Buying a Prius as a family car to replace an old Mercedes estate?

Alanstrainor

Really can't argue with your logic OP. Makes perfect sense.

By the sounds of it, you've gotten great use out of the Merc. I really can't see any real cons going for the Prius, you'll have a much safer, newer car that costs little to run, and the cost of it is hardly crazy.

Best of luck!

Del2005

Bigus wrote: »

The Prius also has a super strong crash structure compared to older mercs

From watching 5th Gear Modus V's 940 crash I agree and won't drive anything less than Euro NCAP 3 now. New cars just plough straight through any non NCAP cars.

Sesshoumaru

Del2005 wrote: »

From watching 5th Gear Modus V's 940 crash I agree and won't drive anything less than Euro NCAP 3 now. New cars just plough straight through any non NCAP cars.

That was very interesting! Just shows how far modern small cars have come in terms of safety.

eth0

quenching wrote: »

lacking in safety features

Jaysus, are ya stone mad to consider that a reason for changing car?

What's next, people will be packing in the Ferrari and getting a Google Driverless Prius because it's safer for the kids and mere humans shouldn't be driving. I'd rather die in a '91 Merc than survive a crash in a Prius meself. Most depressing thread I've seen in here

650Ginge

eth0 wrote: »

quenching wrote: »

lacking in safety features

Jaysus, are ya stone mad to consider that a reason for changing car?

What's next, people will be packing in the Ferrari and getting a Google Driverless Prius because it's safer for the kids and mere humans shouldn't be driving. I'd rather die in a '91 Merc than survive a crash in a Prius meself. Most depressing thread I've seen in here

Will the person responsible for forcing this helpless innocent poster to read threads that they have no interest in and make pointless and downright silly death alternative posts please stop.

Light Switch

Much much much rather the Merc, it's worth the extra cost if you can afford it.

Eric Cartman

Light Switch wrote: »

Much much much rather the Merc, it's worth the extra cost if you can afford it.

at 7000 miles a year id be looking into getting a bigger merc, s500 territory

Eric Cartman

Bigus wrote: »

Most of the people who put down the Prius ,have never driven one.

Having driven a 2nd gen prius, lexus rx400h and rx450h I can safely say they are the 3 most boring cars I have ever driven, my old peugeot partner 1.9 non turbo was more fun to drive.

0 steering feedback , front wheel drive (or bias in the rx400h's case) and enough computers to calm the car down at even a threat of any fun, heavy to maneuver and not as comfortable as other cars in the price bracket (the lexii included)

quenching

eth0 wrote: »

Jaysus, are ya stone mad to consider that a reason for changing car?

What's next, people will be packing in the Ferrari and getting a Google Driverless Prius because it's safer for the kids and mere humans shouldn't be driving. I'd rather die in a '91 Merc than survive a crash in a Prius meself. Most depressing thread I've seen in here

I'm assuming you're not serious, given the cars intended use?

Light Switch wrote: »

Much much much rather the Merc, it's worth the extra cost if you can afford it.

Eric Cartman wrote: »

at 7000 miles a year id be looking into getting a bigger merc, s500 territory

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Having driven a 2nd gen prius, lexus rx400h and rx450h I can safely say they are the 3 most boring cars I have ever driven, my old peugeot partner 1.9 non turbo was more fun to drive.

0 steering feedback , front wheel drive (or bias in the rx400h's case) and enough computers to calm the car down at even a threat of any fun, heavy to maneuver and not as comfortable as other cars in the price bracket (the lexii included)

You're all missing the point, the car is mostly for my wife to drive 3 kids to and from school. She has no interest in cars other than their ability to not break down, doesn't think she's Ayrton Senna reincarnated, and gets enough "excitement" from the passengers! A safe, boring, reliable car will suit her down to the ground :P In the meantime I have an '84 Mercedes 190E to keep me happy for the 1000 miles a year I drive it.

eth0

quenching wrote: »

I'm assuming you're not serious, given the cars intended use?

Deadly serious, I wouldn't come near a Prius in a month of Sundays

kuro2k

Any chance you could post a pic of the 230TE ?

Soarer

quenching wrote: »

You're all missing the point, the car is mostly for my wife to drive 3 kids to and from school. She has no interest in cars other than their ability to not break down, doesn't think she's Ayrton Senna reincarnated, and gets enough "excitement" from the passengers! A safe, boring, reliable car will suit her down to the ground :P In the meantime I have an '84 Mercedes 190E to keep me happy for the 1000 miles a year I drive it.

Once she gets used to the CVT (not that there's much getting used to!) she'll never drive anything else again!

