Which is better – the Prius or the Volt?

Hmmmmm, let me think about that for a moment…

Ah, I can choose a first generation car that doesn’t actually exist as yet with unproven technology from a company with dubious build quality and priced at somewhere between $30 and $40K

or

I can choose the third generation Prius with EPA rated 50 MPG combined, from a company that regularly wins top awards for customer satisfaction and reliability, for a model that has placed top in many of the same surveys and reports and should (guessing here) cost somewhere between $23 to $26K.

Now that’s a tough choice, isn’t it?

Not Edmunds, in article published via BusinessWire, Edmunds claims that a recent Consumer Reports article claiming the Touring Edition of the 2009 Prius was “best value” amongst 300 cars they studied is wrong. Getting in between a slap fight between Edmunds and Consumer Reports isn’t really a great idea. Both behemoths of the auto world tend to make enromous mistakes from time to time but with that said, it was this quote that caused me to pause…

“Anyone truly concerned about their household expenses should ask some questions about any methodology that finds a premium hybrid vehicle to be an excellent value, especially when gas prices are so low,” warns Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl. “It makes sense that value is top of mind for many car buyers; for consumers seeking the absolute best new car value, the 2009 Honda Civic is the best choice, not the Prius.”

Once again, Edmunds calling someone else’s methodology bizarre is a bit more than humorous. Their own figures have been questioned many times here and frankly, I’d take issue with CEO Anwyl on this one. I suspect, though I don’t know since we’re not privy to the inner workings of their “true cost to own” calculations that two factors are at play here. First, Civic vs. Prius isn’t really as direct a comparison as Edmunds would have you believe and second, I suspect their gas price calculations are fixed and would have to be thrown out the window is gas prices rise again (something we all know will never happen, right?). There’s no doubt the Honda a great vehicle but that it will really cost you that much less to own over a five year period is more than questionable.

Just as a side note, I question Consumer Reports picking the touring the edition as a “best value”. I would guess it’s based substantially on resale value but I would think that, for most consumers, the base model 2009 Prius would represent a better value.

As with any of these big company’s analysis, look carefully at as much of the raw data their using as possible when evaluating whether to pay attention to what they’re saying or not. Edmunds loves to blow smoke just like any of the car review companies. That they’re blowing smoke at Consumer Reports is funny and, I suspect, not nearly as on point as they would like to think.

Even I can do the math here.

0+0=0

That first zero is GM, the second zero is Chrysler and third zero is what the US taxpayer is getting for their money.

But don’t believe me…

From the WSJ: GM May Get Loan for Chrysler Deal

The Department of Energy is working to release $5 billion in loans to General Motors Corp. …

The funds would come from a pool of $25 billion in low-interest loans approved by Congress to help Detroit retool its plants to meet new fuel-efficiency standards. It’s not clear how quickly the money could be made available or whether it would come with strings attached.
And from Reuters: US Treasury working on aid for GM, Chrysler merger

The U.S. government is considering direct financial assistance to facilitate a possible merger between General Motors Corp and Chrysler …

The Treasury Department is weighing aid of at least $5 billion, which could include capital injections and government purchases of bad auto loans …

It looks more and more likely that GM will acquire Chrysler.

Also of interest, just last week Daimler wrote the value of their Chrysler holdings down to zero according to a report in the Free Press: Daimler: Chrysler worth nothing

The German automaker has depreciated its stake in Chrysler to zero from $268 million at the end of June, the company said Thursday. A little over a year ago, the company valued its 19.9% stake in Chrysler at $2.2 billion.

And the worst part of the whole, we’re left with an even bigger, crappier GM that still can’t make a decent, high MPG vehicle.

h/t calculatedrisk

Here are some of the conclusions of the report.

Most small cars aren’t economical for crash repairs: Ford Focus performs the best; Rabbit & Prius are the worst in bumper tests

ARLINGTON, VA — Low-speed collisions happen every day in commuter traffic and parking lots. These “fender benders” end up costing car owners a lot of money and aggravation because the bumpers on many cars aren’t designed to handle what should be a no-damage event.

In a series of crash tests, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently assessed how well the bumpers of 20 small car models would protect the vehicles from damage in low-speed collisions. The worst performers are the Hyundai Elantra, Toyota Prius, and Volkswagen Rabbit, each sustaining about $4,000 damage or more in a single test. The Ford Focus performed the best, with about one-third that amount of damage in its worst test.

“Small cars are supposed to be economical, but there’s nothing economical about three or four thousand dollars in repairs after a low-speed collision,” says Institute senior vice president Joe Nolan. “Ford did the best job of putting bumpers on a small car that largely do what they’re supposed to do. In 3 of the 4 tests, the bumpers on the Focus protected sheet metal and most other expensive parts from damage.

Why bumpers don’t bump: To assess and compare bumper performance in low-speed impacts, the Institute conducts a series of 4 crash tests — full front and rear into a barrier designed to mimic the front or back bumper on another vehicle plus front and rear corner impacts. The full-width impacts are conducted at 6 mph while the corner impacts are run at 3 mph.

The purpose of a bumper is to absorb the energy of a low-speed collision and slow the vehicles before there’s damage to expensive-to-repair parts like fenders and hoods. But there are multiple problems, the first of which is that the bumpers on colliding vehicles often don’t line up vertically so they don’t engage to begin with. Even some that do line up don’t stay engaged during an impact. Modern front-end styling results in bumper designs that can either slide under the bumpers of vehicles they strike or that simply don’t have enough room to absorb the energy of a low-speed crash. Even if they do engage the bumper of the vehicle they crash into, the bars underneath bumper covers often aren’t up to absorbing the energy. They may not be big enough to provide much protection from damage, especially if they don’t extend to vehicle corners, or they may be too flimsy to absorb much energy.

…

In the front corner test of the right side of the Prius, damage was much less, about $1,200, involving the fender and headlight. But had the test been conducted on the left side, the barrier would have crushed a coolant tank which costs more than $1,000 to replace, not including labor.

…

A taillight costs $205 to replace on the Prius compared with just $65 on the Focus.

…

To illustrate how small changes to bumper design can make a significant difference in repair costs, the Institute worked with Tech-Cor, the research division of Allstate Insurance, to modify the front bumper of the Prius. The reinforcement bar and foam absorber were extended another 10 inches on the passenger side under the headlight. When the Institute tested the Prius again, the headlight and fender were undamaged and the repair cost dropped from $1,200 to $254.

“There’s plenty of room under the bumper covers of most cars to make this simple change,” says Nolan.

…

Bumper performance in low-speed crash tests:
VEHICLE REPAIR COSTS
Front full Front corner Rear full Rear corner TOTAL DAMAGE
Toyota Prius $2,876 $1,208 $3,964 $1,022 $9,070

The Prius was the second most expensive vehicle to repair of the twenty that were tested.

The Toyota Prius and Yaris are both good buys on sticker price and fuel, but both have high depreciation rates. The Jeep Patriot costs less than the Prius and ranks high for value on maintenance and repairs. All three just made Forbes’ list of the least expensive vehicles to drive.

eh?

The Prius, according some spuds at no-name places such as Automotive.com., Forbes, Consumer Reports, Edmunds and that source no one ever quotes, the Kelley Blue Book has one of the best if not the best depreciation rate of any car currently on the market.

So when the station above blathers about Prius depreciation being high I have to wonder if it isn’t someone at the station who might be high? Then we toss in the random Jeep Patriot reference and I wonder what the “reporter” was thinking? Operating costs on a Jeep compared to the Prius? Seriously?

This one liner about the Patriot from Motor Trend kind of says it all,

Sum Up: CAN’T BE AS BAD AS COMPASS. SURELY.

Have your eye on a gas guzzler? It’s a good time to buy
Steven Cole Smith | AUTOMOTIVE

“Automakers made some big changes to their production plans based on preferences in the second quarter,” said Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com. “But if gas prices continue to recede to the long-term trend line, automakers may find that they overreacted to a temporary shift in consumers’ preferences.”

Because, as we all know, betting that gas prices will go down in the long term is always a good bet.

Right Jesse?

Uh, maybe not.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/

You tell me what the safe bet is here, “long-term”.

