Toyota Prius vs. Honda Civic Coupe
I started out looking for a Hybrid - Prius or Civic. In early May, prior to $3.00 gas they were easy to find - the Prius was being offered to me at $2,000 under MSRP with no wait, I put it off - a month later there was a 12 week wait for the Prius and it was full price. So, I guess $3 is the current pain threshold. The Toyota dealer said SUV people were coming in droves and were getting screwed on both ends of the deal - full price and a 3 month wait for the Prius and horrible trade-in value....When researching I had heard that the advertised mileage of the Prius was quite a bit higher than real world results. I also realize that I would not be saving that much money at the pump - I would only drive 10,000 miles a year...if I bought a Civic or the equivalent small car I would still get around 30 miles per gallon - hopefully better..that would be about 325 gallons a year while if I did manage to get 45-50 miles per gallon with the Prius - I would use 200-225...so the savings at $3 a gallon would be just $300-$400 a year. The Prius would have cost me $25,500 total. The Civic LX Coupe cost $18,500 out the door...that's a difference of $7,000...$7,000 to save $400 or so a year! The Civic is a an ULEV - ultra low emission vehicle - not as low as the Prius, but still pretty good. I like the coupe's look better than the Prius, so I think this is a good choice for saving gas, doing my bit for the environment, lessening reliance on OPEC....and enjoying the ride! I think we get caught up in manias and what the cool thing is and lose sight of what makes sense for our own particular circumstance, I almost did!
I started out looking for a Hybrid - Prius or Civic. In early May, prior to $3.00 gas they were easy to find - the Prius was being offered to me at $2,000 under MSRP with no wait, I put it off - a month later there was a 12 week wait for the Prius and it was full price. So, I guess $3 is the current pain threshold. The Toyota dealer said SUV people were coming in droves and were getting screwed on both ends of the deal - full price and a 3 month wait for the Prius and horrible trade-in value....When researching I had heard that the advertised mileage of the Prius was quite a bit higher than real world results. I also realize that I would not be saving that much money at the pump - I would only drive 10,000 miles a year...if I bought a Civic or the equivalent small car I would still get around 30 miles per gallon - hopefully better..that would be about 325 gallons a year while if I did manage to get 45-50 miles per gallon with the Prius - I would use 200-225...so the savings at $3 a gallon would be just $300-$400 a year. The Prius would have cost me $25,500 total. The Civic LX Coupe cost $18,500 out the door...that's a difference of $7,000...$7,000 to save $400 or so a year! The Civic is a an ULEV - ultra low emission vehicle - not as low as the Prius, but still pretty good. I like the coupe's look better than the Prius, so I think this is a good choice for saving gas, doing my bit for the environment, lessening reliance on OPEC....and enjoying the ride! I think we get caught up in manias and what the cool thing is and lose sight of what makes sense for our own particular circumstance, I almost did!