2010 Toyota Prius Lease a Good Value (when you factor in gas saving)?
I am looking to lease a car. (I know leasing is not a good value etc…). I am just out of school and can’t afford much. I was looking into getting a Kia Soul because it was cheap and safe. However, after seeing the Toyota commercials I decided to look and see what type of specials they were running. Right now you can get a 3 year lease for $209!
I started to crunch the gas number a little I concluded that if I drive 1000 a month with gas at $3.07 I would save $67.72 a month in gas. Applying that saving to the lease brings the monthly lease down to 161.28 (only $11.28 more than the Kia a month) and clearly the Prius is a must better and more substantial car. Additionally, if I did get the Kia I would end up paying more for gas bringing the monthly cost of driving the kia to $217.72.
Now I know that everyone says the hybrid premium doesn’t pay and you don’t recoup the premium until 3,4 or 5 years. But based on my math, for 11.28 extra a month I can drive a Prius instead of a kia soul. **Also my math is based on $3.07 a gallon (I live in So. Cal and it is already higher than that, the higher gas goes the more I save)**
So I guess my question is (1) assuming my math is correct wouldn’t it be smarter to get the Prius (2) Am I wrong? The money is going to come out of my pocket one way or another, shouldn’t it be on the car rather than the gas?
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Filed under Gas Conservation FAQ by on Aug 17th, 2010. Comment. 
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Comments on 2010 Toyota Prius Lease a Good Value (when you factor in gas saving)?
you put a lot of thought into this but yes if you factor in the savings of gas you are saving money, I say get the prius
Your math is good, and the Prius is the better car; but you haven’t considered the possibility that INSURING the two cars could have different costs. You need to check that too. You also haven’t compared maintenance expenses, though the Prius is generally pretty inexpensive in that regard also.
Edit: VW fanboys are pathetic. You would have to fill the Prius with five people, lots of luggage, under-inflate the tires by 20PSI, and drive uphill into a headwind to get as low as 35MPG. (OK, so I’m exaggerating a little.) But no, the Prius definitely delivers MUCH better than 35MPG — the EPA revised their testing methodology a few years ago, and their numbers are very reasonably accurate for most people in most situations. 2010 Toyota Prius, 51MPG city, 48MPG highway, 50MPG combined. And that’s probably very close to what you’d get. If you really want to compare that to a 10-year-old VW: 2000 VW Golf TDI 5-speed manual diesel, 35MPG city, 44MPG highway, 38MPG combined. And you’d have a ten-year-old Volkswagen. No thanks…
(And where does he get the idea that the VW uses cheaper fuel than the Prius anyway? The Prius uses regular; the Golf uses regular, premium, or diesel — several different models to choose from — but in the USA the cheapest of those three is regular, which the Prius uses. And the 2000 VW Golf that uses regular gets HALF the mileage that the Prius gets.)
Your biggest flaw is in assuming the Prius will get better mileage. It won’t. Toyota has numerous lawsuits against them for false advertising the mileage of the Prius and not delivering near the efficiency. For the price of a Prius lease, you could buy an 8-10 year old VW Golf TDI, that uses cheaper fuel and gets much better mileage (some people getting as much as 60mpg vs the 35mpg the prius gets), as well as being more reliable. Leasing and buying new cars are both financial disasters no matter who you are, unless you are paying cash to buy it. Considering I paid $235 a month for a $13k car (no, not a TDI, mine gets much worse gas mileage, but doesn’t make you look like a hippie driving it like a Prius, and it’s fun to drive), so you could get a fairly new TDI for that much easily.
Besides your math, there’s also the safety aspect to consider. The Prius has VSC (vehicle stability control) which prevents doughnuts in slippery conditions if you’re going anything like a reasonable speed for the conditions.
As for the MPG you can expect, my 2004 Prius has a lifetime average of 56 mpg over 107,000 trouble-free miles based on the logbook that I keep (not just a couple of tankfuls during vacation like most data from “Car XX gets just as good mpg”). Of course, you can drive like an idiot and get poor mpg, just like in any car.
Because gas prices are likely to go up again, here’s some data:
Lifestyle impact — How much does fuel cost affect a Prius owner.
Key:
Gas: Actual amount spent.
Miles: Actual miles driven during the period.
$/mile: Gas/Miles
Cost of gas…: Cost if exactly 16,000 miles were driven
12 months prior to Oct 2004
Gas: $466.13 Miles: 13,333 $/mile: $0.0350
Cost of gas based on 16,000 miles: $559.37
12 months prior to Oct 2005
Gas: $686.77 Miles: 16,631 $/mile: $0.0413
Cost of gas based on 16,000 miles: $660.71
12 months prior to Oct 2006
Gas: $708.38 Miles: 14,716 $/mile: $0.0481
Cost of gas based on 16,000 miles: $770.19
12 months prior to Oct 2007
Gas: $825.08 Miles: 17,963 $/mile: $0.0459
Cost of gas based on 16,000 miles: $734.92
12 months prior to Oct 2008
Gas: $889.01 Miles: 15,855 $/mile: $0.0561
Cost of gas based on 16,000 miles: $897.14
12 months prior to Oct 2009
Gas: $774.33 Miles: 20,641 $/mile: $0.0375
Cost of gas based on 16,000 miles: $600.23
As of March 26, 2010 fill
Gas: $312.51 Miles: 7,374 $/mile: $0.0424
Cost of gas based on 16,000 miles: $678.08
There’s also the maintenance aspect. Toyota has replaced or simplified many mechanical parts with more reliable electronics. For instance there is no clutch or fluid coupling (fluid coupling is the automatic equivalent of a clutch), no starter motor, no alternator, and the automatic transmission with its hundreds of parts has been replaced by a simple planetary gear system similar to a differential. There is not much maintenance to be done and much of that can be DYI if you’re so inclined.
As far as VW goes, I had a TDI diesel before I got the Prius. Engine blew at 80,000 miles, headlights burnt out about once a month, the interior trim melted off. The battery died every year and three times I had to be towed because you can’t jump a shorted out battery. For what I spent in maintenance I could have purchased 2/3 of a Prius (and that doesn’t count all the free repairs under warranty).