Comments on: Are Hybrids a Waste of Money?

By: David

David — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:09:16 +0000

It’s not about initial cost vs. long term savings. It’s about how much fuel our cars consume to get from place to place, and how much emissions come from said trips. Some things are not always about $.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:03:31 +0000

I own a Prius, it is a very good car. I would not say that it is a luxury car by a long shot but it is also not a compact by a long shot. I regularly get 55 plus mpg with it during the summer months and 50 plus in the spring and fall and somewhat less in the winter after I put on my snow tires. My biggest reason for purchasing this vehicle is to keep money from going to the greedy folks in the energy business.

By: Merlin25

Merlin25 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:40:38 +0000

Avoid those miserable colds. ,

By: Maxx92

Maxx92 — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:28:41 +0000

I am hoping to find another job fast, but we all know how that is. ,

By: osty

osty — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:36:06 +0000

I just bought my 2nd Prius & I agree that on a straight cost basis the fuel ecconomy will never pay the difference.

Reason I actually bought these cars.

The Prius is is big enough. We are both tall and large. I don’t fit in a Yaris. The Prius not only fits, it is designed so that a geezer like me can get in & out easily.

I have gotten accustomed to the creature comforts of the upper end trim packages. A Yaris or equivalent with the features of a $21K Prius cost a lot more than $11K

My 2002 Prius is the best built car I have ever owned. Superior even to my old Honda’s. I fully expect to own it another 6-8 years & still enjoy driving it. I expect in 2016 it will still be in good enough condition to sell in good concience.

Crash safety: The Prius is too light to do well against a minivan or pickup truck, but the most of the high efficiency vehichles like the Yaris are so light that they aren’t safe hitting a car the weight of a Prius.

The fuel ecconomy is nice but the low air pollution numbers and how quiet it is inside & out were bigger sellers to me.

The one down side is that I have to be very careful in parking lots. When running on battery at low speed a Prius is so quiet that pedestrians don’t hear me coming.

But the best way to save the environement is to buy a 3 year old small car. Spend the money to keep it running effieciently and cleanly. Drive it forever. Because building and delivering a car creates over half the pollution it is responsible for in it’s life time.

By: BM

BM — Sun, 24 May 2009 09:27:07 +0000

HI,

You’re right about economical issues. Prius is not a good deal at all. Yaris is a bad comparison, but anyways – Prius always looses in its class – when prices are compared.

But I don’t agree about eco part – Prius is not eco friendly – it’s just marketing slogan.

By: eric

eric — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:28:26 +0000

Ever sat in a Prius vs. a Yaris? You’re getting a lot more than a “slightly bigger car.” The difference is quite dramatic. The Yaris is a tiny cramped shoebox car while the Prius has space comparable to a Camry, and has already been mentioned, is a much better equipped car. This is an apples and oranges comparison. Why not compare the Camry hybrid vs. a comparably equipped conventional Camry?

At the same time, I see what you’re saying about the price difference. I bought a car in March and really wanted to get one of the new VW diesels (which I think are still not available), but would have easily cost me an extra $10-15k extra over the ’04 Passat wagon I found at Carmax for $15k. I can buy a whole lot of gas for that $10-15k I saved and my Passat gets about 23 around town and 30-32 on the highway. I can live with that.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:31:29 +0000

why are you comparing a prius with a yaris? the yaris rides like a tin can, i would suggest a mid level corolla to compare the prius to.

By: web design company

web design company — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 08:19:25 +0000

I laughed at my friend who bought an electric car, because at the time he would have to drive it 10 years just to break even on a comparably powered car. Now, it doesn’t seem so crazy to help out the environment and my wallet. The sacrifice doesn’t seem so great to help preserve our earth.

By: Alexa

Alexa — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:43:36 +0000

What about safety ratings? I don’t know much about the Yaris, but I know the Prius has excellent crash-safety ratings. And I agree with Nate: the Prius, a tech-savvy geek’s dream car, is in a different class from the Yaris.