Hybrid car cost calculator

Seriously, what Ford is worth $6,300 in 7 years? None I've ever owned.

Hell, I only got $500 out of a 7 year old Saturn at trade-in. With the glut of trade-ins and used cars, resale values are way down.

Also, I haven't seen gas down to $2.20/gal. in California in a long time. It's currently about $0.40 higher than it was last year at this time. Locally it is $2.63 for reg. and $3.09 in Santa Barbara, CA. If you dare stop in Bridgeport, CA its more likely to be $3.99/gallon.

B~

If the calculator is right, I'm more than $5000 ahead with the Prius over the comparable (but downscale) Corolla! Ours is a 2002 model, which was $20.5K when we bought it.

Of course, that is assuming gas will stay around $2.20 for the next ten years. It will, won't it? When we bought the Prius the comparisons were being made with gas at $1.50.

Mike

I tried to use the calculator to compare the Prius with the Acura that I had previously, but the calculator does not take into account the twenty-cent difference between regular and high-test gasoline.

How much did it cost you for a brake job? The tranny? Or anything else that craps out on other cars?

I used the stock figures in the calculator, but as a hard-core DIYer I pay the cost of parts. For our two 2002 Prius cars, with 170K miles between them, that is just tires and one windshield apiece. Plus oil, filters, coolant... of course. At 105K miles my Prius has more than half the front pads left. One of these days I ought to actually measure them. Disclaimer: I bought mine at 103K miles a couple months ago; I'm going by the service records.

Mike

You compared the Prius to a Ford Escape. Try the comparison to a Toyota Corolla, which only costs about $14,000 and it gets 38 mpg on the highway. In this comparison it takes many years and miles to justify the Prius.

BTW: I have a new 2006 Prius and I love it.

Dick

There's no comparison between the two. If you want to compare a Prius to another Toyota, compare it to the Camry; they're about the same size and have about the same amenities.

The ratio of city to highway driving is also a big factor. Realistically, our 2002s get mid-40s year round with short trips in town being the norm. In that service very few cars - including the Corolla - get even upper 20s.

Of course, a hybrid power train is about the only option that even stands up to that kind of evaluation. What is the payback period for a navigation system, a premium sound system, HID headlights, a turbocharger, or anything else that car commercials tout? We get this elegant power delivery and better economy too.

Mike

I had a Corolla for about a week while my Prius was being repaired. I drove the same routes as usual and I saw 21 mpg. That's about 30 MPG less than my Prius. What sickened me was the engine running all the time. My gawd, running while I'm at a light. Running while we're going down hill. What a freakin waste. And the damn thing couldn't pass another car worth s*it! Spit and sputtered when it down shifted. I thought I was going to smack the oncoming car. I never never never had to tailgate anybody just so I could easily pass them with my Prius. Four or five car lengths back I get in the other lane and then stomp on it. I don't feel my neck snap back. I feel the pressure against my chest instead.