As someone who loves to drive, and loves a manual transmission, I find it hard to believe that I’m saying this: I really want a Prius.
Let’s keep in mind, for a moment, that prior to the arrival of my son, we were an all-German, all-stick family. I had a red 2002 Audi A4 which looked like this one. It was lovely and drove beautifully, with an engine that hummed like it meant business. It was the kind of car that made this Volkswagen commercial, comparing the TDI clean diesel to the Prius, that much funnier. But the kiddo had different requirements, and while I wasn’t interested in something as big as an SUV, I did need more trunk space than a sedan, and perhaps more free hands than a manual transmission was going to permit. This is how I ended up with a Subaru Outback.
The part of the Outback that’s always been the most bothersome has been the gas mileage. I realize that AWD cars get worse mileage, but I don’t think I fully appreciated it before I purchased the car. Doing the sort of driving that I do — primarily local with a few highway jaunts per week — my mileage is on the low end of the spectrum. I had considered a Prius at the time, but I wasn’t sure about the long-term prospects of the Hybrid Synergy Drive and battery that the Toyota uses. More than three years later, I think that both have proven their reliability and longevity.
After a recent trip back east where I spent a startlingly enjoyable two weeks with a rental Prius (model year 2009), and getting 49 MPG in highway-intensive driving (not the strong suit for the Prius), I started thinking about my own fuel consumption. My car, on a good week, gets between 20-21 MPG. The Prius gets 49+, with the new 2010 model boasting slightly higher numbers than the model that I drove.
Then I did the math. 12,000 annual miles at 20.5 MPG equals 585 gallons of gas each year. But 12,000 miles at 49 MPG equals 245 gallons per year — a mind-blowing difference of 340 gallons!
Now, let’s set aside the environmental benefits of cutting your fossil fuel consumption by more than half. Just look at the price. If gas stays at the $3.00/gallon rate where it’s been hovering in my town for a while, I’m paying $1,020 more each year in gasoline alone. If gas rises to $4.00/gallon, I’m paying at least $1,360 extra per year for the Outback. If gas prices reach European levels of $6.00 to $7.00 per gallon (admittedly an unlikely scenario), a Prius could mean a difference of up to $2,400 per year.
The problem is that the Prius doesn’t come cheap. To get a Prius that was comparably equipped to what I have today, I’d have to lay out quite a bit of cash above and beyond my trade-in. Is it worth it? I’m really not sure. But admit that I find myself looking back at the last three years and feeling a little bit sheepish about the 52 extra barrels of crude oil that I have singlehandedly consumed by choosing the Outback over the Prius.