new Prius prices

You got casette player? Not us: curse you, Andrew Stephenson!

I have a tape, "Almost 40 Favorites for Today's Restless Youth" with 39(!) excellent Punk Rock songs, made for me by a friend. That's my only tape that can't be replaced by CD.

Recently I transferred to CD my classic self-made casette tape containing Medieval Roots (NY Pro Musica) and Josqin des Prez. They don't make music like that nowadays!

Sorry about the V40 misnomer-- Volvo replaced it with the V50.

You're overlooking one big advantage: They're perfect for criminals because nobody assumes that anybody driving a Prius would hold up a liquor store, and numerous police line-ups have shown that robbery victims always choose the innocent Trans Am owner over the guilty Prius owner.

None of that newfangled stuff for me. My car has a player for Edison wax cylinders.

The ticket proves entry point onto the Pike. If I headed east I'd have to pay. Heading west is free. Returning eastward is free. There's no point in getting a transponder. I enjoy taking a moment and saying hello, have a nice day. I'm a social person. I try not to be a troglodyte.

(Can't help with "A Short History of Nearly Everything", sorry.)

Never read it. I was put onto Bryson by a BBC-tv programme that matched readings from "Notes From A Small Island" with images of areas he visits in it, particularly Dover: his eerie experience, trying to find accomodation, which rang so true (for the times).

FWIW, BB now lives somewhere within fifty miles or so of me. He has a Brit wife, remember. The lad must be going native by now.

So then you always take the back roads to go east??

Cathy

I enjoy taking a moment and saying hello, have a nice

Highly recommend it; actually, a British friend first introduced me to B. Bryson's books, specifically mentioning "A Walk in the Woods" - a humorous (of course) acct. of walking the Appalachian Trail, starting in Georgia & working his way north.

I was put onto Bryson by a BBC-tv programme that

Yeah, from what I gather they've been switching back & forth over the years, between living in New Hampshire & England.

Cathy

I think it's fair to assume that. Are we playing *What's My Line?* :)))))

No... It just seems a bit odd to me... JMO, of course. Unless it doesn't add much time &/or tedium, &/or unless the back roads are scenic.

If I go one way on the Thruway (or Mass Pike), 98+% of the time I return that way, too. And love having E-Z Pass, which is where this all started, re: not needing a place to store a toll road ticket.

Cathy

I'm a romantic at heart. Ever since we were teens we would take the old route. We could stop and visit most of her relatives that way. Her side of the family used to extend all the way up the coast of Maine. Mine, on the other hand, extended from Canada, into NY and here in MA. Sadly, most of them are gone. So, now we visit our own grown children by either heading out onto I-91 or west on the Pike. Some people fell in love with the book, "We Summer in Maine", and quite a few always wanted to get a hands on look at the old majestic home the book was based on, located on a cliff overlooking the ocean. It's difficult to turn strangers away when they're holding the book, startled and so expressive with passion. Sadly, the house is no longer there and the land is owned by someone else. The land is situated about a mile back from Reid State Park. If you are ever in the area please feel free to ask anyone where MaryCliff used to be. Be prepared to have your breath taken away. It's that beautiful. (Use Rt 1A) mark_

The only thing I have used the cassette player for is to put in the adapter so the ipod can play (used to be so the portable CD player could play...) Tomes

For the US Prius audio systems:

2001-2003 AM/FM/Cassette 2004-2007 AM/FM/1CD 2004-2005 AM/FM/6CD/Cassette (JBL) 2006-2007 AM/FM/1CD (MP3/WMA) with aux-in jack 2006-2007 AM/FM/6CD (MP3/WMA) with aux-in jack (JBL)

For the 2001-2003 Classic, you could also add a 1-CD in-dash player in the center dash cubbyhole slot. You could always add a 6CD changer to the cubbyhole slot in the dash on all of the above (though I'm not sure if that is true if you already have the 6CD in-dash).

So, in the US, up through/including the 2005 model year, you could get a Prius with a factory cassette player. Since a number of people only used the cassette player as an aux-in port, the cassette was removed in 2006 and an aux-in port was made available.

Have you done pricing lately?

I've done this based on an older post:

using US figures

2007 Prius: Camry and Camry Hybrid: Corolla: I'm not quite sure why you are comparing the Prius with the Corolla... The Prius is a mid-size, and the Corolla is a compact. A better comparison is to the Camry. And the EPA tests are standardized, so you should use the same tests for comparason (city to city or highway to highway or combined to combined).

Car Sum (interior+cargo volume) Diff to Prius

--------------------------------------------- Prius 110.6 (96.2+14.4) +0.0 Camry 116.4 (101.4+15.0) +5.8 CamryH 112.0 (101.4+10.6) +1.4 Corolla 103.9 (90.3+13.6) -6.7 all listings in cu. ft.

