I looked at some on here last night and they seem pretty good the older ones didn't look like they would save you much tho as before 2005 the star rating seemed to only be 4 out of 6 stars
a.woodrow,
Nov 19, 9:26pm
Steer clear of earlier ones. they are at the age when the batteries start to fail (around 10 years) replacement cost is prohibitive
thejazzpianoma,
Nov 19, 9:27pm
They don't save you anything in NZ conditions, not even if you live in the City. The only reason to buy one is because you are swayed by the marketing, are not very good at math or want one for the questionable environmental advantage.
Get a Golf Bluemotion if you want an economical car.
Also. don't trust the fuelsaver ratings, they don't even measure all cars the same and many are measured wrong. Do your own math, do your own research.
a.woodrow,
Nov 19, 9:37pm
Too true Jazz, anything other than city driving is heavy on gas - you're towing a small trailer around in battery weight
mcfc11,
Nov 19, 10:24pm
And a thottle body cost's over $4k
delboy71,
Nov 19, 10:51pm
They're also dangerous to pedestrians cos they're so damn quiet - they should be made to be fitted with spokey dokeys.
mark.52,
Nov 19, 11:11pm
I wonder why anyone would choose to buy one. How much energy is used to make (and correctly dispose of) the batteries! Are they really "carbon-neutral" (Hate that term, but it will do.)
I know they are revolting to drive.
thejazzpianoma,
Nov 19, 11:18pm
I was surprised when I did the math for Taxi drivers that even in city conditions with as many km's as Taxi's do there was no overall cost of running advantage.
In fairness though like you say the direct fuel costs were lower in those conditions, but they never made back the premium on the purchase price over a Golf.
In that exercise I was being generous and using the Toyota economy figures which were thrown out by the U.S Government regulators for being grossly optimistic.
The only way to actually get properly good economy out of them is to use "pulse and glide" and other techniques which are tedious to do and make you a hazard to other traffic.
thejazzpianoma,
Nov 19, 11:22pm
If they were serious about the environment and not just about marketing they would engineer them for perpetual use, and also so that components could be updated as new technology came along.
a.woodrow,
Nov 19, 11:23pm
They run a fleet of prius taxis on the gold coast, speaking to the drivers, they hadn't made any real savings. although a benefit is that the engine isn't running when you are sitting at lights etc
a.woodrow,
Nov 19, 11:24pm
Yep they are starting to fit devices to them that make a humming sound
bae13,
Nov 20, 12:10am
New diesels are the way to go, with better technology than previous stuff they have closed the gap on petrols performance, servicing costs are now about the same. If only the govt can lower the diesel passenger car ruc charge and registration to help push this cleaner alternative to petrol
bigfatmat1,
Nov 20, 12:11am
oh the haters are out lol. The uneducated strike again Parroting dribble. Op you will never get credible answers on this forum about hybrids. learn how they operate learn the physics behind them study the manafacturing and batteries compare this to vehicles of that are similar and draw ya own conclusion
thejazzpianoma,
Nov 20, 12:38am
You don't have to be very well educated to use a calculator and its easy enough to get the real world figures. I have been there done the math and even posted it all for people to critique in past.
thejazzpianoma,
Nov 20, 12:41am
That echo's what the math showed too. You can get start/stop technology in lots of regular cars so that's no big bonus. Another advantage for Taxi drivers is simply the "perception of green" that should get them a bit of business over the next Taxi. Whether it makes up for the extra cost of ownership I don't know, but at least a Taxi driver is getting close to breaking even with a regular car so perhaps!
BTW, Hybrids can be good, its just the Japanese are yet to make a good one. The Germans have taken a long time to get around to bothering with the technology but now they are into it there have been some truely impressive results. However, their preference is Diesel so again not worth the money in NZ as our fixed road tax kills it.
michael.benn,
Nov 20, 12:49am
If everyone bought second hand cars instead of brand new shiny hybrids the world would be better off.
STICK WITH A REAL CAR ! :P
stevo2,
Nov 20, 12:49am
Ok, heres the figures. We (2 couples) hired a Prius in Cairns and put 6000km on it in 3 weeks making our way down to Gold Coast with all of our luggage. Open road around 100-110kph and heaps of running around in town. We "averaged" 5lt/100km over the whole time. Most of the taxi drivers over there use them and are happy with them. There was heaps of room for 4 adults and all our bags and more than enough power to go with the flow. I loved the fact that it was silent around town and would sneak up on pedestrians crossing the road and give them a blast of the horn much to the disgust of Mrs Stevo haha.
franc123,
Nov 20, 12:52am
Yep I reckon the taxi industry are using these things as some sort of a marketing tool as opposed to buying them to enjoy genuine cost savings and contribute to the alleged environmental benefits of operating one.Since they are apparantly so cheap to run have taxi fares gone down lol!
rayzor14,
Nov 20, 1:20am
Having had the displeasure of renting a new Prius earlier this year I can honestly say I would have rather caught the bus. There is nothing at all that it did that "felt" like a car should feel - wooden handling, pitiful brakes that were either on or off, bugger all power for overtaking and I dare say it used as much electric power running all the digital crap on the dash as it did driving the wheels. Fuel economy was good but as someone suggested earlier a VW Bluemotion will deliver better economy and WAY better resale value.
a.woodrow,
Nov 20, 1:28am
Just because someone doesn't support a particular type of technology doesn't mean they are uneducated. Do you own a hybrid.!
chris_051,
Nov 20, 1:46am
Peugeot were putting out cars with comparable fuel economy figures to these over rated hybrids 15 years ago. 306 1.9tdi can achieve sub 5l/100km while the 406 will consume not much more. Granted they are down on power but every other petrol econo shitbox is too so a moot point.
thejazzpianoma,
Nov 20, 1:51am
Fiats common rail Diesels of 15 years ago had both power and economy and were also capable of 5l/100km. Fiat of course were first off the blocks but Peugeot got into common rail technology not that much later and enjoyed the benefits too.
VW's Diesel hybrids are looking at under 1l/100km which is well worth while in countries that have road tax included in the price of diesel.
rosso5,
Nov 20, 2:05am
i cant see how some one can be as you put it'educated' and still think the current hybrids actually save you money, putting all factors in and not just fuel effienciency how you can come to that conclusion, yer ive done courses throgh toyota on the prius and had all the propoganda and in my opinion you cannot beat a common rail diesel turbo engine at this point in time. possibly in the future not to far away a hybrid will be better, presently not
bae13,
Nov 20, 2:07am
post #23 you took the words out of my mouth!
mm12345,
Nov 20, 2:24am
If environmental cost, in terms of carbon per km was to be properly calculated, it should include carbon cost to produce the car, back to and including the cost to extract ores, smelt them etc, then divided back against service life of the vehicle.The disposable high tech car won't stack up well.Little common rail turbo diesel vehicles bother me, as at 100-150,000km, they're hand grenades.Very high tech, highly stressed little motors with horrific service costs.Great with CO2 emissions per km while they're going, but potentially false economy, not just for the owner's wallet.
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