Depends upon where you live. Around here, it’s about $.50/gal. more. I’d be willing to bet that the added MPG offsets that, however. Some places, diesel is closer or farther away from gas, and biodiesel can be a lot cheaper than regular diesel.
Civic and Prius have comparable milage, as Chimera said. Civic still has a nice IRS Tax credit. Prius does not. You can get 45 MPG out of either, the Prius seems to be easy to get good milage out of.
The big disadvantage of buying a Prius is that that usually means you buy it from a Toyota dealer, who are the biggest crooks in the business, hands-down. Nice cars, though.
And there are no current inexpensive high milage diesels. Several coming out, some in the past- none here (USA) now. I don’t know why someone always comes by and suggest a diesle when dudes want info on a Hybrid- there are no current inexpensive high milage diesels in the USA.
Edmunds lists nothing smaller than a “mid-size”
and they run $30000 or more. Some of the larger trucks are cheaper.
I think one gets around 25 mpg at best. 
Maybe the Mercedes gets better, but that’s pricey and big.
VW and a few others are set to introduce a number of diesels at the start of the '09 model year, IIRC. More are certainly coming.
So how are hybrids doing in Europe?
deleted.
Good question. Not as well as here, I imagine, since diesel fuel is taxed less in most of Europe.
I found this thread from doing a search…
Someone was asking for hard mileage data… Here you go… Sorry the formatting didn’t work better. This is actual calculated mpg… I live in northern New England (3+ hours north of boston) so you’ll see that mileage does indeed go down in the winter. But, 47.6mpg average for the life of the car is pretty good in my book! Plus, we’re just coming off a serious winter, so, that average is going to inch up during the summer.
My driving is mostly highway (2-3 times a week commute one way is 40 miles highway and 6 miles “city”).
I’m running the original tires year round, so, snow performance can’t be that bad…
This is an 06 model year prius (I guess you can figure that out from the table below)…
This is our main vehicle (have a beater truck to haul stuff) and we love it… No complaints at all! BTW, this is no Corolla! It has tons of space (60lbs dog rides behind rear seats) and leg room (even in rear seats). I find the technology very cool… Ride & handling are great… It’s not a sports car, but, it’s not supposed to be.
On resale. A coworker just sold their 06 (older than mine - could be an 05) with 60miles for $20K! I couldn’t believe it! With the tax refund, I didn’t pay much more than that.
Date Gallons $/gal Price Odo Trip MPG Avg-MPG
2006-06-28 17
2006-07-10 9.045 $2.779 $25.14 517 500 55.3
2006-07-20 11.002 $2.819 $31.03 1007 490 44.5 50.2
2006-07-23 9.370 $2.999 $28.10 1548 541 57.7 52.6
2006-08-01 9.859 $2.839 $27.99 2109 561 56.9 53.7
2006-08-10 10.370 $2.939 $30.50 2607 498 48.0 52.5
2006-08-20 10.072 $2.959 $29.80 3154 547 54.3 52.8
2006-08-31 9.817 $2.939 $28.85 3640 486 49.5 52.3
2006-09-10 8.689 $2.689 $23.36 4162 522.0 60.1 53.2
2006-09-24 10.087 $2.499 $25.21 4623 461 45.7 52.3
