Any Prius Owners Here? (1 Viewer)

[Addai's Adidas]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

 

[Politician Spock]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

Is her communte highway miles, or stop and go?The Prius is great for stop and go travel, but its return on investment is not as good for highway travel. It's still better than most other cars milage on the freeway, but where the Prius really returns value is stop and go driving.

 

[NJDawgPound]

Correct. If its highway driving and you're looking for gas mileage and an economy vehicle, you should be able to get a nice Hyundai Accent on the newer side for $10k or less.

Just looked at the 2012s: 40mpg highway.

 

[Addai's Adidas]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

Is her communte highway miles, or stop and go?The Prius is great for stop and go travel, but its return on investment is not as good for highway travel. It's still better than most other cars milage on the freeway, but where the Prius really returns value is stop and go driving.

Almost all highway.

 

[Addai's Adidas]

Correct. If its highway driving and you're looking for gas mileage and an economy vehicle, you should be able to get a nice Hyundai Accent on the newer side for $10k or less.

I think those only get about 35MPG.

 

[ex-ghost]

I drive 60 miles roundtrip on the freeway. Currently get 51mpg. 2005 Prius.

 

[Chadstroma]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

Is her communte highway miles, or stop and go?The Prius is great for stop and go travel, but its return on investment is not as good for highway travel. It's still better than most other cars milage on the freeway, but where the Prius really returns value is stop and go driving.

Makes sense because of the battery not being used on those stretches. I would price out comparable small cars like Hyundai (that are rated above 40MPG but you will get more out of them in steady freeway travel) and TDI's. I don't know about used but in new you are often paying the 'tree hugger chic' premium and not getting much difference on MPG than a Hyundai or TDI.

 

[Politician Spock]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

Is her communte highway miles, or stop and go?The Prius is great for stop and go travel, but its return on investment is not as good for highway travel. It's still better than most other cars milage on the freeway, but where the Prius really returns value is stop and go driving.

Almost all highway.

You might want to look into a used Honda Insight then. It's a different type of hybrid than the Prius. It's not desiged for the electric engine to power the car entirely at low speeds and the combustion engine then kicks in to assist at higher speeds. It's designed the exact opposite. The combustion engine powers the car at low speeds and the electric engine then kicks in to assist at higher speeds. This makes the Insight more highway friendly than the Prius. A Prius might still get better gas mileage on the highway than an Insight, but only slightly better if at all... but the Honda has a much smaller battery, which makes it cheaper to purchase... and cheaper to replace.

 

[None_More_Black]

My latest issue of Consumer Reports had a couple who put 320k on their 2005 Prius and said they had no drive train or battery issues. CR also likes the Honda Fit but it only gets 33 highway.

 

[Addai's Adidas]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

Is her communte highway miles, or stop and go?The Prius is great for stop and go travel, but its return on investment is not as good for highway travel. It's still better than most other cars milage on the freeway, but where the Prius really returns value is stop and go driving.

Almost all highway.

There aren't a lot of used ones out there but I have seen them with 60K miles on them for less than 10K. That's a steal IMO.You might want to look into a used Honda Insight then. It's a different type of hybrid than the Prius. It's not desiged for the electric engine to power the car entirely at low speeds and the combustion engine then kicks in to assist at higher speeds. It's designed the exact opposite. The combustion engine powers the car at low speeds and the electric engine then kicks in to assist at higher speeds. This makes the Insight more highway friendly than the Prius. A Prius might still get better gas mileage on the highway than an Insight, but only slightly better if at all... but the Honda has a much smaller battery, which makes it cheaper to purchase... and cheaper to replace.

There is a 2001 Insight for sale in Chicago right now for $9,000. It has 55K miles on it. They are so ugly though, but form follows function I guess. Alas, it is only a two seater.

 

[Politician Spock]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

Is her communte highway miles, or stop and go?The Prius is great for stop and go travel, but its return on investment is not as good for highway travel. It's still better than most other cars milage on the freeway, but where the Prius really returns value is stop and go driving.

