The Toyota Prius

[VideoTechMan]

Has anyone ever owned, or driven a car like this? With it being a hybrid car I heard that it gets nearly 60 MPG, which is pretty good. For the last few weeks I have been seriously looking at them--online and brochures, but can't seem to find any at the dealerships to look at since apparently I would have to order one. And it would be a waste to order one if one doesnt have the funds to get it yet, no?

Im looking down the line to get another vehicle to somewhat replace my 84' Olds that I can have a newer ride to get around in. The Olds was passed to me from my mom when she bought it new, and have promised her that I wouldnt sell it if I was to get another car. With 181K miles on it and still running great to this day, it's still a winner.

I've never bought a car before and I know there are many dealerships that will try to take advantage of you if you're a first time car buyer. Though I have done some research so that im not totally clueless, I also have no car buying experience.

If anyone has any personal experiences with this vehicle, please share your experiences.

VTM

[smearbrick1]

There is only one issue with the Prius:

An over-abundance of SMUG!

[Conquest10]

I am also very interested in this car. Not for the SMUG factor, but because its the wave of the future. Let's face it, gas isn't going to get real cheaper. The new job I'm looking at demands that I have a car so looks like its almost time to get my first one. Now if only there were hybrids that ran on e85...

[Faustus]

I really wouldn't buy a car I couldn't test drive. Call around, SOMEBODY must have one you can drive.

The main thing that worries me about the Hybrid is how expensive it will be on my wallet if/when the battery goes out.

Also if your drive is mostly freeway/highway miles you won't see much advantage.

Also the Smug.

[Conquest10]

Also if your drive is mostly freeway/highway miles you won't see much advantage.

Its rated at 50 highway so there's still an advantage.

[ZAPPER]

One of our little leauge moms got one, nice car. It is like fully loaded. The price wasn't as high as I thought it would be and hybreds are said to have a high resale value (current gas prices are helping the market)

It is kind of funny that the "smug factor" comes up. The woman actually mentioned that she gets some "weird looks" from people and everyone thinks that she is a "save the world tree hugger" but she says that it is a "new car, it zips along great" and she gets a week on a tiny tank of gas and goes all over the place in it.

I haven't heard any horror stories about maintaince or breakdowns yet, but all of the mechanics that I know are still working on 350s with carboraters (OK, see, along time ago, engines used to have eight cylinders and were measured in cubic inches, and the fuel was delivered to the enginge by this thing......

[Faustus]

I'm sure it gets good freeway milage. The problem is if its all freeway travel, or mostly freeway, UNLESS I"M MISTAKEN, the battery doesn't recharge as well.

Like I said I could very well be wrong, but afaik the battery recharges from the brakes. If you are not braking at all you will switch into all fuel mode so it doesn't run down.

[ZAPPER]

The thing is all microprocesser controlled. A little power comes from braking but the battery is charged by the gas engine that is also used for driving the wheels at high loads. I ain't sure if you plug it in at night or not to charge it even. The battery is like really long life (100,000 miles or something outragous) The gossip is that the dealers kind of kiss your er ah feet when you do take them in for service to keep the image high (from a freind of a freind that knows a guy who heard...)

I don't know if it was really designed for cross country trips, but I bet for around the block and back it is probably a kick.


OK, now that I have sung praises about a car that I have only ever touched in real life one time, I have to admit that it won't fit me or my lifestyle. I am a heavy hauler, give me a truck or a van for work and a full sized four door with a trunk for all of our stuff for the family. Go 800 miles with a load of kids and the olelady, and the couple of gas stops are a welcomed rest (too bad it is $80 a pop) But you know what? I got a little leg room, the olelady ain't in my lap and I have to strech to backhand the kids. A deer or a dog at 80MPH will take out the grill, the headlights and the radiator but it ain't gonna shatter my shins and drive my knees into the engine compartment and I won't look like a Picasso. There is a big difference between four foot before you hit the windsheild and two foot, air bag or not!

[Cobra]

Get a diesel if you want economy.

[Craig Tucker]

Problem with these type of cars is the problem is just being shifted sideways. Sure you dont put gas direcly in the vehicle (well you do on hybids, but you know what I mean), but how is the electricity generated which you need to recharge the vehicle, more than likely fossil fuels.

[Faustus]

I don't think you normally plug in the prius it just saves up tons of excess power and uses it when it can to help.

[Craig Tucker]

OK, prius is probrably a bad example, I was thinking more of electric vehicles rather than hybrids.

[Faustus]

OK, prius is probrably a bad example, I was thinking more of electric vehicles rather than hybrids.

Yes with pure electric you are so correct. Statistically you are trading gas emissions from your car for coal emissions down the line.

[smearbrick1]

There is whole community of people out there who actually modify their hybrids. The Prius and Insight have both been modified to charge on regular house current. For some reason this is a plus for the die hard hybrid owners. I guess they want the option run electric or gas independant of each other.

Instead of producing the most butt ugly cars and putting hybrid power plants in them, they should produce a nice looking sports sedan (I'm thinking something like a Mazda 6 or an Acura TSX) and put a hybrid power plant in it. I think they would sell more cars.

[Tearren]

Since no one else mentioned it and incase you where not aware, there is a tax credit available in the US for hybrids.

From the Toyota website:

Click here for Federal Tax Deductions

The Internal Revenue Service has acknowledged the certification by Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc. (TMS) that several of its 2005, 2006 and 2007 model year vehicles qualify for the hybrid tax credit enacted by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The purpose of this legislation is to encourage the purchase of fuel-efficient hybrid-electric vehicles that help to reduce air pollution and use less gasoline. The tax credit for hybrid vehicles may be available to taxpayers who purchase qualified vehicles on or after January 1, 2006.

