Corolla, Camry, or Prius?

One-tenth of an inch.

Have you ever sat in a Prius?

Cathy

For relative reference: I sat in a Prius' back seat, with the driver's seat all of the way back - since that's how I drive. My knees didn't even begin to touch the back of the driver's seat - about a 3" gap. (I'm 5'8", but have long legs.) Last weekeend a friend's daughter sat in the back of my Corolla, behind the driver's seat - I apologized for my seat being all of the way back. She said no problem, her knees had plenty of room to spare; they did. (She's about 5'9"-5'10".)

Cathy

No, he hasn't.

Nor does he care to.

He'd rather sit there, wallowing in ignorance, all the time spouting off like he actually knows something.

When will the batteries need replacement? How much will it cost? If I am a prospective used Prius customer these questions come to mind along with a few more.

The July 2008 Consumer Reports has a review of the new Corolla and said the back seat is OK for two people but tight for three. Another reason to check CR is that their gas mileage figures are a lot more realistic than the US government's. They rated the base Corolla with

4-speed automatic at 23 MPG city, 40 highway. That city figure is unusually high for a car of this size with an automatic. In comparison, the Camry got 16/36 (4-cyl) or 16/32 (V6), the Prius 35/50.

Another thing you can do is try to rent each of the cars for a weekend or so. You won't get the exact model you want, but I bet they will be close enough. The Toyota dealer might lend you the Camry or Corolla for a weekend, but I don't see that happening for Prii.

Jeff

Read Ray O.'s reply.

Cathy

Cause I've been very busy here, I missed his reply, when did he make it so I can narrow my search?

The time stamp is 2:13 am.

It's right in this thread, which which isn't all that long. (Let's see, I went to work, went to the dentist, made dinner, painted the rebuilt flowerboxes, & am in the middle of correcting papers, yet I can somehow manage to find Ray's post in this thread. Imagine that. Jeez.)]

Cathy

Just a note: The time stamp will vary based on where you are. If the time stamp is 2:13 am on the East US coast, it will be 11:13 PM the previous day on the West US Coast and 8:13 AM in Europe (I GMT + 1:00, but I am not sure).

But you get the idea, I hope.

Jeff

The U.K. is 5 hours ahead of us (since we're now both on daylight savings time; there was a gap for a bit when we were only 4 hours apart since we don't "spring ahead" on the same weekend), Paris 6 - I think they're one zone farther east, & Tokyo 14 hours IIRC...

I'll leave dbu to figure out the diff between EDT & his own time zone. ;-P

Cathy

Hmmm, no wonder I was so drowsy this afternoon!

For everyone's convenience, I've copied and pasted my post...

"The Prius probably has the best combination of interior room and fuel economy of the 3 cars you mentioned, but with the price premium for the Prius, it will probably take 4 or 5 years to break even vs. the price of a Corolla. If you are only going to keep the car for 5 years, the Prius may not be worth the higher cost. If you are going to keep the car for 10 years, then you may be ahead. A lot of people will tell you to worry about the cost of replacement batteries for the Prius, but in the 9 years that Toyota has sold hybrid cars in the U.S., they have only sold 1 or 2 battery packs so replacement batteries should not be a factor.

If fuel economy is the biggest concern, look at the Corolla. If interior room is important, look at the Camry."

What about trunk space? Why are the batteries so long life and what type of a battery does it use? How about in very cold climates, are they just as reliable and how does -25 temp affect it's operation, how about salt, is there anything to be extra concerned about when driving it in what is basically a salt bath in this area? Does RayO plan on buying one? If not why not?

I have looked at that boxy Toyota and like the interior space, I believe it's called a Sicon or something. I wonder how the ride is, especially long trips, at freeway speeds, maybe a bit choppy? Perhaps they'll hybridize that model?

I'm currently using a Sienna and it's ride is like on a cloud, what a great vehicle, no rattles, good gas milage. I know someone who had a hybrid highlander and liked it, but sold it fairly quickly. Not sure why, maybe the high initial cost. They are quite spendy at around $40K I believe.

I wish my days were so leisurely. Time to paint flower boxes???

I use mostly GMT on a 24 hour atomic wall clock and battery powered Timex digital wrist watch. :)

So you feel when it's 5 to 8 years old the history of batteries in general and the specific age of your battery won't have an effect on the sale of your used vehicle? Do you plan on selling to a deaf, dumb and blind person? Or perhaps you you'd plan on selling to someone who had the misfortune not to know the important details of your vehicle? Sounds pretty low to me.

dennis in nca

The way Toyota has designed the charging system, and has programmed the hybrid drive, even old batteries won't have a huge effect on the MPG.

Remember, the Prius only can go about a mile on batteries only, because the programming neither lets them discharge very far, nor charge to the maximum. Even if the batteries only have half their capacity remaining after 5-8 years will be sufficient. Maybe the programming of the hybrid drive actually takes the age of the batteries into account by allowing the battery to discharge further down as the capacity of the battery is reduced.

The bottom line is that even though rather old hybrids are more likely to have battery problems, most buyers will be too clueless to realize this, so this probably won't affect the resale value too much.

So you feel when it's 5 to 8 years old the history of batteries in general and the specific age of your battery won't have an effect on the sale of your used vehicle? Do you plan on selling to a deaf, dumb and blind person? Or perhaps you you'd plan on selling to someone who had the misfortune not to know the important details of your vehicle? Sounds pretty low to me. `````````````````````````````` Looking at the resale/trade-in figures for '04 Priuses this year, they've held way up there. And so far there have been no major or wide-spread battery issues/concerns, even with the '03 model of the previous generation of the Prius that I know of. So would I be worried about the battery & its general depreciation when I was ready to sell or trade-in after ~6 years, & what the new owner would be facing? Nope. AFAICT, based on its history so far - along wuith the warranty (10 years for the battery in NY), they'd be getting a good car. *And*, IIRC, the battery's warranty travels to the new owner. Considering the most I've ever put on a car has been ~55K miles, so that aspect not an issue, either.

Cathy

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dennis in nca

FWIW, we still have our '96 Camry 12 years after we bought it, and it's got 152k miles on it.

It's gone through at least 3 lead-acid batteries. (Not that I'm implying the Camry's alternator is as good as a Prius' electronic charging circuitry.)

If we wanted to ditch our cars when they hit 50k miles, we'd buy Fords.

Michael