On the Toyota Prius Dashboard
These are photos of the dash of the Toyota Prius I rented (click for larger, or this post is pointless). I no longer recall the states shown, except from my bad notes (ever try to write, take photos, and drive all at once?). Best I can reconstruct: 1. at idle; 2. driving under normal throttle and normal load; 3. coasting?; 4. full throttle; 5. graph of consumption.
Anyone who actually owns a Prius, or knows about them, is encouraged to correct my captions in comments. But if own one, your better bet would be to spend your time selling it.
Give it a break, no one claims it's a BMW.
Katy's got one (one of the older models). It is what it is, it doesn't claim to be more. It's $20K basic transportation that gets 50 MPG. No it doesn't handle great, but it doesn't handle/ride much worse than any other tallish, 4 door, short wheelbase sedan. It handles/rides way better on the road than a Jeep Wrangler. The brakes are weird, but effective. You get used to them in a few days.
The only screen we ever have up is the consumption graph.
Posted by: Erik | June 20, 2006 at 07:22 AM
I don't expect a BMW. I expect a car that doesn't feel like a tin can on wheels. Honda Civics don't feel like that. No, I've never driven the Civic hybrid, but I can't imagine it's as bad as the Prius. Toyota's got a Camry hybrid now, too. No way that's as bad as the Prius.
I suspect the Prius got its foothold when it was the early leader, the first usable hybrid car. People were willing to overlook its shortcomings. No reason why they should do that today.
Posted by: carpundit | June 20, 2006 at 08:35 AM
Apples and oranges
Toyota Prius MSRP 21K
Accord Hybrid MSPR 32K
For 50% more money it damn well should feel like a more expensive car, it is a more expensive car.
I'm not sure what's up with the new Prius, but the controls on the old one were pretty standard (wipers, headlights and so on. There's not a start button, just a key). The old ones were not as "spaceship like" as the new ones.
Posted by: Erik | June 20, 2006 at 09:49 AM
No new Prius sells for 21.
The cheapest I've seen a reliable source report getting one these days is about 26, with the average price about 28, and some folks paying 30.
Apples and apples.
Posted by: carpundit | June 20, 2006 at 10:06 AM
It was a few years ago in California, but we bought Prius new for sticker price (which I believe was 19.8K at the time). We waited about 2 months for it (they said it would be 4 months).
Any idea about the availability of Accord Hybrids? Are they selling for over sticker price? Without that data any claim of apples and apples is somewhat specious.
Posted by: Erik | June 20, 2006 at 10:29 AM
The point still remains..the 20-25-30k you spend on a prius, that might save you $1k in gas a year (realistically, a third of that), is much worse a driver than a $15k mazda3 or ford focus or base civic, that gets almost as good milage, certainly saving you much more per year in car payments.
Posted by: Josh Wardell | June 20, 2006 at 11:18 AM
Car payments?
You should never buy a car you can't pay cash for. Nothing depreciates faster. From a financial standpoint, you're better off buying one of CP's beaters than ever taking a car loan.
Posted by: Erik | June 20, 2006 at 12:42 PM
I disagree, Erik, particularly when you can get the loan cheaply. I bought my car with a great rate on a five-year loan; I'm way ahead of where I would have been if I saved up and paid cash. Even more so if I were doing it again; keeping that $20-30k in the market makes me a lot more, with the same depreciated asset at the end.
Posted by: Luke | June 20, 2006 at 10:31 PM