Accord vs Prius

[rufusmcd]

Hi all,
I would like to get some opinions on a decision I am trying to make. I have a Honda Accord that at last fill up got 33 mpg. The hard way, going slow and coasting downhill so forth and so on. It has got as low as 24 making the same trip. I have a 51 mile one way commute to work. I don't not drive a lot other than to work and in town on the weekends to run errands. My commute is about 60% highway but I can drive under 45 if I need to . The other 40 % is a lot of traffic and stop light and stop signs. I estimate that I will be spending about 50 to 55 a week on gas just for the commute driving painfullly slow. It takes about 1 hour 15 minutes for the commute. I have thought about getting a used Prius. Unless I can talk a salesman into letting me take it to work a couple of times to weigh the pros and cons it will be hard for me to see what savings both money and time I might or might not get get from purchasing a Prius. My car is paid for and I have no fault insurance which is pretty cheap. Plus my tag is cheap also. But I also have about 230k miles on it too. The Prius I am looking online at has 89k. Any thought suggestions or ideas will be greatly appreciated.

[andyrobo]

I love my Prius but just had my front headlight burn out. The 2005 to 2009 Prius had a problem with moisture in the headlights. Mine is a Touring trim and thus had the HID headlight lights. These lights need a ballast to power them and that sits in the bottom of the light and got rusted. My final bill for fixing the ballast, getting a new light housing and replacing the HID bulb was $832+ tax. I work from home and only have 31k miles on a 6 year old car. That mean's I've spent about $2,650 on gas for my car and this single maintenance cost is equal to 31.5% of the cost of all my gas to date. I guess what I am saying is that maintenance might be an issue that could eat up your fuel cost savings. Something to consider.

[rufusmcd]

Thanks! That's definitely something to consider.

[Draigflag]

Ive just had to swap my car that only got 40 MPG for somthing that gets 65 MPG, although our fuel in the UK works out at $10 a gallon. Wouldn't just look at a Prius, there are plenty of other more exciting hybrids out there that offer much better mileage, but it seems the way to go given what kind of driving you do. I would say get a small diesel car, but there isnt much choice in the US.

[Firehawk251]

With diesel's being so few in the U.S. the maintenance cost is expensive. Diesel mechanics are few and far between. As much as I loved the Golf TDI I had I gave it up because of this reason. $300+ for an oil change and examination by VW dealers is excessive. The car would have to get much better mileage to justify owning it.
As far as a hybrid goes, keep in mind that many states are send the owners a hybrid/electric use fee. This is to compensate for not using enough gas. The government would rather you own an SUV.

[rufusmcd]

In your opinion what are the better hybrids? And a friend of mine is a mechanic. He suggested just a regular civic. He said I would lose money on a Volkswagen with the maintenance cost.

[Draigflag]

I dont get why diesels have extra maintenance in the US, the service and oil change intervals tend to be longer than gas. My oil/service change is due every 18,000, one of the reasons I switched was to save money on servicing etc. Everything seems opposite in the US, although you do get £5000 from the government if you want to buh a fully electric car.

[andyrobo]

If it's an economic decision then switching to a civic is probably a good idea. You can probably find one around the same mileage as the Prius in great shape and as you know it can last a long time with fairly low maintenance costs. Another thing to note is the cost of insurance on the Prius. I have a Honda Odyssey for our family car and the Prius. The Odyssey's used car value is worth about 2x what the Prius is but the Prius costs $30/month more in insurance. This is because of the "fancy" stuff in hybrids that can get messed up in a smaller collision and cost much more to repair then a traditional vehicle.

Honestly, I am glad I bought my Prius, it's been a great car other then the headlight issue. For me it was more about experiencing how new technology is evolving. I am just grumpy now to see the ongoing maintenance costs on items that were known defects be so much. They even had TSBs and a class action lawsuit over the headlights but will no longer honor the repairs as the time has lapsed to get them done. Other then the light, the car has been perfect and still going strong.

[richmond2000]

in the US market I would recommend a USED Prius for fuel "sipping" BUT you commute "profile" I would lean towards a Civic OR a Cruze ECO with the manual tranny as the INITIAL cost VS a Prius may not "pay back" well considering you HIGH hi way usage (assuming it is clear)

and for a TDi depending on what year (warranty or not) most towns/cities have garages that specialize in german cars are are WAY CHEAPER then Dealer and again go stick shift if possible (the VW autos are very $$$ to fix)
and also look to see if your town has anybody that specializes in Priuses
and if the CABBIES use them as there will be more "spares" available should some thing stuff up (-:

[rufusmcd]

andyrobo Im glad you said that because I bought an 09 yesterday. Is there anyway to prevent the headlight problem? Such as some kink of sealant? Might be the best decision I ever made or it might be the worst, only time will tell I do have a couple of quick concerns if you don't mind. I had a stereo installed right after I left the dealership. After installing it a warning message came on about the a.c. He looked the problem up on a message board and fixed it. But when I left the master warning light came on. And it might have been my imagination but I could swear it was revving higher than it did before. I went back to the store and told the guy and he was looking into it when I powered it off once and back light was still there. I did notice a message on the display screen but didn't read what it said. Then I went inside for a few minutes came back out and powered it up again and the light and message were gone. On the way home I paid very close attention to how it drove and the engine sound as it has no tachometer. As far as I could tell everything was normal. The gas mileage and other read outs seemed to be the same. Is there any way to figure out what happened or what the message was? Or anything I should be looking for as a problem? The engine revving high could have just been in my head as I was panicking over the thought of me screwing the car up before I even got it home. Thanks for everyone's advice and I will be posting my mileage results. Have a great day.