looking at a prius

[ERD50]

I have heard the following things about the Prius and would be interested in an owner's POV:

1. the battery the car requires uses HAZMATs, so it's not really green to build or dispose of
2. there is an EPA disposal fee associated with getting rid of the battery which will need replacing every 8-10 years depending on driving conditions (that is why they are often abandoned on side of the road in CA)
3. cost to insure a hybrid vehicle is higher
4. in an accident, a firefighter's job working on a hybrid takes special additional training

Seriously? Please cite a source for data on Priuses (Prii?) often abandoned on side of the road in CA. I just told DH our next car when the time comes will be a hybrid, but I had not heard about them being abandoned.

I would also just love to see some reliable references for these. I'm neither for/against hybrids(against any subsidy), but if the math works for some, that's great. But this list looks like some anonymous email junk.

'often' abandoned? Really?

-ERD50

 

[mpeirce]

> Family has two cars: a gas guzzling SUV getting 10mpg and a sedan getting 20mpg.

Straw man?

We have two old cars: a 10 year old Murano SUV (OK, a "crossover", but I like to call it an SUV because it annoys people ;-) ) which gets ~21 around town; and a 15 year old Camry which gets about ~24 mpg with our driving.

Sure some folks have cars with the very worse mpg, but neither the Murano nor the Camry are rare cars.

We did just ordered a replacement for the Camry and it's a diesel that should get well into the 40 mpg range on the highway (it's not been rated by the epa yet, but it's been written up a couple of times). I'm more interested in the range rather then actual gas savings - we bought it to take some long trips all around the country over the next couple of years and it can go around 900 miles on a single tank of diesel.

 

[travelover]

..........we bought it to take some long trips all around the country over the next couple of years and it can go around 900 miles on a single tank of diesel.

I'm in awe of your bladder.

 

[aja8888]

I'm in awe of your bladder.

I routinely get 600+ miles out of my Jetta with the 14.5 gallon tank of diesel....but those new diesel Passts with the larger tank can get near 900! (or more if you keep it under 80) That's at least three potty stops for me so I am sticking with the Jetta.

No comparison to a Prius intended here. These diesels are for the driver's who seek German quality and a real driving machine.

The Prius is a good car, especially for people who are not enthusiasts and are satisfied with driving an appliance, so to say. A neighbor a few blocks away just bought one of the new Prius V's and I stopped to give it a look over. Very roomy and a very nice set up overall. A little pricey, but isn't everything these days?

 

[youbet]

.........a real driving machine.........

A diesel Jetta? It's a nice car but hardly what car enthusiasts would call "a real driving machine."

 

[aja8888]

A diesel Jetta? It's a nice car but hardly what car enthusiasts would call "a real driving machine."

Certainly not a BMW, but way more than a Prius is.

 

[Chuckanut]

The Prius is a good car, especially for people who are not enthusiasts and are satisfied with driving an appliance, so to say./QUOTE]

Not really an appliance. When you get into how the hybrid system works, how the parts interact to get that performance, and some of the unique characteristics of the car (like no reverse gear, they just spin the electric motor backwards), one becomes a bit enamored of the great design that went into it. I guess it's the Benji in me.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

Just looked up the latest "great values in new cars" (Consumers Report Feb 2013). In the category of small hatchbacks, the Prius Four series ($26750) came out on top with a cost per mile of $.49 and a test score of 80. In second place was the Honda Fit ($16915), cost per mile of $.46 and a test score of 68. The value ranking was based on 5 year ownership cost, road test score and predicted reliability.

Also, in the category of "wagons /minivans" The Prius V Three series ($28217) came out on top at $.51 per mile and a test score of 80. Second was the Mazda Grand Touring ($24820) at $.65 and a test score of 88.

Even though I'm not a huge Consumers Report fan, I guess figures don't lie. Hard to beat the Prius in any category. But, that's why they make so many different vehicles, sizes and drive trains. Everybody wants something different. To each their own.

 

[M Paquette]

For what little it's worth, the nickel-metal hydride main battery in the Prius is 100% recyclable, that is, none of the battery should wind up in a landfill. Further, Toyota offers a $200 per-pack bounty for the used batteries to dealers and repair facilities.

