[paul16451]

I remember when I first bought my Prius in March reading that considering increased MPG for a comparable car and gas cost alone, it would take about 7 years of driving to make up that difference.

Now with gas prices the way they are and only going up in the near future, seems like some driving the classic Prius will have definitely made it up by now...

 

[janets98]

I'm convinced that I'll recoup the price differential but I don't really care. I'm just loving Phoebe so much that any extra I had to pay is definitely worth it. After all, who else would respond "Setting destination to Nome, Alaska" when I asked her to raise the thermostat two degrees?

 

[edlambert]

A car getting 55mpg compared to one getting 25mpg....

If driven 1200 miles a month with a gas price of 2.50 a gallon would save you Roughly...$780 a year at $3.00, $950.00 and 3.50 $1100.00 a year!

Ed

 

[hyperion]

You have to add quite a bit to come up with any type of an accurate figure. The MPG of your previous car, the additional cost of the exchange and the differance in mpg with that of a cheaper priced vehicle such as a Camry or "Toyotas advertised choice at 41 mpg," the Corolla, at about 7 thousand dollars less.

 

[ChasSuitt]

"Recouping the additional cost" was NOT a factor in my decision to buy a Prius. The fuel economy is most welcome, as is the significant reduction in pollution, but the technology was a major factor for me. As for "additional cost," if I purchased a Camry with all the same "features" as my Prius, I would pay virtually the same price.

No automobile is an "investment" in any sense with the possible exception of an "investment grade" classic.

 

[KTPhil]

"Toyotas advertised choice at 41 mpg,"

Hyp, you know better than to compare EPA and real-world mpg side by side. You also know the Feds require manufacturers to only use the EPA figures.

 

[hyperion]

Thats "all" manufacturers have to post the assigned figures, so it's still just the same "yardstick" and that makes a figure for comparison. (apples to apples)

 

[tochatihu]

...
Now with gas prices the way they are and only going up in the near future, seems like some driving the classic Prius will have definitely made it up by now...

Bought Prius 4 years ago, and compared to a 30 mpg (actual) vehicle, I have saved about $1500 in fuel costs so far. Two of my refuelings in that first year were at less than $1/gallon!

With gasoline now at about $3/gallon, even modest price increases in the future will yield total savings of $4000 (some sort of benchmark) before the end of year 7.

DAS

 

[KTPhil]

Yes, that is is why I take exception to comparing the Corolla's 41 EPA mpg to the real-world Prius 45 mpg.

 

[hyperion]

But then the Corolla is getting it's milage from an internal combustion engine alone, and doing it for many thousand dollars less. It is being done in a car that can be repaired anywhere including New Orleans today, and there are probably dozens of reliable cars in the Corolla class.

 

[KTPhil]

How does this relate to the topic of payback?

But for the comparison, I can't get a five-door Corolla with a Nav system, HID lamps, extra airbags, VSC, pushbutton start, ... there is more to the Prius than just mileage.

Oh, and I can't drive solo in the HOV lanes in a Corolla!

 

[tochatihu]

how long to recoup...

My friends...

If purchase price, maintenance and fuel costs are the only issues for you, then a $10k used Toyota or Honda (or other?) small sedans will probably be the cheapest to operate.

If pollutant emissions also matter to you, then several hybrid vehicles (Toyota's among them) should be considered. Until very recently, hybrid vehicles had few competitors in this area, and the above options are perhaps 2-4x worse.

If the latest technology, interior volume, or the latest performance improvements matter to you, then a used 2001-2003 Prius will not compete with a new 2005 Prius. But these improvements will cost at least $10k in differential, because you will be buying a new car.

If you require "more car" than the current high-mpg hybrids offer, the above choices will not pertain to you.

Everyone should make their own choices. But in making them, no one ought to ignore the possibility of higher fuel costs in the near future, and how those might affect "payback". Might I add that hybrids in general have depreciated quite slowly.

DAS

 

[2far4gas]

Recoup compared to what? I traded in a car that averaged 18 mpg. I had to pay $5K on top of the trade in for my Prius. So at $3 gallon my Prius will cost me $6666 to drive the next 100K miles (at 45 mpg). The former car would cost $16,000 in gas, so I will recoup my cost at 50K miles. AND, unlike the depreciation hit I took on my trade in, I expect my Prius is not losing much value at all. In fact, if gas prices continue to go up, it might actually appreciate in value. The trade-in calcualtion has to be factored in when comparing the costs of hybrids vs. alleged 41 mpg Corollas. And, I drove a new Corolla recently and found it to be pretty crude, compared to the Prius.

 

[DanMan32]

Now THAT is a good comparison. If you throw in maintenance and repair costs to both, you'll probably 'recoup' even sooner.

Must have been a pretty good car to net only $5k for the trade-in.