My Thoughts on the Prius Part 5 - Value

This is Part 5 on my 6 parts series on my experience with my new Prius during the last 8 months

I needed an economical car but it had to be able to carry my son’s upright bass. In smaller cars, that meant getting a hatchback. The only other small car that worked was a Toyota Matrix and its twin, the Pontiac Vibe. The Matrix / Vibe is very close in size and features to the Prius. These car get around 30 mpg but cost $3,000 to $5,000 less depending on how the cars are equipped. The gas savings of the Prius doesn’t justify the additional cost even with gasoline at $3 per gallon.

Having said that, the extra passenger room in the Prius is a plus. It is just a few inches wider and has more rear leg room. From a status standpoint, especially a green status standpoint, the Prius is definitely a plus. People who do not necessarily care about green issues or cars take an interest when I tell them I have a Prius because it is still a novelty to most people.

Finally, comparing the Prius to mid-size cars that have about the interior space and comfort, I think it’s a better value. Compared to many bigger cars and SUVs simply used for commuting, the Prius is definitely be a better value. Compared to my Chevy Impala, it has almost as much passenger room and as much cargo capacity. A similarly equipment Impala also cost more. So the gas saving with the Prius is a bonus.

Since I purchased my Prius in March of 2007, I am eligible for a $1575 tax credit on my 2007 income tax. The tax credit is no longer available to people purchasing Prius now.

My Thoughts on the Prius Part 4 - Performance

The Prius is a good handling vehicle. I had to make a quick maneuver once on the freeway going 60 mph when a car tried to change lanes into me. The Prius provided a quick solid respond. I felt like I had the car completely under control during the whole maneuver.

The Prius has a very tight turning radius. Its great for get in and out of tight places and quick turn-a-rounds.

The acceleration of the Prius is excellent. The combination the gas and electric engines provide deceptive power. When accelerating hard, one doesn’t hear the engine roar in the same way a with a conventional gas engine. The acceleration seems more quiet and reserved but one look at the speedometer or the cars around you know, you are moving out quickly. Getting onto a freeway is no problem. Driving at freeway speeds and accelerating to pass is also no problem. Driving at 70 mph on the Interstate and accelerating to pass a tractor trailer truck quickly is no problem. I can quickly from 70 to 85 mph and feel like I still had a lot of engine in reserve.

Prius vs. Hummer in Environmental Friendliness

An organization called CNW Research claims in their report Dust to Dust: The Energy Cost of New Vehicles from Concept to Disposal “The Prius registered an energy-cost average of $3.25 per mile driven over its expected life span of 100,000 miles. Ironically, a Hummer, the brooding giant that has become the bête noir of the green movement, did much better, with an energy-cost average of $1.95 over its expected life span of 300,000 miles.“ Therefore, the Hummer is the more environmentally friendly vehicle. Of course the claim is bogus. What first made me suspicious was big difference in the mileage lifetimes.

Washington Post Columnist George F. Will publicized this information in his syndicated column in April 2007 (click here). I am particularly disappointed that a respected columnist and journalist like George Will would promulgate such information without proper fact checking.

The real facts are the Prius is much more energy efficiency over its life time, There are many good rebuttals to the CNW Research paper that get the facts right. All one need to do is a quick search on the web to find them. A few of the good articles are:

Sierra Club Mr. Green Rebuttal
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200711/mrgreen_mailbag.asp

Climate Progress
http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/27/prius-easily-beats-hummer-in-life-cycle-energy-use-dust-to-dust-report-has-no-basis-in-fact/

Rocky Mountain Institute.
https://www.rmi.org/images/PDFs/Transportation/T07-01_DustToDust.pdf

I suppose the CNW Research article is comforting to those who drive a Hummer or dislike environmentalist. But facts are fact.

My Thoughts on the Toyota Prius Part 3– Interior Space and Cargo Room

I bought the Prius because we needed an extra car since both my children now have drivers licenses. One criteria the car had to meet was that it had to be able to carry my son’s upright double bass and a front seat passenger. My Impala can carry the double base in the passenger compartment along with a passenger. However, the passenger has to sit in the rear seat behind the driver.

Not only can the Prius carry the upright bass, it can carry two passengers. Beside the front seat passenger, there is actually plenty of room in the back seat for a passenger. The bass takes up about have of the back seat and the cargo area. In fact, we took a summer road trip to take my son and his bass a to jazz camp in Louisville. It was an 800 mile trip one way. My wife, son and I piled in the Prius, along with the bass and all our luggage for a week trip. Everyone had plenty of room and everyone was comfortably.

My two boys often use the Prius to carry themselves and music gear to their jazz gigs around town. They carry the upright bass, a couple of amps, a guitar, music stands and other miscellaneous equipment. At one gig when they were unloading, a bystander was amazed at all the gear they carried. He said to them “you got all that in a Prius?”.

