- Have all the bugs been worked out on the 2007 Prius, or should I wait a year?
2. If (1) is positive, when is the best time to buy a. at the end of the model year or b. right now?
The Prius has been in production for a number of years now and it has been remarkably trouble-free. So rest assured, it’s about as good as this model gets.
Given what an in-demand model the Prius is, the dealers are probably selling their entire stock and consequently are not going to play their end-of-model-year games with you. Any time is good.
There is a $550 discount on the 2008 Prius off MSRP on average, and a regional adjustment of -$80 in Maryland. Give that, a new 2007 should be discounted even more.
Not knowing where the buyer lives, unless there is a lot of intown driving, the difference between the Prius and a Corolla on the highway, IMHO is not worth the added expense. The Honda Accord diesel due in 2010 does even better than the Prius. I’m not a big Prius fan unless and until, they sell a plug in model, and it’s for mostly city driving with less than 40 miles per day.
Then it’s doing what a hybrid is meant to do. Otherwise, Corolla or wait for a diesel.
My '07 has 15,000 miles on it. I get 44mpg winter and 52 mpg summer, mixed city-highway. Yes, all the bugs are worked out. To learn more go to www.priuschat.com.
Not to throw cold water on it but the greatest gain will be during stop and go driving and not on the highway. If you live in a cold climate, the engine needs to run anytime the heater is turned on, and new batteries are somewhere around $2000. Pretty strictly an urban car for moderate climes.
The biggest bug is not having plug in capability…due in 09 ? Unless they have it already…then great city car.
Before you buy, do some homework. Look at the price you will need to buy and compare the Prius to other cars without considering it is a hybrid. Don’t consider the possible added cost of batteries etc. just look at it as compared to other cars.
What are you looking for? If you are looking for a green car, then look at what makes it green, good mileage. Compare that mileage with what other non-hybrids can provide. If you do mostly highway, you can bet you will find a non-hybrid that will do better. Even if you are a city driver, you are likely to choose another car.
I am not knocking hybrid technology. I think it is a good idea to continue to develop it as long as it shows promise, but it is not really much of a deal at this time. I believe it is likely the best job that the manufacturers have done with a new technology in the history of car making, but it just is a technology that is not really delivering a real life benefit, at least yet.
BTW the car I drive gets better mileage than any hybrid I know.
Honda is abandoning the hybrid in the Accord in favor of a diesel. Hybrids are stop gaps. When cleaner diesels are available, which do better than hybrids or completly new propulsion (all electric ?), buy. otherwise I would stay with most fuel efficient gas.
BTW, the oil companies are prepping us for the influx of diesels by charging as much as $.80
more per gallon than gas.
Can you quote a source for this?
I did find this:
Laurent Aebi, a product specialist at Honda, thinks that hybrids will … be a short-term trend. “But both the diesel car and the hybrid car are a transition as we head to fuel cell cars or pure electric cars.”
But I think he is talking many years.
“BTW, the oil companies are prepping us for the influx of diesels by charging as much as $.80 more per gallon than gas.”
It’s about 60-cents around here. But even at 80-cents it may be a bargain. Let’s say you pay $3.20 per gallon of gas and $4 for diesel. If you get 25 MPG on gas, you break even at 31.25 MPG switching to diesel. You need to determine the spread in cost for a diesel engine instead of a gas engine, too.
Sure… www.cnn.com/2007/AUTOS/06/05/honda_dropping_hybrid/index.html - 28k
It seems that at least for the short term, the Accord, their big money grabber, will be put on hold. Will be offerd in other models (Civic)
…Oil prices are such a function of our mideast involvement, IMO, politics has as big an influence as anything on models offered.
That’s exactly what I feel the auto industry is banking on…a reason to buy new and more expensive cars. We would be naive to think that the auto and oil companies work in dependently.
PS…and we don’t really feel that the difference won’t be greater in the future do we ?
thanks
The new beetle gasoline is rated about 20/30 mpg, I know Joseph_Mehan(I hope I spelled it right) says he gets 40/50 in his diesel version(2004 IIRC). So the cost difference should work out there.
Honda did a poor job with their Hybrid Accord. Their goal/twist was to give a V6 like powered vehicle with good 4 cylinder like mileage. Most people who buy Hybrids want extra ordinary mileage not excessive power. They missed the mark.
BTW, the oil companies are prepping us for the influx of diesels by charging as much as $.80 more per gallon than gas.
Totally disagree here. When ever gas prices are influx Diesel prices go up at a much higher rate then gas. It’s happened every time for the past 20 years. And when ever the gas prices settle, Diesel prices come down…and when it’s finially settled Diesl is ALWAYS LOWER THEN REGULAR. Just one year ago we had this discussion…Gas prices had settled down and the gas station right outside my window at work was selling about 15 cents cheaper then Regular.
2008 should be the last year of the current Prius which is mostly unchanged since 2004.
The right time to buy a 2007 Prius was December 2006 / January 2007 when gas was around $2.00/gallon and dealers were having to work to earn sales. I bought in December 2006.
MPG, blah-blah-blah. I traded a perfectly good 2000 Avalon XLS toward my 2007 Prius. The Prius is amusing, the Avalon was boring. I don’t have to take my key out of my pocket to unlock or drive my Prius. The Prius has a big button on the dashboard to “boot” it. Then the Toyota logo appears on the monitor, beep-beep, and its ready to go. Back out of the garage and the engine starts about half way down the driveway, about the same time as I’m closing the garage door with the remote control. A year later I still find this amusing. That and a new Prius was less expensive than a new Avalon. And was less than I paid for the 2000 Avalon.
Mandatory MPG content: on my annual Christmas trip of 500 miles each way the Avalon averaged 31 MPG (measured at the pump). My Prius now has 12,000 miles and made this 1,000 mile trip once at just over 50 MPG. Around town where the Avalon got 22.5 MPG the Prius has never done worse than 45 MPG.
Surprised to find the Prius really likes to drive on rolling hills as found in the Ozarks. 55 MPH 2-lane roads was showing 60 MPG over a 100 mile stretch. The Prius MPG computer appears to be 2 MPG high when compared at the pump.
The 7-speaker JBL sound system in the Avalon was better than the 9-speaker JBL in the Prius.