I'm contemplating selling my 05 HAH and getting an 07 TCH or Prius. The HAH is powerful and a wonderful car, but gets rotten gas mileage during my 2.5 mile commute to work. It's become especially bad now that the weather has turned cold and I'm down to around 23 MPG. Keep in mind I go through 2 neighborhoods and never get over 35 miles per hour during the trip. During the summer months I was able to get around 29, but don't spend enough time on the interstate to bump it up any higher.

At any rate I would appreciate anyone's opinion on this situation and whether I should pull the trigger. As I see it, the pro's and con's are:

Pro's of making the move:

1) Electric usage is at low power with the Toyota vs. higher power with the HAH. So I should get much higher MPG on my short commute.

2) Much higher MPG all around

3) My wife's had great success with her 02 Prius, so we already have a history with the Toyota's. (and NO she won't trade cars with me!!)

4) I don't need and rarely take advantage of the power of the HAH.

5) I got a great deal on the HAH and could possibly get close to what I paid for it 9 months ago.

Con's of making the move:

1) I only drive 125 miles a week max - so my overall gas mileage saving probably wouldn't be much (I haven't calculated the difference yet). I also ride my bike whenever the weather cooperates.

2) Is my commute long enough to warm up the Prius or the TCH so that I can recognize better MPG?

3) I could lose money since dealers likely aren't giving discounts on the TCH or the Prius.

4) I hate dealing with car dealers.

5) My wife will ridicule me for selling a car 9 months after buying it.


Thanks for listening to me rant. Any opinions are appreciated.

Paul

1) More of an argument for an electric bike or scooter?
2) It is not long enough to get any of our vehicles 'warmed up.' You might investigate block and other heaters.
3) Actually, there are credible reports that Toyota prices have softened. Do it before gas gets back up to $2.50
4) Ebay is a lot nicer than local car dealers.
5) That is in the 'fine print' in the marrage license written in fine point obscura.

GOOD LUCK!

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

Hey Paul,

I have the same two cars you do ! I just got the o2 Prius a week ago for myself, my wife will never give up the HAH, its too nice.

How about begging your wife to let you take her car to work for a week?? This should show what a toyota flavor hybrid will approximately do. This may help you decide.

What I have noticed in the Prius I have is that EVEN while I live in warmer Florida, the first 5 minutes of the drive has the lowest mpgs. From then on out, its pretty darn good.

I think Bob has the right idea about a heater of some sort to keep it warm, then you should be back up to the usual warm weather mpgs BUT this would only be one way from your home to work. The return trip would be without a heated engine unless you can plug it in there somehow.

Best of luck with your decision.

Tony

I had the same problem until I started going out for lunch and sometimes, a mid-afternoon "expensive coffee." The ICE and transaxle don't lose all of their heat instantly but over time. BTW, our Japanese posters have done more work in this area including metrics of the savings.

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

Paul
I have a TCH and my office is also around 2.5 miles away from my home. I live in GreenBay, Wisconsin and recently the temperature drops to around 30F. I drive through the neighbourhood with couple stop signs and the speed always stay within 25 - 35mph.
Just give you an idea how the TCH performs in my situation. I do not have the Nav, which shows me exactly how my MPG per trip, but there is a trip computer that tells you an approx MPG per trip below the speedometer. My MPG is around 27 - 30 for that approx 2.5 mile trip. Couple month ago when the temperature were still above 60, I can easily reach the MPG above 30 or even 40. I always have my air con on. I am an easy foot driver that I don't accelerate hard. I am expecting the MPG to continue to drop because of a more colder weather a head of Wisconsin.
Hope my info helps your decision on whether to get a TCH or retain the HAH.
Ian

Thanks Ian. That does help a bunch. I'm going to take Tony's suggestion and try to borrow my wife's car for a week of work and see what happens.

I am in Houston, so my temps are always mild compared to much of the rest of the country. The first 2-5 miles of my commute, I am doing good to get 20-25 MPG. After that the mileage starts to skyrocket.

If I were in your shoes, and I was getting 29 MPG on that same commute, I would stick with the HAH. Heck, If I had that kind of commute, I would have probably gotten a 4runner, as the small number of miles driven will not change the fuel budget that much.

Based on the numbers you provided it looks like your commute mileage for the year is about 1250 miles and on an annual basis your HAH is averaging about 26 mpg. That means you are using 48 gallons of gas per year to commute to and from work. If you switched to a Prius and managed to average 50 mpg you would consume 25 gallons of gas per year just for your commute.

Fuel savings is 23 gallons annually or $69 assuming $3/gal. Unless it's not going to cost you money to switch to a Prius I hardly see the point as your fuel cost is less than peanuts compared to all the other costs of vehicle ownership. Heck, you could drive an H1 at 10mpg and fuel would still only cost you $375 per year.

If you just want the SMUGness associated with driving a 45-50 mpg vehicle that's one thing, but switching does not seem to make sense from a purely financial perspective, IMHO.

Addendum: If you averaged 125 mi/wk, your annual mileage is 6250 and, assuming the same fuel economy as above, the HAH would 240 gal vs 125 gal for the Prius. Again assuming $3/gal the reduction in fuel use would save you $346 per year.

Or if you drive 150/miles a day for commute, then 39,000 a year for commute, savings start to add up.

HAH @ 29 MPG = 1,345 Gallons @ $3.00 = $4,035

TCH @ 38 MPG = 1,026 Gallons @ $3.00 = $3,078

Annual savings of $957

So If I was in your shoes, I might change, but probably not.

For comparison, I was driving a F250 or a Land Rover Discovery. Fuel price was about the same as the truck takes diesel, and the Rover takes premium. Both got 15 MPG.

Disco @ 15 MPG = 2,600 Gallons @ $3.30 = $8,580

TCH @ 38 MPG = 1,026 Gallons @ $3.00 = $3,078

Anual savings of $5,502

That is a no brainer.