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Article on the new Prius; If Prius is this good for the economy...
Topic Started: Mar 28 2009, 10:31 AM (964 Views)
dimetrodon


http://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/highway1/la-fi-neil27-2009mar27,0,7090671.column

Yes, a great car. But Suzuki could probably update the Metro with modern safety features and perhaps a finely-tuned 800cc diesel engine, match the Prius mileage and cost half as much.

Needless to say, anyone who obtains or fixes up an old Metro is probably $15K ahead from the word "go."
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Johnny Mullet
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Fear the Mullet

Buying a new Prius to save fuel is not the way to go unless you are in the market for a new vehicle and concerned about fuel costs, but what about maintenance costs?
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mtran2000
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Johnny Mullet
Mar 28 2009, 02:36 PM
Buying a new Prius to save fuel is not the way to go unless you are in the market for a new vehicle and concerned about fuel costs, but what about maintenance costs?
From what I hear, Prius vehicles are very reliable and not much maintenance is needed.

Only draw back is purchase price compared to Metros.

Mark
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jj53913
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My wife is the new car owner in the family and we bought a Yaris about 2 years ago and the worst we got was 32 mpg that we have recorded. We have got in the low 40's many times even on the freeway at 65 for almost 500 miles we got 42 mpg. I know what they are rated at and I don't know why we get so good.
30,000 miles and only maintance so far and only $12k brand new.
Prius is over rated in my opinion for twice the money
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Cobb
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The prius has potential, but the us version is very watered down. Heck, the big 3 make very fuel efficent models of the cars we know and have driven for the international market.

You can mod a prius and change stuff to make it more efficent, but who wants to hack a 30 thousand dollar car?

Not sure what the goal is of all the auto makers. Both domestic and imports have had fuel efficent cars and trucks, but for some reason they morph into larger, bigger inefficent vehicles.

Not sure diesel is the answer yet. I know when I use to work at the commercial truck dealer in my area, many people switched to gas since it was cheaper and they did not have to worry about finding ultra low sulfur, low sulfur and regular diesel fuel.
Edited by Cobb, Mar 28 2009, 11:07 PM.
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PushnFords


mtran2000
Mar 28 2009, 04:09 PM

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Purchase price is a big drawback but I think a lot of the Prius owners also want something new and would be embarrassed to drive an "old beater" like a Metro. I've heard maintenance costs are low and the warranty goes to 100K. Their value severely drops off at that point because the battery and electrical systems are so expensive you really don't want to pay for repairs out of pocket.
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Ghino
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I think the Prius is the most dangerious and UGLY car ever inventent.

Ugly? Yeps it is. no doubt about it. the one who createt proberly where verry drunk and stonend because damn....
there are no lines of a car left.

dangerius? Yep. reason?
well.
1. the sound.
its SO quit.... you can never hear one comming....
it will hit you BEFORE you even know there was someting around....
Normal cars are just dangerious for kids who are 2 bussy with playing but a prius is dangerius for EVERYONE without other reasons.

2. also the sound. the driver can never have a good function feel about his car because he CANT hear his vehicle.

3. his shape, there is no way that can be save. you never know where the vehicle ends ore begins.

If you realy realy realy care that much about the nature buy a bycicle ore go with the bus/train
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dimetrodon


I think the Prius is probably a great car, but I would be afraid of the escalating maintenance costs as the car ages. For stop-and-go, suburban driving, there are not a lot of options for getting great gas mileage. Regenerative breaking is needed and that requires a battery. So you'd need to be a EE degree to work on it.

However, long-distance commuting can be made very efficient with a lot less technology - as our Metros prove. Just imagine what Suzuki could do today if they were trying hard and were aiming at that long-distance-commuting market. I think they would settle on something like an 800cc non-turbocharged diesel. I could deal with less headroom than my Metro has, so I think the shell of the car could be even more aerodynamic than it already is. The rear of the car in particular... could taper more slowly than it does on our hatchbacks.

It will be interesting to watch Suzuki in their Indian and Asian markets where they must sell the cars for way-less money than here. It will be interesting to see how the auto industry explains Indian cars getting 60mpg and costing only $3K. Safety glass and airbags are NOT going to make up the $10K difference.
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Cobb
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A prius is very similar to an electric car. You need to floor it to accelerate for it to get revved up and decide what to use. Driving efficent can be more dangerous than what the car is powered by.

The physical vs electrical hybrids are a better approach, look at this http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hydraulic-hybrid.htm
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metromad


I'll be buying one when they finally intro the plug in version. I figure I can get to and from work without even starting the engine except from lights and passing cars. The way I drive, 100 mg will be a snap. Nope, won't be selling any of my Metro's soon. I will be using them for traveling and Geopalozza! :P
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Cobb
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Last I heard they were only makin the plug in for the government models and fleets. There are plenty of aftermarket kits that also include larger batteries too to extend range.

You will still use fuel as the prius runs the gas engine for several reasons. One is to get it up to operation temperature and to supply the passengers with heat. Another reason is to top off the vehicle battery. Hopefully they can include a switch to ignore both conditions. Thirdly the prius uses the gas engine for extra acceleration. By carefully driving you can get to almost 40mph if you watch your acceleration and grades without the need of the gas engine.

The gently used prius battery only gives you like 7 miles before it needs to be recharged. The dod is like 10-20%.

The chevy volt is supposed to go 40miles before needing gas. Unlike the prius that is a parallel hybrid with both gas and electric ready to go, the volt is going to be a serial hybrid where its basically an electric car with a generator. I guess in theory you can run it down faster than it can recharge.

They say the older prius were like that and if you climbed a continious grade that exceeded what the engine can do and depleated the battery, you were stuck going 56mph til it got recharged.
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