Almost all highway.

You might want to look into a used Honda Insight then. It's a different type of hybrid than the Prius. It's not desiged for the electric engine to power the car entirely at low speeds and the combustion engine then kicks in to assist at higher speeds. It's designed the exact opposite. The combustion engine powers the car at low speeds and the electric engine then kicks in to assist at higher speeds. This makes the Insight more highway friendly than the Prius. A Prius might still get better gas mileage on the highway than an Insight, but only slightly better if at all... but the Honda has a much smaller battery, which makes it cheaper to purchase... and cheaper to replace.

There aren't a lot of used ones out there but I have seen them with 60K miles on them for less than 10K. That's a steal IMO.

Yep. That's because unlike the Prius there isn't a freakish cult following of the Honda Insight inflating its market price.

 

[eoMMan]

Correct. If its highway driving and you're looking for gas mileage and an economy vehicle, you should be able to get a nice Hyundai Accent on the newer side for $10k or less.Just looked at the 2012s: 40mpg highway.

I got hoes with accents and I don't mean Hyundais.

 

[hotdogcollars]

Buddy of mine has had one for 3-4 years, did TONS of research before buying. I remember b/c we were all giving him a hard time over getting one (before gas went back up to $4/gallon). He said the stuff about battery replacement is bogus...corporate propaganda. He still has it and loves it

 

[pittstownkiller]

I have been looking at one of these (new) for about a month now. The salesman tells me the batteries are warrantied for 8 years 100,000 miles or 10 year 150,000 miles in states that follow CA emisions.

 

[ex-ghost]

Buddy of mine has had one for 3-4 years, did TONS of research before buying. I remember b/c we were all giving him a hard time over getting one (before gas went back up to $4/gallon). He said the stuff about battery replacement is bogus...corporate propaganda. He still has it and loves it

Have had mine for 2.5 years. Not a single problem at all, did lots of research, too. Love the gas mileage, lowest I've had over a tank of gas is 45mpg.

 

[Rayderr]

2010 Prius owner here. It was great when I was working in the DC area as the rush hour can be hell. My typical commute was 25 miles each way. Stop and go the way in, straight drive home at 65mph on the way back. I averaged 42mpg.

Had I known that I was going to be moving to Ohio a year later, I probably wouldn't have gotten one. But I do enjoy it here as well. Here, the grocery stores offer discounts of .20 cents per gallon per $50 spent on groceries, and that can be spent on 30 gallons at once. So I got 4 - 5 gallon gas cans, and now when I fill up, 10 gallons into the car, 20 gallons into cans. That lasts me almost 3 months. By the time I need to fill up again, I've saved up enough discounts to get my gas for free. I've only had to pay for gas twice this year so far (and that's because it invovled me driving back to the DC area)

I've also found it to be fairly functional. Plenty of room for the baby seat in the back without having to take away all the leg room from the seat in front of it. I can have my seat all the way back and still have plenty of room for someone to sit behind me. Decent trunk space. If you need to do some serious hauling, you can put down the back seats and then you got tons of storage space.

 

[JNox3]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

I'm in a similar boat. I drive 40 miles one way for my commute. Looked at a bunch of differnt options. I test drove a bunch of different cars to include Mini Cooper, Mazda 3 and Prius "C" and the Smart car. I was actually going to get a Mazda 3 with the Sky Active because it gets 40 mpg but when we test drove it the car was very rough. Then I was going to get the brand new Prius C. It was way to small. Both the Mazda 3 and Prius C were what I was looking at because not only were they good on gas mileage but they were a lot cheaper than a normal Prius.After test driving the Prius C we test drove the normal Prius. It was worth the money for me. It's a very smooth ride. Super quiet. I get anywhere between 50 to 55 mpg on my commute. I drove almost all highway. I'm very happy with it. Since March I've already put 10,000 miles on it. I never imagined I'd ever get one but I'm glad I did. Let me know if there's anything specific you want me to answer.