Hybrid vehicles purchased in 2004 or 2005 calendar year may have allowed their owners a $2,000 deduction from their taxable income; in 2006, that deduction is replaced by a hybrid tax credit, which may be applied to the purchaser’s federal tax liability. An individual’s income tax liability can be subject to a number of factors, so consult a tax or accounting professional when claiming a deduction or credit on one’s income tax return.

How to qualify for the hybrid tax credit

1. The Hybrid vehicle must be new. Used vehicles will not qualify.
2. The Hybrid vehicle must be purchased. Leased vehicles will not allow the lessee to take advantage of the hybrid tax credit.
3. The purchaser must accept delivery of the Hybrid vehicle from the dealer on or after January 1, 2006. A Hybrid vehicle delivered before that date may qualify for the previously available $2,000 tax deduction, but will not qualify for the hybrid tax credit. However, a Hybrid vehicle delivered on or after January 1, 2006 will no longer qualify for the $2,000 tax deduction.
4. The hybrid tax credit amounts will be reduced for deliveries after September 30, 2006.
5. The purchaser must retain appropriate documentation showing the purchase of the vehicle and the date of the delivery of the vehicle.

The benefit of the hybrid vehicle tax credit will also be substantially reduced or eliminated if the individual purchaser is subject to the federal alternative minimum tax (AMT). Individual purchasers and corporations who have business use of the Hybrid vehicle are subject to different tax laws that may also substantially reduce or eliminate the tax benefits. Again, it is recommended that you consult a tax or accounting professional when claiming a deduction or credit on one’s income tax return.

Limits on the number of hybrids eligible to receive the tax credit

The amount of the tax credit depends on how many hybrids a manufacturer has sold to its dealers within a specified period – Toyota and Lexus are considered one manufacturer. The full tax credit will be available for purchases completed through the calendar quarter following the quarter in which the manufacturer reaches cumulative sales of 60,000 hybrid vehicles. The tax credit is then reduced by one-half for the next six months; by another one-half for the next six months; and then phased out completely. TMS is required to include sales of all Toyota and Lexus hybrids sold in all 50 states on or after January 1, 2006 towards a single 60,000 unit threshold.

This does not mean that only 60,000 Toyota and Lexus hybrid buyers will be eligible for 100 percent of the credit. There will certainly be more. Because the 60,000 sales mark was reached in May 2006, hybrid vehicles purchased for the remainder of that calendar quarter (i.e., through June 30, in this case) and the following quarter (July through September) are also eligible for 100 percent of the credit. In the two subsequent two-quarter periods, there is no limit to the number of buyers who can respectively be eligible for 50 percent and 25 percent of the credit. Finally, after the fifth quarter following the quarter in which the manufacturer reaches cumulative sales of 60,000 hybrids, the tax credit expires for that manufacturer and its customers.

Toyota/Lexus Hybrid sales exceed the 60,000 threshold.

Toyota/Lexus hybrid sales from January 1, 2006 through May 31, 2006 totaled 68,637. As TMS reached the 60,000 cumulative hybrid sales threshold during the 2nd Quarter 2006, credits will therefore be reduced by one-half beginning with vehicles put into service by consumers after September 30, 2006. Please see calendar below for the TMS hybrid tax credit phase out schedule.

Tearren

[guns1inger]

The British motoring program, Top Gear, ran a good story and review on this car. It wasn't very flattering.

The key points, after giving it a good test run and going over were

1. It was expensive for what you got
2. Of very average build (especially considering the price)
3. Very average handling for a car of it's class
4. Poor mileage when compared to a comperable sized diesel fuel engine

Ultimately, they found it had only two things in it's favour. One was it's near silence in electric mode, and the smug factor.

Given this review was done a while back, I'm sure prices have dropped somewhat, however the basics are still true. It is an over-rated car to con people who like to believe they can save the planet. It is a prototype that escaped into the wild specifically to prey on the religeous recyclers, but in typical green fashion (think solar or wind generated power) it is spectacularly inefficient at what it does.

[RustyBob]

Get a diesel if you want economy

It's off the subject of Toyota Prius, but......
Interesting note. Did you know that the diesel engine was originally designed to run on peanut oil ? Very interesting, if you ask me. Vegetable oil is more expensive than diesel (per gallon) but, what happens when we run out of oil ? We cant grow more dinasors. We can grow more vegetables. Just some food for thought.

[MOVIEGEEK]

I read a report that said gas would have to be $5 a gallon($1.3 per l) before you would break even on the cost.
Pure electric has some drawbacks such as charge time,I think the future is ethanol* or hydrogen.

*The Ford Model T was originally designed to run on ethanol:
http://journeytoforever.org/ethanol.html

[Conquest10]

That's ridiculous. Hybrids are not over $50,000. The Prius' MSRP is around $20,000, same as an Impala. It also gets thrice the mpg than an Impala. People don't seem to take that into account.

guns1inger, I would be curious as to the partiality of a reviewer if he factors smug factor into hybrid reviews.

[BJ_M]

i just got a 4 door 4 x 4 FX4 Ford 150 pickup with a 300hp 5.4 litre triton engine it ... cost less on a lease than a Toyota Prius and i can haul more (I also drive in some really really bad winter conditions - in which a hybrid is not that great I understand (on slippery roads at -40)...

it gets 24mpg only though -- which isnt that bad i suppose considering the weight and size and what i can carry - plus 6 people in comfort ...

[Conquest10]

That would be good if I need to carry 6 people and haul a lot of cargo. But all I'll need a car for is for myself and a couple of bags. I live close to the suburbs so I won't be getting on any expressways.