Prius Myths and their Rebuttals

The Prius is "new" and generally people don't like change.

 

Yes, I was looking at Civics and Corollas two months ago. When the Honda salesguy mentioned the Civic Hybrid had $4k in gov't rebates, versus $1k on the regular Civic, I quickly dismissed the hybrid idea, because I still had the old (now IMO) mindset about hybrids:

- Hybrids were complicated, expensive to buy, potentially risky and expensive to fix, and the gas savings doesn't pay for the added costs.

The gas savings issue is no longer true with current fuel prices IMO.

And as most os uf here know now, the Prius should be one of the lowest maintenance cost cars in it's class. Reports are that HV batteries are $3k or so now. I'm hoping/expecting that aftermarket, improved tech batteries for same price or better will be available in 8 years.

Yes, Prii outside of North America have EV switches. They don't help much, unless you know when and when not to use it.

There was some concern about rescue workers but that has been largely dealt with now, although some emergency personnel in some areas may not be fully up to speed on what they need to know.

 

Last April my wife and I had to make an emergency trip out of town. We rented a Prius....after driving it from the airport to the hotel my wife and I immediately made the decision to purchase one. For the remainder of the week I called over 20 Toyota dealerships where I live. I had verbal agreements on two Prius', tried to give my credit card for down payment on one. Both were sold before I arrived home. I continued to call dealerships all over the State. I had another agreement that fell through by the time I drove to the dealership. I finally called a dealership that had a Prius waiting to be shipped from Portland Oregon. I discovered this on the afternoon after I had outpatient surgery. The salesman said if you make it down here i an hour I will hold it for you. After that, I can't, by order of the manager. I drove 40 miles with bandages on my face from the surgery. The salesman apologized profusely but said he could not hold this car because it was in such huge demand. Maybe the stars were aligned for me that day, I don't know, I was extremely fortunate to get the model, the package and color we wanted...and the salesman gave me a very fair deal (blue book) on my 2004 Highlander Limited, which they have since sold.
I will miss that Highlander if I ever take long vacations up mountain terrain or driving in a snow blizzard...other than that, I feel like the cat who swallowed the canary...just feel so lucky we have car equipped in every way to deal with the horrible gas crisis. I just got my first 50 mile + mpg since I have owned it. I never got the gas mileage advertised in my Highlander no matter how I took it easy on the pedal.

 

It IS funny in hindsight how most of the naysayers have gone away as gas creeps inexorably towards $5. In So Cal, Prii are in such demand that they are the "it" car and suddenly people are laughing at SUVs. I bought my Prius because of a sense of responsibility to the environment, not really as a gas saver, but the gas crisis is what has severely adjusted attitudes here.

I do hear the battery life myth a lot though, and also the "environmental" comment that the battery is very hard to dispose of- that is probably the myth I hear most often.

 

Intel Corporation (USA/multi-national) is world’s largest semi-conductor/electronics corporation in the world. DELL is just an OEM i.e. out-source it's manufacturing to ODMs e.g. Compal, Quanta

The magic behind the laptop PC brands;
ODM list project - Who really made your laptop? - Tech Support Forums - TechIMO.com

More than 95 percent of the world’s desktops/workstations/laptops/servers/media-centres are powered by Intel and AMD (USA/multi-national).

 

MYTH: Prius in electric mode is hazardous to pedestrians and the blind

FACTS AND DATA:

1. Prius has the same pedestrian accident rate as ordinary cars (Source: ANALYSIS OF BLIND PEDESTRIAN DEATHS
   AND INJURIES FROM MOTOR VEHICLE CRASHES, 2002-2006
   
   Christopher Hogan, Ph.D
   Direct Research, LLC
   226 Glen Ave., SW
   Vienna, VA 22180
   [email protected]
   
   April 21, 2008)
2. "No deaths of legally blind pedestrians involved a Prius or any other hybrid vehicle" (Source: ibid)
3. An average of 5-6 blind pedestrian deaths out 4,700 pedestrian and cyclist deaths per year. (Source: ibid)
4. Researchers hired by the blind report "the problem" occurs at speeds under 15-28 mph. (Source: Prof. Rosenblum video report June 23, 2008 at Docket No. NHTSA-2008-0108)
5. The blind reject technological solutions that depend upon batteries (Deborah Kent Stein, June 23, 2008 statement at Docket No. NHTSA-2008-0108)
6. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration refuses to include hybrid owners in their rule making (e-mail refusal by Debbie Ascone, Office of the Senior Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety and confirmed by the associate administrator for NHTSA at NHTSA-2008-0108, June 23, 2008)
7. HR 5734 (I call the "Bell the Hybrid Act") authorizes research in one response, sound emission, no other technical solutions will be pursued.
8. In 2006, 25 children were killed in 50 backover accidents by ordinary cars with their engine running and exhaust pipe under the rear bumper. (Source: Backover and Non-Crash Events Special Crash Investigations Protecting Children in and Around Cars Lifesavers 2008 April 13, 2008 Augustus “Chipâ€Chidester National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.)
9. "Noise Masking" means many ordinary cars are not detectable by the blind because of the background sound level. (Source: Les Blomberg, Noise Pollution Clearinghouse, June 23, 2008, Docket No. NHTSA-2008-0108.)
10. Making a Prius as loud as an ordinary car only ensures 4,700 pedestrian fatalities per year, we have made no progress.

