Who says a Prius is a waste of Money??

One of the more 'credible' reports saying hybrids don't save money over 5 years of ownership came from Consumer Reports, April 2006 car report. They had a few assumptions though:
1) compared the Prius to the base Corolla, which is arguable and obviously different from your Pathfinder.
2) accidentally included "hybrid premium" twice, which they corrected (quietly) in their online edition, so the Prius did save a slight amount of money
3) assume the hybrids have worse-than-average resale value, which their own research is showing to not be true, but many detractors still stick by that.
4) assume gas prices "rising to $3/gallon, and then $4/gallon", which sounded scary enough in the beginning of 2006, but they failed to mention their math used gas prices of $2/gallon for the first 3 years. So far, they're proving to be under-estimated significantly here: 2006 averaged about $2.57/gallon and 2007 was $2.79/gallon (according to a recent article from the AP). It's looking like 2008 will average $3/gal (if we're lucky), who knows what 2009 and 2010 will bring.

 

I have just read an Australian article where the writer quoted reports from the NRMA and RACV (the major two automobile associations in Australia) where they compared the running cost of the Prius with that of a Camry - so comparing similar sized vehicles. The report takes into account depreciation and all running costs in its comparison with the result that over a five year period they come out much the same, and from then on, the Prius is saving money.

Note, however, that this is using Australian costs - petrol at $1.50 per litre, and the cost of the car at $37,400 for the Prius and $29,990 for the Camry.

Full article:
http://wimmera.yourguide.com.au/det...=innovation&story_id=1153753&category=science

 

Hi BIGGDOGG and welcome to PC!!

Your reported mileage will definately go up!! The car has about a 5000 mile breaking period, and you need to become more accustomed to driving it. In addition, the cold weather is have an adverse affect as you pointed out. I'm glad you like your car. I've had mine since July '06 and I look forward to driving it every day!!

You may want to consider an EBH. That would really help with your cold weather mileage, especially first thing in the morning!!

 

Interesting read.
I found these sentences which caught my eye,


HERTZ invested more than $10 million in a fleet of 300 Toyota Priuses, primarily because its customers wanted them...

... marketing director, Wayne Burgoyne, says it is one of their most popular rentals: "A lot of our customers were asking for it, ...

"The whole corporate sector is really developing a conscience and becoming quite green."
"Some of our corporate customers are renting this car instead of a full-sized Falcon or an Aurion. Obviously it's our customers that pay for petrol, not us, but petrol prices are certainly one of the drivers.

 

It's colder here, and my numbers have never been that low.

Don't warm up the car in the driveway. Get in and drive it.

Anticipate traffic lights and make a strong effort to get off the gas just as soon as possible. The more coasting you do, the better your mpg's.

I drove the car in a snowstorm a couple of days ago, with wind, and still got over 47 mpg.

Harry

 

... and a BT plate and new seat covers and a subwoofer and floormats and an engine block heater and fancier wheels and Tom's struts and an MFD hood and an EV switch and a Lockpick and . . . there goes all your savings.

At least that's what's happening to me.

 

Yes...the old "We are Green" advertising mantra. We wouldn't say it, if we didn't want you to believe it.

Unfortunately, Hertz operates a fleet of 478,000 vehicles. While it may be a start, 300 Prii isn't even a dent. Maybe less than 1/10 of one percent?

How much do you think they spent on gas guzzlers?

 

Well, those 300 are in Australia. I venture that Hertz doesn't have nearly so many cars there. It's probably a sizable purchase in comparison to the Aussie Hertz fleet.

One does wonder how many Prii are in the major car rental company fleets in America.

 

Ah yes. I think you are right...300 in Australia (although that point is not clear from the article).

I found another article saying they are buying 3400 for their US fleet...So that's about one percent of their US fleet...not too bad, but still only a small start.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/06/hertz_adding_34.html

I'm curious as to how many sub 20 mpg vehicles they added.

 

What I found interesting was that people are asking for them.

Remember Prius is a pretty expensive car here, a base model being $7400 more than a base Camry. Most car hire companies in Australia deal with base model vehicles unless you get into prestige cars so for Hertz Australia to be hiring the Prius out for less than the Camry, remembering Hertz do not get the benefit of great mileage, is pretty amazing.
PS, I used Hertz hire cars for 2 out of 3 visits to the UK, both cars were very economical models, a Vauxhall Meriva and a VW Polo, both were excelent cars, the Polo had a 1.2 litre engine and sat at 80mph on the motorway easy.

 

I find it interesting that Hertz keeps the average vehicle for only 9 months (10 in the US). They alone are turning over half million vehicles annually. The entire industry must be turning over millions annually.

 

They have connections with the manufacturers and are able to negotiate such good prices to get a makers cars in their fleet that a short turn around minimises the depreciation and cost of the vehicle to the hire company.

When I did my apprenticeship with the South Australian Highways Department we sold fleet cars after 40,000km or 1.5 years, because the government paid no federal sales tax on the new cars and there was no federal sales tax on used cars, the cars were sold at a profit! That was too expensive so now they lease their cars???

 

Connections? Yahoo! GM owned Hertz. Then Ford owned Hertz. I'll say they have connections.

 

Nice quote out of context, what is your point?

 

I'm just emphasizing your point about the connections.

You are spot on...it is all about cost of ownership. They wouldn't be buying the Prii if they were losing money when they turned them over nine months down the road.

I think it's a good thing that Ford had to sell Hertz (for financal reasons). Now instead of Ford influencing which cars Hertz rents, perhaps Hertz can influence which cars Ford sells.

 

Hire company ownership is a great way to add volume to production by stocking a high turnover business with most of its cars. I think that's why struggling car manufacturers buy hire car companies.

 

That's been putting a real dent in your MPGs. You could have driven a mile or more in those couple minutes, right? Just start it up and go.

Tire pressures of 42/40 PSI front/rear also improve MPGs noticeably. Whatever you use remember to check them at least monthly.

 

Fear not, re your calculations.

First, the Pathfinder -needs- premium gas. Mine did. I called it the anti-Prius. It was a 2001 LE 4WD.

Second the Pathfinder burns 14 l/100 km summer and 17 l/100 km winter. My Prius burns 4.3 l/100 km summer and so far 6.5 l/100 km winter. I have a block heater (called EBH by those in non-block heater country - a little superfluous as all practical automotive block heaters are electric) but I don't bother to use it, as I can't predict when I'll be driving my car.

Third, I find my Prius has more usable room than the Pathfinder ever did. Easier to drive, easier on gas, more adaptable interior.

Hey, the oil company rear end kissers need -something- to say to try to diss hybrids! They're trying, VERY trying.