EPA MPG Car City Highway

----------------------- Prius 60 51 Camry 24 33 CamryH 40 38 Corolla 30 38

150,000 EPA miles, @ $3/gallon: Prius @ 60MPG (city): 2500 gallons, $7500 Camry @ 24MPG (city): 6250 gallons, $18750, diff +$11250 to Prius CamryH @ 40MPG (city): 3750 gallons, $11250, diff +$3750 to Prius Corolla @ 30MPG (city): 5000 gallons, $15000, diff +$7500 to Prius Prius @ 51MPG (highway): 2941 gallons, $8824 Camry @ 33MPG (highway): 4545 gallons, $13625, $4811 diff to Prius CamryH @ 38MPG (highway): 3947 gallons, $11842, $3018 diff to Prius Corolla @ 38MPG (highway): 3947 gallons, $11842, $3018 diff to Prius

But since you are comparing to a Corolla, we should use an accurate comparison of the Prius and the Corolla, which means comparible options. Since the Prius is an automatic (eCVT) v4 engine (MSRP $22795 including the $620 Delivery, Processing, and Handling fee), I'll use automatic Corolla LE (v4 engine) (MSRP $16935 with same $620 DPH fee).

Then start adding in options. It looks like a number are standard between the Corolla LE and the Prius: Power Windows, Power Door Locks, Engine Immobilizer, Power Side Mirrors (Prius' is heated too), AC, Remote Keyless Entry, 6 Speaker AM/FM/CD, Tilt Steering Wheel, and Dual front airbags.

The Prius also includes ABS with tire pressure monitors, Traction Control, Cruise Control, side and curtain air bags, a Rear Spoiler (it's small, but it's there,) and Alloy wheels, which the Corolla LE doesn't have standard, but available as options. ABS/tire pressure monitor/traction control is package AB (MSRP $390), Cruise contol is only available in the audio value package VV (MSRP $200) (this will replace the Corolla's AM/FM/CD with a AM/FM/6 disc CD (same speakers) so we add $589 for a 6-disc CD changer accessory to the Prius (which then has a 7- disc CD capacity fyi)). Rear Spoiler accessory RF for the Corolla is $425, and Alloy Wheels are package AW (accessory price $499, package MSRP $390). The side airbags is package BE (MSRP $655). To summarize, 390+200+425+390+655 = $2060 to add to the Corolla to make it comparable to the Prius, while adding $589 to make it comparable to the Corolla.

So that's 16935+2060 = $18995 for the Corolla LE w/ the appropriate options and accessories. The Prius with the 6-disc changer is

22795+589 = $23384. The difference in MSRP is $4389 more for the Prius than the Corolla.

Now, there's also tax incentives for the Prius. The US Federal Income tax Hybrid Credit comes into effect, which for the 2007 Prius purchased now through March 31, 2007 is $1575.

There's also state incentives, depending on where you live (CO gives a $3,013 credit for a 2007 Prius (see for instance), but I'll ignore those state incentives for now sinceit's location dependent. So with the current $1575 Fed income tax credit as stated above, the price difference drops from $4389 to $2814.

So, if you always drove your car according to the EPA highway test cycle, and gasoline was a stagnant $3/gallon over the time it takes you to drive 150,000 miles, and you purchased a vehicle today, and ignoring sales or excise taxes (based on the vehicle price): To purchase the Prius you'd spend $2814 more than on the comparable Corolla LE, but after 150,000 highway miles you'd spend $3018 more on the Corolla LE than on the Prius.

So, just comparing similar vehicles MSRP with their expected fuel use, you'd pay $204 more for the comparable 2007 Corolla LE than for the

2007 Prius.

YMMV with state incentives of course. Also, for really calculating ROI on a vehicle (not just purchase price and gasoline cost), you'd need to calculate the different cost for maintenance, insurance, and the big one: depreciation, which definitely makes the Prius even more attractive.

See also:

Interesting (if a tad exhausting).

Re: your other post, on US-Prius audio options, I'd swap my car's handling of cassettes for MP3 ability in a trice, especially if a USB socket for MSD[*]s (eg flash memory sticks) were part of it.

Next Prius, maybe. 2008?

BTW, I was told informally by someone at Toyota-GB that Toyota-JP throw away re-design suggestions from owners. It sounded like an instance of Far Eastern "loss-of-face" problem, known in the West as "Not Invented Here" syndrome. How do we users tell those daft devils what we want in our cars?

[* : Mass Storage Device, a USB device class that modern OSes are usually equipped to handle, out-of-the-box.]

What's gives? Demand. Most of the people who want to buy the car for green reasons have already bought a hybrid.

And Toyota is trying to build and sell more of them.

Jeff

could you confirm that ALL 2007 Prius's come with aux-in jack? The brochure seems to say that the base level doesn't, that the aux-in jack is only with the next level up package.

I never said that all 2006-2007 Prius come with the aux-in jack and an in-dash CD player that can read MP3/WMA CDs.

There's the base audio (same as the base audio on the 2004-2005) found on an optionless Prius, a mid-grade audio that has the aux-input jack and the MP3/WMA CD capability, and then there's the JBL audio upgrade which also has the aux-input jack and the MP3/WMA CD capibility, added speakers, a JBL amp, and a 6CD in-dash changer instead of a 1CD player.

See the interior tab on:

However, unless you are a fleet purchaser or are buying an ex-fleet car (such as from a car rental company or taxi service), chances are that you'll never see an optionless Prius. Every US 2007 package includes an audio system that includes the aux-input jack. (It's hiding in the center console (moat between the front seats).)

(I've heard of a few 2004 optionless Prius - they're spotted by not having a rear window wiper, as the wiper wasn't standard that year but part of every option package...)