TOYOTA PRIUS [merged threads]

**roberto_minosa** · June 12th, 2009 12:11 AM

Originally Posted by tidus1203

Well if you look at the BIG PICTURE it might not be as environmentally friendly as the automakers want you to believe. I mean how many CO2 do they release just to build a hybrid vehicle with 2 engines versus a regular single internal combustion engine car?

Yeah. I believe Jeremy Clarkson pointed this out once on Top Gear. It's really a shortcut solution to oil shortage, but pretty much not an aid to environment protection. But hey, people still buy it because it's cheap to run, at least for the first few years before its batteries die.

**ghosthunter** · June 12th, 2009 12:42 AM

Hybrid cars aren't really the final solution for the future of personal transport. It is just the current solution using current technology. The final solution would be electric cars but current battery technology still limits the practical range of the electric cars between recharging.

**scharnhorst** · June 12th, 2009 01:57 AM

Originally Posted by roberto_minosa

Yeah. I believe Jeremy Clarkson pointed this out once on Top Gear. It's really a shortcut solution to oil shortage, but pretty much not an aid to environment protection. But hey, people still buy it because it's cheap to run, at least for the first few years before its batteries die.

in that episode, I think he said that the M3 is more environmentally friendly than the prius... due to the amount of waste produced manufacturing and shipping the batteries

**Horsepower** · June 12th, 2009 03:19 AM

and because it consumed far less fuel during the 10 laps with the Prius.

**wsa 400** · June 12th, 2009 07:30 AM

Taxes and duties should be re-calibrated to make the Prius viable in the Philippines. In California the top of the line Prius is about 1.3 million pesos at P47:1 exchange rate and the top of the line Honda Insight is 1.14 million.

**JJCarEnthusiast** · June 12th, 2009 09:29 AM

:drool:

that's what we call tax :hammer:

**kinyo** · June 12th, 2009 09:44 AM

the rich guy would buy it for one reason alone ... bragging rights

**Gerbo** · June 12th, 2009 09:52 AM

Its not a practical buy for an average guy.

**niky** · June 12th, 2009 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by wsa 400

Taxes and duties should be re-calibrated to make the Prius viable in the Philippines. In California the top of the line Prius is about 1.3 million pesos at P47:1 exchange rate and the top of the line Honda Insight is 1.14 million.

The Prius still starts at 300,000 pesos more than the Civic in the US... That's still nearly 100,000 kilometers worth of gasoline. And that's only because of the hybrid tax breaks the Prius gets. IMHO, all fuel-efficient cars should get a tax break, by this reasoning... simply because some gasoline cars and many diesels get similar economy to the Prius.

But therein lies the rub.

Should the US government be subsidizing people rich enough to afford a $20k plus car? Or shouldn't they be giving a bigger tax break to people who can't afford anything brand new?

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EDIT: If the government truly wants to help people, they should provide a more effective transport grid and jobs. More jobs, better pay and better public transport will give people enough money to buy whatever luxuries they want. Merely subsidizing those rich enough to buy a one million peso car is throwing money at people who already have it.