95 C4 993

I sell video conferencing (Polycom, TANDBERG, Lifesize, Radvision) and Cisco Telepresence solutions and would consider myself having "green" values to some degree. Of course I own 2 SUVs and a Porsche so I cant say that Im doing my share helping the enviroment. However, I work from home and use video conferencing on a daily basis. Anyway.......

Any Prius owners out there? I may sell my Bronco and replace it with an Hybrid and the Prius is at the top of list. I will keep my Explorer and Porsche but looking for a "daily" vehicle that is economic and nice to the environment. My neighbor has one (He also owns a FJ Cruiser and Jeep Wrangler) but uses the Prius for "putting around town" and driving to work.

Anything feedback from Prius owners on this board?

jangobox

I have one. It's great for a commuter car. Full of little technologies that makes it a semi-fun to drive and you can go places where you would'nt want to take you Porsche to, stadiums, city parking lots. I love it. One of the best cars I have ever owned. It is a 2006 model and I have 41000 miles on it so far and not 1 issue with it. Lots of space in that back seat too. Good for small familes and a definate all around home depot, costco, grocery shopping machine. Fits in tight parking spaces easily too, pretty narrow for parking garages. Get the technology package with it though. Backup camera, bluetooth, 6-disc in dash CD. I get between 42 to 50 mpg. The colder the weather, the lower the gas mileage.

WHB Porsche

Just sold mine last week. 1 year, 15k miles, and nothing but an oil change. You can do pretty much anything with the car, and I got 45mpg true mixed city/highway. Buy a used one w/ GPS and the side airbags and you'll be set.

Kika

My sister has one. she is a pediatrician, so she could afford pretty much any car she wanted. she absolutely loves her prius. my brother in law is quite the eater, so he likes the gps stuff that tells him where all the local restaurants are.
amazingly quiet car, I think it starts off in electric mode and the gas motor doesn't come on until about 30-35mph. when she comes over, you can't even hear the car start up or know that it is even on.

allill

I heard from a friend of mine who is a service advisor that the batteries are like $5k and do have a lifespan.

Greg H.

If cost per mile is your goal, there are cheaper options out there. But as a package, the Prius is hard to beat. We have 22K on ours, get 47 city (never really take it on the freeway) and have had no problems. And our Lab fits in the back.

Greg H.

avidtest

If you're interested in saving $$$ on fuel and will put enough miles on it over time to offset the expense and amount of fuel used (which may not be likely since you work from home), then you may in fact reduce your carbon footprint. However, almost certainly be adding to your footprint; the Bronco will be sold to someone else who will continue to drive it and, as has been discussed on other forums and blogs, the manufacturing process and amount of trans-oceanic shipping of parts required to assemble a Prius, completely offsets the lower emissions of the vehicle compared to a 'standard' non-hybrid vehicle (if my memory is serving me correctly here). Not to mention - the Prius is Fugly IMHO.

Personally, I'm hopeful more clean-burning diesels come to the U.S. market soon. I understand there are quite a few diesels in Europe that get better average fuel economy than a Prius. (I'm hopeful VW will bring a GTI TDi to our market soon.)

mr_bock

There was a great article in the BMW club magazine recently about diesels and diesel fuel. The US is not, and will not anytime soon be set to produce enough diesel fuel!!! Europe sends their excess gas to the US. This is a function of the refinery process here vs. there. Notice that diesel fuel costs more than gas!! More diesel cars will mean high diesel fuel cost.

2Many Cars

We have a diesel and a Prius. As a tinkerer I love the diesel but the best technology has yet to make it to the US and I'm not quite ready to switch to veggie fuel. My wife drives the Prius everyday and just loves it. Like others, we have about 20,000 miles on it with (literally) zero problems. Yes the battery has a useful life but it also has a 10 year full warranty so I'm not too worried. I will comment that it's a better around town car than a highway cruiser. Around town it is suprisingly peppy, remarkably quiet, and fun to maneuver around. On the highway it feels like just another car to me, although with pretty great fuel mileage. The looks are uninspiring but incredibly slippery at speed. Would we buy another? In a heartbeat. Oh, if you get one be sure to get it with all the goodies (nav, bluetooth, back-up camera, etc.) because the gadgets are good for hours of entertainment and they all work well.

ltc

Looked at the Prius for a daily driver but went with the (2006) Ford Escape Hybrid. Drove a Prius many times as a rental car when away on trips.

Has been problem free for 47K miles, got the $2K tax credit, has all the comforts (leather, heated seats, NAV, AWD). Lots of room and great in snow.....could have gone with the FWD rather than AWD and picked up a MPG or 2, but resale is a bit better with AWD in the Northeast.

In the warm weather, true mileage is ~34, drops to about 30 in the winter (nature of hybrids....need to run the engine to keep it 'warm' and battery capacity drops as well in cold weather).

Since I live in a 'Green' state, the hybrid battery pack and powertrain components are required, by federal law', to be warrantied for 10yr/150K miles, so few worries there about replacement.

Would have preferred a diesel, but hybrid was the next best thing.

V

There was a thread a while back that totally neglected all good things Prius. There were some pretty good arguments brought forward there.. Some guy started out saying how wonderful the Prius was in every aspect and in the end he had to bite and

Van1

ltc, nice to hear from you over here on the 993 board. I read many of your posts while researching towing with a Cayenne and/or Touareg. My Airstream has LEDs and I just live with the "!" on my Touareg. Turn on the lights and the pulsing goes away and I forget about all as 553 lb of torque takes over speeding up a mountain pass.

That said, 95 C4 993, how many miles do you put on a car selling your wares? (BTW, I used a TANDBERG for the first time last week. I don't care to see the people I am speaking with.) Why wouldn't a Honda Civic or other efficient gasser do? Preowned VW TDI (I got 48mpg with my '03 VW Golf TDI cruising 80 mph with the AC cranked) in spite of higher diesel prices? Why Prius? Keep in mind that there is a difference between saving "The Green" and saving your green. I get the feeling that many of the rich and famous that tout hybrids forget about the lengths of their commutes or the environmental impacts of heating and cooling their SoCal mansions. I bet that my environmental impact driving my cars on my short commutes in Omaha is much less than those driving their "green" cars on their long stop and go major commutes in SoCal. I say drive what you like. Or move closer to your place of employment.

Bull

Speaking of "Green", anyone come up with a disposal plan for all of those batteries when they die, or is it all just NIMBY?

SPIKES

we just got one on tuesday...absolutely love it so far 44mpg town stop and start..

texas911

Toyota has a program to recycle them. So what's the plan for the millions and millions of lead acid car batteries regular cars use? Try again.