 

[Addai's Adidas]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

I'm in a similar boat. I drive 40 miles one way for my commute. Looked at a bunch of differnt options. I test drove a bunch of different cars to include Mini Cooper, Mazda 3 and Prius "C" and the Smart car. I was actually going to get a Mazda 3 with the Sky Active because it gets 40 mpg but when we test drove it the car was very rough. Then I was going to get the brand new Prius C. It was way to small. Both the Mazda 3 and Prius C were what I was looking at because not only were they good on gas mileage but they were a lot cheaper than a normal Prius.After test driving the Prius C we test drove the normal Prius. It was worth the money for me. It's a very smooth ride. Super quiet. I get anywhere between 50 to 55 mpg on my commute. I drove almost all highway. I'm very happy with it. Since March I've already put 10,000 miles on it. I never imagined I'd ever get one but I'm glad I did. Let me know if there's anything specific you want me to answer.

Thanks JNox. Are you hypermiling or anything? You purchased new, I am looking at used. In your research would you purchased used one?

 

[Buck Bradcanon]

I've also found it to be fairly functional. Plenty of room for the baby seat in the back without having to take away all the leg room from the seat in front of it. I can have my seat all the way back and still have plenty of room for someone to sit behind me. Decent trunk space. If you need to do some serious hauling, you can put down the back seats and then you got tons of storage space.

I was surprised by the space in it. My 2011 Prius turns 1 yr old on Friday. Hope to drive the thing forever. Congrats on your wife's job and good luck on your vehicle purchase.

 

[JNox3]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

I'm in a similar boat. I drive 40 miles one way for my commute. Looked at a bunch of differnt options. I test drove a bunch of different cars to include Mini Cooper, Mazda 3 and Prius "C" and the Smart car. I was actually going to get a Mazda 3 with the Sky Active because it gets 40 mpg but when we test drove it the car was very rough. Then I was going to get the brand new Prius C. It was way to small. Both the Mazda 3 and Prius C were what I was looking at because not only were they good on gas mileage but they were a lot cheaper than a normal Prius.After test driving the Prius C we test drove the normal Prius. It was worth the money for me. It's a very smooth ride. Super quiet. I get anywhere between 50 to 55 mpg on my commute. I drove almost all highway. I'm very happy with it. Since March I've already put 10,000 miles on it. I never imagined I'd ever get one but I'm glad I did. Let me know if there's anything specific you want me to answer.

Thanks JNox. Are you hypermiling or anything? You purchased new, I am looking at used. In your research would you purchased used one?

Sometimes a do a Pulse and Glide technicque but usually I just set the cruise control and have no issues. The really cool think about the Prius is that say I want to go 65 mph. If I get it up to 70 mph the time that I'm coasting from 70 to 65 the engine actually shuts off and it's running just on the battery. The Prius is built to coast too. It's pretty amazing driving one and how often you can not have your foot on the gas and maintain speed. The more I'm coasting the more I'm not using any gas. Like I said, my mpg doesn't usually change a ton if I do it and usually I'll just set the cruise. Also, the new Prius cruise control will adjust your speed not only accelerating but it will slow down if there's a car in front of you. I don't know if the older ones do that or not. So I can set the cruis at 65 and the only thing I have to do is steer. As far as used ones go, I would purchase a used one. Toyoto's are some of the best built cars. I'm providing a Prius Forum link in case you want to check them out more. I actually learned a lot on the forum when I first got it.http://priuschat.com/categories/gen-iii-2010-toyota-prius-forums.93/

 

[pecorino]

we don't own any of the aforementioned cars but i have been shopping extensively. two things come to mind: first, consumer reports gushes about the honda fit. the overall cost of ownership is very low. second, we love our local mechanic but he will not be able to work on the Prius. for us that's a dealbreaker. so you may want to do some research on local folks who can service a Prius. personally, i feel like going to the dealer is like going for a colonoscopy. needless to say, we are leaning towards the fit.