Look, Smith is right and he makes his case well enough that yes, now is a great time to buy a guzzler. Assuming you don’t have to actually drive and fuel it, sale prices on large vehicles are better than ever.

I wonder why?

Is it smug vs. smog?
By Hart Seely
Staff writer
These days, it’s not easy being king of the road.

Consider the Hummer H2, the four-wheel, four-star hotel. The thing goes anywhere with the quaint modesty of a Pershing tank. Of course, there is that 11 miles-per-gallon gas problem. Now and then, somebody accuses the owner of wrecking the planet.

Even Hummer dealers will say the Hummers get about 8-10, assuming you’re very lightfooted on the gas pedal. Nothing like driving your Hummer around town at 20 MPH to save fuel.

Then comes the Prius or, as some prefer, “Dorkmobile.” It fits into “green” parking spaces at the Carousel Center shopping mall and can ride in some cities’ carpool lanes. But now and then, somebody accuses its owner of secretly being happy about the price of gas.

Yes, because Prius owners don’t but gasoline. Why would Prius owners be happy about high gas prices? That’s about as stupid an accusation as I’ve read yet but I will say, at least it’s original.

Prius owners may not be impacted as much as Hummer owners by gas prices but neither group is cheering on $5 a gallon gas.

“There is the group that dislikes the Hummer and the group that dislikes the Prius,” said Ray Wert, editor of Jalopnik.com, a Web site that covers the auto industry. “And it’s for almost the same reason: the marketing of lifestyles that are almost nonexistent.”

Blather. Jalopnik is consistently one of the dumbest auto blogs running. And what does, “marketing of lifestyles that are almost nonexistent” mean anyway? I can’t comment on the Hummer lifestyle, whatever that is supposed to be but I know why I bought my Prius. I wanted a five passenger car that eat me alive in gas costs. It’s not a lifestyle, it was a very practical need that I had.

So goes the invisible duel between America’s two most loved and hated cars.

It’s Hummer vs. Prius, smog vs. smug, HOG vs. POG. (FYI: that’s Hummer Owners Groups v. Prius Owners Groups.)

Hey!

On the nation’s paved and social highways, the two cars embody starkly different views of patriotism, opulence, personal freedom, ingenuity, lifestyle and say both sets of owners misunderstandings.

Honestly, this is grievously stupid. The idea that these two vehicles somehow embody the totality of the owners feelings about the issues above is ridiculous. It’s a car. It’s a transportation tool.

Take the anti-Hummer crowd, which includes environmental groups, left-leaners and mischief-makers. Web sites such as ihatehummer.com encourage motorists to give Hummer owners the one-finger salute. Last year, vandals smashed up a Washington, D.C., owner’s Hummer and scrawled an environmental message on its side. They denounced the car as a symbol of decadent wealth and waste.

Nice. Although, I have to admit I did think the Hummer salute thing was funny. For the first few minutes.

Never having been in the “I express my sense of self through my vehicle” crowd I really don’t understand a lot of this.

“They don’t know us,” said Joseph Contini, of Jordan, who runs Hakuna Matata Tanning Salon in Solvay and loves his 2005 H2. “That’s the biggest problem. They don’t know us.”

Then there are the anti-Prius legions. They include Rush Limbaugh, who once called Prius owners “phonies.” Web sites such as ihatetheprius.com rail about political correctness and pretentious Hollywood celebrities. Last spring, somebody in Santa Rosa, Calif., went on a Prius-bashing spree over several nights. To some, the hybrid symbolizes smugness.

Smug. Smug. Smug.

Seriously, it was funny once, when it was South Park. Since then, it’s like the annoying five year old that repeats something over and over again.

“All I can say is if anybody knows me, they won’t think that,” said Lois Bolton, 69, of Liverpool, who loves her 2004 Prius.

The notion of cars as socio-political icons goes back decades, says Syracuse automotive historian Walter Miller. In the 1960s, the Cadillac embodied wealth and conservatism, while the Volkswagen mini-bus became the hippie van of choice. In the 1980s, as U.S. car plants began closing, a cultural divide grew between people driving American made cars and Japanese imports.

Miller, who founded the now-closed Museum of Automobile History, says both cars could be future museum exhibits. The Hummer will fall to high gas prices, the Prius to technological advances.

Which will be most remembered?

“Probably the Hummer, assuming that we don’t ever go back to $10 a barrel gas,” Miller said. “It’ll be just like the ridiculous big fins of the 1950s that people kind of laugh at now. . . . It’ll be, ‘Those foolish Americans, look what they did!’ ”

Over the last 12 months, Hummer sales have plummeted 59 percent, despite a slimmed-down H3 model that gets better mileage than a few SUVs. General Motors might sell the Hummer line.

But Priuses are in such demand that Toyota upped their price last spring and still has a waiting list. The Prius gets an estimated 48 mpg in city driving.

The 2008 H2 15 feet long, nearly 7 feet wide, and with a chrome grill the size of a snow plow retails for $58,325, according to the Kelley Blue Book directory. But gas prices are taking their toll. A 2005 H2 with 60,000 miles is worth half the current price $28,665, a drop of 51 percent according to the Blue Book.

A new Toyota Prius Touring Hatchback costs $23,700. The used 2005 version, with the same mileage, comes in at $19,230 a drop of 18 percent.

Actually about $21K used. It depends on the source you’re quoting and whether you’re looking at retail or trade-in value but that’s a hair low.

As Hummers grow rare and Priuses common, their enemies likely will move on. Congress in 2003 closed a Hummer tax loophole that infuriated the anti-Hummer crowd. Since 2005, the tax breaks have gone to the Prius, with other incentives.

Eh? That credit, for the Prius, expired some time ago and, as far as I know, there are not any other current federal rebates or credits on the Prius. There are possibly some state incentives but none that I am aware of.

Last year, the Carousel Center in Syracuse as part of Destiny USA’s vision of an energy-efficient shopping mall began offering hybrid and economy cars choice parking slots near the entrances. Soon, protest letters to The Post-Standard singled out the Prius. Their owners caught the blowback.

“green” parking spots? Come on, that’s just childish. I understand what they’re saying but that’s really a terrible application.

“I used to get the comments like, ‘You stupid tree-hugger,’ ” recalled Richard Pietrafesa, a managing director of Destiny, who drives a Prius. “Now, people are a little more reserved.”

Pietrafesa said he’s sensed at times a view that Prius owners are smug. He gets it at the gas pump, from the 12-mpg crowd. Pietrafesa says he has no right to be smug, because his wife drives a big, gas-chugging Chevrolet Suburban.

“You look at the amount of gas she uses to get our family from one place to another, compared to what I use, and it’s ridiculous,” Pietrafesa said. “Either one, we’re just getting to the same place.”

Of course, no motorists endure more hairy eyeballs than those in the Hummer. Some develop a stock answer to critics.

“I’m 75 years old, and I didn’t get my first car until I was 55,” said Nancy Rifken, of Fayetteville. “As far as I’m concerned, I have about 30 years of gas coming to me. . . . I never had a chance to use up my portion.”

May as well take all that nasty oil with you, eh? A wonderful paean to the use it before you die crowd.

And don’t get me wrong, Rifken can use whatever she can afford. But I don’t have to respect her consumption for consumption’s sake attitude.

At 5 feet tall, Rifken said she enjoys being able to see the road in her H2.

“When I get out, what I usually find are guys laughing at me,” she said.

Many owners view their Hummer as more than a car.

“Some people spend their money on a boat, or an ATV, or on a camp,” Contini said. “Our thing is the Hummer and, believe me, it’s a lot of fun.”

Last January, he and his wife Kris bought a used H2 for about $32,000. It had just 13,000 miles on the odometer. They travel to off-road trail parks, where they drive a style called “treading lightly,” no easy feat in a 6,614-pound beast. Their CNY Hummer Club (http://cnyhummerclub.com) attended a Hummer jamboree this summer in central Pennsylvania. They plunged through mud holes, rolled down hills and up huge boulders, boldly going where no Jeep can go. They went places they couldn’t go having to pull each other out.

“There’s nothing like it, when the water is coming right over the top of the hood of the Hummer,” Contini said. “It’s amazing the power that these things have.”

