Saturday, August 27, 2005

Toyota Prius

Follow-up on our Prius purchase. After finally driving 340.7 miles according to the trip meter on our new Prius, we filled up with 8.4 gallons of $2.49 gas at Costco around the corner. Compared to the 19 mpg we got with the van we traded in for the prius, we got 40 mpg there abouts. This is our first tank of gas.

With gas going up 19 cents this month and it isn't over yet, I am feeling smarter and smarter. You see, we justified the purchase based on a rise in gas prices over the next four years such that the average price of a gallon of gas would be $4.00. If this is true, we figured the gas savings would pay for our increased expense to purchase the Prius since we weren't making any payments on the minivan.

It looks to me like we will get to $4.00 a gallon by the end of next summer. So that means three years of extended savings or money back in our wallets!

After resetting the MPG and trip meters on the Prius at the first fillup, we were averaging 40-50 mpg based on our typical driving. Then we took the car into the Toyota dealer to get the tint on that was part of our agreeing to get the car and now our mpg is down around 38 according to the meter. We have to take the car back to the dealer next week. I am sure that will mean even worse MPG, but after that we will need to refill the tank again I am sure. It will be exciting to see what our first entirely us tank of gas will average MPG.

Anyway, blog on.

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