Why I Didn't Buy a Prius

After reading Paul's blog yesterday, I was thinking a lot about what I should post on my new science and craft blog. I decided to go with Sciencey thoughts today. Maybe tomorrow they will be crafty.

Since we recently bought a new car, (VW Rabbit), which I'm totally in love with...and I am a atmospheric scientist, and therefore should understand the fossil fuel problem intimately. The first question I'm asked is why didn't I buy a Prius.

The simple straightforward answer is the cost. We test drove a Prius, I drove a Corolla for years and was very happy with it and therefore Toyota, and I really liked driving the Prius...but it costs $6000 more then the car we bought. The common response is that I would save that in gas. Well after hearing this many times, I did the math. Considering that we would be financing that extra $6000, it actually translates to an increase in price of $6926.22 over the life of the loan. Assuming all else to be equal (maintenance, reliability, safety, both cars are PZEV, etc) Driving each car for 100,000 miles with gas being $4.00/gal, which it isn't yet and I think some federal relief is going to kick in before it gets there and if it gets there it won't stay there consistently for the duration, but we'll figure and average price of $4 over the next 10 years or so results in these costs, now I admit these numbers might be biased, because I used a 45 mile/gal figure for the Prius, which is not the rated value, but what average drivers report, and 28 miles/gal for the VW which is what I'm getting.: Prius $8,888, VW:$14,285. Difference: $5,397. Making the VW overall ~$1500 less then the Prius. Now, this may not seem like a big difference, but 1) Have you seen what they pay young scientists these days? Not enough to be fully environmentally friendly that's for sure. 2) I'm debt conscious, and may or may not have to qualify for another mortgage in the next year or so, an extra $7000 in the debt category makes a difference to me. 3) DH hated driving the Prius, and was determined to see how terrible he could do on gas mileage...meaning I doubt we'd ever see 45 mpg Also, we never got the real time gas mileage meter above 32 miles/gallon on a fairly long test drive...so the 55 they advertise is suspicious to me. 4) For us that difference was even greater since we had $725 in VW credits and they gave me nearly $1000 more then Toyota was going to for my old Corolla.

Now, does this make me un-environmentally friendly? Many people would say yes. I say no. I did seriously consider buying the Prius, if for no other reason than to support the alternate technology that I very strongly believe in. But, life is a balance, and making a purchase that large involves a lot of decisions, right now the big one being, can we afford the monthly payment and still put food (most of which is organic) on the table. Prius: No, VW: Yes.

So I continue to alter my life style in ways I can both feel good about and afford. Envirosaxs, locally grown food, carpooling almost everyday, recycling, high efficiency light bulbs, regulated thermostats, etc. I'm considering a TerraPass for the cars, but I need to spend some time doing the research on that before I purchase.

Maybe once I'm not a "young" scientist anymore I can truly afford to Go Green all the way.