How is the Prius so popular?

[DoreSlamR]

Ok so Toyota has got me thinking, I am already biased against the Prius, but i never really stopped to look at the figures.
I decided to investigate this a bit more:

The official fuel figures and price: (sources Drive.com.au & Toyota Australia)

Prius: (according to govt tests) 4.6 L/100 $46,900 ($7.82/100km)

Yaris: 6.1 L/100km, ULP. $22,290 ($10.37/100km)

Corolla: fuel economy of 7.4 litres/100km $27,500 ($12.58/100km)

I have based my calculations on an unleaded fuel price of $1.70 and top price as listed on the Toyota website.

The difference in price between the Prius and Yaris is $24,610 and Corolla is $19,400

So theres more calculations that can be done..buggered if i can think of them though, but just from these figures the Prius doesn't look that convincing and this is just against Toyota's own models.

[ebxr8240]

I have driven one at work...
Fair dinkum its like driving a high cheer...

[Outbackjack]

Dont you know?? If you drive a pius, you are part of the solution, not part of the problem!!

[LOCO XP]

Originally Posted by Outbackjack

Dont you know?? If you drive a pius, you are part of the solution, not part of the problem!!

You beat me to it. And don't forget the smug in the atmosphere generated by the owners. Not to mention that the owners eat their own farts

[Fev]

Originally Posted by LOCO XP

You beat me to it. And don't forget the smug in the atmosphere generated by the owners. Not to mention that the owners eat their own farts

thats the episode i linked on the page before if you wanna watch it, free and streaming and every other episode

[aquahead2001]

I read a great article on a US Based Blog Site a while back that explained in very simple terms why the Prius is so popular in the states, particularly in California.

It's not the environmental thing, it's not fossil fuels, it's transit lanes...

If you have a hybrid or non-fossil fuelled powered vehicle, you can drive in the transit lanes that are usually reserved for public transport.

For places like LA, where the commute to work can be a slow and tedious 60 minutes or more stuck in traffic doing 20km/h, the transit lanes can cut that time down by 1/2 or more.

I recently worked for a large company that had a fleet of Priuses (or is that Prioi?), I drove them regularly. Aorund town they were great, out on the open road they were shocking and the fuel economy really suffered. A camry or falcon could easily match their open road 110km/h economy.

The company bought them not for the environmnetal thing but for the marketing spin opportunity they gave.

[burnz]

and to the fact that the prius on the open road uses its petrol engine more.

their was also a test it is cheaper to drive a diesel on fuel economy alone, with out the perchase price added.

[samftr]

the hyundai diesel thing that they have out uses 4.5 litres per hundred of diesel... I'd rather that then a fookin battery car. less weight and what not to cart around

[DoreSlamR]

Originally Posted by samftr

the hyundai diesel thing that they have out uses 4.5 litres per hundred of diesel... I'd rather that then a fookin battery in the thing that costs a fortune to replace..

Heard of the Dead zone around the plant that manufactures these batteries?

Dead zone? Do you have any more info?

[schnoods]

Its popular ( sales wise) for what it is because it makes a stand publicly.

Owning a prius is like saying "I have a conscience" . Its a status thing too, as it makes you look trendy and yet as if you care and have feelings.


I wont look at buying a hybrid until they have enough grunt to spin the wheels.

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by schnoods

Its popular ( sales wise) for what it is because it makes a stand publicly.

Owning a prius is like saying "I have a conscience" . Its a status thing too, as it makes you look trendy and yet as if you care and have feelings.

This pretty well sums it up - the Prius is a triumph of marketing and nothing more. 9 out of 10 owners of them probably dont recycle as much as everyone else because they dont "need" to - they're doing their bit by owning a "green" car.

I wont look at buying a hybrid until they have enough grunt to spin the wheels.

You'll be waiting a while I fear......

