As of my fillup this morning, I've put in exactly $3,100 LESS in gas (avg 3.28/gal over 9 months) owning my Prius. That's 1330 less gallons equating to $.07 per mile and an avg 48.75mpg. Just driving... Previous ride = 14mpg or $0.23 per mile. Try THAT in your SUV...
The math has gotten pretty complicated....but I've spent somewhere around $10,000 less on gas for the Prius than I would have had I still been driving my Expedition. Probably close to 5000 gallons of gas...5000 gallons...it makes me choke to think about that volume.
our equation is a bit more complicated as two years ago we had a '03 Wrangler (that was traded on the Prius and a '99 CR-V... we drove the CR-V more than the Wrangler unless it was nice weather!... so we didn't exactly replace the Wrangler with the Prius.. but since we got the Prius.. it is absolutely our main vehicle (and we went a while with just the Prius).. plus.. the two cars I've bought to replace the CR-V are both fun cars.. only driven when the weather is good and the mood hits me.. Still.. I'd say @ an average of $3.50 (might be a bit high for the last two years) a gallon.. and roughly 12k miles/yr.. we've saved about $2000/yr in gas. We've had the Prius for just over two years. So, definately worth the money we spent and frankly there's no monetary value I could place on owning a vehicle that will move me and my family around for so many miles without using the ICE at all..!!
I've tried to keep track of the insurance, the payment, the costs of 5K mile checkups on a spreadsheet. The bottom line FOR ME is that I'm paying almost 1/4 of what I was paying JUST IN FUEL. I bought a second '08/T#6 for my Spousal Unit because of the savings--I'm not really convinced that fuel's gonna go down...
My 3 year stat isn't as impressive as I replaced a 5spd Civic that was getting 40mpg along with a Tacoma that was getting 19mpg (only drove it 2x/week). Right now, I'm close to $4000 saved in fuel based on $3.00/gallon over three years, but I'll take that anyday!!! On top of that, not one maintenance issue and I'll hit 123k miles today.
This is important, too. I try to explain that the brakes have less wear, the ICE has less wear, etc. I've taken my car back to the dealer (I collect the manufacturer's stamps in my maintenance schedule book) for each of the 5K recommended services for a total of less than $100. I spent THAT much on a 10,000 mile service on my truck! And a tank of gas, frankly... Mind you, if gas wasn't so expensive I'd STILL have my FX4X4. but the care and feeding of these little sippers is making a believer out of me.
