Yeah, I know that a lot of people buy hybrids as a lifestyle statement—a visible sign that, even if they haven’t divorced their car, they’re still doing their best to be “green.”
But according to Business Fleet magazine, even the least environmentally aware consumer has an excellent reason to choose a hybrid: as cars go, they’re just plain cheap. As gas prices rise, the cost advantages of a fuel-sipping vehicle really start to add up. And that’s true not only because hybrid owners spend less on gas, but also because hybrids appear to be holding their value over time.
A few years back, though, the picture was very different. People who bought their hybrids in 2008, when gas prices were soaring, might have been regretting the move a year later—when the Prius started getting a bad rap for safety problems (an issue that some thought was vastly overblown), and collapsing gas prices ate away at the cost savings from hybrid technology.
But safety concerns didn’t make much of a long-term dent in the Prius’s resale value. And when gas prices started climbing again, the fuel savings from hybrid technology started outweighing the slightly higher purchase price. Now, by Business Fleet’s calculations—which factor in depreciation, gas, repairs, insurance, and other costs — the Prius is a car that should set a skinflint’s heart aflame. In fact, at 28 cents per mile over five years of driving, there’s only one car that beats the Prius in Business Fleet’s cost calculations: the hybrid Honda Insight (pictured above), at 27 cents per mile over five years. Of course, Business Fleet assumes a gas price of about $2.79 per gallon, which (in case you hadn’t noticed) is badly out of date already—and at today’s prices, the Prius may have pulled ahead a bit.
But regardless of which hybrid is cheaper, the bottom line is the same: some of the most fuel efficient cars on the market are also the cheapest ones to own. Which means that soon enough the Prius and Insight won’t simply be symbols of green chic—but also of enlightened frugality.
Honda Insight image courtesy of Flickr user kelvin255, distributed under a Creative Commons license.
westomoon
“at today’s prices, the Prius may have pulled ahead a bit.”Hello, reasoning? The more expensive gas gets, the farther ahead the Insight will pull, because its mileage is better.As the driver of a (spectacularly undemanding) Honda Civic Hybrid since 2003, I get a little tired of people assuming the Prius is the only “real” hybrid on the road.
Clark Williams-Derry
Westomoon:Actually, the new 4-Door Insight gets fewer miles per gallon than the new Prius. 2011 Insight MPG: 40 city, 43 highway2011 Prius MPG: 51 city, 48 highwayBut the Insight’s sticker price is lower than the Prius, and Business Fleet found that it had super-low repair costs. That’s why it came ahead of the Prius by a hair. But with higher gas prices, I bet the Prius has pulled back ahead. Still, they’re both very close.
Bill Bradburd
WTF?!?! i thought we are supposed to be discouraging driving.maybe Sightline could post daily where to find the cheapest gas prices in town too…
Holly
They might be “cheap” to buy, but I know the upkeep for my Prius is WAY more than for my previous cars.
Josef
That may be good, but what about the battery, the nickel used to build the battery and when the battery needs to be replaced?Also what about those who need to use highways often in the exurbs like Sedro-Woolley? What do you say to those users who instead go for the Toyota Echo?Just curious.
Eric Hess
Holly –Clark can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe these price rankings take into account average maintenance costs.
Chris Bradshaw
Clark forgot to mention in the article, but mentioned in his first response, that hybrids, unlike gas-engine cars, get better mileage on city street than on freeways.Thus they make more sense for the city-centre crowd—who probably don’t need cars, and as taxis, another city-centre favourite. So we need to realize that various vehicle sharing schemes are set up to get the most use of a particular car, leaving essentially tied with small gas-only cars, like the Echo, on the highway with the Echo, as a later commenter suggested.
VeloBusDriver
Holly – The main extra cost in maintaining a Prius is that you have 2 cooling systems to flush. Newer Priuses go 100,000 miles before needing a flush while older models require a change of the coolant every 3 years at a minimum. That extra cost is outweighed by the need for less brake maintenance and lower gas costs. Our Prius has over 100,000 miles and we’re still on the original brakes with lots of brake pad left. I wouldn’t be surprised if I replace the car before needing a brake job.Josep – The Prius batteries have been recycled since the mid-1990’s. Apparently, the nickel used to be recycled for manufacturing Stainless steel but these days they have the technology to extract nickel and reuse it for battery manufacturing. With the price of nickel these days, I’d be surprised to find any Prius batteries going to a landfill – they’re just too valuable.
VeloBusDriver
We get close to 50mpg when driving our 2002 Prius at freeway speeds of around 55-60mph. However, when you push it up to 70, the mpg really drops – like back down to 38 or 40mpg. The newer Priuses have a more powerful engine which paradoxically made them more efficient. They may be able to handle the higher speeds better although there will still be a drop in mpg any time you start to exceed 55 or so.
Barry
On Prius batteries: none end up in landfills. They have a big sticker right on them offering $200 reward just for phoning an 800 number. They are way too valuable to waste and they are fully recycled. Toyota claims none have ever had to be replaced except after accidents…like any other car part would need to be.
barry
Josef asks about Echo vs Prius on highway. EPA lists Echo at 37 MPG and Prius at 48 MPG on highway. Josef also asks about nickel used in Prius battery. If the question is what is the embodied energy in Prius vs sub-compact like Yaris or Echo, the Argonne research lab published data on embedded energy on a range of different materials and people have used that to calculate that Prius has about 25% more energy embodied in it. Overall that works out to equivalent of around 800 gallons of oil worth of embodied energy in sub-compact and 1000 gallons of oil worth of embodied energy in Prius. An extra 200 gallons. So that makes it easy to see where the inflection point of the saved fuel from MPG passes up the extra embodied energy.If a Prius gets 11 MPG more per gallon vs Echo it will pay off its extra embodied energy in 2200 miles of highway driving. After that it is an energy/CO2 saver…even at highway speeds.The amazing fact about cars is that the vast majority of the energy goes into pushing them around…not building them. But because we see the big car and not the invisible gasoline, many people focus on the car not the gas.For example a Prius uses 10 tons of gasoline to drive 160k miles. A sub-compact uses 17 tons of gas. An SUV uses over 30 tons of gas.Triple those numbers to get CO2 climate pollution.