But with $4.20-a-gallon gas, one owner brought his H1 to the Pennsylvania jamboree on a trailer, rather than drive it.

On a trailer? There’s a message there.

Contini and Brewerton Fire Department Chief Michael Stassi hope to launch a local chapter of HOPE: Hummer Owners Prepared for Emergency. The group can serve as a backup force to help public agencies during disasters, such as remote area searches. They trained at the Pennsylvania event.

At a Hummer Club meeting, members wore Hummer shirts, caps an entire Hummer line of gear. And behind Driver’s Village in North Syracuse, there is an obstacle course just for Hummers.

“I have a love for these vehicles in my heart,” said Mike Sweetman, sales consultant at Burdick Hummer at Driver’s Village, as he swerved an H2 around the steel gate and onto the course. He navigated a set of steel rollers, ascended a 16-inch vertical wall, then climbed a 60-degree peak, a mini roller-coaster ride.

“I could drive up onto the hood of that car, if somebody would let me,” he said.

For the record, he was not pointing toward a Prius.

But Hummer owners have taken their share of grief from the hybrid crowd.

“Wait until they have to replace the battery,” Contini said. “I’d like to see how these hybrids will hold up after a few years.”

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. The classic ignorant comment about the Prius. The batteries we use last a very long time and all of us have great warranties on the hybrid systems in our cars. If it helps t believe something else, please, feel free to. Just don’t delude yourself that you’re making a salient comment.

You’re not.

Two years ago, Hummer owners rejoiced when an Oregon-based research company claimed that, over the course of the cars’ lives, the Prius actually used more energy than the Hummer. The study didn’t hold up. Last year, the company refuted its findings.

Ah yes, the fully debunked and ridiculous CNW Marketing piece. Nice call. Just in case I wasn’t sure that the writer here was intellectually atrophied and otherwise off their game, now I can be sure.

But there is still the smugness. The TV show “South Park” has skewered Prius owners for contributing dangerous levels of “smug” to the environment. The car has relentless critics online.

“What is a Toyota Prius good for?” asked a headline in the popular Web site fark.com. “Target practice.”

Two things.

-No one is required to buy a Prius.

-I shoot back.

Wert said the Prius’ popularity stems from what has always sold cars: image. “You’re not saving the environment by driving a Toyota Prius,” Wert said. “There is an internal combustion engine under the hood, just like there is one under the hood of a Hummer. The question is, is one car really morally superior? I don’t really know the answer. But I do know that if you talk to strong proponents of mass transit, or of really green living, they’ll tell you that it’s just a way to make people feel like they’re doing something for the environment.”

Morality? Of the Prius? You’re joking. Look, I can only speak for myself. I bought the car because it was, by far, and still is, the very best alternative for me to move adults around in reasonable comfort and not chew up a bunch of gas doing so. If you want Hummer, more power to you. You obviously have more money to waste than I do. But this isn’t a moral issue insofar as one person being better than another merely by owning a particular vehicle. There’s much more to it than that. So reducing this all down to cartoon proportions is not only simplistic but really rather childish.

Saving fuel, being more environmentally conscious isn’t a game one wins or loses. At least I think the idea is to improve where you stand. Do a little better. Contribute less waste, save a little more. It’s not a shallow contest where one person is crowned “green” and the rest of us are terrible people.

But maybe that’s just me.

And then there is the secret dream of Hummer owners: The mini-tank that gets 50 miles to the gallon the cross between the Hummer and the Prius.

Hummus, anyone?

It would certainly get their attention in the Middle East.

Hart Seely can be reached at hseely@syracuse.com or 470-2247.

ZzZ zZzz zzZ z Z zzZ Z Z z zzzZzZZ z z z zzZz Z Z z

Similarly, the popular Toyota Prius hybrid claims a spot on the list, with a markedly low 17.9% of the five-year costs going to fuel. But this car also depreciates quickly (though only just less than half the rate of the Yaris), as those in the market for a hybrid want the latest and newest technology, not a car that’s a few years old.

The Prius depreciates quickly? Really? Is this more astute predicting on Forbes part or just their unique ability to completely ignore thousands of market reports of used Prii selling for what the owners paid for them (or more)?

Honestly, either Forbes is dumb or lying, I’ll let Forbes decide which it is.

Rising vehicle fuel bills dog city of Des Moines
BY MELISSA WALKER • MEWALKER@DMREG.COM

More than 150 city employees continue to drive taxpayer-owned vehicles between work and home, even as high fuel costs force Des Moines officials to look for ways to conserve.

It’s been almost six years since officials first talked about how to reduce the number of “take-home” vehicles in an effort to cut mileage, save fuel and lower repair bills. Few changes, if any, have been made.

Meanwhile, fuel costs, which rose $784,000 in the budget period that ended June 30 compared with the previous year, have come in higher than planned for two straight years.

“Something has to give,” Deputy City Manager Merrill Stanley said. “We can’t continue to overspend the budget.”

The 163 vehicles used for employee commutes represent about 20 percent of the city’s fleet. The fuel they use is a drop in the bucket compared with the city’s overall bill. The public works and police departments consume the majority of fuel. Snowplows, garbage trucks and patrol cars, among other vehicles, sucked up about 700,000 gallons last year.

But the take-home program – employees who live outside the city limits repaid $55,650 to the budget last year – is among the potential cost-cutting moves on the table, even though City Manager Rick Clark acknowledged that the budget stress from high fuel costs will require more than simply ending the practice.

“We’re going to have to look at all kinds of measures to keep the costs low,” he said.

File download: See a spreadsheet of City of Des Moines vehicles and mileage (3-page Excel document)

Councilwoman Christine Hensley said the number of vehicles that employees drive home each day is a good place to start.

“If you have an emergency and need to go to the scene, go ahead and drive your car,” she said. “How often does that happen? Not enough to justify having a car 365 days a year.”

City inspectors, traffic signal engineers, horticulture employees, school resource officers and police detectives are among those who drive home city vehicles. No price tag has ever been put on the program.

Inspector Bob Reynolds said he understands the need to cut costs but sees advantages to take-home vehicles that don’t show up on balance sheets.

Reynolds said he puts tires and other debris found in or along city streets in his work truck on the drive home, and goes to some inspections as early as 7:30 a.m., straight from home. He has assisted motorists with broken-down vehicles who might be hesitant to accept help otherwise, he said.

“It benefits the neighborhood groups,” Reynolds said. “Even though it’s not a police car, people do slow down when they see us.”

Most metro-area cities already limit take-home vehicles to ranking public safety and on-call employees. But leaders say meaningful fuel savings will require bolder approaches.

“When we start the budget, we’re in trouble on day one as far as fuel,” said Dennis Henderson, city manager in Clive, where the first electric car will join the fleet this year.

Cities across Iowa have dealt with the fuel crunch in various ways.

Alan Kemp, director of the Iowa League of Cities, said most extra costs can be absorbed, but elected officials might eventually require employees to drive less or move to more efficient vehicles.The alternative is service cuts.

“That’s how you make your savings. You do less,” Kemp said.

Council Bluffs also overspent its fuel budget the past few years, finance director Linda Andersen said. Cutbacks in other areas will probably make up for the shortfall, she said. About $815,000 has been set aside for the budget year that began July 1, a 15 percent increase.

Dave McDermott, Council Bluffs’ fleet maintenance supervisor, said workers ride together and take fewer vehicles to complete jobs, and mapping systems are used to find the most efficient routes. Officials will reconsider employee take-home vehicles and examine more alternative fuels and hybrid vehicles, he said.

Davenport officials have downsized vehicles and purchased hybrids. Construction equipment is left at work sites. Take-home vehicles are supplied only for public safety and on-call employees.

Dozens of U.S. cities have tried creative ways to curb fuel consumption and save tax money, according to the National League of Cities:

- In Raleigh, N.C., Chicago and Oakland, Calif., city vehicles are equipped with tracking devices to monitor unauthorized use.

- Berkeley, Calif., officials share five hybrid vehicles with residents. The city uses the vehicles during the day, and residents use them at night and on weekends. Officials estimate the total savings at $400,000.

- Residents in Denton, Texas, save deep-fryer oil, which a biodiesel facility recycles to fuel the city’s garbage trucks.

