2013 Camry LE, What Kind of Prices Have People Been Getting?

2004-2009, since it was in 2009. It's what the rental agency gave me at FLL. It was when gas prices plunged in late 2008/early 2009, and Toyota couldn't sell all the Priuses they were making at retail so they dumped them to the rental market. Car buyers seem to have very short memories. A few months of low gas prices and hybrid sales hit the skids. A few months of high gas prices and dealers are able to get close to MSRP.
Reply to
sms
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I've driven both, and I can't imagine what you're talking about the Prius being "too small for two adults and two adult size teenagers".

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

None of us are fatties, but it was uncomfortable to take a long trip in a Prius for four adults with luggage. A Prius is fine for solo commuting or for around town where you don't have to carry much. It's essentially a two-seater for adults, but smaller kids or short adults are okay in the back. I think Avis must have gotten a really good deal on the Prius because normally rental car companies don't want to spend extra money for vehicles. IIRC, they were originally trying to charge extra to rent a Prius.

For longer trips you want to have a vehicle with more leg, hip, and shoulder room, as well as greater cargo capacity. The Prius is closer to a Corolla than a Camry in terms of interior dimensions. That said, what you see around here, where there are a tremendous number of Priuses, is that families have a minivan (usually an Odyssey or Sienna) or a SUV if they're skiers) for longer family trips, and a Prius for commuting.

If you're going to have a larger vehicle for longer trips then a Leaf or a Volt for commuting, and a minivan or SUV for longer trips makes more sense in terms of fuel consumption, but of course most people aren't buying Priuses with the idea that their net cost will be lower because you have to drive a tremendous number of miles to break even versus the cost of a Corolla or Camry. For a Corolla, the break even point with $4/gallon gasoline is about 200K miles (not including the fact that sometime during that second 100K you're likely to have to do a battery replacement), for a Camry it's about 100K miles (based on the additional cost of a Prius versus the fuel savings).

At my wife's work, you'd think you were at a Prius convention. She works in the home health department of a large HMO and the nurses, who do home visits, buy a lot of Priuses. It makes sense when you're doing a lot of city driving, and aren't carrying passengers or much cargo.

We have a 2007 Camry hybrid (in addition to a 1996 Camry that my daughter now uses when home from college, and a 4Runner for trips to the mountains. The Camry is comfortable on long trips but we have to pack carefully because the cargo space is reduced due to the batteries.

Prius:

------- Front headroom (inches): 38.6 Rear headroom (inches): 37.6 Front hip room (inches): 52.7 Rear hip room (inches): 51.2 Front leg room (inches): 42.5 Rear leg room (inches): 36.0 Front shoulder room (inches): 54.9 Rear shoulder room (inches): 53.1 Interior volume (cu ft): 93.7

Corolla

--------- Front headroom (inches): 38.8 Rear headroom (inches): 37.2 Front hip room (inches): 53.0 Rear hip room (inches): 43.9 Front leg room (inches): 41.7 Rear leg room (inches): 36.3 Front shoulder room (inches): 54.8 Rear shoulder room (inches): 54.7 Interior volume (cu ft): 92.1

Camry (non-hybrid):

-------------------------- Front headroom (inches): 38.8 Rear headroom (inches): 38.1 Front hip room (inches): 54.5 Rear hip room (inches): 54.5 Front leg room (inches): 41.6 Rear leg room (inches): 38.9 Front shoulder room (inches): 58.0 Rear shoulder room (inches): 56.6 Interior volume (cu ft): 102.7

Reply to
sms

Actually my spreadsheet was for 2011 vehicles, when I updated it with the MPG for 2013 vehicles, the breakeven mileage for the Prius versus the Camry is about 150K miles. The Prius MPG fell, and the Camry MPG rose between 2011 and 2013. Corolla MPG remained the same. In fact the Camry now has a higher highway MPG than the Corolla, though Toyota is redesigning the Corolla and the MPG will go up, as the size goes up as well.

Reply to
sms

I'm large, and the back seat of the 04-09 Prius has HUGE amounts of room.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

you know, the numbers can't be telling the truth--because I have to squeeze into the driver's seat of a Corolla, whereas I sit quite nicely in a Prius.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

Facts suck.

Reply to
sms

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