 

[JNox3]

we don't own any of the aforementioned cars but i have been shopping extensively. two things come to mind: first, consumer reports gushes about the honda fit. the overall cost of ownership is very low. second, we love our local mechanic but he will not be able to work on the Prius. for us that's a dealbreaker. so you may want to do some research on local folks who can service a Prius. personally, i feel like going to the dealer is like going for a colonoscopy. needless to say, we are leaning towards the fit.

I haven't test drove one but I've seen the reviews on the Honda Fit and they are always good. I've been trying to get my daughter interested in one of these.

 

[Major]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

Is her communte highway miles, or stop and go?The Prius is great for stop and go travel, but its return on investment is not as good for highway travel. It's still better than most other cars milage on the freeway, but where the Prius really returns value is stop and go driving.

This....i'd look into the Volks or Audi TDI (smart Diesel) if you're doing highway travel.

 

[Addai's Adidas]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

I'm in a similar boat. I drive 40 miles one way for my commute. Looked at a bunch of differnt options. I test drove a bunch of different cars to include Mini Cooper, Mazda 3 and Prius "C" and the Smart car. I was actually going to get a Mazda 3 with the Sky Active because it gets 40 mpg but when we test drove it the car was very rough. Then I was going to get the brand new Prius C. It was way to small. Both the Mazda 3 and Prius C were what I was looking at because not only were they good on gas mileage but they were a lot cheaper than a normal Prius.After test driving the Prius C we test drove the normal Prius. It was worth the money for me. It's a very smooth ride. Super quiet. I get anywhere between 50 to 55 mpg on my commute. I drove almost all highway. I'm very happy with it. Since March I've already put 10,000 miles on it. I never imagined I'd ever get one but I'm glad I did. Let me know if there's anything specific you want me to answer.

Thanks JNox. Are you hypermiling or anything? You purchased new, I am looking at used. In your research would you purchased used one?

Sometimes a do a Pulse and Glide technicque but usually I just set the cruise control and have no issues. The really cool think about the Prius is that say I want to go 65 mph. If I get it up to 70 mph the time that I'm coasting from 70 to 65 the engine actually shuts off and it's running just on the battery. The Prius is built to coast too. It's pretty amazing driving one and how often you can not have your foot on the gas and maintain speed. The more I'm coasting the more I'm not using any gas. Like I said, my mpg doesn't usually change a ton if I do it and usually I'll just set the cruise. Also, the new Prius cruise control will adjust your speed not only accelerating but it will slow down if there's a car in front of you. I don't know if the older ones do that or not. So I can set the cruis at 65 and the only thing I have to do is steer. As far as used ones go, I would purchase a used one. Toyoto's are some of the best built cars. I'm providing a Prius Forum link in case you want to check them out more. I actually learned a lot on the forum when I first got it.http://priuschat.com/categories/gen-iii-2010-toyota-prius-forums.93/

Thanks. I've been checking out that forum but it doesn't seem very active as of late.

 

[Addai's Adidas]

I do like the Fit's but really there is nothing used in my price range. That model is only a couple of years old.

 

[JNox3]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

I'm in a similar boat. I drive 40 miles one way for my commute. Looked at a bunch of differnt options. I test drove a bunch of different cars to include Mini Cooper, Mazda 3 and Prius "C" and the Smart car. I was actually going to get a Mazda 3 with the Sky Active because it gets 40 mpg but when we test drove it the car was very rough. Then I was going to get the brand new Prius C. It was way to small. Both the Mazda 3 and Prius C were what I was looking at because not only were they good on gas mileage but they were a lot cheaper than a normal Prius.After test driving the Prius C we test drove the normal Prius. It was worth the money for me. It's a very smooth ride. Super quiet. I get anywhere between 50 to 55 mpg on my commute. I drove almost all highway. I'm very happy with it. Since March I've already put 10,000 miles on it. I never imagined I'd ever get one but I'm glad I did. Let me know if there's anything specific you want me to answer.

