With the current price premiums and real world MPG figures that hybrids are fetching, it doesn’t make much sense economically to buy one right now.

Diesel. We need good BMW turbo diesels here now.

Screw this hybrid crap.

PETROL 4 LIFE!

Renton’s got it! ….say you keep your Prius ’till your expenses are in balance: then you try and trade it in/sell it. It’d be as attractive as a 486 Kaypro on Ebay.

j i m

The “Pious” only makes sense for the greenest enviros and techno geeks. With government tax subsidies and free passes to carpool lanes, they were temporarily in demand, but gas would need to be $5/gal. for them to make any sense economically given their real world fuel economy that is at least 20% less than EPA ratings.

In other words, another sham car that serious manufacturers shun, but that paid huge political dividends for Toyota. Far more than the Camry or Corolla, the Pious has discredited the Detroit 3.

What nobody ever figures into these things is the astronomically high resale value of a hybrid. Two year old Priuses sell to average lemmings for nearly what they stickered for new! I’ve got an acquaintance who bought a Prius in 2004 and just traded it on a new one that he had ordered. He put average mileage on the ‘04 and paid $2000 to get into the brand new one. Name one other reasonable car with which you can do that.

For every Prius, their is a gas sucking Hummer sharing the road.

SOmetimes, it is not about saving money. The car is relatively expensive for its size and equipment anyways. Sometimes it is just about using less gas for the sake of using less gas.

That being said, when we run out of gas, the Hybrid drivers will be just as SOL as the H2 drivers. Diesel is the way since bio diesel is clean, renewable and cheaper than regular diesel (not to mention cheaper and more efficient than ethanol).

How long until it’s recalled ?

Is there really a way to put a $$$ figure on the arrogance of the drivers?

Most of the people I know that have these vehicles could care less about the “savings”. That’s not the point for them. They just don’t want to use a lot of fuel from a national security perspective. I quote: “The less we use we can then maybe tell the Mideast to kiss ass”.

Where is GM’s next plant opening? Antarctica?

Bush: are those same people against offshore drilling that is being blocked by our representatives? How about drilling in the .01% ANWAR? Are they opposed to federal research grants to universities and private or public sector research institutions?

Driving a Prius isn’t going to make a mulah in Iran any less likely to behead your wife for wearing a t-shirt in public.

1952 MG TD

ANWAR from what I understand is of little or no consequence in terms of available fuel concidering what we use as a whole. For the most part it would end up being a big tax write off for the oil companies at our (taxpayers) expence. I have no problem with offshore drilling. One of the opponents is Jeff Bush of Florida. Go figure.

Renton, diesels also have this problem. The extra cost takes a while to recouperate. And also diesel is not much cheaper then gasoline (I thought diesel takes less processing to make? Why does it cost so much?), so you won’t be saving much. Figuring that you’ll average 45 mpg on a good diesel, these figures are about the same as a conventional hybrid (Prius presumably in real life driving). Then figure that it’s about 5 cents cheaper than gas, and the extra cost of the diesel…
But you must also consider that a diesel lasts longer, has less problems in general, and therefore you will spend less time for maintaining it and less money.
Figure all of that, and 2 years you probably would save a fair amount of money, but nothing extrodinary. More than a hybrid atleast.
I would still like to see a diesel hybrid, something like the shadow (a military vehicle) only they should make a full hybrid, not where the diesel charges the batteries. That would probably get good milage and be capable to enter into the US market.

This is new news? This was the argument against hybrids 5 years ago…

Those people who bought hybrids are stupid! I don’t care what their intentions are, I just hold them in contempt becuase they bought a hybrid! The nerve of them to spend their money on a new technology that I disagree with! I’ve never seen a Hybrid driver behave “smug” or “Pious”, however I saw them on South Park so it must be true! Down with the moron hybrid drivers – good intentions be damned! So what if they bought the hybrid to save gas (weather it works or not) we can all mock them for atleast trying to improve our energy problems! The only good thing about them bying gas sipping cars is now there is more and cheaper gas for me to burn as I commute the 40 miles to work in bumper to bumper traffice all alone in my 900 series MegaSUV. Stupid hybrids.

