Toyota Prius, worth it?

Right now I would not purchase a hybrid. The additional cost of the car, the additional cost of maintenance, and the cost to replace the battery pack (after 5 to 6 years) make the hybrids not worth it right now. There are several cars that get as good or near the same as hybrids.

I would stay with a conventional car right now until technology catches up.

The Prius works great for around town. It also works great on long trips. I bought a 2001 for my wife and it was (and is) so good that when the 2004 came out I bought one for myself. I now have 96K miles on the 2004 and it's been a great car with very low maintenance.

The lifetime average of my 2004 is 56.1 mpg which is just over the 55 mpg combined EPA number. How well you do depends mainly on your commute. Short commutes won't get as good mpg as longer ones because there is a warm up period of about five minutes before the really good mpg starts (the actual time depends on the ambient temperature). My commute is twenty miles one way plus I usually take one or two long trips each year to give you some perspective.

The handling depends mainly on the tires you put on it, but it handles similarly to other family sedans. If you are used to driving a Porsche you won't be impressed :-)

There is not much service to do on the Prius. An oil and filter change plus tire rotation every 5000 miles. Cabin air filter and engine air filter every 15,000 miles. Transaxle fluid drain and fill every 30,000 miles. Everything else is at about 100,000 miles (spark plugs, coolant, etc.)

I've found both my Prius to be very reliable--more so than a number of other vehicles I've had over the years.

You have to analyze your driving pattern.

If you drive 30 miles/day everyday.

Then let's say you can actually get that 50 mpg and another car gets 20 mpg. That's 1.5 gallons of gas per day versus 0.6 gallons per day = 0.9 gallons difference. Over a year it's around 330 gallons of gas. If gas goes back to $4/gal then the yearly savings is around $1300/year.

If you get let's say a Corolla instead. The difference is about $7k so it would take about 5 years for you to recoup the cost provided gas is $4/gal and longer if it's cheaper say $3/gal, it would take 7 years.

If you finance the car and you had to pay 6% that break even period is even longer because that's an additional $1k of interest you are paying.

So do the analysis.

But if you want to feel better about the environment (although global warming due to humans is somewhat inconclusive) and yourself. You can go for the Prius. The Prius is a good car, but understand what and why you are buying it.

A cheaper car can also do since its just a short commute around town.But, if you're thinking about gasoline prices or emissions, then the Prius is the best choice.But, there are other hybrids to consider like the Honda Insight or the Civic hybrid or even the Ford Escape hybrid.

Well anything made by Toyota is very reliable. The Toyota Prius gets great gas mileage and would probably be a great car for you. The new models have a solar panel on the top of the car also.

They are really great cars. Test-drive one and see what you think. They are one of the easiest cars to own. Maintenance needs are very low and reliability ratings are very high. They also have nice features, are safe, and are practical with the hatchback design that can fit large items that wouldn't fit in a sedan. There is certainly a lot of mis-information and unsupported rumors out there about them. Very very few need any attention to the hybrid battery. The original hybrid packs usually last the life of the car. They are very green with the very low emissions (cleaner than any diesel).

well you could go with like what your saying the toyota prius but this is your first car right? another good one is the ford focus there kinda spendy though but are good cars for collegee. 2 more are the Rx-8 and honda civic. the rx8 is a really great car it gets great miles and is very sporty too but it is very spendy and dose not do well in snow but you live in Hawaii so that dose not matter but anyways great car also not much back seat only a little kid could sit in the back if that. the last car Honda civic this is the cheapest of them all and it is a little bit of all the cars i mentioned, its sporty but dose have room and is a great fun car too have. well hoped i helped also good luck in college

Depends on how much you drive and how many years you are going to own it.

If gas prices stay above 3 bucks a gallon and you own it more than 5 years than sure it might make sense in the long run.

But if gas prices stay moderate and you don't drive a lot; save 7k and buy a civic, or corolla, or fit and get good gas mileage.

It is a good car. Reliable and high resale value and good on has.

But I would never buy one even if gas cost $10/gallon.

It is the worlds ugliest car.

It is extremely boring to drive and the handling is actually worse than the handling of most SUV's.

I would get a Honda Civic if gas was expensive.

omj the prius is so awsomne. we rented one and went on a trip that normally costs 80 bucks and it only costed lyk 20 doloors and its so cool