if you go from a 30 mpg vehicle to a 50 mpg vehicle the savings are largely null, and you buy a hybrid to make a political statement.

But I went from about 18 mpg to 50+ mpg and driving about 18k mi per year. That's real savings. Now if I would have went from 18mpg to a 35mpg car, it probably would have been smaller in size, and I would have saved far less. Plus, it's resale value wouldn't be as high. All in all, both less practical, and less savings.

So people can say whatever they want, but I think fuel savings are real in the Prius. I have done the calculations. I think for me it will take 5 years. So what? I plan on having the car 5 or more years.

Believe me, I didn't buy it for political reasons--as I have said before, I'm conservative politically. I bought it to save money and I have been vindicated. (And I think it's fun to drive.)

I can't say the same about a Volt or many of the other vehicles. The Prius is singular in this regard in my opinion, based on my calculations. I calculated that a Prius V Wagon or Jetta Diesel Sportswagen were the next best things, but I have never driven either.

 

Based on my calculations--my driving, amount of oil changes, etc.--I would recover that $4k alone in about 3 years.

 

This helps illustrate how many 'news' people are merely herd animals.

 

Which is why their marketing experience and facts disagreed with your comment about vehicles having standard and hybrid versions. Toyota/Lexus offers many models with a standard and hybrid version.

 

I must have been counted in the poll of not buying another hybrid in 2011. sold 2009 Prius Jan 2011, bought Accord Coupe, week later. Why? 2009 experience was a nightmare. Driver's seating was a torture rack.

Wasn't sure 3rd gen would work out. 'Awkward driving position' is still mentioned with 3rd gen Prius, and the limited steering wheel adjustment range is much of the culprit. 2011 has worked out, but Toyota did themselves no favors with the interior layout of the 2nd gen Prius.

Improvements still needed though.

 

Maybe not so surprisingly the results of that study don't seem to reflect what I have most often observed in Prius Chat.

I don't know how many threads I've read where someone has an unfortunate accident and immediately goes out to purchase another Prius as replacement. Or it's just a Prius replacing an aging Prius. The reflection in Prius Chat is of above average loyalty.

But it is Prius Chat so maybe that shouldn't be so surprising.

I don't know. The entire Hybrid, Prius market has grown incredibly over a decade plus.

So I would tend to focus on the expansion of first time buyers, than the rather small window of people proclaiming they won't buy another Hybrid.

Bottom Line? Toyota has expanded the entire "family"...and Toyota has sold Millions of them. So repeat or not? Somebody is buying them.

 

Think this might have a little something to do with it?

" was just told by Toyota that I need a replacement High Voltage battery and it was going to cost around $3500+diagnostic fee$70. I was also just told that these are on back order."

And yes, they are on national backorder.

Just talked to nice gal at Luscious Garage ... they do hybrid battery replacements a couple times a month.

http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-hybrids/107113-high-voltage-battery-3500-a.html#post1526246

 

This study just proves that Toyota's hybrid technology is the only hybrid that owners are satisfied with, end of story (which makes sense given most other hybrids are half-nice person implementations).

The only way the study conclusion could be accurate is if the poll was only customers trading-in their hybrid, otherwise there could be a number of biases (already mentioned in this thread) which disqualify their conclusion.

 

This study was just mentioned on Fox today. I thought it was dead then they drag it out again.