- Employees in Monmouth County, N.J., no longer drive home about 70 vehicles.

- Newport Beach, Calif., leases 12 electric vehicles, which has saved about $15,000 in fuel costs.

Des Moines leaders this fall will consider a handful of ideas, such as longer fuel-purchase contracts to lock in rates. Employees’ driving habits will be examined, and more hybrids are on the horizon.

Of the city’s 15 hybrid vehicles, 12 are owned and three are used in partnership with a car dealer. Eight diesel engine vehicles that are designed to be more “green” were purchased in February, for $46,000 more than regular vehicles.

Public Works Director Bill Stowe said an automated recycling program should also reduce diesel consumption by about 15,000 gallons a year, a savings of $60,000.

Officials in Ankeny and West Des Moines have purchased trucks with room for more employees to cut down on trips to job sites. West Des Moines has also tested a new patrol car that allows engines to be turned off without shutting down computers, and it has a vehicle location program to find the most efficient routes.

Councilman Robert Mahaffey, who represents Des Moines’ northeast side, said city employees will have to find ways to reduce fuel use because “we don’t put a lot of fluff in our budget anyway.”

In a typically equivocating and bet hedging piece we learn that large vehicles are “safer” and cheaper. Lucky for us the car lots are packed full of bargain priced enormo-mobiles.

Buying smaller car may not be a bargain
A new study suggests that switching to a smaller, more fuel-efficient car will likely result in higher insurance premiums.
Driven blog | Soooo cute, but is it Smart for Florida?
By G. CHAMBERS WILLIAMS III
San Antonio Express-News

In the rush by consumers to find more fuel-efficient vehicles, one aspect of switching to a small car from a pickup or SUV easily can be overlooked: It generally costs more to insure the smaller vehicle.

The real question to ask here, one a real journalist might have asked, is why?

A new study released recently by the auto insurance consumer website insure.com shows that the difference between premiums for a large pickup or SUV versus a small car can be large enough to help pay the extra cost of gasoline for that bigger vehicle, even with fuel at $4 a gallon or more.

So the insurance support the use and more oil as a safety measure? How nice.

The study also underscores another point: The bigger the vehicle, the safer it is.

”Small cars tend to increase insurance costs because they get into more crashes,” Russ Rader, spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said in an insure.com news release on results of the study. “There’s a myth that a smaller car is more nimble and helps you avoid crashes, but smaller cars tend to have more collision losses.”

I question Mr. Rader’s honesty or at the very least, his intelligence. To wit: smaller cars more nimble. That’s physics. All you have to do is sit in any parking lot and watch the folks trying to park their Expedeitions, Navigators, Escalades, Hummers and whatnot to see this in action.

Sadly, Mr. Rader doesn’t give us all the information we might need to make an informed decision. For instance, could the higher accident rate on smaller vehicles be because there are more of them on road? Could it be because smaller cars tend to be cheaper and driven by younger drivers who, in general, are involved more accidents? Curious that we only get one, off-the-cuff reason from an industry absolutely obsessed with and in the business of keeping statistics for causes.

For the past three months, the compact, fuel-efficient Honda Civic has been the nation’s best-selling vehicle, replacing the Ford F-series pickup, which had held the top spot since the early 1990s. Sales for the F-series are off more than 40 percent this year (through June) compared with 2007, although the vehicle still ranks quite high — it’s the fourth best-selling vehicle now.

But the average national premium to insure an F-series pickup is just $1,194, compared to $1,670 for the Civic, the study showed.

I don’t think this necessarily proves one vehicle is safer than another. It’s just proves, conclusively, that insurance companies charge less to insure the F-150.

Even the popular Toyota Prius gasoline-electric hybrid, with the best fuel-economy ratings of any new car on the market (48 mpg in the city and 45 mpg on the highway), costs more to insure than the F-series pickup: an average of $1,382 a year.

So the implication in this seriously misguided example of contemporary journamalisming is that we’re supposed the Prius won’t use less than $200 less fuel than an F-150? You’ve got to be kidding, right?

Premiums for the Toyota Camry, the third best-selling vehicle so far this year, average $1,302 a year. But two other popular larger vehicles that offer fuel economy that’s much better than that of most pickups also had insurance premiums much lower than those of many small cars: the Toyota Sienna minivan, at $1,266 a year, and the Honda CR-V compact SUV, at $1,258.

The difference is in the vehicle’s bulk. The Sienna and CR-V are heavier and sturdier than cars like the Civic and Prius, offering better protection to their occupants in a collision. But they are lighter than big pickups and SUVs, thereby using less fuel.

While the overall differences in premiums between small cars and larger vehicles might not be enough to justify sticking with a big vehicle and its higher fuel costs, this study does provide more evidence that switching to a smaller vehicle as a knee-jerk reaction to the high gasoline prices might not make financial sense to many consumers.

“Might not”?

“Knee jerk”?

Knee jerk reactions are bad, we all know that. I guess. That said, ignoring what’s going on around you isn’t a really great bit of counseling either.

Because resale values of bigger vehicles — particularly full-size pickups and traditional truck-based SUVs — have dropped dramatically since fuel prices began their record climb in the spring, many owners of these vehicles owe much more on them than they’re now worth.

“Many”? Or nearly all?

That alone can make it financially infeasible to trade. That’s because even if you could fold several thousand dollars of negative equity into the loan for a new, smaller car, the resulting monthly payment for the new vehicle, coupled with such expenses as the higher insurance premium, could end up costing you more than the extra you would pay at the pump if you just kept your current vehicle.

Look, there are number of reasons that small cars are perceived as “more dangerous” than larger vehicles. One big reason is the millions of dollars the big three have spent inculcating this into the American psyche. You’re only safe with three tons of Detriot steel around you has been the message for thirty years. When congress was considering the federal CAFE bill that was passed earlier this year was the big three spent a ton of money, a ton, in commercials on radio and on television explicitly telling people that big cars were safer.

It’s bunk. You know it and I know it. You can be crushed to death in a minivan or roll an SUV just as easily as you can be hurt in a small car. What’s more, as we downsize our vehicles and fewer and fewer of these internal combustion tugboats are trawling the roads, those of us in smaller vehicles will be safer because they’ll be fewer of them to see around and to run over other people.

Don’t believe the hype. Bigger isn’t better. If you need a large vehicle for work or something else, that’s one but to buy one from pathetically induced paranoia is just sad.

A Good Time to Purchase a Vehicle?
Reporter: Sam Provenzano
Email Address: sam.provenzano@wbko.com

A Good Time to Purchase a Vehicle?

S-A-L-E

It’s 4 letter’s catching the eye of anyone shopping for a car, and local dealers have plenty of them.

“We got 0% financing going on with a lot of stuff right now,” said Nick Narramore, salesman at Leachman Buick.

“We got manufacture rebates,” said Powell, sales consultant at Leachman Buick.

And most people have one thing in mind these days when looking for a new car…

“Something that gets very good gas mileage!” exclaims one car shopper.

“I’m just looking for small and good gas mileage,” adds another.

But for Lindsey Hendricks and her husband, they’re looking for an SUV and this could be a great time to buy one.

“It’s a good time because gas prices are so bad, so companies know SUV’s aren’t gonna sell as well so the prices are down,” says Hendricks.

And she’s right.

“It’s the best time to buy it,” adds Powell.

“Some of the large SUV’s we have over $10,000 off some SUV’s,” says Pirtle.

But what about the role of the hyped up Hybrid?

“As far as difference you would pay for a Hybrid and what you would pay for a non-hybrid is a pretty huge expense,” states Pirtle.

“You’re really not gonna make your money back with a Hybrid because you won’t use enough gas to make up that money because it’s so expensive,” said Hendricks.

But before you go out and buy yourself a vehicle– there’s something you should remember.

“Look at your finances. Make sure you’re doing a budget, make sure you’ve called the insurance company to see how much that insurance is gonna cost me then look into how much you’ll need to pay for gas and so forth, said Mark Gilliam, financial consultant.

Gilliam also says when you purchase a car or any expensive item, it is key to pay attention to your own personal economy and not the national economy.

