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2007 Toyota Prius Touring Edition
New IntelliChoice study shows Toyota Prius as top-ranking hybrid

Gasoline-electric hybrid technology in automobiles is a very touchy subject for many people. On one side you have consumers who champion the increased efficiency and reduced emissions afforded by being able to shut down the engine when stopped and run on battery power at low speeds. The other side argues that the mileage gains aren't worth the added upfront costs associated with purchasing a hybrid.

According to new research released by IntelliChoice, naysayers may have less to argue about when it comes to the costs of owning a hybrid vehicle. The research showed that the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) over a span of five years or 70,000 miles of hybrid vehicles is actually less than that of competing gasoline-only vehicles.

IntelliChoice based their results on seven criteria: depreciation, fuel costs, finance costs, insurance, repairs, maintenance and applicable state fees. Factors that allowed hybrids to come out on top include better than expected resale value and depreciation, lower repair/maintenance costs and lower fuel costs.

Of the 22 hybrid vehicles evaluated by IntelliChoice the Prius was rated as the top performer. Comparable vehicles in the Prius' class have a 5-year TCO of $33,305, but the actual costs for the Prius came in at just under $20,000. “The Prius has been the darling of the hybrid set, and it remains our highest rated value for hybrid vehicles. But this survey validates the cost performance of the other many hybrid models that are currently on the market. All of the hybrids in our study have achieved ‘Excellent’ ratings in their respective classes from IntelliChoice.com,” said James Bell of IntelliChoice.

Such findings are sure to delight manufacturers like Toyota and General Motors. Toyota is gearing up to sell as many as one million hybrid vehicles globally per year by the beginning of the next decade and GM is betting on highly efficient plug-in gasoline-electric hybrid technology.



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Let the flogging begin...
By rtrski on 1/15/2007 11:53:09 AM , Rating: 5
I remember the last hybrid-related news posting got a ton of hate-commentary about how they weren't cheaper at all due to battery replacement, up-front costs, etc unless you drove umpteen million miles a year.

[Disclaimer: I've been quite happy with my Prius, and I do drive about 30-35k miles a year due to a 110 mile round trip work commute (and if you do the math, you might guess I do that mileage even WITH also riding public transport a couple of days a week)]

Just curious if we'll see the same naysayers flogging this news article.

In all fairness though, I bet the factors such as 'lower than average deprecation and higher resale' are probably transient, and -- with wider adoption of hybrid technology into a wider variety of cars -- will neither stay constant with time nor across all hybrid models universally. So I do quite honestly believe that there can be hybrids that are (due to upfront costs or shoddy engineering) less economical than standards. I just don't agree the Prius has been one of them to date.

Hybrid technology is not the be-all, end-all of "alternative" transportation. But it doesn't do bad, and reduces emissions in the meantime even relative to an equivalent mileage vehicle, so it ain't a bad start.




By NoSoftwarePatents on 1/15/2007 12:07:08 PM , Rating: 1
I hope Toyota will make a hybrid version of the RAV4 when my current one (2004) gets old (5 years from now). It's a nice mini-SUV that can easily transport me to my favorite snowboard places, since I like 4WD. Otherwise, I'll likely get another gasoline version...



RE: Let the flogging begin...
By Lord 666 on 1/15/07, Rating: -1
RE: Let the flogging begin...
By Lord 666 on 1/15/07, Rating: -1
RE: Let the flogging begin...
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 1/15/2007 12:18:24 PM , Rating: 4
However, both are equally ugly :-)


RE: Let the flogging begin...
By rtrski on 1/17/2007 11:23:50 AM , Rating: 2
heh heh....

It's a matter of taste I guess. I actually like the look of the Prius (and the VW's, too, for that matter...they've got that slightly chic boxy old-Audi or BMW look, and I still always associate convertible Golf's with blonde ponytailed sorority girls in my mind. ;) )


RE: Let the flogging begin...
By nurbsenvi on 1/15/2007 12:25:35 PM , Rating: 2
2.0 TDI?
try beating Prius in the city.


RE: Let the flogging begin...
By Ringold on 1/15/2007 12:37:29 PM , Rating: 2
Except that most white collar folk live in the suburbs and spend most of their daily mileage on the highway instead of inner-city highways, making the Prius gain in the city less a factor for a lot of peoples situations.

It's give and take. Living in the inner city, it might be worth it to get a Prius over a Jetta TDI. (Assuming it didn't get stolen, depending on what your inner city is like of course :P) Living on the outskirts of town it's much less clear.


RE: Let the flogging begin...
By Lord 666 on 1/15/2007 12:52:16 PM , Rating: 2
There is a high theft rate of Prius's? They are plenty of them in NYC, have even seen some cabbies driving them now.


RE: Let the flogging begin...
By Ringold on 1/15/2007 1:59:57 PM , Rating: 2
I was refering more to the higher-crime areas you find in inner city areas, where the person I was replying to said Prius operates best. Instead, I pointed out a popular place for white collar folk that can afford the extra cash on a Prius are likely in the suburbs and drive a good distance to work, with 'white flight' and all.


RE: Let the flogging begin...
By rtrski on 1/17/2007 11:28:11 AM , Rating: 2
...and yet, you always see Escalades and the like which cost WAY more in supposedly 'poor' areas of town.