[HLC]

for an assignment relating to Sustainable Design i did at University last year,

i read a paper, written about the prius, although the data was based for the US, and Switzerland (maybe it was sweden, irregardless, it was an interesting comparison)

it worked out with the price premium of the prius, over an equivalent petrol powered car...

it would take, in the US, something like 160 000 kilometres to recoup the price premium in petrol savings, and something closer to 200k in Switzerland. (i may have the numbers mixed up but who cares) BECAUSE ITS A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF KILOMETRES and not many people keep a car for that amount of kays or time to travel that many kays.

[Rob]

Originally Posted by schnoods

I wont look at buying a hybrid until they have enough grunt to spin the wheels.

GS450H - 200kw V6 + electric motor, or something along those lines.. goes pretty hard apparently.

[TheSneakiness]

Originally Posted by Rob

GS450H - 200kw V6 + electric motor, or something along those lines.. goes pretty hard apparently.

I was going to correct you on that cause I thought the GS was running a V8 but it's the LS600hL that runs the V8 hybrid.

[troppo]

Originally Posted by schnoods

Owning a prius is like saying "I have a conscience" .

I wont look at buying a hybrid until they have enough grunt to spin the wheels.

More accurately, it's like saying "I am a pretentious who doesn't have the acumen to do the research and arrive at an opinion of my own, BUT I have a conscience and this will make me appear to be doing the green thing, regardless of the facts.

BTW, electric sh!ts all over petrol for power and torque, it's just not easily transportable...

[Grunter]

Originally Posted by troppo

....regardless of the facts....

Unforunately the facts are not as clearly defined either way. The more you dig through the "facts" out there the more info you can find info supporting each side.

The current Hybrid's are not the ultimate "eco" car, and they may just be a marketing gimmick, but no matter what their faults, they are part of the first steps on reducing the reliance on non renewable fuels.

Put it another way, if FPV released a F6/GT Hybrid that handled the same as it's petrol brothers, with the same features and equipment and could do 0-100 in under 4 seconds, 400m in the 12's (when tested by Wheels ;) ) and when driven normally used half the fuel, which one would most people buy?

Most people here wouldn't give a second thought as to what the total energy cost would be or even research it, they would just buy one with the thought that they get something they want with less fuel use.

Can someone tell me what the total energy cost is for the current FG Falcon? And also how many people are looking at those numbers when buying one?

[bf tubs]

yeah hyundai i30 diesel 21k sticker price , 4.5 l per100km not bad if fuel prices are bugging u i reckon

[samftr]

i farked that up. that was old info i had, which has proven to be wrong. Apparently the cars arent that bad now as the old nickel refinery etc used to kill off every thing around the plant for a 1 mile radius around it. hence the dead zone and what not.

it takes more combined energy per Prius to produce than a Hummer, however which is true.

[fairmont1998]

Popular?
Australian year to date car sales to the end of May were 400 000+
Prius sold 1600 and something. Can't remember exact figure but it was under 1700.

Everyone is talking about them but not buying them.

[Rodp]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP6fe6i1vaY

M3 more economical than the Toyota Prius. :P

[samftr]

Building a Toyota Prius causes more environmental damage than a Hummer that is on the road for three times longer than a Prius. As already noted, the Prius is partly driven by a battery which contains nickel. The nickel is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario. This plant has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding environment that NASA has used the ‘dead zone’ around the plant to test moon rovers. The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles.

The plant is the source of all the nickel found in a Prius’ battery and Toyota purchases 1,000 tons annually. Dubbed the Superstack, the plague-factory has spread sulfur dioxide across northern Ontario, becoming every environmentalist’s nightmare.

“The acid rain around Sudbury was so bad it destroyed all the plants and the soil slid down off the hillside,” said Canadian Greenpeace energy-coordinator David Martin during an interview with Mail, a British-based newspaper.

All of this would be bad enough in and of itself; however, the journey to make a hybrid doesn’t end there. The nickel produced by this disastrous plant is shipped via massive container ship to the largest nickel refinery in Europe. From there, the nickel hops over to China to produce ‘nickel foam.’ From there, it goes to Japan. Finally, the completed batteries are shipped to the United States, finalizing the around-the-world trip required to produce a single Prius battery. Are these not sounding less and less like environmentally sound cars and more like a farce?