Random Jerk –
Weel put commentary.

Well put commentary… God I hate this keyboard.

well put? Yeah, making the same assumptions and stereotyping the truck/suv buyers that the truck/suv buyers do to the prius owners (notice the same attitudes not being relayed to civic, camry, accord, escape, or RX buyers)

hypocritical, yes. well put, not a chance in hell.

1952 MG TD – There is a diference between satire and hypocracy. They are not the same.

Hey Random,
I hope your airbags are working when you cross the centerline head-on into my H3. At least you’ll be saving gas for me right up until the end. Thanks!

Hummers dedication to fuel consumption is remarkable. The oil companies must be ecstatic that Hummer exists

Well said Renton.

A diesel engine’s cost can only be expected to increase in the short term as the costs of developing technologies to mitigate emissions are developed and amortized.

Jay: the diesel fuel prices *at the pump* are due to taxation. Diesel should cost less to purchase. When it doesn’t, thank the politicians for sticking their hands in your back pocket.

Of course a hybrid takes a while to recoup the costs. But another problem is their current POS battery technology will require replacement sooner or later therefore dumping much of the cost savings out the window.

Hybrids, be they electric, hydraulic or something else are interesting only because that’s the manner in which braking energy can be partially recovered and reused.

The Stig- how much are taxes on diesel compared to Gasoline? It must be alot, atleast in NY (damn taxes are pretty high over here whatever it is)

I was going to ask the same thing…
This information has been floating around for quite a while… I actually like the Prius, it’s very functional though it has no power at all. It get’s good mpg, but not close to what the EPA predicts (personal tests usually get 50mpg~ )

if you really think about it, hybrids have very few benefits. at first it seems to save gas and be an environmentally friendly transport, but this just isnt the case. there are plenty of non hybrid cars on the market that get the same real world milage. as far as the environment is concerned, the car’s exauhst itself puts out a lot less polution, which is good, but when you replace the batteries, just like any other car, you have limited choices, and most people choose to do what they would normally do, and that is take it to a landfill, or their local autozone. the batteries have to be disposed of, broken down, and whether in mexico or LA or wherever, they polute just as much as a normal car. hybrids and electricity are not a good choice for transportaion of the masses, as they polute just as much, they just do it all at once as opposed to a little bit all the time.

I think that people who buy a Prius in order to “save money” are doing the wrong thing. If you want to save money, then just buy a 1980s Volvo 245 wagon, as the total cost of ownership (reliability + 32MPG + cheap servicing + great handling + world-class safety + $300 – $2,500 pricetag) will surely win the day.

Meanwhile, the only reason I bought Prius for my wife was to reduce the amount of gasoline we use, so that people with large SUVs that get less than 15MPG can waste more gasoline… yes, we were thinking about those self-centered insecure pricks who are too insecure to drive an actual car.

-he who stacks pork

Hey Leopold,
Thanks dude! Everytime I fill up my H3 I’ll be thinking of you.

Please don’t buy the Prius. It does no good for my oil stock You all need to trade in for a a GMT-900 SUV or a Hummer PLEASE!!!

Big oil thanks you for your business. But piss off if you buy a Hybrid.

Thank you GM
Big Oil

My fuel milage sucks on my 2006 prius. 36-37 I had a 2001 that I put 200K on and it always got in the high 40’s. it was rated at 50mpg and I could squeeze 53 mpg out of it. But with this new 2006, I’m lucky if I get 37mpg.

And I have talked to every prius owner I see, and no one is getting anywhere close to the 60mpg it’s rated at. I’m close to going for the lemon law. I didn’t buy another prius to get 37mpg.