We bought our 2005 Prius in the UK 4 years ago, and haven't had a minute's bother with it. The wife swears by it and won't drive anything else!

Use the cruise control all the time, let the electronics do the thinking, and you'll be up in the 50's mpg no bother. We did a round trip from Cork to Connemara last weekend, including plenty of driving around the country roads up there, and averaged 60.2mpg over the whole weekend. And that's including sitting @ 120km/h on the motorways coming home, which isn't the Prius' forte.

extremetaz

sdeire wrote: »

However, it makes as much financial sense to move to a nicer car that will do decent MPG and may not even have to cost you as much.

This!

Get yourself a nice efficient diesel motor - it'll depreciate less as there's no battery associated uncertainty (be it either technological prejudice or batt lifetime concerns), cut your bill by just as much, have a bigger boot (important for any family) and gives you the benefit of a huge choice of interior and ride specs.

IMO, current hybrids don't work (I'll make very minor exception for the latest plugin models) and I owned one for 4 years so I know a thing or two about it (apologies to any Prius/Civic owners but there's no argument beyond personal preferences in favour of them over clean diesels).

Better off with an efficience ICE than a hybrid.

galwaytt

extremetaz wrote: »

This!

Get yourself a nice efficient diesel motor - it'll depreciate less as there's no battery associated uncertainty (be it either technological prejudice or batt lifetime concerns), cut your bill by just as much, have a bigger boot (important for any family) and gives you the benefit of a huge choice of interior and ride specs.

IMO, current hybrids don't work (I'll make very minor exception for the latest plugin models) and I owned one for 4 years so I know a thing or two about it (apologies to any Prius/Civic owners but there's no argument beyond personal preferences in favour of them over clean diesels).

Better off with an efficience ICE than a hybrid.

No, no, and........No.

Do NOT get a diesel.

For the OP's use, it will NOT be efficient. Efficiency is an all-in figure to include purchase (value), mpg, servicing, depreciation etc etc etc.

It has been done to death already - for the mileage OP is doing, diesel is absolutely the wrong choice for this application.

Whether a Prius is the best is not 100%, but it's certainly better than any diesel.

Oh, and, btw, a Prius IS an ICE car. It also happens to be an efficient one at that (for this app....).......

extremetaz

galwaytt wrote: »

Oh, and, btw, a Prius IS an ICE car. It also happens to be an efficient one at that (for this app....).......

lol - I'll grant you that.

Wasn't aware the diesels were regarded as being so inefficient for short journeys.

Sleepy

I reckon we should make the first post of this thread a sticky as an example of how to work out when it's a good idea to change your car for all those morons swapping reliable cars that have seen most of their depreciation already for brand new small engined diesels to save on motor tax...

quenching

kuro2k wrote: »

Any chance you could post a pic of the 230TE ?

Here you go....
1991, 180k miles, 2.3l petrol automatic, 7 seats, electric everything. Available to swap for a Prius, maybe

delthedriver

quenching wrote: »

Here you go....
1991, 180k miles, 2.3l petrol automatic, 7 seats, electric everything. Available to swap for a Prius, maybe

Nice car. Have you a tow bar on the Merc ?
Toyota dealer advised me a couple of years ago that it is not possible to fit a tow bar on a Prius.At the time I was interested in the Prius as a household runabout.It may be may worth checking up to date position, before you make any decision:D

650Ginge

delthedriver wrote: »

quenching wrote: »

Here you go....
1991, 180k miles, 2.3l petrol automatic, 7 seats, electric everything. Available to swap for a Prius, maybe

Nice car. Have you a tow bar on the Merc ?
Toyota dealer advised me a couple of years ago that it is not possible to fit a tow bar on a Prius.At the time I was interested in the Prius as a household runabout.It may be may worth checking up to date position, before you make any decision:D

Still can't tow with any model of Prius, which is a pain. Hitch mount bike rack is fine.

quenching

delthedriver wrote: »

Nice car. Have you a tow bar on the Merc ?
Toyota dealer advised me a couple of years ago that it is not possible to fit a tow bar on a Prius.At the time I was interested in the Prius as a household runabout.It may be may worth checking up to date position, before you make any decision:D

No tow bar, never had a need of one so the Prius not being able to take one is no big deal to me, I do use a rear mounted bike carrier sometimes but I can't see why it would fit a Prius also as its only attached by straps etc.

quenching

Well rather than just talk about it I went and bought a Prius, 2005, 62k miles, 1 owner, full Toyota service history, serviced with new tyres, and 12 months Toyota dealer warranty, looks like new and cost €6,500. Only had it a week but its reporting 5.4/100km, or just over 52MPG, based on 50/50 mix of motorway and urban driving, and as far as I understand its supposedly better on urban driving so I expect it to improve slightly.

