Having nothing else to do, I recently went by the local Toyota dealer.Wanted to find out what all the fuss was about.
Of course, several Priuses were prominently displayed. They kind of looked a bit like flimsy tin cans with too small wheels.
Then I checked the sticker and went into shock . . $30,000!!!!!!!!!!
You gotta be kidding, Mr. Toyota dealer.
Nope. He wasn't.
The car base price was close to $25,000, then he'd added a tiny stripe and "clear paint protection." Cost, $2,500. (The dealer clearly thinks I'm stupid if I'm paying that for rub-on stripe.)
Plus a mark-up for "market conditions," another $2,500. (Translation, we don't have enough cars so we'll just gouge you.)
The way I see it most cars get discounted about 10%, so that should have taken $2,500 off the price, meaning, if I was the sucker buying this car compared to a "regular car" I just would have paid $7,500 too much for this $22,000 hybrid.
Of course, Prius mileage is great at about 45 mpg compared to around 20 for most regular cars.
But how long would it take to earn back those $7,500 lost in paying a crazy price?
I estimate I'd have to drive the car for about five years, before I even break even. By that time it might be time for a trade-in, hence I would have saved no money for the pleasure of driving this thing.
Still, I see more and more neighbors with their new Priuses in their garages. A sucker is born every second, and right now they're all buying Toyota Priuses at inflated prices, saving nothing.
