It makes me wonder how many people can do the math to figure out the cost vs. benefit of doing this.

Only slight misrepresentation. When you order a new vehicle which is not in stock, you sign a contract that gives dealer up to three months to deliver new keys. 2 months wait for what you order is quite normal, unless you buy from existing inventory. I don’t believe there is sufficient number of idiots who would pay $1300 premium on a used car that originally was 22-25K. Then again, I could be an optimist and humanity may have a darker side.

once again, blind toyota buyers deserve to be hit in the face with a shovel. Anyone who pays over new prices for a used car shot be removed from mainstream amaerica and put on the little bus for the rest of their lives.

Do the math dumbasses. 7 yrs or 125k to break even versus an economy car(focus, cobalt, whatever as long as it gets 33-35mpg). how many of these buyers do you think will keep the junk prius for 7 yrs or 125k? NONE

crash1433, alot of americans must be blind toyota drivers then and DUMBASSES as you say. After all you guys buy more of them than anyone.
a car that deserves success

Ahh, will the sheeple ever learn? What a bunch of morons. At least they are doing the greenest thing they can do…BUYING A USED CAR!

It is a car that survives because the majority of car buyers are sheep, not that deserves success. Anybody who can’t figure out that buying a $24-26000 car that gets 45mpg is not a good decision versus buying a $15000 car that gets 33mpg deserves their prius and what they look like driving it. But, toyota is the car company that is going to save the planet and reverse greenhouse gasses and they’ve just announced that their vehicles actually put crude oil back in the ground when you buy them so its ok

That’s a stupid car for foolish people…its not worth the premium. If you want to be a tightwad, just get a Fit, or a Yaris, or a diesel VW.

Further proof that there are a whole BUNCH of idiots out there. You really have to have an I.Q. of a slug to do something this stupid.

Nice. This makes the prius owning a business venture right now; a little short term investment. Buy the prius, use it for a yr or two while saving money on gas bills, and then sell it for equal or (more??) than what you paid. These people are smarter than acknowledged. Of course, you may not want to buy/keep it after a decade of use.

What this article doesn’t say is that most of the people buying the used priuses are Domestic(Mexico/canada since most cars aren’t even made here) humpers. SO when you say the toyota buyers need to get hit in the face, you are really trying to hit yourself in the face.

Reminds me of the idiots who bought a bunch of crap to prepare for Y2K. Or idiots who stocked up on Tequila when rumor they where running out of Agave cactus a few years ago.

Some airhead friend of my wife’s proudly announced she was going to trade her Honda Accord in for a Smart Car in order to save gas. When I gently explained to her that she’d be spending thousands of dollars, and suffering the inconvenience of driving around in a stupid little roller skate she can’t even bring her groceries home in, all for the pleasure of saving perhaps $25 a month in cash flow given the Accord vs. Smart Car mileage story… she went blank for awhile, then got angry with me.

In her mind Smart Cars and Priuses, etc. are The Answer, no matter how much money they end up costing her.

The Prius is an exercise of excellent marketing. Truly a car that has more image than substance. Just because a few Hollywood celebrities drove up in one for the Oscars, it’s now a ‘cool’ car to be seen driving. Too bad people forgot to tell consumers that the Prius isn’t that “eco-friendly” a vehicle. (shakes head in disbelief)

I agree with a previous poster … until Hybrid technology doesn’t create such a large impact on the environment, we’re better off with a small engine sub-compact car as the DD (ie Fit, Yaris, Versa, Focus, etc, etc) and a ‘reasonable’ vehicle if you need more space (4-cyl Malibu, Accord, Camry, etc) Seriously, most families do not need an Escalade or a Hummer H2 …

tomf, finally someone else who understands. I wish there were more people like you out there shopping for cars right now. I can’t tell you how many times people come on to my lot trying to spread the gospel of hybrids and then leave not believing me when i go through the exact same explanation as you went through. Almost like jehovah’s witnesses. so blind to anything other than what they believe is the truth that nothing else matters

I don’t want a used toyota.

where R the speculators?

there R a lot o’ blind toyota buyers

7 yrs or 125k to break even at today’s gas prices, quikesr ar $5-7/gall.

