What are some pros and cons of the toyota prius?!?

Question

...and all hybrid cars ingeneral

Answer 1

Pros:

1. cleanest car, next to European diesel vehicles

2. Gas mileage of upto 50 mpg!

3. Tax breaks, free carpool lane access.


Cons:

1. ok for stop-and-go traffic, but not good for rough terrain or weather.

2. If you turn the a/c on and travel in the city traffic, the battery drains off fully in just 7 minutes!

3. Battery has to be replaced every 5 years or so, and that alone costs like $4000!

Answer 2

Whether or not the hybrid is "worth the extra money" depends in large part to what your alternative vehicle would be. For instance, if you are looking at a $24k 50 mpg Prius vs $17k 34 mpg Corolla, fiscally speaking it doesn't make sesne. However, it would make sense in the fact that the Prius is a lot nicer car than the Corolla.

However, if you are comparing a $24k Prius to a $22k Camry, there's only a 2k difference in price, however 50 mpg (real world milage) vs 27 mpg is huge. And you only sacrifice a small amount of space.

There is no extra service required with regards to the batteries. Consumer Reports tried to see how long the batteries last, but gave up after 375k mi. In fact, the Prius has been one of the more reliable Toyotas you could buy over the past few years! They are also warrantied for 8yrs/100k mi.

One thing you need to make sure of, is that you can run MAX air conditioning w/o the gas motor (and don't take the salesman's word for it. during the test drive sit in "Drive" for a sec and make sure that the gas motor is not running, and then crank on the a/c at full blast on the max setting. Verify that the motor does not come on but that they car is still running). One of the things that have set Toyotas apart was the fact that the a/c was electrical driven as opposed to belt driven (meaning that the gas motor HAS to be on while the a/c is on, thereby negating some of the milage benefits).

Toyota originally wanted to do a diesel, however, CA smog rules enacted in 2005 or 6 that the auto companies knew about in the late 90's virtually outlaw the sale of new diesels. The original plans had a 100 mpg Prius with the diesel.

Answer 3

There are quite a few negatives to consider, not least of all is the rough ride of the Prius and its overall boring-ness. Toyota concedes that the life of the nickel based batteries used in their cars have a useful life of 8-10 years. Compare a Prius to a Corolla over the same time period and there is NO financial savings from the higher mpg of the hybrid. The initial cost difference kills it. Hybrids do not save people money because they use less gasoline, in fact, they cost the consumer more. It would take 15 years of ownership before the Prius finally paid off. Add the cost of battery replacement every 8 years and other parts and owners have no chance of even breaking even. Furthermore, consumers might actually be doing more damage to the environment by buying a hybrid as the acid and nickel in the batteries are both toxic and the retailers of the cars won't recycle the batteries or even take them off your hands!! Nobody even knows how recycleable the toxic mess the batteries will become in 8 years really is. Hybrids are a just a way of selling cars and experimenting with technology. If you want to save the oil and the earth buy a diesel car like a VW bug or even the Jeep Liberty. Bio-diesel is far superior and making strides. To quote the inventor of the diesel engine Rudolf Diesel in 1912, "the use of vegetable oil for fuels may seem insignifigant today but such oil may become in the course of time, as important as petroleum and coal-tar products of the present time."

Answer 4

No car's EPA mileage is the same as reality, it presents consumers with the ability to compare based on a common standard. Otherwise Toyota testing the Highlander on a downhill slope could get the same mileage as Ford testing a Focus on level ground.

The Prius is a great car regardless of being hybrid. It has one of the highest reliability and satisfaction rates. All hybrid cars are have longer warranties and are built to a higher standard because of it, so they are better.

You may or may not save money on gas vs. paying more for the car.

The Prius has a great ability to carry things and is very roomy for its size.

Answer 5

"Consumer Reports" found that under real driving conditions the Prius's gas mileage was vastly less than claimed. It's also very expensive for a car of it's size ... if you're concerned about gas mileage and don't want to pay excessively a better bet is Corolla or Civic.

Answer 6

It's a little more expensive (around $21,000). Most people don't realize this but it's only a little smaller than the Camry. It's unique shape makes it appear small, but is what increases its gas mileage. There are a lot of standard features that normally only come on luxury cars, like push button start, smart-key, things like that. They have had reports of not being most reliable, but I trust Toyota.

Answer 7

Its a pain in the neck to fix it since its a hybrid. It doesnt save much fuel as it said it would, so your better off buying a Corolla or the Civic, you'll save plenty of gas.

Answer 8

The difference in Price off sets what you save in fuel. It cheaper to buy a regular car and use the extra money to buy gas over it's life span.

Answer 9

Check the warranty on the batteries. They will need to be changed out someday.

Answer 10

con:
expensive
mileage is not real world tested
maintenance cost is high
unattractive vehicle

pro:
tax break
less emissions
mileage is still better than suvs and trucks