Wait, I haven’t even got to the best part yet.

When you pool together all the combined energy it takes to drive and build a Toyota Prius, the flagship car of energy fanatics, it takes almost 50 percent more energy than a Hummer - the Prius’s arch nemesis.

Through a study by CNW Marketing called “Dust to Dust,” the total combined energy is taken from all the electrical, fuel, transportation, materials (metal, plastic, etc) and hundreds of other factors over the expected lifetime of a vehicle. The Prius costs an average of $3.25 per mile driven over a lifetime of 100,000 miles - the expected lifespan of the Hybrid.

The Hummer, on the other hand, costs a more fiscal $1.95 per mile to put on the road over an expected lifetime of 300,000 miles. That means the Hummer will last three times longer than a Prius and use less combined energy doing it.

So, if you are really an environmentalist - ditch the Prius. Instead, buy one of the most economical cars available - a Toyota Scion xB. The Scion only costs a paltry $0.48 per mile to put on the road. If you are still obsessed over gas mileage - buy a daewoo matiz and fix that lead foot.

One last fun fact for you: it takes five years to offset the premium price of a Prius. Meaning, you have to wait 60 months to save any money over a non-hybrid car because of lower gas expenses.



So, basically there is contradicting information out there, but this was referenced and had a good layout leading me to believe it moreso than a website devoted to hybrids...

[rag top]

Just wait until LPG conversions for the Prius become popular....

[samftr]

Scuse the Americanisms in there as it was written by a yank, but it makes a point.

[samftr]

yeah, I'd say the hummer wouldn't be that great for the environment/
but the "fuel savings of 4.5 per hundred, you can get 6 litres per hundred out of a 1990 model manual lancer.
Beggars belief if they can't beat that with todays motor cars and similar sized motors in the traditional front drive gearbox/engine setup

[DoreSlamR]

So done a little bit of digging It seems the Nickel mine in Sudbury, Ontario is run by a company called Vale Inco

A quick look on Google earth shows the mine quite close to Sudbury, so i think the story about it poisoning the surrounding area seems a bit inaccurate.

[samftr]

yeah Thats what i was saying about contradicting information and what not.
hard to believe it isnt it.
I would have the diesel huyndai anyways.. it would go better haha

[Grunter]

People I know (a whole 2) who own a Prius bought it not because it was going to be cheaper to run, but to reduce their use of a finite fossil fuel. And at the time they bought it, there were few if any alternatives.

Cost is not always the major factor in a purchase decision. Right or wrong they decided to pay extra to contribute to their belief in that goal.

It may not be the answer, but no matter which way it is spun, the Prius shows less use of fuel than it's comparible sized counterparts and a half of the current I6 Falcon.

[Bad Bird]

Originally Posted by Grunter

People I know (a whole 2) who own a Prius bought it not because it was going to be cheaper to run, but to reduce their use of a finite fossil fuel. And at the time they bought it, there were few if any alternatives.

Cost is not always the major factor in a purchase decision. Right or wrong they decided to pay extra to contribute to their belief in that goal.

It may not be the answer, but no matter which way it is spun, the Prius shows less use of fuel than it's comparible sized counterparts and a half of the current I6 Falcon.

Yes, but the fossil fuels used in its production more than negate anything saved at the pump, making it a false economy. Thus, it uses more of those 'finite fossil fuels', proving once again that some people just don't bother researching anything and believe everything they hear.

[Grunter]

Originally Posted by Bad Bird

Yes, but the fossil fuels used in its production more than negate anything saved at the pump, making it a false economy. Thus, it uses more of those 'finite fossil fuels', proving once again that some people just don't bother researching anything and believe everything they hear.

Link showing the above please.

[Falcon Coupe]

Originally Posted by Grunter

Link showing the above please.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=4hEazWUHXQ4