Now, now there lght, itchy trigger finger today???
Seriously, I find the look to be growing on me, especially in black. Oddly enough, mine’s … black. And what of that Oldsmobile styling – took the entire marque to – and beyond – the brink of oblivion. . .
In the end, of course, I’d hope that we can agree that, indeed, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
Batteries? Essentially nobody has had to “contend” with them yet. We’ve got a couple Priuschat members who are well over 200k miles on their original arrays. Keep in mind that the ECU works very hard to keep the batteries charged within a range that has been shown to maximize battery life (between 40% and 80% State of Charge or SOC). In fact, the SoC display on the dash only shows you the interval between 40 and 80. And even if, in the distant future, I have to pay today’s price for a new batt (about $2300 plus labor), by then the fuel savings relative to a comparable conventional car will far more than have made up for the cost.
Also mitigating the possible battery costs are reduced costs in other areas. For example, brake components, including pads, are almost all lifetime items on this car. So much of the braking effort is actually accomplished by the motor-generators the friction brakes are almost an afterthought. Under normal, non-panic braking, they don’t even activate until you’re down to around 8 mph.
Much more critical is the CVT. The one in the Prius is a model of simplicity. It’s not one of those “cone and belt” affairs at all. In fact, it’s little more than an open differential applied in a unique way. It is showing every indication (i.e. no indications of trouble) that it will be about as bulletproof as the diffs typically found on the rear axle of a pickup. Again, Prius owners can expect little or no expense from this unit as it ages.
And then there’s the matter of the mileage – 47.5 mpg (my running avg when I parked it this morning), makes “contending” with any other issues a lot easier to swallow.
Batteries? Essentially nobody has had to “contend” with them yet. We’ve got a couple Priuschat members who are well over 200k miles on their original arrays. Keep in mind that the ECU works very hard to keep the batteries charged within a range that has been shown to maximize battery life (between 40% and 80% State of Charge or SOC). In fact, the SoC display on the dash only shows you the interval between 40 and 80. And even if, in the distant future, I have to pay today’s price for a new batt (about $2300 plus labor), by then the fuel savings relative to a comparable conventional car will far more than have made up for the cost.
Also mitigating the possible battery costs are reduced costs in other areas. For example, brake components, including pads, are almost all lifetime items on this car. So much of the braking effort is actually accomplished by the motor-generators the friction brakes are almost an afterthought. Under normal, non-panic braking, they don’t even activate until you’re down to around 8 mph.
Much more critical is the CVT. The one in the Prius is a model of simplicity. It’s not one of those “cone and belt” affairs at all. In fact, it’s little more than an open differential applied in a unique way. It is showing every indication (i.e. no indications of trouble) that it will be about as bulletproof as the diffs typically found on the rear axle of a pickup. Again, Prius owners can expect little or no expense from this unit as it ages.
And then there’s the matter of the mileage – 47.5 mpg (my running avg when I parked it this morning), makes “contending” with any other issues a lot easier to swallow.