Thanks JNox. Are you hypermiling or anything? You purchased new, I am looking at used. In your research would you purchased used one?

Sometimes a do a Pulse and Glide technicque but usually I just set the cruise control and have no issues. The really cool think about the Prius is that say I want to go 65 mph. If I get it up to 70 mph the time that I'm coasting from 70 to 65 the engine actually shuts off and it's running just on the battery. The Prius is built to coast too. It's pretty amazing driving one and how often you can not have your foot on the gas and maintain speed. The more I'm coasting the more I'm not using any gas. Like I said, my mpg doesn't usually change a ton if I do it and usually I'll just set the cruise. Also, the new Prius cruise control will adjust your speed not only accelerating but it will slow down if there's a car in front of you. I don't know if the older ones do that or not. So I can set the cruis at 65 and the only thing I have to do is steer. As far as used ones go, I would purchase a used one. Toyoto's are some of the best built cars. I'm providing a Prius Forum link in case you want to check them out more. I actually learned a lot on the forum when I first got it.http://priuschat.com/categories/gen-iii-2010-toyota-prius-forums.93/

Thanks. I've been checking out that forum but it doesn't seem very active as of late.

Ya, it's not like this forum but there's still a lot of good info on the site. What other questions about them do you have? Do you already have a used Prius you are looking at? What year is it if you do?

 

[jason12vb]

For someone looking to spend 10k this is probably out of the question, but the finance and I just got a 2011 Lexus ct200h.

- It's got a Prius engine in it.

- All hybrid parts warrantied to 100,000 miles.

- Every tank of gas gas has been between 41 and 45 MPG. (Mostly freeway - Twin Cities area).

- The 10 gallon tank means I'm only putting $35 in at the gas station...winning!

- the 45MPG was a road trip.

- Does not need premium gas

- Has a button to switch between sport mode and economy mode on the fly...the sport mode actually has a lot of kick/power and feels like a little sports car.

- 2011s can be found for 30k

- We get comments left and right on the looks.

 

[JNox3]

I do like the Fit's but really there is nothing used in my price range. That model is only a couple of years old.

What about the SMART? They are inexpensive. They get really good gas mileage. You can get them used.

 

[Addai's Adidas]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

I'm in a similar boat. I drive 40 miles one way for my commute. Looked at a bunch of differnt options. I test drove a bunch of different cars to include Mini Cooper, Mazda 3 and Prius "C" and the Smart car. I was actually going to get a Mazda 3 with the Sky Active because it gets 40 mpg but when we test drove it the car was very rough. Then I was going to get the brand new Prius C. It was way to small. Both the Mazda 3 and Prius C were what I was looking at because not only were they good on gas mileage but they were a lot cheaper than a normal Prius.After test driving the Prius C we test drove the normal Prius. It was worth the money for me. It's a very smooth ride. Super quiet. I get anywhere between 50 to 55 mpg on my commute. I drove almost all highway. I'm very happy with it. Since March I've already put 10,000 miles on it. I never imagined I'd ever get one but I'm glad I did. Let me know if there's anything specific you want me to answer.

Thanks JNox. Are you hypermiling or anything? You purchased new, I am looking at used. In your research would you purchased used one?

Sometimes a do a Pulse and Glide technicque but usually I just set the cruise control and have no issues. The really cool think about the Prius is that say I want to go 65 mph. If I get it up to 70 mph the time that I'm coasting from 70 to 65 the engine actually shuts off and it's running just on the battery. The Prius is built to coast too. It's pretty amazing driving one and how often you can not have your foot on the gas and maintain speed. The more I'm coasting the more I'm not using any gas. Like I said, my mpg doesn't usually change a ton if I do it and usually I'll just set the cruise. Also, the new Prius cruise control will adjust your speed not only accelerating but it will slow down if there's a car in front of you. I don't know if the older ones do that or not. So I can set the cruis at 65 and the only thing I have to do is steer. As far as used ones go, I would purchase a used one. Toyoto's are some of the best built cars. I'm providing a Prius Forum link in case you want to check them out more. I actually learned a lot on the forum when I first got it.http://priuschat.com/categories/gen-iii-2010-toyota-prius-forums.93/

Thanks. I've been checking out that forum but it doesn't seem very active as of late.