The only thing that makes sense here are the last two paragraphs the rest is drivel and incomplete drivel at that. At $10K off most new SUVs are still worth less than what you paid as soon as you drive them off the lot. Don’t get buyer’s remorse, no one wants to take that boat back in trade. And enjoy your operating costs as they will only increase.

I’ve been over this a hundred times or more so I won’t waste your time now other than to say, yes, your hybrid or fuel efficient car may not “pay back” in gas savings in the next 90 days. One thing I am sure of though is that SUV will never “pay back” anything.

Hybrid cars more expensive to fix

Parts and labour costs are higher for hybrid vehicle repairs than for repairs to gas-only vehicles, according to Mitchell International, Inc.’s latest Industry Trends Report.

The 2008 Q3 edition of the Mitchell report features a report by Jamison Day entitled ‘The Average Severity of Hybrid versus Gas Vehicles.’

The study shows average part costs for hybrid cars is more expensive across the board than for gas-only cars in the same seven categories (including sheet metal, engine, drive train, installation panel, electrical, specialty and ‘other.’)

Engine parts for hybrid cars cost $59 on average ($43 for gas-only cars) and the drive trains for hybrid cars cost an average of $454, versus only $334 for gas-only vehicles.

Labour costs to fix hybrid cars are also higher than those to fix gas-only cars. In particular, average hourly labour rates were at least $10 per hour higher to fix a hybrid’s glass, structural or mechanical parts than to fix the same types of parts in gas-only cars.

The report surmises the higher labour costs may be due in part to the additional training repairers require to work with hybrid vehicles. They may also be a result of repairers needing more time to familiarize themselves with fixing hybrid vehicles.

Day, senior director of information services, found hybrid severities were consistently higher across different states.

“The ever-increasing gasoline prices have affected virtually every aspect of our economy, including increasing the demand for hybrid vehicles,” Day said in a release. “Given their increasing popularity, we thought it would be interesting to see how the hybrid’s average estimate amounts compared and explore what might be driving the differences.”

City orders hybrid
By KIM BARTO – Bulletin Staff Writer

The city will add a hybrid vehicle to its motor fleet to see how it stacks up against gasoline-powered cars, officials announced Tuesday.

At Martinsville City Council’s regular meeting Tuesday night, City Manager Clarence Monday said a $28,000 hybrid sport utility vehicle has been ordered for use as a utility locator.

An SUV was chosen because the vehicle needs to have space to carry all the necessary equipment, he added.

“We do have a responsibility to conserve fuel and help the environment as well,” Monday said of the purchase. “However, we want to make sure this is cost-effective before we order a whole fleet of them.”
Monday did a cost-benefit analysis of gasoline versus hybrid vehicles and found that, based on current figures, hybrids offer $200 in savings over the life of the vehicle. In five years, a hybrid would need a battery replacement costing $8,000, he said.

Whoa! Hold on there.

So they figured the hybrid would save them $200 over the life of the vehicle? And they bought it anyway? Well, cheers to them for being so environmentally conscious though I would question their math. Of course the article doesn’t bother to tell us which hybrid SUV this is but that $200 figure is extremely low. And $8k to replace the battery after five years? That’s one terribly engineered and built product if the batteries only last five years and then cost $8k to replace.

Sounds to me like either someone is just nuts or someone is reporting some figures that don’t make much sense.

However, by ordering a hybrid, city officials hope to see how the costs compare in real life.
This move is one of several city initiatives to conserve fuel and money, Monday said. Other measures include installing energy-efficient light fixtures and keeping lights in the municipal building at half-capacity during peak times of day.

Staff members are also investigating alternative energy sources, he added.

“Our electric department is curious about the amount of wind in the city” and how much energy could be generated by wind turbines, Monday said.

Data will be collected from a weather station on the municipal building roof over six months to a year.
Staff also will investigate the cost of solar power per kilowatt hour to see if this could be a realistic option, he said.

When city employees drive, “We continue to ask people to watch the idling of their vehicles, consolidate errands and carpool whenever possible,” Monday said. “Our departments have been very frugal with that.”

In a sense, it’s a bit buying stock. Yeah, buying cheap at the IPO is the best thing for a stock that increases in value. However, just because you can’t get in at the opening is no reason to think that buying a particular stock is a bad idea.

Same goes for hybrids right now. Yes, there’s a bit of the lemming stampede at hybrid dealers right now. But as I’ve also said, do not support dealers who charge over MSRP, look around. You’ll find the right car at the price.

And yes, trade-in value on guzzlers sucks right now but ponder this, do you really think that when gas is $5 a gallon that the trade-in value will be stronger. Again, take a tip from another market, real estate. The people who are taking their bruises and reducing their prices to sell now are likely in better positions to minimize their losses than those who are trying to get every extra penny and are, in the contemporary parlance, “following the market down”.

Don’t Trade Your Gas-Guzzler
By Warren Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer

Visits to the pump have become painful. They were bad enough when gasoline was $3 a gallon for regular unleaded. Prices now exceed $4 a gallon and seem headed toward $5 a gallon by summer’s end.

Now, the full-size sport-utility vehicle that seemed like a good idea two years ago looks like the biggest consumer mistake you’ve ever made. Your lust for horsepower has come back to kick you in the pocket. You want to dump your ride, get out, get something that sucks less fuel. You want to reduce your pain at the pump.

Slow down!

Do the math. Taking a dump to relieve pain at the pump might be another big mistake.

Consider:

Do you owe anything on your current vehicle? How much? No bank or finance company will forgive that debt, which means that the money you owe will be rolled into financing a new auto loan. That could wind up costing you a lot more than the money you are spending at the pump. And we haven’t even added taxes, fees and insurance related to the new vehicle, all of which can cost you plenty.

Let’s say that you have a big pickup truck or full-size SUV. The resale values of those models have plummeted. Some dealers are even refusing to take them on trade-in. That means, assuming that you still owe the bank money for that truck or SUV, the likelihood is that you are upside down in your ride, meaning that you owe more money than the vehicle is worth. Dumping under that circumstance makes little sense, because you will be taking a double hit — substantially diminished resale value plus the cost of rolling your current vehicle loan into one for a more fuel-efficient car or truck.

Look at it this way: If the aim of reducing your pain at the pump is to keep more money in your pocket, you aren’t going to do it in a fit of economic hysteria — dumping your gas-guzzler and buying something else without running the numbers. You are likely to wind up in a deeper financial mess.

No one recommends blindly going out and buying. No one anyone should listen to at least. But paranoia and timidity can hurt you just as much as impetuousness.

So, what to do:

Drive smarter. That means consolidating trips, eliminating unnecessary driving, reducing vehicle weight by getting the junk out of your trunk, avoiding jack-rabbit starts from stop and… slowing down.

Spend smarter. How much money are you wasting? Cigarettes? Now’s a good time to quit. Cut ‘em out. Fast-food junkie? You’re already spending more money for gas. But isn’t it better to put that money in your fuel tank, instead of the septic tank? Adjust your spending accordingly. Here’s betting that your budgetary adjustments will help you do a better job of coping with pump prices.

If you must buy another car, shop for used models first; and look for four-cylinder jobs.

…

Note: The same market that has slapped gas-guzzlers with super-low resale values has awarded gas-sippers with higher resale prices. (You will notice something similar occurring in new-vehicle sales as well. Fuel-efficient, four-cylinder models are king. Models with consumptive V-8 engines are going begging.)

…

Keep in mind that going hybrid might not be the most intelligent move. Why? Hybrids continue to come with premiums. There are any number of traditional combustion engine cars that offer comparable fuel efficiency. Hybrid technology, especially that part pertaining to batteries, is changing rapidly.

I am not suggesting here that you should allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good. Current hybrid technology, most of it dependent on nickel-metal hydride batteries, is good. But it is by no means perfect. Nickel-metal hydride batteries are heavy. Weight is an enemy of fuel efficiency. Work is moving apace on lighter weight, more energy-efficient lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries. Somebody somewhere will soon have a battery breakthrough. When that happens, all hybrid vehicles with nickel-metal hydride batteries will become obsolete overnight.

That means people buying current-generation hybrid vehicles should think of them the way they think of laptops and iPods. The technology they bought today is good. But it is not perfect. That means it will be obsolete tomorrow. Enjoy what you’ve bought today. But be prepared to live with it tomorrow.

