U.S. car companies do poorly in survey

The Toyota Prius with a 95% customer satisfaction rating is pretty high for being fairly new.

Mack

It's a Toyota, Mack!

Back in 1980 I was feeling a *little* guilty about buying Japanese cars, esp since I was working for a compayn that provided 'programmable controllers' to the auto industry. When my '78 Corolla 1200 got wrecked, i thought, perhaps, a nice American car would be a good idea. I had in mind the Citation X-11; nice, sporty hatch that could be had with a 5 speed.

Then I stopped at a Toyota dealer and saw the new Corollas, 1.8 liter, SR-5. First year model also. I bought the Corolla.

I only managed to get 224,000 miles out of it before I traded it for my GTS, and got 65% of what I paid back!

Do I need to tell you about the Citations...

I'm starting a pool on the number of posts before someone says "You can't trust Consumer Reports".

I'll start: eight

We would rather hear about were you work now LOL

mike hunt

I bought a 80 SR-5 hatchback used, wrecked it, bought another used one, and got it to 200,077 miles, and sold it. Previous cars had been a 79 1200 Corolla and a 72 Carina. Next Toyota is the one I own now. In between, I made the mistake of buying the S-10.

Charles of Schaumburg.

The people who buy it would love it even if they had to push it.

The might not be so happy once the read next months CR. Your automotive bible CR says hybrids will not save any money, even over time. They will actually cost anywhere from $3,700 to $13,300 more than their conventionally powered twins, over five years and 75,000 miles of use. Those figures take into account the premium new vehicle price, all of the tax incentive and projecting gas at $5 a gallon. At ten years out and 150,000 miles, it will get even worse for hybrids as resale value plummets because of the $3,000 to $7,000 battery replacement costs.. The only up side is they will use less gas and help the environment for those that can afford those extra costs. Hate to say I told you guys so BUT....well I did

mike hunt

I wonder what the total impact on the environment really is. How about the energy and emissions required to make and dispose of those batteries and extra drivetrain components?

CR did not get into that aspect. Those type of questions are left to the environuts to sort out I guess.. It is sort like using corn based alcohol as apposed to Methane base alcohol as a fuel additive. Methanol is much cheaper to produce and the unused menthol is burned of a the refinery while ethanol production takes more energy the ethanol produces, but the methane is nor a 'renewable' source while the corn is, you figure it out. ;)

mike hunt

Mike, I'm not at all debating the final conclusion, but using $5/ gallon as the gas cost seems a little unreasonable.

Would they still cost more in the long run if the same calculations were done at $2.50/ gallon?

Ask CR, it their report I quoted. Logic says hybrids will cost even more if gas prices go up less, since an owner will save less on fuel costs.

mike hunt

Without taking into account the resale value of a hybrid versus a conventionally powered vehicle, the higher the cost of gas, the more quickly the premium paid for the hybrid pays for itself. For example, it make take

7 years for the fuel savings to justify a hybrid over a conventionally powered vehicle at $2.50 per gallons and only 4 years at $5/gallon, assuming that the cost of a hybrid has not gone up due to higher demand. The math gets a little more muddled if you take into account the cost of replacement batteries and the effect of resale value.

Bottom line, don't buy a Prius to save money. If you want to use less fuel and drive a vehicle that is technically very advanced, then the Prius may be worth the expense.

As everyone knows then the Toyota Prius is the most sold Hybrid and has the best track record

The resale value is much higher than ordinary old type of cars

Toyota Prius has raised the benchmark of all cars

Not only are you saving a lot of money on such a car because it has a much higher quality than every other car and will therefore last longer

The satisfaction of driving a Toyota Prius is what is really motivating people to buy it

After you try out Toyota Prius you will not want to back to old type of cars

It will not be long until most of us will realize this

Oh boy, wait for the trained fleas to start jumping all over this one, biting it. (NB: I own a Prius and also like it.) You _are_ trolling, right?

CR says what you believe is not correct. Owning a Pruis will cost you nearly $4,000 more to own over five years than a conventionally powered vehicle.

mike hunt

The Prius is a good car & I commend those that decide to purchase it. Keep in mind, though, that people have different preferences. The points you gave above are true. Some get more satisfaction from performance, driving feel, and ultimate engineering above resale value.

If you love your Prius, more power to you. I'd never trade in (or replace) any of my Supras or MR2s for a Prius. Nothing negative against the Prious...just a different apperception.

CR disagrees with your opinion it seems

mike hunt

Even CR admits they made a blunder, albeit late after publication with regards to the Prius:

They should have interviewed that taxi cab owner in Canada about his $900 a month savings using his Prius.

Mack

Now, or when the Pruis has 500K to 750K on the clock? ;)

mike hunt