Gen 3 Prius From £12.5K

[fuel miser]

I've just had a look at the Autotrader website, some used Gen 3s are now around for quite sensible money for the first time. For example, a trader has a 2009 59 reg T3 model with 32,000 miles for £12.5k. Or you could save a whole £10k (over the cost of buying new) and bag yourself a 2010 10 reg T Spirit with only 8000 miles for just £13,495 (for sale by a private seller, but the reg no. is clearly visible so one can easily check the history out - therefore I would consider he has nothing to hide). That car seems a bargain, especially when compared to the cheapest available Gen 3 T Spirit from a Toyota dealer, an 09 59 reg with 43,000 miles at £16k!

Incidentally, I sold my 06 T4 Prius last month, it went within days of having it advertised. I received, without exaggeration, probably well in excess of 100 enquiries from people desperate to buy it, I even had two calls on Christmas day about it! I'm sure I could have actually sold it ten times over. Many of them, on telling them I'd already sold the car, then wanted to know what they're like, how they work and if they're reliable. I explained to them all that I'd already bought another Gen 2 model (a T Spirit) and that the T4 which I owned for two and a half years and drove for 40,000 miles, never had anything, not even a bulb, fail on the car. "So do buy yourself one!" I told them all. I also referred them to this excellent forum if there was anything they ever needed to know about the Prius.

[Jan&tone]

mmm, so looks like we've done the right thing by buying one then

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I guess that means mine is worth about £12k then

Maybe I should wait until the new London congestion charge rules start to hit home and then maybe look at selling the old girl?

Still tempted for a Leaf but the nearest charging post is in Halifax - 28 miles away. Hmmmm

Guess it'll have to be the plug in Prius whenever Toyota decide to release it. Or maybe just run my old cab into the ground instead?

[Jan&tone]

I guess that means mine is worth about £12k then

Maybe I should wait until the new London congestion charge rules start to hit home and then maybe look at selling the old girl?

Still tempted for a Leaf but the nearest charging post is in Halifax - 28 miles away. Hmmmm

Guess it'll have to be the plug in Prius whenever Toyota decide to release it. Or maybe just run my old cab into the ground instead?

blimey Grumpy - I hope your not talking about the car like that,,,,, the wife I can understand! but the car??? old girl??? what a cheek

[fuel miser]

I guess that means mine is worth about £12k then

Maybe I should wait until the new London congestion charge rules start to hit home and then maybe look at selling the old girl?

Still tempted for a Leaf but the nearest charging post is in Halifax - 28 miles away. Hmmmm

Guess it'll have to be the plug in Prius whenever Toyota decide to release it. Or maybe just run my old cab into the ground instead?

Grumpy, there's a comparison road test in Februaries 'What Car?' between the VW Golf Bluemotion, the Nissan Leaf, and the Toyota Prius. Their test result was to recommend them in that order, Golf first, Leaf second and Prius last! Utter nonsense in my opinion. Firstly the Golf. I've read many forums where owners of these Bluemotion/Greenline/Econetic diesel models struggle to better 50mpg. General opinion says that whilst the sub 100g CO2 and economy figures look great on paper, the torque/gearing compromise makes them very tedious to drive, and many Golf Bluemotion owners in particular are saying they were easily able to get high fifties mpg out of their 130bhp Golfs ten years back, but can't achieve that from their new Bluemotions, the promised economy being the reason they bought them.

As for the Nissan Leaf, as you stated in another thread, those not venturing too far out of town can probably manage with one. No good for me though, for the likes of my 370 mile non stop trip down from Scotland on Tuesday. The Leaf's 100 mile maximum range (presumably provided you don't use heater/lights/wipers etc) would need to quadruple before I could consider one. Also, for your job, I suspect you'll struggle with a 330 litre boot (compared to the Prius at 445 litres).

So my road test verdict would be Prius first, Golf Bluemotion second and Nissan Leaf third.

There is, however, an interesting article in the magazine about future green technology, with some details on the Honda FCX Clarity (hydrogen fuel-cell), VW Golf Blue-E-motion (all-electric), Vauxhall Ampera (electric with petrol engine range extender), and the plug-in Prius.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

That result doesn't surprise me. The Prius has the better fuel economy and bigger boot and bigger interior and better reliability and is quicker.

The VW has what, 105 bhp?

One of the guys I work with bought a Passat Bluemotion and hates it. He has to thrash it to get it to move anywhere apart from the motorway where it is ok at a steady 70/80 mph. His mpg's are well down compared to mine though.

[fuel miser]

That result doesn't surprise me. The Prius has the better fuel economy and bigger boot and bigger interior and better reliability and is quicker.

The VW has what, 105 bhp?

One of the guys I work with bought a Passat Bluemotion and hates it. He has to thrash it to get it to move anywhere apart from the motorway where it is ok at a steady 70/80 mph. His mpg's are well down compared to mine though.

Just 103 bhp from the Golf Bluemotion!