That’s it. Think before you dump. Shop wisely.

Wah, wah, wah batteries, hybrids are scary. Sure Warren. So is five dollar a gallon gas.

And that’s just one side.

It’s been too acceptable for a very long time to waste as much as you can and frankly that’s not a paradigm I’m all that supportive of. So again, if suddenly your SUV has no value and you find you have to wait a few weeks or a few months for a more efficient car, that’s a shame but deal with it.

Toyota’s Prius delays test customers’ patience
By Jonathan Soble in Tokyo and Bernard Simon in Toronto

The list of virtues possessed by Toyota Prius drivers just keeps growing. There is environmentalism, of course, and – as oil prices skip toward $150 a barrel – economic savvy. Increasingly, there is also patience.

Waiting lists for Priuses have expanded sharply as demand outstrips the Japanese carmaker’s capacity to build the petrol-electric hybrid vehicles. Toyota – normally a paragon of supply-chain management – admits to “bottlenecks”, particularly in batteries, which have slowed turnover even as drivers clamour for more fuel-efficient cars.

Prius sales last month in the US – where two in three of the cars are sold – were a third lower than in June 2007, at 11,765 units.

George Ramirez, sales manager at the Toyota dealership in Salinas, California, says customers are waiting between six weeks and four months for the cars – a particularly unusual situation in a country where buyers are accustomed to driving their choices straight off the lot.

“The demand is very high,” Mr Ramirez says.

Even those customers who are able to get their hands on a Prius may not be as happy as Toyota would like.

Some dealers are taking advantage of the shortage by charging more than the recommended sticker price, and buyers often have little choice but to take whatever colour and accessories are available.

A weakening US economy may be hurting hybrid sales in some places – the cars sell for roughly $5,000 more than equivalent gasoline-only models, after all – and strong sales early last year may have exaggerated the scope of recent declines.

But dealers and analysts agree that lack of supply is Toyota’s primary problem: the company’s total US sales fell faster than General Motors’ in June in spite of GM’s fuel-guzzler-heavy product mix.

Toyota can take credit for anticipating society’s long-term falling out with carbon-based fuels, having sold the first Prius in 1997. Even so, forecasting demand for hybrid vehicles has been a challenge.

Hybrids are only beginning to move beyond niche-market status – annual Prius sales passed the 100,000 mark for the first time in 2004 – and sales are linked more directly than those of other cars to the volatile price of oil.

“Even Toyota couldn’t predict such a high level for oil prices,” says Hirofumi Yokoi, analyst at CSM Worldwide, an automotive market research firm.

Still, the supply problems – which follow embarrassing vehicle recalls in 2006 and 2007 – may be another sign that Toyota’s rapid international growth in recent years is stretching its renowned management powers. “It’s even harder the more they expand outside their comfort zone,” Mr Yokoi says.

Fixing the Prius shortage will take time. In addition to batteries, other hybrid components, such as regulators and transaxles, are also in short supply, insiders say.

Toyota has also been forced to scale down production at assembly plants to re-tool them to build the next Prius model, which is set to be launched around the world in early 2009.

However, it is in batteries where the biggest shortage lies. Every battery in a Toyota hybrid is made at a factory in Shizuoka, Japan, by Panasonic EV Energy, a joint venture between Toyota and Matsushita Electric, Panasonic’s parent.

The factory can produce 500,000 nickel metal hydride battery packs a year, imposing a natural ceiling on Toyota’s total hybrid output.

Toyota is targeting sales of about 450,000 hybrid vehicles this year, including petrol-electric versions of its Camry sedan and Lexus luxury models.

Between March and May it sold an average of 47,000 hybrids a month – a pace that would have put it on track to sell about 85,000 more cars than expected by the end of the year.

Panasonic EV is expanding capacity at the Shizuoka plant and should be able to churn out about 800,000 batteries a year from 2009.

It is also planning a new factory in Miyagi, northern Japan, which will raise annual output to more than 1m battery packs beginning in 2010.

That will still leave many would-be buyers frustrated with petrol selling at more than $4 a gallon in the US.

Other hybrid makers buy batteries from third-party manufacturers such as Sanyo, the Japanese electronics group.

Toyota says it will not “cross off” the possibility of buying from outside if demand continues to soar, but believes that the benefits of its exclusive arrangement with Panasonic EV still outweigh the costs.

“Stopgapping is not what we do,” the company says. “Right now, what we think is best for the customer is to use our own batteries. They’re not a black box for us.”

Toyota’s inability to meet demand could provide an opening for other hybrid makers, including Honda, GM and Ford, but for now drivers’ options are limited. Rivals’ production runs are small – Honda, considered a close rival to Toyota in hybrid technology, sold fewer than 52,000 units of its single hybrid model, a Civic sedan, last year – and many big launches are not planned until 2009 or beyond.

Germany’s Daimler plans to offer a Mercedes-Benz S400 hybrid next year, although the luxury sedan will be far out of reach for most buyers. Also in 2009, Honda plans to offer a new hybrid-only five-door that will have an initial sales target of 200,000 units, part of a plan to sell 500,000 hybrid cars annually beginning early in the next decade.

Yozo Hasegawa, author of Clean Car Wars, says Toyota will keep its lead in the segment if its new capacity comes online as scheduled, “but its relative advantage is diminishing”, he adds.

Oh, and as I’ve said many times, yes the market is supply and demand but carefully consider buying anything from a dealer who sells over MSRP. Chances are they’ll gouge later on down the road for any number of other things given half the chance. There’s nothing wrong with making money just as there is nothing wrong with not gouging every last cent you can from your victims…errr…customers.

Prius Sales, Prices Soar
Toyota has said battery and electric engine supplies will only permit them to sell 150,000 Prius in the U.S. this year.

U.S. supplies of the Toyota hybrid car Prius have outstripped supplies, shooting prices upward, dealers and car owners said.

A one-year old Prius — a car that boasts a fuel rating of 48 miles per gallon when new — now often sells for more than the original purchase price and dealers are bumping prices as much as $5,000 above the sticker price, the Dallas Morning News reported Monday.

“It’s hybrid hysteria,” said John Mathews managing partner of Pat Lobb Toyota and Scion of McKinney, Texas.

“Nothing else comes even close to the Prius in mileage,” Sonny Morgan a managing partner of Sport City Toyota in Dallas said.

Supplies are limited due to soaring demand, but Toyota has said battery and electric engine supplies will only permit them to sell 150,000 Prius in the United States this year, the report said.

Dallas resident Amy Meaux looked for a Prius in May, the Morning News reported.

She found 10 available at one dealership. But, when she inquired again two days later, there were none left on the lot, she said.

“That’s when I knew we’d have to pay over window-sticker price for the car,” she said.

This is really tough. Speaking only for myself, I would never do business with a dealer that marked the car over its MSRP. Yes, it’s the dealer’s right to do so. Just as it it their right to charge four times the national average for Prius repairs, or to mark up parts but it’s not a practice I support. So I tend to see that sticker price as an indicator of how that dealer will handle the rest of your relationship.

When it starts off that bad (selling over MSRP) you can pretty reasonably guess it won’t get much better.

Bah.

It’s the same thing again comparing apples to oranges. A Chevy Aveo is not a Prius and comparing the two is ridiculous. The Aveo is fuel efficient, there’s no question about that. But it’s also not a Prius by any means for a number of reasons.

And don’t mistake my point here. It’s not to say that the Prius is the end-all be-all of cars. It’s not. The Prius is however a very good solution for a large number of people for a lot of good reasons. Just as an Aveo might be for others, or a Honda Civic hybrid or something else. The key is to not get caught up in the various marketing strategies and to really, and I mean seriously and carefully consider your needs in looking at a potential new vehicle.

For years Americans have been told that only enromo-boats were safe and it was fine to use a Navigator to ferry two kids to school and get groceries. Well, now those Navigators cost a lot more to drive and lot of people are re-examining their needs again. Maybe two kids and groceries will fit into something smaller (and guess what, they do).

