Toyota Prius vs Toyoto Corolla?

T C

I live in north central Wisconsin and commute 100 miles a day to/from work which is basically all hiway miles. My first question for current Prius owners is 1), are they reliable in cold weather conditions and 2), since my drive only has a few stops each direction, is that adequate to recharge the battery as I understand that braking is what partially recharges the battery. Also wondering if a $25,000 Prius getting 49 MPG is a better choice than a Corolla at $18,000 getting 38 MPG considering resale value etc. Which ever vehicle I purchase would be for a mimimum of 5 -6 years and minimum 100,000 miles, more like 150,000 miles.

JerryJ

1) They are very reliable in cold weather. Start the same at -20 as they do at +70.































2) This is incorrect. Explanation below.































3) If you only get 49 mpg, you're doing something terribly wrong, or you're speeding like crazy, or you're doing very short trips.































4) The 2001 Prius that my wife drives has been trouble-free. So has my 2004.































A recent article about reliability:















http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/l...shColumbiaHome















































About cold weather.































Cold weather reduces MPG for a variety of reasons: Warm up times, winter gas formula, rolling resistance from snow and rain, denser air. Cars lose 25% or more MPG when the weather gets very cold. So does the Prius. Most cars don't show this so people drive in ignorance of their actual mpg unless they keep a logbook. In the Prius you can't help but know and this comes as a shock to some people. Note that short trips are worse than long trips because of the percentage of time spent in warmup. You can help improve mpg by doing the following: A. Block the grills. B. Use a block heater for an hour before driving. C. Install a warmer thermostat. D. Warm the transaxle.































About electric generation.































The Prius does do regenerative braking, but that only accounts for a small portion of the electricity generated. Whenever the Prius is moving, one of the two motor/generators (MG) is acting as a generator while the other one is acting as a motor. They change roles depending upon driving conditions. Note that the Prius is mainly a gas car. The MGs are there for a couple of reasons: A. They disguise the fact that the Prius' engine is sized for steady state driving by providing additional accelration when needed. B. They allow the engine to shut off when the power demand is very low and running the engine would be very inefficient. C. Once you have MGs, regenerative braking is essentially free to do, so it's included, but even in urban settings with many stops, it only adds about 5% to the MPG.































2004 Prius MPG from the logbook. (Complete years only):















2003-2004 -- 50.8 mpg 17,628 miles















2005 -- 52.6 mpg 14,688 miles















2006 -- 56.3 mpg 16174 miles















2007 -- 57.3 mpg 18384 miles















2008 -- 59.9 mpg 21755 miles















2009 -- 61.4 mpg 16177 miles















2010 -- 65.2 mpg 12134 miles































MPG from the last vacation trip (summer):































Date________ODO_____INC____MPG (l/100km)















08/13/10____111690____625____59.8 (3.9)















08/14/10____112308____618____60.0 (3.9)















08/20/10____112972____663____64.2 (3.7)















08/22/10____113411____438____58.9 (4.0)















08/31/10____113922____510____61.8 (4.0)































Note that the 2010 and 2011 Prius have the potential to get better highway mpg because the larger engine runs at lower RPMs than my 2004 does. Also, don't expect to get the same kind of MPG in winter or right away. It took me two years to get my first 60 MPG tank, now I'm disappointed every time it drops below 60 MPG.































You might want to join a Yahoo Prius group for additional tips.































Note also that the Corolla is a compact car while the Prius is a mid-sized car with room for four full-sized adults. When I've driven a Corolla on my regular commute, it gets about half the MPG that my Prius gets, and it feels very small as well. Also for winter driving, the Prius has Vehicle Stability Control which is a system that prevents doughnuts if you are going anything like a reasonable speed for the conditions. You could also get VSC by purchasing a Mercedes, Porsche, or Corvette.































The cost per mile for my 2004 Prius has been 12 cents for dealer maintenance, tires, and fuel combined over the 115,000 miles I've driven it so far. It's been one of the best cars I've ever owned and it would be very hard to get me back into an old fashioned car.

SaberToothCali

the corolla is the best choice you have no worries about electrical problems

Michael

I would call it a toss-up. The highway miles reduce the very significant gulf in fuel efficiency around town. Both should be reliable. The Prius hybrid system is far more reliable than I would ever have guessed - few Prius owners will ever have any issue with it and it eliminates the potentially troublesome starter and alternator altogether. For that reason the Prius has a slight edge in reliability.































EDIT - a few weeks ago it was -17F one morning and my Prius started and ran exactly like it does in any weather.

Jim

You also should compare car insurance quotes for cars before buying one, for example here - carquotes.sinfree.net