If you want to be a tightwad, just get a diesel VW. 47 mpg!

mo bad reasion 2 stock up on Tequila
trading a Honda Accord is salways smart

If hybrids are a religious experience the Pope needs new wheels.

Instead of the Prius just buy a Civic or fit that will deliver good mileage
The Focus and Cobalt cant be compared to Japanese cars from Toyota and Honda bc they have poor build quality and resale

Yeah, TomF, that was a bad move on her part. Instead of trading, she should have purchased it as a second car if at all.

Trading a Suburban that you drive to work all by your lonesome for a Smart to save gas is a better move, but even then it’s questionable.

California HOV stickers have had a significant impact on the resale value of used Prius. Time is money of course, a Prius (or any car for that matter) with an HOV sticker can be an absolute bargain for many at prices most would roll their eyes at.

What’s stupider? Consumers buying what they what, whatever it may be, that satisfies their desires regardless of cost involved.. OR Not making a product to sell to these people?

“Anybody who can’t figure out that buying a $24-26000 car that gets 45mpg is not a good decision versus buying a $15000 car that gets 33mpg deserves their prius and what they look like driving it.”

I think you are a bit of an idiot crash1433. You fail to realize how vehicle depreciation plays a huge role in choosing a car. A poorly optioned and relatively unpopular $15,000 economy car will probably only be worth $5 to $7,000 in 5 years with 60,000 miles on the odometer….while a $24,000 Prius will probably be worh $18,000 or more at the same time with the same milage. FACTOR THAT INTO YOUR ECONOMY EQUATION!

For the record, I think the Prius is a clown car but my point needed to be made.

yummers,
my point is that how many people buying the $26k prius are really buying it for the resale? The vast majority of them are walking blindly into the car because of the initial shock of gas prices. Also, I will say it once again, how many of those people will keep the car for 5 years? on top of that, only driving the car 60000 miles means you will never make up the difference in the price. Do the math. wait until people recover from this initial bump in gas or in the event gas does go back down, what do you think will happen to the resale then?

Just so you know, looking in the july nada book provides some interesting info. My own personal car 2003 focus hatchback, a car with an msrp of 12680 now has a nada retail of 6275 or a value of 49%. Your miraculous prius in same year: msrp 19995 now has nada retail of 12125 or 60%. Even if you take the difference in resale value you still lose money versus the focus at 5 yrs and 70k

I am just pleased to see that all of you are happy to call these Prius people out for what they are…idiots. Just a month or so ago in another Prius story on LLN it was divided about 50/50. Hooray for the education of petrol heads!

Well, Acoats, I wouldn’t say ALL Prius people are idiots. There are people that genuinely like the car and it’s styling. I actually kind of like the exterior, but the interior makes me cringe because it’s so bland. It’s not much of a fun car other than novelty, but one of my coworkers really enjoyed driving the Prius that he rented one time. So some people actually like it for whatever reason, and those people I would not call idiots. If you like a car for your own subjective reason, that’s fine. But, if you are buying to save money, you obviously didn’t do any homework. I think what most of us are trying to say is that this car won’t really save any money if you compare it to other less expensive non-hybrids, but if you really do LIKE the Prius, then that is the reason you should buy one.

Imagine paying near-new prices for a 5-year-old Prius.. then having to replace the pricey battery packs just a few short years later! Unless you drive 30,000 stop-and-go CITY miles a year (since actual hybrid fuel economy drops dramatically over 25mph, or whenever the gas engine takes over) there is really not much cost benefit to owning a Prius over a non-Hybrid Civic or Yaris, especially when you factor in replacing the batteries later in its life.

Or, you can mod an Aprilla SR50 R Factory scooter to go around 55mph max on a 50cc engine, gets around 120mpg, and looks good. And since no one checks for the mods, you can still drive it without a motorcycle license and the associated insurance.

People are stupid ****ing morons. The public deserves more than just a financial beating, they deserve to get anally raped in an alley.