Technology and the cost of resources both to build and power personal vehicles are rapidly increasing in cost. In the past we haven’t had to consider those things when making car decisions. It was more about what car was cool. Things change. Sometimes very quickly. The folks with the big cars are learning that now. Try trading in that Navigator for something, anything smaller and the cold, wet smack upside the head that is reality will demonstrate that in short order. Articles like the one in today’s LA Times and the one linked to above don’t help all that much in making those decisions rather, they’re just adding more static of a different kind to the mix.

Downsizing to the extreme

In previous installments of our downsizing series, we looked at when it makes sense to downsize and the long-term implications for trading in early. Here, let’s explore an extreme downsizing scenario, going from a full-sized SUV to the highest-mileage production car at a time when gas prices are rising to $5/gallon. To provide an alternative choice, we included a Toyota Camry Hybrid in the mix, as well.

Again, drawing from analysis conducted in May for the “When to downsize your car” story, we follow the customer who is looking to trade in a 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe LT 4×4 on a 2008 Toyota Prius after just 36 months of ownership. Clearly, this consumer would be making a significant sacrifice in terms of passenger and cargo space, as well as towing and off-road ability, to minimize automotive operating costs.

In the previous examples, we estimated that the Tahoe had about $4,750 in trade-in value—factoring outstanding loan payments on the 60-month term and the impact of depreciation. As gasoline prices increase and dealer lots swell with used SUVs, let’s assume the trade-in value rounds to just $4,000.

owner cost
Model year/Make/Model Retail price MPG 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
2005 Chevrolet Tahoe LT 4×4 $45,500 13 $11,000 $21,250 $30,250 $38,250 $46,000
Toyota Camry Hybrid $25,750 34 $10,750 $17,250 $23,250 $29,000 $34,250
Toyota Prius Base $23,750 44 $9,250 $14,750 $20,000 $25,000 $29,500

The financial benefit of this change is immediate, despite the emotional pain of getting so little for the large SUV on trade-in. We’ve been asked repeatedly the last couple weeks about when is the tipping point when it makes sense to downsize. The reality is that the numbers are complicated and everyone’s scenario is different.

If you are midway through a vehicle loan, as in the scenarios explored in this blog series, you may not have much equity (especially as you chase accelerating depreciation) in your vehicle, and it may make sense to stick it out for another year or two. The tipping point comes sooner depending on how much of the vehicle you truly own, versus the bank, and how great a sacrifice you are willing to make when downsizing.

Going to extremes, the Toyota Prius delivers excellent fuel economy, with 44 mpg overall in our tests. (And depending on how and where it is driven, averaging 50 mpg is not unheard of.) As fuel prices increase, the benefit from this frugal powertrain will only increase, and its depreciation rate is decreasing. There is such demand for a Prius that Toyota literally can’t build them fast enough, promising a relatively good return on this investment.

Even moving to the Camry Hybrid, the numbers add up to similar owner costs for the first year and favor the Camry over the Tahoe each year after.

Both the Camry and Prius carry a price premium for their hybrid powertrains. However, there are many good, fuel-efficient small cars with conventional powertrains that would also show marked reductions in annual owner costs, as outlined in “Best fuel economy for the buck.”

Bottom line on downsizing

Over the course of an article and several blogs, we have seen what the numbers can do. Ultimately, it boils down to the following:

Don’t rush into downsizing without considering all the owner costs of your current vehicle, including depreciation and finance charges.

Understand your goals with downsizing (environmental concern, fuel savings, cost savings), and be sure your strategy will meet these goals.

Realize that the biggest rewards come with the greatest sacrifices, such as transitioning from a large SUV to a small car. At the same time, make sure the new model will satisfy your financial and lifestyle goals for years to come. If you have a family, remember, kids grow and need more space.
In northern regions, consider using your SUV as a winter-only vehicle, especially if it enables you to buy an efficient, front-wheel drive car, rather than an all-wheel drive model. Be sure to adjust your insurance accordingly.

Conversely, if, for some reason, you really want/need a large SUV, this could be a great time to purchase a relatively new, low-mileage example. Both new and used SUVs (especially the monstrous ones) are sitting on dealer’s lots—you can practically get one for a song.

In the end, Consumer Reports hopes that all motorists are able to better balance their wants and needs, leading them toward more fuel-efficient vehicles and driving habits.

—Jeff Bartlett

Subsidized gas for buyers of gas hogs?
By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

Americans are flocking to public transportation right now, demanding better gas mileage in their cars like never before, and – just maybe – seeking to use staggering gas prices to have a real debate about the true cost of oil dependence.

And then there’s Chrysler’s solution: artificially cheap gas. Sure, Toyota and Honda started selling hybrid vehicles while American car companies continued to rely on minivans and sport utility vehicles for the past decade.

But don’t let that bother you, America.

Earlier this month, Chrysler unveiled an incentive with the most optimistic of titles, “Let’s Refuel America.”

Golly, this seems like a great deal, American innovation at its finest. Buy a vehicle like a Dodge Ram truck (13 miles per gallon in the city, 18 on the highway), and Chrysler will make sure you don’t pay more than $2.99 per gallon for the next three years. You can choose almost any vehicle in the Chrysler fleet, except a sports car or the popular Jeep Wrangler.

So swig away on that gas and don’t worry about the hangover. Chrysler’s magic gas card will refund the difference on that Dodge Charger. (The most fuel efficient model gets 18 miles per gallon city and 26 highway.)

Chrysler spokesman Stuart Schorr assures that the program is also available for six vehicle models that get 28 miles per gallon or better on the highway. Those models are gaining in popularity, he said.

“I think people looking for a higher-mileage car will stay that way,” Schorr said. “They won’t change for the program.”

Still, most Chrysler customers prefer something a little bigger. Only 33 percent buy cars; the rest go for SUVs, minivans, or trucks.

Schorr says more Americans want better fuel economy and the company is beginning to introduce some hybrid versions of its SUV and pickup trucks this year. But hybrid versions of SUVs and pickups rarely make giant leaps in fuel efficiency.

And with this program, Chrysler does not look like a company preparing to help America wean itself off gas. In fact, the gas incentive saves the most money for people who buy vehicles that get the worst mileage.

The new gas program gives buyers other options: They can take cash back or lower interest rates instead of the hedge on gas prices if they prefer.

It’s easy to see why the gas deal will attract some customers. Those who buy a new car right now can save more money buying more fuel efficient vehicles – generally less expensive than trucks and SUVs – than locking in $2.99 gas prices for the next three years.

And what happens when the three years end? Programs like this one have the perverse economic impact of making gas more expensive, said Jeroen Struben, a postdoctoral associate at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Stimulating people to buy more gas by disguising costs makes demand – and prices – go up in the long run, said Struben.

At the end of that three years, you’re stuck with a guzzler and paying for your own fuel (which over the three years certainly has not gotten to be less expensive) and, good luck selling that beast in three years. You know what trade-in value SUVs and large trucks have right now? Does anyone reading this think it will be better in three years?

This is some sad, sad, marketing.

So it’s time for my 30k servicing and just out of curiosity here is what I found calling some local dealers (all within 30 miles of my home):

Performance Motors
3-4 hours
$300-400 (depending on what we need to do, he had no idea what the Prius needed)

Faulkner Toyota
2 hours
$225.00

Lancaster Toyota
1.25 hours
$235.00
(When I called back and spoke to the service manager about the details of this we somehow managed to get a price of $175 for essentially the same servicing)

Most of these dealers went from the appropriate list of things to do at 30k. Engine and cabin air filter, tire rotation, oil and oil filter change, inspection of various parts of the car, check fluid levels. Some of them wanted to change the differential oil. And to be perfectly clear, I used my own car as an example and I asked each one to list what they would be doing for that rate. So please, no claims that these dealers were offering different service for the different prices, except where noted, it’s the same thing all around. And frankly, where it differs worries just as much. This is factory mandated service, this isn’t an exercise in “guess what needs to be done to your car”. Improvisation is great in comedy, not so much in vehicle maintenance.

At Diehl Toyota in York, PA, the service person seemed to think I would need new “transmission” fluid and new coolant. Though I have to admit that even though they wanted to rape me for almost double the next highest estimate, at least they would get me a loaner car for the day.

Uh, ok.