The Prius has a deceptively roomy interior for a compact car. The rear seat leg room in the Prius is as good as in most full size cars. It has equivalent rear leg room to my Chevy Impala. The interior space in the Prius is much better than the typically compact car. The Prius is a few inches than most compacts which makes it feel much roomier.

Christmas Lights

The environmental scrooge would say don’t put out any Christmas lights. They just add to the electricity load which adds needless global warming CO2 to the atmosphere if your power comes from a coal or gas fired power plant.

However, the pragmatic environmentalist says, lights are part of the holiday spirit. It alright to put them up. Its even important if you have little children. Just use a little common sense to reduce energy consumption.

The first thing to do is be a lazy environmentalist like me. It takes time and effort on my part to put the lights up and take them down. So, I feel a small display is best. You don’t need to try and out do the neighbors. There is no need to have lights on every square inch of your yard and house. My advice is small, simple and elegant. Its just less work.

The next thing to do use LED lights. They use 80 to 90% less energy than traditional Christmas lights.

Finally, use a timer. There is no need to have lights on all night. I usually set my lights to goes off somewhere between 10 and 11pm. I see many of my neighbors burning their outdoor lights all night. Using a timer is also the lazy environmentalist thing to do. You don’t have to make the effort to turn them on in the evening and off again before you go to bed. Also, you don’t need to go outside in the cold and snow just to turn off the lights.

So use some common sense and be lazy. This will minimize your Christmas light energy use and has the side benefit of reducing your electric bill.

My Thoughts on the Prius Part 2 - Exhaust, Traffic Jams, Parking in My Garage

This is Part 2 of my experience with my Prius after driving it for seven months.

Thought about the Toyota Prius Hybrid – Traffic Jams.

I discovered the Prius is a great car to have in during traffic jams. I only have a 4 ½ mile commute to work on surface streets. I rarely get stuck in traffics jams. Once in a while I do need to drive on the freeways. The first time I drove a freeway with the Prius was during a rush hour. I got caught in about a 3 mile backup. Overall, I was in the traffic jam for about 20 minutes before I reached my exit.

I was creeping along at 15 to 20 mph with an occasional stop. At such low speeds, sometime on a downgrade, the gasoline engine rarely runs. In fact, during this particular traffic jam, the gasoline engine did not run at all. The miles per gallon indicator on the Prius’ display was maxed out at 100 mpg the whole time. While the other cars around me were experiencing their worst gas mileage, my Prius was getting its best. Also, I was not putting noxious air polluting exhaust fumes into the air. At that time, I wished all cars could be like the Prius. The air in our cities would me much cleaner.

In general, my experience is that the Prius gets its best gas mileage in slow heavy freeway traffic. It takes a little of the frustration way from being stuck in traffic.

Thought about the Toyota Prius Hybrid – Exhaust in Garage.

One of the best things about the Prius is that it never leaves exhaust fumes in the garage. When the car is turned on it is powered by battery. There is generally plenty of time to back the car out of the garage before the gasoline engine kicks in. Thus no exhaust in the garage. On the return home, as I drive slowly down the alley, the gasoline engine turns off. So when I get to garage the car is running only on battery power.

I never paid much attention to exhaust fumes in the garage until I got the Prius. The first time I parked my Chevy Astro Van in the garage after getting the Prius, I began to notice the exhaust fumes. No exhaust fume in garage is a good thing since I have an attached garage and the fumes can get into the house.

My Thoughts on the Prius Part 1 - Gas Mileage

This is Part 1 or a six part series.

My family and I had our Prius for seven months now. I really like the car. Here are some of my thoughts and impression on the gas mileage.

Thought about the Toyota Prius Hybrid – Gas Mileage.

The first thing everyone wants to know about is the gas mileage. Typically around town doing mostly short trips we get between 43 to 45 mpg. On a road trip driving at 70 to 75 mph, we got 45 mpg. We don’t try to do any special Prius tricks to maximize the gas mileage. There are four people in my household who drive the Prius and have different driving styles, so 45 mpg without working to optimize the gas mileage isn’t bad. Typically, we get over 350 miles between fill-ups.

During our road trip we spent a few days at Mammoth Cave National Park. Driving in and around the park we got almost 55 mpg. Typical we drove between 30 and 50 mph. There were few stop signs and not much traffic. The driving conditions in the park were ideal for maximizing gas mileage.

Considering my other vehicles are a Chevy Astro (@ 15mpg) and a Chevy Impala (20 city, 29 highway mpg) the Prius' 45 mpg is fantastic. Also, a gas fill-up only cost between $20 to $25. (> 325 miles) The Impala is $35 to $40 (< style=""> The Astro Van cost $50 or more (<>