Sometimes a myth makes it as far as the halls of Congress but reality answers only to facts and data. The only way this myth survives is if we fail to share these facts with our representatives and newspapers and media. This one is as real as HR 5734 and 2008 is an election year.

Bob Wilson
625k Inc.
9011 Randall Rd.
Huntsville, AL 35802

 

Prius isn't a "REAL" car because Toyota is paying over $30,000(?) to build each one. If they really sold them at a profit the cost would be prohibitive.

Just heard this one over 4th of July weekend. I did not have any dollar figures to discuss it. Anyone have info on a statement like this?

 

Paul Eisenstein in a June 11th, 2008 article titled "Find a Hybrid - If You Can" on the TheCarConnection.com states at the end of the article: "It is generally accepted that Toyota subsidized the early Prius to the tune of $10,000 apiece. Today, the company insists it is making money on every hybrid, but I'm among those who believes this can only be the result of Hollywood-style accounting."

 

I heard "where do you plug it in" two weeks ago when I bought dog food.

 

LOL @ Where do you plug it in!

OK...I have a question for everyone. I've been wanting a Prius for 6 months now. I finally got my husband to take a look at it. But, he's still concerned about the space. I currently have a 4Runner and we go to a couple trade shows every year. we usually fly, but we're driving this year and he's afraid everything won't fit in the Prius. Does anyone have any stories of carrying A LOT of "stuff" in your Prii or any facts about the capacity it can handle?

 

The bottom line is a lot. Between the under bed storage in the back, the seats folding down etc you can pack an impressive amount of stuff in there. There are numerous threads on the topic if you use the search engine. Here's a link to one of them:
http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-main-forum/22135-largest-most-unusual-load-carried-your-prius.html

Rob

 

Thanks Rob!

 

Well....it has been some days since I posted this and I have spent several hours searching the subject on the Internet. As a newbee to the PriusChat and have only owned a Prius since May this is my spin:

1) Yes, Toyota did subsidize the early Prius. Saw a reference that Toyota some time in the past (start of 2nd generation Prius??) that they were no longer doing that. If they were still doing that to the toon of $10,000 per unit for 1,000,000 units sold that would be 10 billion dollars. I can't say for sure but I don't Toyota would do that.

2) On a personal level if they still are SO WHAT. All that means is I would be crazy for not buying a brand new $35,000 car for $25,000! So would anyone else.

3) Environmentally not so good if the Prius is really a $35,000 car. That means the cost of hybrid technology would reduce the number of buyers.

It would be best to compare apples to apples. So lets look at the 2009 Camry and 2009 Camry Hybrid. "Compared to the similarly equipped four-cylinder Camry XLE, for instance, the Hybrid costs approximately $1,500 more" but the fuel economy is improved from 25mpg to 34mpg. At 10 years with replacing the $4000 battery pack at 10 years the net saving would still be about $1,500 to $3,000 ahead from $4 a gallon fuel. And of course there is ALSO to positive environmental impact of driving a near zero emissions vehicle.

So, thanks Toyota (for what ever reason you had) for starting this HEV program over 15 years ago and sticking with it when other manufactures lost the vision.

It would appear that Toyota has made real HEV vehicles that are even today cost competitive.

 

Hi LenS,

The Camry 4 cyl, to Camry Hybrid, is more a Saturn Sky to Porshe comparison. If you want to compare on equivalent performance, the Camry V6 is closer to the Hybrid, than the 4 cyl.

Compare those two cars, and the Hybrid is actually cheaper.

 

2009 Camry:
2.4L 0-60 in 8.9 sec
Hybrid 0-60 in 8.4 sec
3.5L 0-60 in 6.5 sec

Off the line with the hybrid electric motor torque the hybrid is probably pins you in your seat more the 3.5L.

Might just be best to say the hybrid is very comparable to the all gas 2.4L and 3.5L Camry's. Only thing lost is some trunk space and that can be compensated for by folding back seats.

 

Arizona MVD states you cannot transfer EE plate to another owner

I am a Volkswagen Jetta TDI Diesel owner that gets 40+ mpg, but unfortunately cannot join the elated Prius owners that have received an Energy Efficient (EE) plate from Arizona's pilot program. The 10,000 vehicle limit has been reached.

I am posting because I just received an answer from The MVD in Arizona stating the following: "...sorry but the owner cannot transfer the EE plate to you. The owner of the EE plate can only transfer the license plate to another eligible hybrid of which he is the owner."

I was hoping I could still join the thousands of Prius owners that are driving in the HOV lane by buying a used Prius and having the owner transfer his EE plate to me. That cannot be done.

Oh well...like the man that ogles a voluptuous woman from afar, I will continue to look admiringly at all the Prius' with EE plates driving past me on the HOV lanes...

...thus my username Prius_2L8 (Prius too late).

 

My previous vehicle was a 4Runner. Several times I transferred stuff between the 4Runner and Prius. Prius hold more - just different arrangement. I regularly carry my bicycle inside the Prius.

 

Great article! Thanks for sharing...what more can be said about the wonderful Prius? I will pass it onto all of those naysayers I encounter and that are still out there.