Ya, it's not like this forum but there's still a lot of good info on the site. What other questions about them do you have? Do you already have a used Prius you are looking at? What year is it if you do?

I'm looking at a 2005-2007 with about 110-130K miles. I've seen a few in the last week and they get snatched up fairly quick. What worries me is the battery going out. I suppose with a conventional car I would be worried about replacing the timing belt or transmission or something.

 

[JNox3]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

I'm in a similar boat. I drive 40 miles one way for my commute. Looked at a bunch of differnt options. I test drove a bunch of different cars to include Mini Cooper, Mazda 3 and Prius "C" and the Smart car. I was actually going to get a Mazda 3 with the Sky Active because it gets 40 mpg but when we test drove it the car was very rough. Then I was going to get the brand new Prius C. It was way to small. Both the Mazda 3 and Prius C were what I was looking at because not only were they good on gas mileage but they were a lot cheaper than a normal Prius.After test driving the Prius C we test drove the normal Prius. It was worth the money for me. It's a very smooth ride. Super quiet. I get anywhere between 50 to 55 mpg on my commute. I drove almost all highway. I'm very happy with it. Since March I've already put 10,000 miles on it. I never imagined I'd ever get one but I'm glad I did. Let me know if there's anything specific you want me to answer.

Thanks JNox. Are you hypermiling or anything? You purchased new, I am looking at used. In your research would you purchased used one?

Sometimes a do a Pulse and Glide technicque but usually I just set the cruise control and have no issues. The really cool think about the Prius is that say I want to go 65 mph. If I get it up to 70 mph the time that I'm coasting from 70 to 65 the engine actually shuts off and it's running just on the battery. The Prius is built to coast too. It's pretty amazing driving one and how often you can not have your foot on the gas and maintain speed. The more I'm coasting the more I'm not using any gas. Like I said, my mpg doesn't usually change a ton if I do it and usually I'll just set the cruise. Also, the new Prius cruise control will adjust your speed not only accelerating but it will slow down if there's a car in front of you. I don't know if the older ones do that or not. So I can set the cruis at 65 and the only thing I have to do is steer. As far as used ones go, I would purchase a used one. Toyoto's are some of the best built cars. I'm providing a Prius Forum link in case you want to check them out more. I actually learned a lot on the forum when I first got it.http://priuschat.com/categories/gen-iii-2010-toyota-prius-forums.93/

Thanks. I've been checking out that forum but it doesn't seem very active as of late.

Ya, it's not like this forum but there's still a lot of good info on the site. What other questions about them do you have? Do you already have a used Prius you are looking at? What year is it if you do?

I'm looking at a 2005-2007 with about 110-130K miles. I've seen a few in the last week and they get snatched up fairly quick. What worries me is the battery going out. I suppose with a conventional car I would be worried about replacing the timing belt or transmission or something.

When we purchased ours the battery was the one maintenance thing they told us about that would be costly and if we prepared for it as we went it wouldn't be a problem or shock when it went out. They told us the new batteries were more advanced and may last longer but it'd still need to be replaced around the 8 year mark.For a 2005 - 2007 that's an added expense that is a very real possibility in the near future. Once that is replaced though you could probably get some very good mileage out of your car. Maybe you can use that as leverage when discussing the price.

 

[Major]

For someone looking to spend 10k this is probably out of the question, but the finance and I just got a 2011 Lexus ct200h.

- It's got a Prius engine in it.

- All hybrid parts warrantied to 100,000 miles.