What you've said confirms exactly what I've read numerous times. Owners who sit all day on the motorway in top gear get reasonable economy and are generally happy with their eco diesels. But on other roads or in traffic, you have to floor them all the time to make any progress, and that has a substantial effect on economy. I suspect it's a lot to do with the mapping of the engine management system in order to achieve the impressive EU quoted CO2/economy statistics, but these aren't borne out by owner's everyday driving experiences.

The cabbie default choice as I drive around the country seems to be the Octavia. There's now a 99g CO2/74.3 mpg 'Greenline II' model available, with the same 103bhp as in the Golf Bluemotion. Imagine what that's going to be like to drive! But many of your colleagues will still no doubt jump into one instead of considering a Prius. They may regret it when they've just picked up four inebriated, boisterous, 16st+ kebab munchers at 2am who've just fallen out of a club, and the one sitting directly behind you on the point of barfing, I mean, you'd surely want them delivered somewhere rather rapidly, would you not?

[Grumpy Cabbie]

.... They may regret it when they've just picked up four inebriated, boisterous, 16st+ kebab munchers at 2am who've just fallen out of a club, and the one sitting directly behind you on the point of barfing, I mean, you'd surely want them delivered somewhere rather rapidly, would you not?

Well that's another type of consideration. Apparantly the latest model VW Passat is renowned for making the rear seat passengers ill. Not sure if it's the diesel engine vibrations or the rear suspension settings but it definitely likes to part the passenger from their stomach contents.

I didn't realise that the Octavia did a version below 100g/km! You're probably right that many of my colleagues will go for it as it is quite impressive for a diesel - but at 103 bhp it'll be dull dull dull to drive. I think they've got these better figures with the start stop system. I was going to check the price but their greenline website is utter shi*e and impossible to use.

Still rather have the quietness of the hybrid and cheapness of petrol.

[fuel miser]

.... They may regret it when they've just picked up four inebriated, boisterous, 16st+ kebab munchers at 2am who've just fallen out of a club, and the one sitting directly behind you on the point of barfing, I mean, you'd surely want them delivered somewhere rather rapidly, would you not?

Well that's another type of consideration. Apparantly the latest model VW Passat is renowned for making the rear seat passengers ill. Not sure if it's the diesel engine vibrations or the rear suspension settings but it definitely likes to part the passenger from their stomach contents.

I didn't realise that the Octavia did a version below 100g/km! You're probably right that many of my colleagues will go for it as it is quite impressive for a diesel - but at 103 bhp it'll be dull dull dull to drive. I think they've got these better figures with the start stop system. I was going to check the price but their greenline website is utter shi*e and impossible to use.

Still rather have the quietness of the hybrid and cheapness of petrol.

Probably one of the main attractions will be the considerable discounts that Skoda are prepared to give. The list price of the new Octavia Greenline II is £16,990, but according to the latest 'What Car?' you should aim for a target price of £14541 (£2449 off list). The best target price for a Prius T3 is £18896 (£1369 off list). So the Octavia Grenline can be had for £4355 less than a Prius T3, which looks quite attractive, but it's not the whole story. An auto gearbox isn't even available on the Greenline (essential, surely, for doing your job) but on Octavia models where it is, you'll need to fork out another £1160. I doubt if it'll return much better than 40 mpg in traffic on diesel which is more expensive. The fact they're heavily discounted will also affect the residual value, so whatever you've saved buying new you'll pay for at trade-in time. It'll probably make a reasonable motorway car but for your job I'm sure an Octavia Greenline (in comparison with your Prius) would be an utter pain to live with. Only when they get their 2.0 TDi CR 140bhp engine to produce those sort of economy/CO2 figures would one be worth considering, which perhaps they will over time. The next BMW 3 series will feature a 1.5 150bhp 3 cylinder diesel with sub 100g/km CO2, so things are heading that way.

[johalareewi]

Hope they are all automatics that the Prius is being compared with :)

[Doesn'tExist]

Hope they are all automatics that the Prius is being compared with :)

Exactly! It really annoys me those kind of reviews as of any of the 'alternatives' like the bluemotion or 320d ECO etc all are manuals. Just doesn't even begin to compare to an automatic, and then we haven't even started about useable internal space where the Prius would blow them all away. So what are they comparing them on?

Anyway, back to the OP. That is actually terrible and shocking depreciation for the first year. Hopefully the high fuel prices will correct that soon ;-)

[Grumpy Cabbie]

So Mr Does not exist, what's happening with you and your motor? Two weeks ago you were in a bad place.

[fuel miser]

[quote: Grumpy Cabbie

Anyway, back to the OP. That is actually terrible and shocking depreciation for the first year. Hopefully the high fuel prices will correct that soon ;-)

Both of those cars are already sold, so it proves they are in demand.

[Doesn'tExist]

I'm not surprised both those vehicles sold at those prices, which was a bit the point regarding the depreciation.

Ps. I'll reply regarding my car in another thread.