Price of a new Prius $30,000 roughly.
From the web:
I bought my brand new Prius from a dealership in Waterford, MI in
the fall of 2005. It is the only car I have ever kept until the loan was
paid off, and even then I was in no hurry to sell or replace it. Then
the hybrid battery died.
We put over 100,000 miles on the car over the past eight years, and
the only maintenance we ever really had to do were oil changes, brakes,
and tires.
We took the car to an auto repair shop nearby that we trust. The
mechanics there are friendly, honest, and good at what they do. A
$120 diagnostic fee and five hours later, we got the news that they
identified the dreaded P08A0 error code: Replace Hybrid Battery Pack.
The cost to install a new hybrid battery pack? $4,033! According to
Kelley Blue Book the car is only worth about $7500 on the street, and
our mechanic wanted us to pay more than half of that just to keep it
running.
The hybrid battery pack in 2004 and later Prius models is warranted
for only eight years or 100,000 miles (10 years or 150,000 miles in
states that have adopted the stricter California emissions control
standards), which means there are hundreds of thousands of Prii on the
street that are out of warranty and will need the hybrid battery pack
replaced.
Deprecation almost $3,000 a year.
Gas cost for conventional car at 25 MPG 12,000 miles and $3.50 a
gallon is $1680 per year.
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There are many other sources than the dealer. Google or see
http://www.dormanhybrid.com/ Street price is about half the figure quoted.
Sam Chitwood
Moral: Buy a used Prius?
Fred Osbourn
No....the moral of the story is to buy a Mazda 3 for about $22,000
and get 41 mpg. Your cost per mile will be about half of the Prius after
its all said and done.
Bob Mears
-
Only viable economic reason to buy a plug-in hybrid is to drive the
HOV lanes in congested traffic by yourself. Otherwise, it is not worth it.
That said, I am thinking about buying one so I can drive in the HOV
lanes in L.A.
Henry Nee