- Every tank of gas gas has been between 41 and 45 MPG. (Mostly freeway - Twin Cities area).

- The 10 gallon tank means I'm only putting $35 in at the gas station...winning!

- the 45MPG was a road trip.

- Does not need premium gas

- Has a button to switch between sport mode and economy mode on the fly...the sport mode actually has a lot of kick/power and feels like a little sports car.

- 2011s can be found for 30k

- We get comments left and right on the looks.

Other than looking like a Mazda 3 hatchback, that's a pretty nice car

 

[Politician Spock]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

Is her communte highway miles, or stop and go?The Prius is great for stop and go travel, but its return on investment is not as good for highway travel. It's still better than most other cars milage on the freeway, but where the Prius really returns value is stop and go driving.

Almost all highway.

There aren't a lot of used ones out there but I have seen them with 60K miles on them for less than 10K. That's a steal IMO.You might want to look into a used Honda Insight then. It's a different type of hybrid than the Prius. It's not desiged for the electric engine to power the car entirely at low speeds and the combustion engine then kicks in to assist at higher speeds. It's designed the exact opposite. The combustion engine powers the car at low speeds and the electric engine then kicks in to assist at higher speeds. This makes the Insight more highway friendly than the Prius. A Prius might still get better gas mileage on the highway than an Insight, but only slightly better if at all... but the Honda has a much smaller battery, which makes it cheaper to purchase... and cheaper to replace.

There is a 2001 Insight for sale in Chicago right now for $9,000. It has 55K miles on it. They are so ugly though, but form follows function I guess. Alas, it is only a two seater.

A 2001 Insight is the original Insight. They stopp making them about 8 or 9 years ago. About 4 or 5 years ago they brought back the Insight name, but with a huge overhaul on the car. I wouldn't get an original Insight. Not only is it butt ugly, the engine is far too small to be worthwhile for pretty much any use except riding completely alone with no baggage at all... and even then, it's still too slow. The new Insights are far more functional.

 

[jason12vb]

For someone looking to spend 10k this is probably out of the question, but the finance and I just got a 2011 Lexus ct200h.

- It's got a Prius engine in it.

- All hybrid parts warrantied to 100,000 miles.

- Every tank of gas gas has been between 41 and 45 MPG. (Mostly freeway - Twin Cities area).

- The 10 gallon tank means I'm only putting $35 in at the gas station...winning!

- the 45MPG was a road trip.

- Does not need premium gas

- Has a button to switch between sport mode and economy mode on the fly...the sport mode actually has a lot of kick/power and feels like a little sports car.

- 2011s can be found for 30k

- We get comments left and right on the looks.

Other than looking like a Mazda 3 hatchback, that's a pretty nice car

I've noticed that it looks a lot like the Mazda as well...but it's weird how many random people comment on how nice it looks. Don't know if it's the red color and tinted windows or if it's just because it's a Lexus...

 

[boots11234]

Is this where the gay men hangout?

 

[JNox3]

Is this where the gay men hangout?

I'm pretty sure that's Minnesota.

 

[sbonomo]

Wife drives a 2008,prius. Average 43-45 on freeway, 45-48 in town. Cons - not much power, manlyness factor of zero. Pros - first scheduled maint is not until 125 k miles. Great gas mileage, fold down rear seats make the enterior seem bigger than it really is, 30 bucks to fill it up with better than 400 miles per tank. all in all a very good car.

 

[Spanky24]

Is this where the gay men hangout?

 

[Politician Spock]

Is this where the gay men hangout?

A Prius works very effeciently in a Chick-Fil-A drive through.

 

[Addai's Adidas]

Is this where the gay men hangout?

Guess we should be driving the lifted truck. My bad.

 

[CYP]

I bought a used Honda Insight. Its rated at 42mpg I believe. I consistently exceed 50mpg. If I am careful driving it I can get upwards of 60mpg.

10 gallon tank. I drive 60+ each way to work. I fill up on Sunday and just dump a few bucks in on Thursday.

