Are you buying into the "Green Car" myth?

Question

The Prius is the most economical import. The Focus is the most economical domestic vehicle. The most common new vehicle auto loan is five years. So this comparison is based at 5 years.

Toyota Prius, 48 MPG City and 45 MPG Hwy. Retail $22,175

If you drive 13,000 miles per year and get 46.5 miles per gallon at $3.499/gallon you will pay $978.21 per year. That's $4891.05 over 5 years.

Ford Focus, 24 MPG City and 35 MPG Hwy. Retail $14755

If you drive 13,000 miles per year and get 29 miles per gallon at $3.499/gallon you will pay $1568.52 per year. That's $7842.51 over 5 years.

The Prius costs you $7,420 more just in MSRP but only saves you $3,000 in fuel costs. Sales taxes and property taxes are more expensive with Prius. As are auto insurance rates, and monthly finance payments.

Import cost efficiency is a myth. This is just one example. You can use these formulas to compare any two vehicles. Buy Domestic vehicles for domestic jobs. Fix our economy.

Answer 1

there are other factors to add in which some have already addressed. what are the maintenance cost on the two cars?

a lot of insurance companies actually give a discount for a prius, also some companies reimburse you for the purchase of a hybrid, the government used to give a decent size tax rebate, even here in texas to decrease emissions if you retire a car that failed emissions or over 10 yrs old you'll get $3500 voucher check to buy a hybrid

perhaps the internal combustion engine in the focus will require more maintenance of the two since it is running the most.

also your calculations are based on IF gas stayed $3.50. I've seen a lot of people calculate prices based on that it seems they dont released that gas has like tripled over the past few years. Oil has it $120 per barrel and OPEC has already stated that especially with the weakened US dollar they can see gas hitting $200 per barrel. So the price of gas is a variable that you have a constant in your equation.

what would have better resale value in 5 years the focus or the prius.

for the price difference of the two what are you getting? im sure the just under $15000 focus you are referring to is bare. i test drove some a few months ago...no power locks, windows, 5 speed manual, heck it doesn't even have a spare tire they give you a can of fix a flat(you think im joking?) now if you dont mind that then this doesnt matter, but with the prius standard you'll get power everything, push start ignition, continuously variable transmission and some other goodies.

now i see what you are getting at with buying domestic though to help our economy. i bought a nissan japanese however altimas are assembled in the U.S. so its still kinda helping our economy. Only problem about buying U.S. is that unfortunately  many things are outsourced like the previous ford focus was assembled in mexico idunno about the 08 and newer though.

Answer 2

I don't really care whether the car is "green" so long as it gets good milage. Gas prices are hard on my wallet.

Answer 3

looking at this right now....my only concern about domestic is why can't they match or better foreign cars? i have a domestic mini van and am looking at a 2nd small car for better mileage...but the focus i looked at doesn't get that much better than my van...and when taking into consideration the maintenance, insurance, etc. it's not worth it ...i'm looking for a small car that gets 45 mpg...or better....compare foreign hybrid to domestic hybrid....is the cost that much cheaper on a ford escape? does ford not make a small hybrid, if so, why not??? i drove an 85 vw diesel that got upwards of 60 mpg/ highway, had it for 20 years.....1.6 litre...why do we need the big engines in our small cars???

Answer 4

they have electric cars.

go with that.

Answer 5

No.because making the batteries is polluting

Answer 6

There are some minor defects in your analysis (most having to do with the time value of money), but the overall conclusion is sound.  Still, we traded in a perfectly satisfactory Ford (20 mpg) for a hybrid (40 mpg), simply because paying the gas bill for a 60 mile a day commute was too irritating -- and that was back in the days when gasoline cost $2.40 a gallon.

Answer 7

I see what you mean.

I'm still buying a 'green car' once I pay off my school loan. I have personal reasons for doing so.

Fix our economy?

*laughs*

I think the damage that Mr. So-Righteously-Omnipotent has caused such severe damage to the economy, that it has reached a point of no return.

But hey, I still want my $600! I deserve it for putting up with his c**p for 8 years!

Answer 8

I have wondered this my self, how it can be 'more affordable ' to take a car that is ALMOST paid for, trade it in on a new 'more' efficient one, where you then must pay for 4 to 5 more years.

It just don't make sense.

Answer 9

dont' forget battery replacement every 10 yrs..

Answer 10

Nope.... What happens when the car is dead... Still polutes the landfill doesn't it.

Answer 11

Nope.

Answer 12

But how much is the Prius worth at the end of those five years compared to the Focus? What were the maintenance costs of the two vehicles over those five years? You are only looking at part of the picture.

I don't see what this has to do with import vs domestic anyways. A Toyota is just as likely to have been built in the US as a Ford, many of which are made in Mexico now.

Answer 13

I've been driving my Toyota truck for 16 years.   My fathers new  ford broke down on the way home from the dealership.   Of the 5 years he ran  it, it cost much more in repair costs than the total sales cost, and was out of commission about half the time.   I have replaced a thermostat on my truck and a gas cap that was left behind once.    His vehicle is on blocks in the back field rusting away, mine is out front at work taking me wherever I want to go.   There is more to a vehicle than price; reliability counts much more to me.

Answer 14

you can take that even further. why buy a new car even though it get 30-40 mpg average, if you currently have a car that is paid off, is still quite reliable, and gets 18-23 average? remember that you also have to factor in insurance required by the lender, interest you will pay, depreciation on the new car, higher property taxes in some areas, higher registration costs, etc. my vintage 76 el camino may not get the mileage that a new focus gets, but after factoring in the price of the car, the interest, and collision insurance that i dont have to pay now, and the $3000 i paid for the el camino as compared to the roughly $35k one would pay over 5 years or so for even the inexpensive focus, looks pretty good right now. remember that $32,000 will buy a lot of gasoline over a 5 year period, far more than i would use even at $!0 per gallon!!!

Answer 15

nice calc.  but wrong.

many of us drive more than 13,000 miles a year.

and by 2015, gas will be $10 a gallon.  or more.

so, over 15 years, if you drive 20,000 miles a year, in the Focus, for gas, you'd pay:

20000(mi) *15(yrs) *$10/24(mpg) =$125,000.

in a Prius you'd pay 1/2 of that.

you would save enough money to buy 3 Priuses.

Answer 16

I would never buy a hybrid car unless the price dropped down to that of a regular car. Like you calculated, the gas you spend on a regular car wont out weigh the costs of driving a hybrid around for a long time. Many people realize this and thats why hybrids dont sell as much as they could, but others don't realize it and buy the car thinking filling up once every 2 weeks means they are saving money every year.