I'm Thinking of Buying a Prius

[LRPct]

Originally Posted by deevel79

If you're so high and mighty in the car racing world to the extent that you've raced with/against/and beaten world class racers, why are you on a non-racing forum arguing with and trying to belittle amateur car enthusiasts such as myself? Bully much? LOL. Moderator cut: Personal attack.

Moderator cut: Orphaned comment.
I am a VERY happy man.. Do what I LOVE for a living, have a great satisfied GF, pretty much make my own schedule, hence the time lounging now before I get ready to go testing at Laguna Seca in a couple days.

Not a bully at all. Certainly type A personality like most pro drivers/racers that stand for no BS and will eat the weaker and BS spreading jokers for lunch. I have no problems with amateur car enthusiasts.. I coach many every week. Most are great to work with and I thoroughly enjoy it. The only ones that are not are the hackadoodles that are determined to think they are at a level way beyond what they actually are and are too STUBBORN to open their mind to other possibilities while they constantly roam feet away from proper apexes, holding other good students up, or spend all day either long light braking, barely getting any heat in the brakes, or doing the opposite and pounding them mercilessly with no mechanical sympathy no matter how many times you advise them against it and then wonder why their CTSV, or GTR or 430 can't do more than 3 laps around a real race track without "givin up the ghost".

There's no belittling here.. Just speaking the TRUTH.. NOT being blinded by badges.

You still haven't told me where your extensive background comes from in this matter and how many races you won while honing your qualifications. JS

[GreenGene]

Originally Posted by G Grasshopper

Does anyone own a Prius and have feedback? I want a car with really good mileage, reliable, with a hatch back. Any thoughts about the battery replacement costs?

To get back to the original question - you know, the topic of this thread? - I think several Prius owners have responded to your specific questions. To recap:

really good mileage - yes

reliable - yes

hatchback - yes (and additional Prius body styles are now available)

hybrid battery costs - as with any new technology, the cost for a new hybrid battery to replace a failed unit has come down over time. Additionally, although hybrid battery failures with the Prius do happen, they aren't all that common, and in fact can last far beyond their 100,000 miles (or more) warranty.

I found this article from Consumer Reports to be informative. It's from Feb. of 2011, so the prices quoted for replacement hybrid batteries may be a bit higher than what can be found today. From the article:

If the battery ever did need to be replaced, it would run between $2,200 and $2,600 from a Toyota dealer, but it’s doubtful that anyone would purchase a new battery for such an old car. Most will probably choose to buy a low-mileage unit from a salvage yard, just as they would with an engine or transmission. We found many units available for around $500.

And I enjoyed the comparison chart that shows test results of a 2001 Prius when it had 2,000 miles on it versus test result of a 2002 Prius with over 200,000 miles on it.

Based on data from over 36,000 Toyota Prius hybrids in our annual survey, we find that the Prius has outstanding reliability and low ownership costs. But we wanted to know if the effectiveness of the battery degraded over the long run. So we hooked up a 2002 Toyota Prius with nearly 208,000 miles on the clock to our testing instruments and compared the results to the nearly identical 2001 Prius we tested 10 years ago.

Conclusion: We found very little difference in performance when we tested fuel economy and acceleration.

For anyone who wants "... a car with really good mileage, reliable, with a hatch back", I think the Prius is an excellent choice.

[nightnurse613]

WOW. This thread went off topic! I like the Prius V (i think the fact that the back seat tilts and moves is VERY COOL). I do find it difficult to justify a base price of $26,000 (and a lot of them are premium priced) considering that you'll never make that up in normal driving (unless you drive a lot and gas goes to $5) over, say a better equipped Hyundai Elantra. I am not sure where Consumer Reports get the 5 year figures from - most of my friends replace tires and do the oil changes. The Toyota brakes last 2-3 times longer than my disc brakes - I'm just not sure what gets factored in to the cost. A local cab company here in Phoenix drives a very large fleet of Prius vehicles. I guess I'll have to have my husband chat with one of their mechanics.

[G Grasshopper]

Yes, it seems we are having a pi**ing contest between those two guys. So thank you to those who offered their input. No one has said anything about the solar ventilation system, which is one extra that I was wondering about. I live in Texas, and car interiors do become very hot. It would seem like a good thing. But I would like to know if anyone has any experience with this. I know it is a fairly new feature. Thanks.

[LRPct]

Originally Posted by G Grasshopper

Yes, it seems we are having a pi**ing contest between those two guys. So thank you to those who offered their input. No one has said anything about the solar ventilation system, which is one extra that I was wondering about. I live in Texas, and car interiors do become very hot. It would seem like a good thing. But I would like to know if anyone has any experience with this. I know it is a fairly new feature. Thanks.

The feature has been avaliable since 2009 (10 my) and fans in the sunroof powered by the small solar panels will circulate air to keep cabin temps some what reasonable when sitting in direct sunlight and over 68f ambient temp. Its neat, and comes with the sunroof regardless if you like to have that feature. It moves air, doesn't condition it fwiw. Certainly can be very helpful. Thre is also the remote ac option which is explained in detail here Remote AC on key fob | PriusChat but basically will run the ac at the previous set temp for 10 minutes or until a door is opened without actually turning on the car.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by GreenGene

....For anyone who wants "... a car with really good mileage, reliable, with a hatch back", I think the Prius is an excellent choice.

As is $35 - $100 VW Rabbit (and my back seats fold TOO, directly against the front seats, as they have for nearly 40 yrs). Rabbits have HUGE cargo capacity (As I learned in 1975 when using one as a 'delivery truck')

50 mpg since 1976, no Dinosaurs or OPEC required.

And Rabbits are much EZR to 'bump-start' if your battery runs dead (whie camping in the boonies).

[LRPct]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

As is $35 - $100 VW Rabbit (and my back seats fold TOO, directly against the front seats, as they have for nearly 40 yrs). Rabbits have HUGE cargo capacity (As I learned in 1975 when using one as a 'delivery truck')

50 mpg since 1976, no Dinosaurs or OPEC required.

And Rabbits are much EZR to 'bump-start' if your battery runs dead (whie camping in the boonies).

Thats great, but hows the bluetooth pair with the jbl system in that rabbit?? Knee airbag as well as side airbags?? Probally not remote activated ac/climate control or solar powered fans for the sunroof that the OP seems to want since they are asking SPECIFIC questions about... Apples and oranges..

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

It looks as though some within this thread need to check out the terms of service. No personal attacks within the forum will be tolerated. Feel free to attack an idea but please be prepaired to back up your claims. we would prefer to have a place for people to visit to get helpfull information. Attacking others doesn't accomplish that.