 

[web_diva]

I saw segments about the Prius' being abandoned on the side of the road a few years ago on the national network news...At that time, a battery around $8,000 to replace plus an EPA disposal fee - a lot of money to sink into a high mileage vehicle. Seems the cost has come down now to around $2300 + labor + EPA disposal fee on these older batteries. Replacing A 2001 Toyota Prius Battery Pack: What It Cost
More recent models seem to be around $2500 +labor + EPA disposal fee: Replacing Prius batteries can be good for the environment... and sales

Here's someone who explained the batter HAZMAT topic better than I could: Is the Toyota Prius battery bad for the environment

I was glad to hear from the firefighter about the training being available to most firehouses by now...I understood the cars introduced some unique issues in the firefighting world in the way of vehicle and battery fires, disabling, etc.

By all means, drive whatever you wish. I am posting this to assist OP in information gathering on the topic.

 

[ERD50]

I saw segments about the Prius' being abandoned on the side of the road a few years ago on the national network news...At that time, a battery around $8,000 to replace plus an EPA disposal fee - a lot of money to sink into a high mileage vehicle. Seems the cost has come down now to around $2300 + labor + EPA disposal fee on these older batteries. Replacing A 2001 Toyota Prius Battery Pack: What It Cost
More recent models seem to be around $2500 +labor + EPA disposal fee: Replacing Prius batteries can be good for the environment... and sales

Here's someone who explained the batter HAZMAT topic better than I could: Is the Toyota Prius battery bad for the environment

I was glad to hear from the firefighter about the training being available to most firehouses by now...I understood the cars introduced some unique issues in the firefighting world in the way of vehicle and battery fires, disabling, etc.

By all means, drive whatever you wish. I am posting this to assist OP in information gathering on the topic.

Thanks for those links, interesting. But what part of that supports your claim : "(that is why they are often abandoned on side of the road in CA)"? Do they eradicate any evidence of the VIN #, to avoid it being tracked back to the owner? Conventional cars get to the point of only having scrap value, and that's what most people do - sell them for scrap.

Anyone from Chicago-land will probably get a kick out of any mention of the "Victory Auto-Wreckers" commercials. They've been running the same TV ad at low-budget stations/times since the 80's, with the same 'old' car (early 70's model), and the same guy with the 80's hair-style. It's quite a hoot! And yes, it still runs currently (the commercial, not the car).

Hah! Youtube to the rescue! The car door falling off is such a subtle touch! What, no Emmy for this guy?

Victory Auto Wreckers Commercial - YouTube

-ERD50

 

[timwalsh300]

The idea of finding abandoned Prii on the side of the road sounds like finding the proverbial $100 bill just lying on the sidewalk. Web_diva is in a position to profit quite handsomely if she knows where to look.

Tim

 

[urn2bfree]

> Family has two cars: a gas guzzling SUV getting 10mpg and a sedan getting 20mpg.

Straw man?

We have two old cars: a 10 year old Murano SUV (OK, a "crossover", but I like to call it an SUV because it annoys people ;-) ) which gets ~21 around town; and a 15 year old Camry which gets about ~24 mpg with our driving.

Sure some folks have cars with the very worse mpg, but neither the Murano nor the Camry are rare cars.

We did just ordered a replacement for the Camry and it's a diesel that should get well into the 40 mpg range on the highway (it's not been rated by the epa yet, but it's been written up a couple of times). I'm more interested in the range rather then actual gas savings - we bought it to take some long trips all around the country over the next couple of years and it can go around 900 miles on a single tank of diesel.

The point of the example is not that this is a common situation. It has nothing to do with the cars. It is an illustration of why MPG is a lousy metric for comparison shopping. In countries where they actually worry about fuel efficiency ( they pay much more for gas than we do) they do not use MPG or Kilometers per gallon. They use the more useful gallons per distance metric for more accurate comparisons. Using MPG distorts the comparison in a way that gallons per 100 miles does not. Now we could make it a law for car manufacturers to report it in the more helpful way, but I would prefer the market and people just demand it and it will happen without Big Brother sticking his fingers in the mix.

 

[ERD50]

.... Using MPG distorts the comparison in a way that gallons per 100 miles does not. Now we could make it a law for car manufacturers to report it in the more helpful way, but I would prefer the market and people just demand it and it will happen without Big Brother sticking his fingers in the mix.

Done.

I recall some EPA rep talking about this a few years back, and it finally made it onto the Monroney sticker:

Learn More About the Fuel Economy Label for Gasoline Vehicles

5. Fuel Consumption Rate

While a miles per gallon (MPG) estimate is a required feature that has appeared on the fuel economy label for several decades, this metric can be potentially misleading when consumers compare fuel economy improvements, particularly when they use it in place of fuel costs. The following chart shows the non-linear relationship between gallons used over a given distance and miles per gallon. The fuel savings, in gallons, for a vehicle that gets 10 MPG versus a vehicle that gets 15 MPG is about 33 gallons (assuming 1000 miles). On the other hand, the fuel savings in gallons, for the same 5 MPG fuel economy jump, for a 30 MPG versus a 35 MPG vehicle is only about 5 gallons.