At Frederick Toyota in Lebanon, PA they wanted a mere $330 and about two and half hours of my life to do the basic list of the 30k service items.

Did I say “mere $330″. Sorry.

Talking to the service person at Performance Motors was interesting in that I got the idea from him that the service people just basically took the car apart, looked at what needed to be replaced and then did the work. Hence the variable quote. An odd way to do factory service but I guess we all have our own ways of getting things done.

I’m not really clear on this. I’m guessing, but it would seem to me that someone at the dealer service counter either consults a book or a computer under the heading “Prius 30k service”. Under that heading might come a listing of what is needed for the Prius (as opposed to standard vehicles) and what the time involved is and what the charges might be. Yet, look at the differences above.

Here’s my problem with this. While I am sure there are some of you out there who managed to get some great deal on your Prius I think it’s safe to say that most of us paid what the sticker said and it wasn’t discounted. Many of us take the car to the dealer for regular servicing. Many times even for basic oil changes. The thing that’s really infuriating is that dealers here feel as though this is yet another opportunity to raid your bank account even though you’ve probably been a pretty good customer to them anyway.

When I spoke to the service manager at “my” dealership he told that one of the goals of the service department was “retention”. In other words, take are of the customers and they’ll come back and buy more cars from you. A laudable and certainly successful strategy (if you can actually do it). That said, what’s with the dealers listed above? I’m sure Toyota can’t control what they do and what they charge but in whose interest is it to hose your customers for basic service?

In 2008 consumers are smarter than ever. We have more resources than ever before. With a few keystrokes and clicks and I can read the service experiences of tens of thousands of owners. It’s that simple. So why play these games? Are they that greedy? Are they that stupid? I won’t argue that most people probably just pay up and move on but what happens when that “easy” customer gets just a little bit of this knowledge? And how do you think this affects that customer’s perception of Toyota? Legitimate or not, they are “Toyota dealers” and if you think a bumbling sales person who doesn’t know hybrids can turn off a customer what do you think the avaricious service writer does to the customer who calls for a “30k service”?

It’s time to wake up Toyota. You need to do what you can do to standardize and educate these dealers. It’s not my job to do so and frankly, it’s not something I would expect to have to do at a Toyota dealership. You want to be number one? Start cleaning up your act at the ground level. Paying a little extra at the dealer for service for regular maintenance is one thing, getting ripped off by people who seemingly have little idea of what they are doing is a whole other issue.

Oh and by the way, here’s the list from Toyota of what should be done at 30k for 2005 Prius:

2005 Prius
30,000 Miles – 36 Months
(My Prius has 29k on it and it is 32 months old)

Replace engine oil and oil filter 1
Rotate tires
Replace cabin air filter
Replace engine air filter
Inspect the following:
Automatic transmission fluid
Ball joints and dust covers
Brake lines and hoses
Brake linings/drums and brake pads/discs 4
Differential oil
Drive shaft boots
Engine and inverter coolant 3
Exhaust pipes and mountings
Fuel lines and connections, fuel tank band and fuel tank vapor vent system hoses
Fuel tank cap gasket
Radiator, condenser and intercooler
Steering gear box
Steering linkage and boots

Additional Maintenance Items for Special Operating Conditions:

Driving While Towing
Tighten nuts and bolts on chassis
Driving in Desert or On Dirt Roads
Tighten nuts and bolts on chassis

Applicable Footnotes:
1) Reset the oil replacement reminder (“MAINT REQD”) light after replacing engine oil, if vehicle is equipped with this light.
4) Inspect thickness measurement and disc runout.

Otherwise, this is a great piece from someone who honestly looked at what they had written earlier and was willing to reconsider their position in light of further evidence. So cheers to Mr. Williams-Derry.

Prius Smackdown – Round 2
Posted by Clark Williams-Derry

A couple of years ago, I ran some numbers trying to figure out which was the better buy for the planet — a biodiesel Jetta or a hybrid Prius. And I came to the tentative, but perhaps counterintuitive conclusion that the best buy was…wait for it…a Toyota Corolla.

The Corolla, you see, was thousands of dollars cheaper than the Prius (the runner-up), even after I accounted for all the savings on gas from driving a fuel-miser. And if you were a green-minded consumer — someone whose top priority was reducing climate-warming emissions, say — you could probably put those thousands to better use somewhere else. Depending on the circumstances, I figured that lots of other investments — power-sipping appliances, say, or a furnace upgrade, or home insulation, or even donations to a worthy cause — might all count as “better buys” than a brand-new Prius.

But with recent gas price spikes, I wondered if my earlier calculations were still holding true. And I’ve got to admit it: if you’re in the market for a new car, a Prius is looking better and better all the time.

Take, for example, the most recent figures from Intellichoice, an online car buying & rating service. They compiled figures on total ownership costs — depreciation and financing , maintenance, repairs, fuel, insurance, yada-yada — for a boatload of hew cars. From that, they picked the best buy in each vehicle category: the car or truck that had the lowest overall ownership costs for the first five years after purchase.

On this measure, the Toyota Prius rates as the best overall value among all midsized cars. It holds its value well over 5 years; repairs aren’t too costly; and the fuel costs are rock bottom. All in all, a pretty cheap car to own — proof that treading more lightly on the planet doesn’t have to lighten your wallet. Nice job, Prius!

But that’s not the final word. A lot of people looking to buy a “greener” car purchase would be willing to consider a much smaller car than the Prius — they may just want to get around town, and they don’t care if their ride is roomy or stylish. And with a low-end Prius still going for at least $21,000, it’s possible that a cheaper, smaller car would still have the edge — if the buyer’s willing to spend the difference on other green priorities.

So I looked at the best buy among subcompacts, which turned out to be the non-hybrid, 2-door Toyota Yaris hatchback. (The Honda Civic Hybrid, by the way, won in the compact car category. Hybrids are now, quite clearly, a cheap car to own.) With a sales price almost $10,000 less than a Prius, I thought, surely the Yaris would be a contender as the better buy overall.

Only not so much. Intellichoice puts the total, 5-year ownership costs of a Yaris at almost $20,800, counting depreciation, gas, insurance, repairs, etc. A Prius comes in at a little above $22,200 over the same span. So over 5 years, the difference isn’t all that great.

But then, when I dove into the numbers a bit, I think that the Prius makes an even better case for itself. Total fuel costs for both vehicles were calculated at $2.19 per gallon. But actual prices at the pump haven’t been that low in well over a year; these days, $3.00 seems cheap, at least to me. And when I bumped up the price of gas to a more reasonable level, the gap between the Prius and the Yaris narrowed even more.

Then, if you include all the “externalities” of gasoline — including international security costs, which really don’t figure in coal or natural gas — the it looks like the 5-year cost gap between the Prius and the Yaris is pretty negligible. (See, e.g., p. 2 of this analysis of cafe standards for a description of the plausible range for gasoline externalities.)

This is a point worth repeating, so I’ll say it again: based on this data, buying a new Prius, and driving it for 5 years, costs only a teensy bit more than buying a Yaris — even though the sticker price of the Yaris is $10,000 less.

I don’t have the data to extend this analysis past 5 years. It could be that, after year 5, the Yaris starts doing better than the Prius — perhaps the Yaris depreciates slower, since it’s got less value to lose and no battery to replace. But at the same time, the fuel efficiency savings of the Prius will keep racking up, and racking up; and if gas prices rise even a bit from where they are now, those will keep the Prius looking better and better.

Obviously, your mileage may vary. If you don’t drive your car all that much, then the fuel-saving beneifts of the Prius shrink. Also, I haven’t compared the manufacturing emissions of the two cars — and on that score, the Prius batteries weigh against it, since they require a fair amount of energy to make.

Still, consider me chastened. Despite what I said a few years ago, if I had to recommend a new car right now, I’d probably shade towards the Prius; even if it winds up being a few hundred dollars more expensive than the Yaris, all things included, the hedge against gas price spikes could be worth it. So even if you don’t need the roomier ride, or care about the extra features of the Prius, you could still come out ahead in the end — and with a few spare nickels to spend on something far more worthy than a car.

Update: I’m still not sure how I feel about a new Prius vs. a good-quality used car. I’ll let y’all know, if and when I run those numbers