2006-10-08 9.628 $2.399 $23.10 5118 495 51.4 52.3
2006-10-18 9.194 $2.139 $19.67 5513 395 43.0 51.5
2006-10-27 9.180 $2.099 $19.27 5964 451 49.1 51.3
2006-11-07 8.070 $2.129 $17.18 6300 336 41.6 50.7
2006-11-16 9.578 $2.24 $21.45 6700 400 41.8 50.0
2006-11-26 9.250 $2.199 $20.34 7146 446 48.2 49.9
2006-12-07 9.375 $2.299 $21.55 7573 427 45.5 49.6
2007-01-04 9.825 $2.459 $24.16 7974 401 40.8 49.1
2007-01-16 7.247 $2.299 $16.66 8331 357 49.3 49.1
2007-01-26 8.847 $2.259 $19.99 8655 324 36.6 48.5
2007-02-02 8.449 $2.249 $19.00 8968 313 37.0 48.0
2007-02-13 9.251 $2.199 $20.34 9344 376 40.6 47.6
2007-02-27 8.958 $2.329 $20.86 9720 376 42.0 47.4
2007-03-08 7.240 $2.539 $18.38 10069 349 48.2 47.4
2007-03-16 9.449 $2.539 $23.99 10453 384 40.6 47.1
2007-03-30 9.811 $2.639 $25.98 10891 438 44.6 47.0
2007-04-09 8.397 $2.739 $23.00 11268 377 44.9 46.9
2007-04-18 9.221 $2.859 $26.36 11679 411 44.6 46.9
2007-04-30 9.472 $2.879 $27.27 12135 456 48.1 46.9
2007-05-09 9.832 $2.959 $29.09 12647 512 52.1 47.1
2007-05-18 8.108 $2.959 $23.99 13068 421 51.9 47.2
2007-05-29 9.591 $3.079 $29.53 13567 499 52.0 47.4
2007-06-08 9.402 $3.029 $28.48 14057 490 52.1 47.5
2007-06-22 9.582 $2.989 $28.64 14554 497 51.9 47.7
2007-07-02 8.434 $2.929 $24.70 15021 467 55.4 47.9
2007-07-09 10.259 $2.939 $30.15 15458 437 42.6 47.7
2007-07-13 9.558 $2.939 $28.09 15956 498 52.1 47.8
2007-07-25 10.533 $2.999 $31.59 16473 517 49.1 47.9
2007-07-30 7.891 $2.799 $22.09 16900 427 54.1 48.0
2007-08-01 10.899 $2.999 $32.69 17464 564 51.7 48.1
2007-08-13 7.787 $2.849 $22.19 17861 397 51.0 48.2
2007-08-20 7.661 $2.789 $21.37 18290 429 56.0 48.3
2007-09-01 8.263 $2.799 $23.13 18735 445 53.9 48.5
2007-09-12 8.660 $2.799 $24.24 19159 424 49.0 48.5
2007-09-21 10.447 $2.759 $28.82 19637 478 45.8 48.4
2007-10-05 10.596 $2.759 $29.23 20193 556 52.5 48.5
2007-10-11 9.186 $2.709 $24.88 20658 465 50.6 48.6
2007-10-15 7.916 $2.759 $21.84 21046 388 49.0 48.6
2007-10-25 8.399 $2.769 $23.26 21480 434 51.7 48.6
2007-11-08 8.625 $3.039 $26.21 21884 404 46.8 48.6
2007-11-15 8.454 $3.079 $26.03 22255 371 43.9 48.5
2007-11-29 8.636 $3.049 $26.33 22621 366 42.4 48.4
2007-12-12 8.067 $3.049 $24.60 22967 346 42.9 48.3
2008-01-02 6.926 $3.059 $21.19 23293 326 47.1 48.3
2008-01-09 8.838 $3.129 $27.65 23636 343 38.8 48.1
2008-01-17 8.027 $3.099 $24.88 23996 360 44.8 48.1
2008-01-27 7.402 $3.129 $23.16 24344 348 47.0 48.0
2008-02-12 8.488 $3.069 $26.05 24651 307 36.2 47.8
2008-03-03 8.827 $3.139 $27.71 25039 388 44.0 47.8
2008-03-12 8.896 $3.239 $28.81 25406 367 41.3 47.7
2008-03-24 8.015 $3.219 $25.80 25768 362 45.2 47.6
2008-04-04 8.410 $3.259 $27.41 26107 339 40.3 47.5
2008-04-12 6.543 $3.299 $21.59 26440 333 50.9 47.6
2008-04-13 9.344 $3.299 $30.83 26857 417 44.6 47.5
2008-04-25 10.596 $3.519 $37.29 27374 517 48.8 47.5
2008-05-08 10.585 $3.647 $38.60 27938 564 53.3 47.6
You have way too much time on your hands.
Please subscribe! You are one of us!
I forgot to mention earlier… one other reason could be that Jeremy Clarkson hates it (although I think that’s the '05 model).
You can do the formatting by using the ‘code’ tags. {code} text {/code} (replacing the curved brackets { with square [ ones.)