 

[CYP]

Is this where the gay men hangout?

Im a gas ######. Im not proud

 

[GDogg]

Wife got a job with a 50 mile ONEWAY commute. Ouch, but better than nothing. We already were eying another vehicle, now we would like something with REALLY good gas mileage. I'm looking at used Prius in the 10K range which means they have about 100K miles already. We are of course worried about drive battery replacement a year after purchase. Any Prius owners here care to share their experience. I'm also open to a Civic or Insight.

Is her communte highway miles, or stop and go?The Prius is great for stop and go travel, but its return on investment is not as good for highway travel. It's still better than most other cars milage on the freeway, but where the Prius really returns value is stop and go driving.

I get about 50 MPG in regular freeway driving.

 

[The Future Champs]

I'm a happy prius owner. My only warning is that it accelerates very slowly at highway speeds. That's about the only time I notice the underpowered engine.

 

[The Future Champs]

Is this where the gay men hangout?

Im a gas ######. Im not proud

 

[Joe Summer]

Is this where the gay men hangout?

That joke is so 2003.

 

[Rayderr]

I'm a happy prius owner. My only warning is that it accelerates very slowly at highway speeds. That's about the only time I notice the underpowered engine.

The 3rd Gen Prius's have a nice little "power button." That said, I keep mine in eco mode and haven't had an issues accelerating.

 

[Politician Spock]

I bought a used Honda Insight. Its rated at 42mpg I believe. I consistently exceed 50mpg. If I am careful driving it I can get upwards of 60mpg. 10 gallon tank. I drive 60+ each way to work. I fill up on Sunday and just dump a few bucks in on Thursday.

I bought a Honda CRZ back in early 2011. It's a spin off of the Insight but with increased HP in the combustion engine. It's rated at 35/39 MPG, yet I'm at 42 MPG after 22,000 miles combined driving. I am more heavy on the highway side than city though. When I put it in econ mode, and keep it under 60, it returns high 40's. But I also put it in sport mode quite often when I'm impatient and then combustion engine responds like a gas guzzler. If I didn't do that I'd probably be averaging around 45 MPG. My wife loves to borrow it (her car is the Honda Odyssey she uses for our 3 kids). She never really cared to borrow my Mitsubishi Galant. But she loves driving the CRZ. So do I.

 

[Emerson Biggens]

I changed from an Infiniti M45 last year in hopes of getting better gas mileage than the 16-17 I was getting. Having a girlfriend 260 miles away made me care about gas mileage over coolness. I looked at the Prius and a Civic Hybrid. The Prius seemed to be about $2K more similarly equipped, and I found a good deal on a 2008 Civic Hybrid, so I got it. It holds 4 people and lots of luggage easy, 5 people isn't too bad either. It's got the same engine as the Insight I think.

EPA says 40 in city, 45 on highway. I've put 30K miles on it in a year, and after that year, I'm at 40.8 mpg, about 50-50 city/highway. It would be a lot better if I drove better. I can go 55 miles per hour on the interstate home and steadily average 65MPG. But, I usually drive 75 mph, and I 'only' get 40MPG. I have tracked every fill up on fuelly.com. If you want to see real world numbers on fuel economy, go there and look for cars you're interested in.

 

[iamsmilin]

I love our Prius, we have a 2005 or 2006. I would recommend the car to anyone. Very smooth and unlike other people, I have no problems with acceleration on the freeway. Love the GPS feature in ours. So far we have had no major issues with it and have not needed to change the battery.

 

[The Future Champs]

I'm a happy prius owner. My only warning is that it accelerates very slowly at highway speeds. That's about the only time I notice the underpowered engine.

The 3rd Gen Prius's have a nice little "power button." That said, I keep mine in eco mode and haven't had an issues accelerating.

Ya, I have that button, and it still accelerates slowly at highway speeds. I usually get a little headstart if I'm going to pass someone on a two lane highway.