I am trying to chose between a Prius and a Fit base MT. I love the "save the environment" thing about the prius and the technology intrigues me, but I am a low mileage driver (5k miles a year currently) so the numbers don't make sense. Most of my driving is small town/rural roads. I am figuring 55mpg for the Prius and 35 for the Fit. Near as I can tell I will never regain the additional purchase price. With my driving pattern I will save ~52 gallons a year.

I thought I would be able to pony up the extra dough when it came time to buy, but I have better things to do with my money. My number crunching shows the Fit still ahead cost wise by about $6,700 after 10 years with gas at $4 a gallon. I had to put gas price at $16 a gallon in the spreadsheet to have the Prius beat the fit financially in 10 years. I imagine that the resale value of the Prius will be higher than the Fit if I decide to sell my new car at some point, but I tend to keep my cars forever - I drive a 1988 Crx currently, and just gave away my 1985 Civic 4wd!

You all seem to love your Fits on this forum!

The Prius folk have pointed out that the hybrid technology puts less stress on the engine/motor because each is allowed to operate within its most efficient range. The transmission is simpler. It is possible that over the long run the Prius will need fewer repairs.

 

I ran the math for me too. And even though I drive much more than you (12,000miles/yr.) the numbers still don't work in the Prius' favor.

I will be buying a fit sport as soon as I sell my truck.

 

Did you consider the cost of replacement batteries, should the Prius ever need them. I'm gonna wait until the "plug-in" hybrids become readily available (if ever) before I even consider a hybrid.

 

If I could plug my car into my windmill/solar panels and essentialy use 0 gas, that would help the environment. The way things stand, saving 52 gallons a year won't make much of a difference to the world!

 

Oops, I just spotted 2 other fit vs prius threads that were invisible off my small screen. What does one do in the case of a duplicate thread?

 

For being polite and considerate and noticing, I'd say keep on going. Some people start a new thread when the same thing is going on half way down the page Search is good in the future, vBulletin works pretty well.

You already know the break even point on the Prius vs Fit is way way out there. Both cars are reliable, but you go out in time a ways when things can and sometimes do go wrong, I think the Prius is potentially much much much more expensive to repair. Though a marvel in engineering, it is very complicated vehicle.

 

I took a Prius test drive last year, and couldn't wait to get out of the car. I hated the handling and visibility, and I was annoyed that a car stickered at $29,000 didn't even have height adjustment for the driver's seat. The last car that I disliked so much during a test drive was a Mini Cooper, which struck me as a triumph of form over function. Fit and Insight were almost a toss-up, but in the end, I am going to vote for fun, space utilization, and cost.

 

yeah a friend of mine bought a prius about 5-6 years ago...they just had to replace the battery and it was about 6 grand OTD

 

the prius is boooooooring.

 

That's the perk it sells on, it sells well.. You can't feel the road, you can't hear the engine, and best of all, the outside world is gone... If boring is that comfortable, then I can't wait till I can get the honda equivalent. Which sadly I think is the accord or the ridgeline.

 

Let's face it. You want to go green? Pony up the big bucks. You will never, ever, EVER recoup the money you spend on a Prius as compared to purchasing a conventional gas engine car. There have been multiple studies that conclude this, with total cost of ownership. Battery replacement? No one in their right mind would buy a used Prius because of this issue. I would think this alone would really kill the used Prius market.

Besides. They are damn ugly, and have a stupid name. Sort of like "prissy"

I don't understand why hybrids have to look so stupid, as in ... "look at me, I am driving a hybrid and am better than you"

Sorry for the rant. I have nothing against hybrids at all. Before purchasing our Fits... I did alot of research and concluded that the versitility and fun factor of a Fit, along with the Honda reputation was a winner.

To each his own, I guess.

handymus

 

Get the Fit. It's money you'll save now in purchase costs and money you'll save later in repair costs. Manual transmissions are pretty bulletproof, and Honda makes a great engine. The rest of the car is pretty good, too.

If you drove 50k miles a year, a hybrid would make more sense. 48 mpg or better highway compared to 35 mpg highway will very quickly be recouped then.

 

If you want great gas mileage and performance, get a motorcycle, or even a scooter. I have a 10-year old BMW that gets 48 mpg, and a 21-year old Honda that gets about 55 mpg. Both will do zero to 60 in under 5 seconds. Neither is a "performance" motorcycle.

 

Thanks for your helpful comments. I test drove the Fit finally and bought it on the spot. Storm Silver base MT. Wanted Tidewater Blue but dealer didn't have it and I decided to not wait. Very pleased so far. Re-learning how to drive a manual to maximize mileage.

As an engineer, I still love the Prius design, but, as you all pointed out, the Fit is more fun to drive. It is amazingly smooth. Shifting is so easy after my CRX that I am actually having trouble with it. For me, the Fit is a luxury car! After reading the comments some of you have posted about the road disconnection of the Prius, I realize what a shock it would have been transitioning from CRX to Prius. Totally different drive. I would have felt I was driving blind. I had a moment of panic when I test drove it because of the lack of road feedback.

I only got 35mpg on my first tank (unreliable calculation though). The dash avg mpg meter said I got 45mpg but I understand they are normally wrong. I am working on a summary of fuel efficient manual Fit driving techniques because what I am reading is so confusing. (forums on ecomodder and cleanmpg as well as here.)

Interestingly, I posed a similar Prius vs Fit question on a Prius forum (prius chat) and they pretty much said that if you couldn't afford a Prius, then a Fit was an excellent choice. Feeling was you couldn't go wrong with either car. Thought I'd let you know that even Prius drivers like Fit.

 

Congrats on the new car!

You also brought up re-sale value of the Fit being lower down the road, but think they cost about half the price of a Prius to begin with.

 

According to Consumers (and maybe Edmunds), Fit retained its value better than Prius. People may be leery of buying used Priuses because of the battery replacement issue. I decided that unless something catastrophic happens worldwide (not out of the question!), the Fit is a better purchase than a Prius for those who don't drive a lot.

I really, really like the idea of supporting new technologies, but not to the tune of nearly a factor of 2 in purchase price.

 

Especially when the new "Cleaner" technology still poses a big threat to the environment as well. Once all these Prius' start making their way off the roads where are there batteries going to go. I think it kind of ironically plays into the "Buy now pay later" mentality we have going on.

 

Check the long-term fuel economy data for the base manual Fits. They can far exceed the 35 mpg figure you mentioned. I can routinely get 45 mpg for longer highway trips, and the life-time average for my '08 for 16K miles is a tad over 43 mpg. I too considered a Prius but my wife and I were able to almost get two base manual '08 Fits for what a single Prius would have cost back in March or 2008. (About 26K for the Prius and 31K for TWO Fits, so the Prius was 84% of the total Fit costs.)

 

I was just in a hypermiling competition yesterday with mine, and doing nothing aside from running 45psi in the tires and driving smoother I managed 47.2mpg. I even had the roof rack bars up top!

 

Is if you got into an accident in a Prius, and somehow you survived the accident, only to be shocked to death by a battery discharge.

Just speculating. Don't know if that could happen, but I do think that with the new hybrids, the fire deptments have to be retrained on how to work an accident.

handymus