| Thursday, June 07, 2007 |
| Toyota Hybrid Sales Top 1 million |
I'm sure my Prius loving brother will be very smug about this, but the fact of the matter is, that while the sale of hybrids has skyrocketed due to concerns about global warming and rising gas prices, the Prius is a really NICE car with great features.
How else do you explain that sales went from 18,000 just eight years ago, to 312,500 last year? Especially when the car only went on the US market in 2000?
Meanwhile, Honda announced that it was discontinuing sales of its Accord hybrid. The Honda Accord has been one of the best selling sedans for decades. The fact that their hybrid version wasn't taking, tells me that maybe the Prius is just a better car. |
posted by Broadsheet @ 1:25 PM   |
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| 6 Editorial Opinions: |
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i was considering paying a little more for a Prius, but then I figured that I am more conservative in my gas usage than most people. i only really need to fill my gas tank one (almost) every two weeks. i haven't gone exactly two weeks before refilling, but I got damn close. All in all, filling my gas tank up twice a month isn't bad at all.
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The Accord (and the Civic) is a fairly non-obvious hybrid, whereas the Prius is totally obvious. People who just want a hybrid but can't afford a Prius will buy, and are buying, the Civic hybrid, but people who can afford to buy a car simply to make a statement will naturally prefer the Prius to the Accord. The reason people never bought the Insight is that it's totally tiny and impractical.
Me, I prefer to live in a way that doesn't need a car much at all. 5,000 miles/year @ 20 mpg is still less gas than 15,000 at 40...
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I agree with both of you. I could feel guilty about the 20MPG I get with the BMW, but then again, I've had it for two years and still haven't put 15,000 miles on it yet, which is equivalent to 15,000 a year @ 40MPG.
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I apologize for the horrible grammar in my first comment. I was taken to Nacho Mama's for lunch today to celebrate [insert thing I can't talk about] and I had one of those hubcab margaritas. And Natty.
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I'd feel guilty about my project cars, neither of which gets much better than 11 mpg (91 octane), but I've put less than 1000 miles on one, and about 15 miles on the other one.
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The Honda Accord Hybrid just wasn't working out well. I looked into buying one a year or two ago, but the added fuel efficiency wasn't worth the added cost.
A typical used (1990) Accord gets 19 city/26 hwy*, while a brand new 2006 Accord Hybrid was touted at getting 22 city/31 hwy*
*based on the new 2008 fuel efficiency ratings.
I'm sure the Prius is a WONDERFUL car. I can't wait to get an opportunity to ride in (or drive) one. But the Accord is also a great car... it's just too heavy to get much better mileage with a hybrid engine.
I'm looking forward to the Diesel Accord that is supposed to hit the market in a couple of years and should get close to 50 mpg or more.
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i was considering paying a little more for a Prius, but then I figured that I am more conservative in my gas usage than most people. i only really need to fill my gas tank one (almost) every two weeks. i haven't gone exactly two weeks before refilling, but I got damn close. All in all, filling my gas tank up twice a month isn't bad at all.