$31k isn't that much for a car these days, so I don't think the argument that only suburban yuppies can 'afford' Prius's has much validity. I see many other popular 'subcultures' worship expensive cars as much or more - just in different ways (mod wheels and spinners, custom paint, gold trim, monster truck lift jobs, whatever - not pointing at any one ethnic or social group, but they all cost as much or more as the up front 'price premium' to buy a hybrid).

But maybe the eco-freak classification is found more in the white-collar 'burbs? <wry grin>


RE: Let the flogging begin...
By Lord 666 on 1/15/2007 12:49:11 PM , Rating: 3
2006 US Spec 1.9

All around real world the TDI wins; including both mixed city and highway/urban and extra urban. Both rtrski and I have about 110-120 mile commute. What mileage counts more, the 30 minutes stuck in gridlock or the other 45 minutes you are doing 75mph? Its the combined average that counts. The overall combined real world mileage that most American's drive gives the VW TDI a slight edge.

Here is an honest question for Prius owners in NYC area; is the mileage worse on the way home sitting 30 minutes or more in NYC gridlock and then driving 75mph compared to driving in doing 75mph and then sitting in gridlock? Would think the recharge time would be longer on way home and would have less fuel economy.

The UK Spec Honda Accord CTDI blows away both in mileage and performance (known in US as the TSX) with a combined average of 51mpg and 39/ 62 split and 0-60 in 9.3. 2009 is supposedly the date Honda will produce diesel vehicles for US market.


RE: Let the flogging begin...
By Sureshot324 on 1/15/2007 1:31:13 PM , Rating: 3
It isn't fair to compare diesel and gasoline vehicles by their mpg alone. Diesel fuel is much more dense, so there are a lot more CO2 emissions per gallon of diesel.

As far as the environment is concerned, a Jetta TDI pollutes much more than a Prius, though the TOC of the Jetta will be lower.


RE: Let the flogging begin...
By Lord 666 on 1/15/2007 1:43:06 PM , Rating: 2
Actually, that is incorrect, diesel emits lower CO2. However, diesel puts out higher NOx. Reducing the sulphur content from 500ppm to 15ppm was the first step to reducing NOx emissions. BluTech and Honda's dual stage exhust system are the current solutions to further reducing NOx and meeting DEP's 2008 requirements.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel


RE: Let the flogging begin...
By Souka on 1/15/2007 3:35:33 PM , Rating: 2
and lets not forget that E85 will become much more prevelant in the near future....

Cars not built for E85 get much lower MPG than "regular" gas... and even E85 designed vehicles don't do as well.
(I don't recall actual differences, but I seem to recall more than one political talk show discussing the pro & cons of E85.... pros being less emmisions per mile...cons being lower MPG and higher cost/mile)

So the diesel option I suspect will become even a better option....and how long until a diesel-hybrid comes out???


RE: Let the flogging begin...
By Chernobyl68 on 1/15/2007 11:50:55 PM , Rating: 2
You get lower mileage with E85 because there's less energy in a gallon of ethanol than in a gallon of gasoline.

Cars that aren't specifically built to run on E85 should never use it because of the damage the fuel can do to the engine. It eats the seals.


RE: Let the flogging begin...
By jak3676 on 1/16/2007 10:47:56 AM , Rating: 2
So long as we're discussing E85, we also need to get more biodiesel into the market. Its easier/cheaper to produce than ethanol and has similar benifits.


RE: Let the flogging begin...
By rtrski on 1/17/2007 11:35:40 AM , Rating: 2
A well-adjusted diesel needn't pollute that much. But I do believe I've read that while its a "cheaper" process to refine diesel, you get less diesel from a barrel of crude than you get gasoline, hence the refineries end up producing less which helps keep the price of diesel a bit higher, so there are other tradeoffs.

I agree you can't compare the different fuels on a purely per-gallon-mileage basis or even a fuel-cost basis, since economies of scale and market demand factor into the price of both fuels. Which is why I never tried to start that whole argument, just wondered whether the "hybrids suck compared to conventionals" crowd would be back to this thread. Frankly I didn't even see the "mine is bigger" argument from the diesel crowd as relavant, but to each their own. ;)

I guess the only relevant overall comparison should be the mileage total you get relative to the raw product (crude) with some factor for the cost of refinement added in, and the total emission quantities you output while moving that distance. But this is all entirely off topic to the original article, which was that TCO for hybrids is indeed cheaper than for 'conventional' gas cars.


RE: Let the flogging begin...
By Samus on 1/16/2007 8:21:33 AM , Rating: 2
have you ever driven a deisel powered car? its like driving a car with an extra thousand pounds in the back seat.

turbo or whatever, even modern deisel's dont have the rev's that make it feel like a normal engine. they're sluggish accelerating, no matter how hi tech they are, and when it comes time to maintain it internally, you're spending big bucks. and environmentally, even the cleanest deisel doesn't burn as clean as a comparable petrol engine.


RE: Let the flogging begin...
By masher2 (blog) on 1/16/2007 10:41:31 AM , Rating: 2
> "have you ever driven a deisel [sic] powered car? its like driving a car with an extra thousand pounds in the back seat..."

That's roughly comparable to driving your average hybrid.

> "when it comes time to maintain it internally, you're spending big bucks..."

Ah, but you have to do engine maintenance far less with a diesel. Any way you slice it, overall manintenance costs are reduced