Prius Alternatives

i never considered any other car. until i read about the Prius in Consumers Report (actually it could have been Motortrend too.), i wasnt even in the market for a new car. i was driving an old beat up 1990 Ford pickup and an 87 corolla. both cars did have their issues, but my commute was only 8 miles, gas was about $1.25/ gallon.

i read the article on a saturday morning. googled the car. found this site and John's. read a bit more and was convinced. called my dad who had dealt with my salesman for years. made an appointment for monday morning, went down put down a deposit on a car. 6½ months later, i was a Prius owner. during the 6½ month wait, i never looked at another car. my faithfulness has been rewarded a million times over.

 

I was replacing a 95 Honda Civic EX. I looked at two other cars, a HCH and a Ford Fusion. I actually like the Ford Fusion. It had great leg room, most controls on the stearing wheel, peppy with the v6, and the mileage wasn't that bad 29 highway. The HCH was nice but the back seat not folding down sort of threw it out of the short list. The Prius won me over with all the cool electronic toys and the different shape/look.

I did do a spreadsheet to compare cost over time. For me it would only take 3 years to break even with the Ford Fusion and 6 years if I just replace my Civic with a new standard Civic EX. I've had my Prius a month and couldn't be happier, well maybe if the drivers seat went back a notch or two more

Ken

 

I replaced a 98 Accord. I was looking at a new Accord V6 and Acura TL. I could not go to a Civic after an Accord.

My Prius gave me the goodies I wanted at a much better price.

 

Eric,
I agree that CR made a mistake using the Corolla as the alternative to buying a Prius in their evaluation of recovering the added cost of buying a hybrid vehicle.

Their evaluation of each hybrid compaired the costs of a non hybrid model from the same manufacturer to the hybrid of that particular manufacturer. So I think you need to ask two questions.

1. If you were looking at a Prius, what other Toyota vehicle would have been your alternative choice? ( In my case I compared it to the Toyota Camry.)

2. If you were looking at a Prius what other vehicles did you consider buying - any manufacturer ; hybrid or non hybrid. (In my case once I decided I wanted a hybrid it was a choice between the Prius and the Honda Civic hybrid.)

Springtime

 

My Prius replaces (as soon as I sell it!) a 1994 Honda Civic EX. Before that, I was driving 1988 Honda Civic LX and before that was a VW Rabbit.

The only other car I was considering was a Honda Insight.

I'd been wanting a hybrid ever since they first came out, but kept putting it off. I was tired of driving a car that looked like just about every other car on the road and I wanted the cargo room/utility of a hatchback, so my choices were limited...either Insight or Prius. Although I like the Insight, I just couldn't talk myself into a two-seater.

 

Eric,
One reason I think the Corolla was a poor choice to use in the CR analysis is because the Prius Gen2 is a midsized car - not a compact. It also has many standard and optional features that are not available on the Corolla. To me it makes more sense to compare it to a Camry where these features are available as standard or an option. That way depending upon the options important to you, you are comparing apples to apples.

When CR did the analysis of the "added" cost to own a hybrid did they evaluate the Prius using a Toyota model (Corolla) that would "fit" their conclusion? I would be curious to know if this also happened to the other hybrid models that were evaluated or if the non hybrid models selected as comparisons were reasonable alternatives.

Perhaps in prior evaluations the Prius Gen 1 and Corolla were comparable and nobody bothered to update the comparision car when the Prius Gen 2 cars came along.

Springtime

 

well eric, as it stands, discounting the other other car choice, we have 16 votes among 7 choices, therefore, i would have to say your assertion is correct.

however, if people did choose two selections, (i obviously did not) that would dilute concentration on any one model, so obviously that was not the best of ideas although im sure it was well-intended

 

I was driving a Toyota Cressida (forerunner to lexus) before my prius. This was a rear wheel drive luxury vehicle which had 250,000 miles on it. After riding in my friend's insight off and on for 2 years, I was fascinated by the new technology but found the insight too small. The HCH was nice, but prius beat it out simply because of being able to drive in stealth, having a hatchback and lots of bells and whistles. A driving force behind my P purchase was that we must support new technology if we are ever going to wean outselves off of the ICE and this was a first step. If I hadn't bought a Prius I would have either bought a used lexus, a new HCH or a new camry.

 

we also have a Cressida in the family. a 1990 i believe. my dad drove it for years until he purchased his 2005 Camry (he also wanted a Prius but was unable to wait the estimated 3 months for delivery and was completely against going anywhere but Toyota of Olympia for his purchase. i think he did actually wait about 2-3 weeks though) it is now in the hands of my nephew and is still going strong.

it is a very very nice automobile

 

Yes, the Toyota Corolla is not the best comparison vehicle. One Toyota dealer was really pushing me to look at a Scion model too.

Our Prius replaced a 1990 Legacy AWD wagon. That car really grew on me over the years because of it's incredible reliability and right-sized interior. Like the Prius it had good rear leg room, fully accessoried (even had an aux jack in the stereo) and just the right amount of power. Ours was a manual and with Michelin X tires + 4WD, it handled very well. Summer gas mileage was about 22 city and 29 hwy.

We considered the Prius, 2006, Civic HCH2, Accord (4 cyl.), new Subaru, VW TDi wagon, Audi A4 wagon before eventually deciding on the Prius. The Prius started out with the disadvantage of being demoed by a somewhat obsessive and self-centered salesperson. He was so enamored with the computer functions and the "B" mode (had us try it at least a dozen times! :blink, that my wife was a bit overwhelmed. She doesn't do computers except for email. I almost gave up after getting tired of the waiting list shell game and dealer markups. But persisted and found the car with a no hassle dealer in Portland (Gladstone), that had inventory and stuck to their word. It meant a flight down to get the car and a 3 hr. journey back, but I brought cds and had a fun return trip.

Features that sold the Prius eventually were the low emissions, good interior space, mileage, potential for Lithium Ion conversion, good handling, low noise and this website. I haven't been so involved in a car in decades. Even changed my own oil for the first time in about 15 years. I really miss a manual transmission, but the Prius is making up for it with it's own form of fun factor. I love cruising for a mile or so in all EV and look forward to the day when our average island running around is 100% electric.