On Feb 11, 10:48 am, "JimH" wrote:

Hybrids are those who want to *feel good* and proclaim to the world that
they own one and are doing their part in conserving energy.........as you
just did...as you will not likely recoup any savings in the long run by
owning one.

The price of cars like the Prius are becoming more competitive. The
chef at my daughter's school just purchased an 08 for a few bucks less
than I paid for my 06. When the rush was on for them a year and a
half to two years ago, there were significant tax credits, carpool
lane access stickers (in some states), and $3 gas was freaking people
out.

Even at $3 a gallon, the "average driver," someone that drives less
than 20K miles a year, would be hardpressed to recoup the price
difference in gas savings alone in less than 5 or 6 years.

I bought my Prius to replace a Hyundai Sonata when my employment put
me on the road a lot - I put 40K miles on my Prius the first year I
had it with an average fuel economy of 52 mpg. That is twice what the
Sonata got on the highway. At $3 a gallon, this was over $2000 in gas
cost savings in one year. And I was getting... 48¢ a mile from my
employer which I calculated was covering 100% of my ownership costs
for that first year.

What took me to look at the Prius and Honda Civic hybrids was the
carpool lane stickers. They were the only two hybrids that qualified
for them at the time. I was driving driving between Sacramento,
Berkeley and Palo Alto two to three times a week. Being able to use
the HOV lanes was giving me back 3 to 6 hours a week - Time my
employer probably wished I put into productive business time, but I
usually used in the evenings with my wife and 3-year-old daughter.

I didn't get the entire tax credit (over $3000) due to my income and a
couple of other credits I was taking, but it was still about $1600 off
my 2006 tax bill.

All in all, I have no regrets over buying a Prius and found it to be
cost effective based on my driving needs.

I will say that the 60mpg city claim is bunk. What city that it, I
don't know. I had one trip of about 150 miles where I got 62mpg, but
that included hours of grinding slow freeway commuting - stop and go
at speeds under 30mph. Like the EPA rating actually showed on the
Civic hybrid, my Prius gets 48 to 53 mpg whether in town or on the
highway.

Outside of great fuel efficiency, the Prius just a compact car.
Nothing special about the handling. It is not near as quiet on the
highway as our Chrysler. I picked the Prius over the Honda because of
utility; the Prius' hatchback and fold down rear seat provides a lot
more cargo flexibility. And the Prius accelerates better than the
Civic - at least I felt Prius out performed the Civic on test drives.