That Prius is ...How Much?

[Kiteless]

My 2 cents: The Prius is a nice sensible car with a lot of cool tech in it. It gets great gas milage and the plug in version will do even better. As stated it is also in a different class of car, offering bigger more comfortable interior and a surprisingly large cargo area, especially with the seats down.

The Prius is also mind bendingly BORING to drive. I drive a manual because its fun for me. An automatic is not nearly as interesting to drive for me, and the CVT is 9 million percent more boring than an auto. At least an auto changes gears, REAL GEARS.

Also I dunno about you guys but I only average about 36MPG without trying... The best I ever did was 39 and I was driving slow, drafting simi's, very gentle acceleration. I even removed the spare and the jack and anything else that was not bolted down to see if I could do any better and 39 average was the best I could do. I did get about 40 average driving to Arizona once, but that was 99.8 percent freeway driving. Of course I got my Yaris back when it was super cheap for $10,500 plus destination and all the other crap one has to pay for with a new car.

Bottom line, even at 36MPG the Yaris (even at its current $12-$13K price) is cheaper to own over a 5 year period than a moderately spec'ed out Prius at 30K and 50MPG average. The Prius is a much nicer car, but incredibly boring. The Yaris is much more fun to drive (especially in a manual), but a bit rough around the edges.

Then there is the maintenance. Anybody that knows their way around a car can work on a Yaris. Its a body, engine, and some tires, done. If not, they can take it to a garage. The Prius HAS to be taken to a Toyota Dealership, THE MOST EXPENSIVE PLACE TO GET ANYTHING DONE TO A CAR.

Anyway just my 2 cents. They are different cars for different people. If I HAD to have a Hybrid I would go for the CRZ.

- Jason/Kiteless