Fuel Consumption Rate

This “MPG illusion” demonstrates why it may be more meaningful to express fuel efficiency in terms of consumption (e.g., gallons per mile or per 100 miles) rather than in terms of economy (miles per gallon). A fuel consumption metric allows for more accurate energy usage comparisons among vehicles.

The revised label includes both fuel economy and consumption information for all vehicle types.

Not sure if this is in effect yet, didn't see a date there. (ETA: wiki says required for model year 2013, voluntary for earlier models)

-ERD50

 

[frank]

I bought the prius. final price 19018 plus tax title and license. I will however take the platinum wrap extended warranty. The only part that bothers me now is I still had to pay the 59 dollar documentation fee. isn't that kind of like adding .05 cents a store to print a reciept. thanks for all the input and keep the comments coming as I will own it for a while. thanks

frank

 

[JOHNNIE36]

I bought the prius. final price 19018 plus tax title and license. I will however take the platinum wrap extended warranty. The only part that bothers me now is I still had to pay the 59 dollar documentation fee. isn't that kind of like adding .05 cents a store to print a reciept. thanks for all the input and keep the comments coming as I will own it for a while. thanks

frank

I'm not 100% sure what the documentation fee includes, but I think it's just all the paperwork required to finalize the purchase/lease. Just went through this in March with the lease on our Prius. I believe there are more documents required than to purchase a house. I'd say $25 just in the cost of the paper. Talk about saving trees! It's crazy the time it takes just to sign all the papers. The finance guy at the dealer must be a genius. It's a paperwork nightmare.

 

[MichaelB]

Good luck with the car. The "charge for the receipt" example is right on IMHO. Add on fees are just a deceptive way to get the price up a little, another reason why people have such little trust in auto dealerships.

 

[mpeirce]

I should have mentioned the car, it's the 2014 Mercedes E250 Bluetec (same as the E350, but with the diesel engine). It has the same 21.1 fuel tank as the gasoline version.

Here's the article that mentions that it should get a "projected 45 mpg" Mercedes Projects 45-MPG Highway Rating for 2014 E250 Bluetec | Edmunds.com

We're going to pick one up in Stuttgart when it's available in September.

 

[FinanceDude]

I should have mentioned the car, it's the 2014 Mercedes E250 Bluetec (same as the E350, but with the diesel engine). It has the same 21.1 fuel tank as the gasoline version.

Here's the article that mentions that it should get a "projected 45 mpg" Mercedes Projects 45-MPG Highway Rating for 2014 E250 Bluetec | Edmunds.com

We're going to pick one up in Stuttgart when it's available September.

So, same mileage as a Prius but if you hit a Prius with that E250 it would amount to a mere speed bump..........

 

[sailor]

Speaking about fuel efficiency - I wish BlueMotion series of Volkswagen were available in US.
A non-hybrid 50mpg Passat or 60mpg Polo sounds good to me.
"Real world" experience with Polo (keep in mind that these are British gallons in mpg figures): 6 months with the Volkswagen Polo Bluemotion - real world figures.

 

[MBAustin]

To the OP - now that you have your Prius, suggest you check out PriusChat.com forums (especially the stickies) where there is all kinds of useful information, as well as all the geeky details about the car you could imagine (and plenty that you probably didn't think of!).

Enjoy - if you like your Prius half as much as I like mine, you'll be thrilled.

 

[easysurfer]

I bought the prius. final price 19018 plus tax title and license. I will however take the platinum wrap extended warranty. The only part that bothers me now is I still had to pay the 59 dollar documentation fee. isn't that kind of like adding .05 cents a store to print a reciept. thanks for all the input and keep the comments coming as I will own it for a while. thanks

frank

Congrats on your purchase.

Now... the most important question... What color?

 

[frank]

red with gray and black interior.

 

[easysurfer]

red with gray and black interior.

Sounds like a good choice

 

[1st Tee]

I bought the Prius.

Thanks for all the input and keep the comments coming as I will own it for a while. thanks

frank

Frank,

To remain on your financial plan, Don't smile, say hello or be friendly when
filling up your gas tank. One of those outgoing "Green" gals may ask for your number.