The Great Prius Hunt
Kelly and I, for a while now, have been enamored with the Toyota Prius, a gas/electric hybrid that gets roughly 50 miles to the gallon. It’s surprisingly roomy and the drive is nice, and it’s a Toyota, so it has a good safety and service track record. Also, it’s got wicked technical props as well – like the fighter-cockpit-style heads-up display as well as a sweet color touchscreen that controls the interior systems. I mean, duh! It’s a battery powered car with a computer in it. IT MUST BE MINE.
It retails for $21K or so, and so it was out of mine and Kelly’s range for a few years, but now with us very close to not having a car payment and my car (a beloved 1997 Nissan Maxima) getting very close to 100k miles, it would seem the time is nigh for a new auto.
Problem is this – Prius’ ’round these parts rarely sell for their stock MSRP of $21K. In fact, over at Toyota of Louisville, they slid a number across the table to me that included a $3000 mark-up, which I called them on. But lo’, these are the days of the Internet. Thanks to sites like Intellichoice, I know the invoice and MSRP prices of the car, as well as the option packages. Thanks to the Prius-centric PriusChat.com, I am fully aware of all retailers in North America selling their Prius’ for MSRP or under, and current deals and inventory levels. It’s only a seller’s market when the buyer is in the dark, methinks. Currently, I’ve got a lead on Prius’ in Washington DC selling for $1700 UNDER MSRP. A plane ride and a car trip could well save me a net $1000. Not bad, eh? We’ll see. Stay tuned!
Update 2006.04.07: My 97 Nissan Maxima busted it’s proverbial gut last night. After getting it back from Smith Import Car Service for the 3rd time in 2 weeks, the radiator busted! Excellent. That car knows it’s being sold.
Further update 2006.04.17: Kelly and I ordered a Prius from Greentree Toyota last Friday! Either in the Magnetic Gray or the Barcelona Red color. It’ll be ordered by the dealer on Thursday. No definite word on the wait just yet, but it would seem like 30-60 days.
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the Honda hybrid cars? The Insight has a MSRP of around $21K, the Civic Hybrid is around $21K as well. The Accord is a little pricy at around $33k. Personally, I’d choose the Honda over the Toyota. I’ve heard that the Prius had some serious problems in their first year because they were rushed to market because of the success of the Insight. I don’t know how (or if) those problems have been fixed, but I’d certainly give the Hondas a look-see.
well, the prius has a much larger interior. the hwtchback is handy. we want a 4 door, which rules out the insught, and the civic has a different type of hybrid engine, which i read somewhere (can’t remeber where, it was a hile ago) that the prius is a more “true” hybrid engine. also, i’m a bit partial to toyota (probably because my first car wa a tercel), and the prius has the best service record, according to consumer reports. yeah, the first year they had some problems, and they also were in these weird easter eggs colors, but both aspects have been greatly improved.
Yeah, we certainly considered a LOT of cars, including the Honda Hybrids, Subarus, Volkswagens, etc. As Kelly mentioned, the Prius is big on the inside and I read up on Consumer Report’s reliability stats on the Prius. They had the lowest number of “incidents” in their first year of ANY car. I was happy about that :) They’ve been around since 2001 and reading the Prius forums, I’ve yet to see any major complaints.
I briefly considered a diesel Jetta wagon because of the fuel economy, but they don’t make them anymore! Also, VW’s service records are even worse than some domestics.
I really just wanted a reliable wagon that got decent gas mileage. Matt’s Mazda 6 (or whatever the model is) was up for consideration there for a while, but I wanted something just a little bigger. Also, the Prius is WAY cool. Computers and such! Awesome.