Ok! So to some this up quick, I travel about 200-350 miles a day for work. Considering getting a Prius because of the gas mileage is just great! But my question is, would a Prius hold up to that much travel?
They use Prius for cabs in New York city and put lots of miles on them so the answer is Yes . The main purpose for Hybrids is city traffic to take advantage of the battery . If you are doing mostly highway trips there are many vehicles that get really good mileage that are not Hybrids .
Just buy what fits your needs and budget and that many miles new with warranty is what I would do.
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If you’re doing a lot of highway travel, then the Prius might not be the best option. It’s hybrid system is most effective in stop and go city driving. Coincidentally, it get’s it’s best fuel economy in the city not the highway (which is the opposite of most other vehicles). Still though, it’s highway fuel economy is very good, and if you wanted to drive a Prius for the purpose you stated you certainly could.
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I just remembered a story you might like. The Prius cars we have driven are amazing on the highway. The last Prius we tested on a long highway trip at one of my jobs got 64 MPG measured at the pump (not the infotainment screen). We were shocked it was so good. That makes it the lowest cost to drive vehicle on Earth. Including EVs and diesels. The guy doing the driving was not a hypermiler. He owns four race cars, a Ram 1500, and his daily driver is a Hellcat. I’m totally serious. Check this out.
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our 2012 prius got 52mpg at 55mph. and 35mpg at 75mph.
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It’s one of the most durable cars ever.
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High mileage use is perfect for a hybrid. The people who buy them and seldom use them are losing out in terms of cost per mile, and they would have been better off with a non-hybrid.
Coincidentally, when my mother bought her car, she was considering a Prius, and I talked her out of it because she never drove it very far. Now I’ve inherited* the car she bought, and I wish she had gotten a Prius.
*She is still alive, but she doesn’t drive anymore due to vision loss.
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If the highway driving you do most is during rush hour, a hybrid would be perfect in stop-and-go (or slow down-speed-up) highway driving.
If you like how it drives, I’d have no problem buying one. It get great mpgs on the highway and in the city, and is one of the most reliable cars available. Is it the absolute cheapest option? Maybe not, but it’s very close.
Well I’ll mention it. I did 3000 a month with my Buick. Yeah you spend some windshield time but miles add up pretty fast. The thing is, 3000 miles at 40 cents a mile on a Buick makes it a profit center with no tax on the reimbursement. Helped to pay for private college. Way back, just out of school, a car salesman cautioned me if I was going to do a lot of driving, get the best most comfortable car to drive, not some little econo box. That’s what I did and never regretted it for over 30 years. Never had any back problems, never went in the ditch, never got hit by anybody. Just a couple deer and never spilled my coffee.
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The world needs couriers and taxi/Uber/Lyft drivers, and not everyone has the luxury of picking a low stress career, so maybe we should just answer the question being asked, save the unsolicited condescending lecture, and assume the OP is a grown adult capable of making good decisions.
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At one plant I worked at a lot of the guys lived close enough to walk home for lunch and most lived within five miles. It was a throw back to an earlier time with many working there since World War 2. Times have changed and those that wanted to make more than $2 an hour moved on.
Well, I didn’t mean it in a “condescending” way, I meant it in a fatherly, concerned way - because it’s dangerous. If my kids were doing that kind of driving I’d be telling them the same thing.
And yeah - it’s your life; you do what you want, but It’s just another perspective that maybe you haven’t gotten anywhere else.
Well, who knows why those people worked there? Was it really because it was close to home and they valued that more, or was it because they had no education or otherwise marketable skills that would’ve given them other options?
I work with people like you’ve described: got out of high school, didn’t go to college, didn’t get a trade, fell into no-man’s land “career”-wise, ended up working locally, close to home, making decent money actually, but generally unhappy with their situation, and unable to change it due to widespread job requirement discrimination (in the form of “college degree required”) and their own situation (with now family responsibilities) keeping them from being able to meet these requirements.
But a lot of it has to do with how you’re raised. I came from a lower-middle-Class family. One below-average paycheck, stay-at-home Mom (a Saint), the 6 of us had what we needed and nothing more. Neither parent graduated college, multi-family living, in a place most everyone in the state wouldn’t be caught dead! But we were all pushed through college by an iron-fisted father who knew what job requirement discrimination was - because he lived it for a half century!
Anyway… I’m doing this on a phone, and my finger is tired (LOL!)
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Yep, sweet spot on my 2007 Prius is 53 mph. I seldom do stop and go traffic, so cannot compare there, and (unfortunately) I do a fair share of higher speed (75 mph) driving, and needing to stay safe, I go at the speed of the traffic. My MPG suffers similarly.
Gas mileage alone does not make a vehicle less expensive for total owner cost or cost per mile. If the initial cost of the Prius is significantly higher than a similar sized vehicle with lower fuel economy figures, the Prius may never recover its higher initial cost in gas savings. I.e. if the Prius gas mileage is 53 mpg, you are looking at about an annual fuel cost of around $2850. That’s based on an average of 275 miles a day, 200 work days per year and fuel cost at $2.75.
If you bought a similar non hybrid, say a Corolla at 34 mpg. Your annual fuel cost will be around $4450. The Prius will save you about 1600/year. Now you have to factor in how long you plan on keeping the vehicle and the cost of the extra money you have to borrow, or lose in interest if you pay cash, and the trade in value at your expected horizon of ownership to determine which is more economical.
BUT, the most important thing in a vehicle for someone who drives that much is comfort. Smooth ride and low noise at highway speeds will be important but the seats will be the most important. If the seats are not comfortable, you will come to hate the vehicle, trade it in sooner than you expected and take a bigger loss on the amortization of the initial cost.
A Buick might be a really good investment in this case.
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Thanks for sharing your experience with us,
When life gives you lemons you can make lemonade and there is and will be people better and worst then you and there are always ways around your problems.
I think all problems have solutions and the biggest part of a problem is the individual or the situation they place themselves in.
I medical professionals also travel a lot
I know if at least 2 family members one of them putting 55k a year.
The other drives 90 miles day from Dallas, Tx to Tyler, Tx 3/times a week
Please don’t take this the wrong way . . .
what you’re posting sounds EXTREMELY judgmental
And what does it have to do with the original question, for that matter . . . ?
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Yes, but repair costs might be a little higher than w/a conventional car, a high volume seller Corolla or Civic. Call around to some shops to double check, but I’m guessing there’s quite a few more mechanics that are Civic/Corolla knowledgeable than Prius knowledgeable. Stands to reason the hourly labor fee is likely more for a Prius mechanic. As far as parts expense, those are gonna be more also. I’m not just referring to the hybrid battery, which indeed is very expensive. I’m referring to more mundane parts too, for example the water pump is 2 hour job, $625 parts cost on a Prius V (2015 model). On a Corolla, same labor time, but the replacement part is only $115.