So, anyone looking for a lovely old Merc?

Stallingrad

So what is like to drive after that tank of a Merc? Be honest!

Bigus

quenching wrote: »

Well rather than just talk about it I went and bought a Prius, 2005, 62k miles, 1 owner, full Toyota service history, serviced with new tyres, and 12 months Toyota dealer warranty, looks like new and cost €6,500. Only had it a week but its reporting 5.4/100km, or just over 52MPG, based on 50/50 mix of motorway and urban driving, and as far as I understand its supposedly better on urban driving so I expect it to improve slightly.

So, anyone looking for a lovely old Merc?

Best of luck with that.
Mpg s won't be as good in the cold weather, my mate that was getting 63 mpg around central dub is down to early 50 s now because of using the heater.

However that slight noise you hear in the Prius about 10 mins after you turn it off is a few litres of coolant being pumped into a thermos flask to keep warm for up to 10 days , for later use to preheat cylinder head.

Did you find the supersecret compartment at the base of the centre console facing the dash on the floor ?

Check out prius chat .com for all sorts of info.

650Ginge

Good luck with it. Mpg is effected by colder weather, on get heat up time, more use of the blower, heated rear window etc. same as anyother car just is just a lot more measurable in a Prius not worse.

I could ridiculed for this before but keeping a squeegee in the car the clear the inside of the window. Is probably your biggest mpg and time saver in the winter.

quenching

Stallingrad wrote: »

So what is like to drive after that tank of a Merc? Be honest!

Its actually very nice to drive, you do feel a lot more detached from whats happening with the car and the steering has no feel at all, but its comfortable, quite, and easy. The CVT transmission is much smoother than the auto in the Merc where you could feel the gear changes if you knew they were about to happen. It was bought for school runs etc so its perfect for the job, it fits 2 full boosters and a full child seat in the rear, and the boot is big enough for a large buggy and the weekly shop.

Bigus wrote: »

Best of luck with that.
Mpg s won't be as good in the cold weather, my mate that was getting 63 mpg around central dub is down to early 50 s now because of using the heater.

However that slight noise you hear in the Prius about 10 mins after you turn it off is a few litres of coolant being pumped into a thermos flask to keep warm for up to 10 days , for later use to preheat cylinder head.

Did you find the supersecret compartment at the base of the centre console facing the dash on the floor ?

Check out prius chat .com for all sorts of info.

The heater has been on all the time, along with heated rear window, and aircon sometimes, if 52MPG is what it averages with these on and the current weather I'll be quite happy. Is there another compartment under the cupholder? If so I haven't found it, or even looked to be honest.

650Ginge wrote: »

Good luck with it. Mpg is effected by colder weather, on get heat up time, more use of the blower, heated rear window etc. same as anyother car just is just a lot more measurable in a Prius not worse.

I could ridiculed for this before but keeping a squeegee in the car the clear the inside of the window. Is probably your biggest mpg and time saver in the winter.

I've always had a chamois leather sponge thingy in the car for damp mornings, can't understand why people would sit there waiting for windows to clear when a quick wife does the trick.

Stallingrad

quenching wrote: »

can't understand why people would sit there waiting for windows to clear when a quick wife does the trick.

Because not everyone is lucky enough to have such an accommodating wife?

Bigus

Yeah way down under the front cup holder near the floor carpet ,

slides forwards with a pull towards the dash quiet big .

quenching

So, 2 years later and I've checked the figures and the plan has so far worked perfectly. The Prius has been a pleasure to live with, its been serviced twice and had petrol put in it, other than that its needed no attention at all, touch wood!! It'll probably need a new 12V battery soon at about €200 but its still on its original after 9 years so can't really complain about that. Its done 19,900 miles in 2 years at an average of 52.2MPG, with very little though given to driving it economically, mostly short suburban runs. I've used Fuelly.com to track everything.

The price pre litre of fuel has dropped since I did my initial calculations from approx €1.70 to €1.45 averaging €1.55 over 2 years, but our mileage has increased from about 7k to 10k per annum. Motor tax was a little higher (05 car), insurance a little lower, and depreciation lower than expected (best guess). Overall the savings per year over the Mercedes estate have been about €2,300.

It'll probably explode tomorrow

woody33

I didn't realise I was reading on old thread, glad it's working out for you. I wouldn't mind a Prius myself, well wear.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

Great thread, good to see someone putting in calculations rather than just following the heard and buying a 142 0.5dci

If it were me doing the 7k per annum I'd be in a v8 or bigger but can understand reasoning behind the prius.