Date Gallons $/gal Price Odo Trip MPG Avg-MPG
2006-06-28 17
2006-07-10 9.045 $2.779 $25.14 517 500 55.3
2006-07-20 11.002 $2.819 $31.03 1007 490 44.5 50.2
2006-07-23 9.370 $2.999 $28.10 1548 541 57.7 52.6
2006-08-01 9.859 $2.839 $27.99 2109 561 56.9 53.7
2006-08-10 10.370 $2.939 $30.50 2607 498 48.0 52.5
2006-08-20 10.072 $2.959 $29.80 3154 547 54.3 52.8
2006-08-31 9.817 $2.939 $28.85 3640 486 49.5 52.3
2006-09-10 8.689 $2.689 $23.36 4162 522.0 60.1 53.2
2006-09-24 10.087 $2.499 $25.21 4623 461 45.7 52.3
2006-10-08 9.628 $2.399 $23.10 5118 495 51.4 52.3
2006-10-18 9.194 $2.139 $19.67 5513 395 43.0 51.5
2006-10-27 9.180 $2.099 $19.27 5964 451 49.1 51.3
2006-11-07 8.070 $2.129 $17.18 6300 336 41.6 50.7
2006-11-16 9.578 $2.24 $21.45 6700 400 41.8 50.0
2006-11-26 9.250 $2.199 $20.34 7146 446 48.2 49.9
2006-12-07 9.375 $2.299 $21.55 7573 427 45.5 49.6
2007-01-04 9.825 $2.459 $24.16 7974 401 40.8 49.1
2007-01-16 7.247 $2.299 $16.66 8331 357 49.3 49.1
2007-01-26 8.847 $2.259 $19.99 8655 324 36.6 48.5
2007-02-02 8.449 $2.249 $19.00 8968 313 37.0 48.0
2007-02-13 9.251 $2.199 $20.34 9344 376 40.6 47.6
2007-02-27 8.958 $2.329 $20.86 9720 376 42.0 47.4
2007-03-08 7.240 $2.539 $18.38 10069 349 48.2 47.4
2007-03-16 9.449 $2.539 $23.99 10453 384 40.6 47.1
2007-03-30 9.811 $2.639 $25.98 10891 438 44.6 47.0
2007-04-09 8.397 $2.739 $23.00 11268 377 44.9 46.9
2007-04-18 9.221 $2.859 $26.36 11679 411 44.6 46.9
2007-04-30 9.472 $2.879 $27.27 12135 456 48.1 46.9
2007-05-09 9.832 $2.959 $29.09 12647 512 52.1 47.1
2007-05-18 8.108 $2.959 $23.99 13068 421 51.9 47.2
2007-05-29 9.591 $3.079 $29.53 13567 499 52.0 47.4
2007-06-08 9.402 $3.029 $28.48 14057 490 52.1 47.5
2007-06-22 9.582 $2.989 $28.64 14554 497 51.9 47.7
2007-07-02 8.434 $2.929 $24.70 15021 467 55.4 47.9
2007-07-09 10.259 $2.939 $30.15 15458 437 42.6 47.7
2007-07-13 9.558 $2.939 $28.09 15956 498 52.1 47.8
2007-07-25 10.533 $2.999 $31.59 16473 517 49.1 47.9
2007-07-30 7.891 $2.799 $22.09 16900 427 54.1 48.0
2007-08-01 10.899 $2.999 $32.69 17464 564 51.7 48.1
2007-08-13 7.787 $2.849 $22.19 17861 397 51.0 48.2
2007-08-20 7.661 $2.789 $21.37 18290 429 56.0 48.3
2007-09-01 8.263 $2.799 $23.13 18735 445 53.9 48.5
2007-09-12 8.660 $2.799 $24.24 19159 424 49.0 48.5
2007-09-21 10.447 $2.759 $28.82 19637 478 45.8 48.4
2007-10-05 10.596 $2.759 $29.23 20193 556 52.5 48.5
2007-10-11 9.186 $2.709 $24.88 20658 465 50.6 48.6
2007-10-15 7.916 $2.759 $21.84 21046 388 49.0 48.6
2007-10-25 8.399 $2.769 $23.26 21480 434 51.7 48.6
2007-11-08 8.625 $3.039 $26.21 21884 404 46.8 48.6
2007-11-15 8.454 $3.079 $26.03 22255 371 43.9 48.5
2007-11-29 8.636 $3.049 $26.33 22621 366 42.4 48.4
2007-12-12 8.067 $3.049 $24.60 22967 346 42.9 48.3
2008-01-02 6.926 $3.059 $21.19 23293 326 47.1 48.3
2008-01-09 8.838 $3.129 $27.65 23636 343 38.8 48.1
2008-01-17 8.027 $3.099 $24.88 23996 360 44.8 48.1
2008-01-27 7.402 $3.129 $23.16 24344 348 47.0 48.0
2008-02-12 8.488 $3.069 $26.05 24651 307 36.2 47.8
2008-03-03 8.827 $3.139 $27.71 25039 388 44.0 47.8
2008-03-12 8.896 $3.239 $28.81 25406 367 41.3 47.7
2008-03-24 8.015 $3.219 $25.80 25768 362 45.2 47.6
2008-04-04 8.410 $3.259 $27.41 26107 339 40.3 47.5
2008-04-12 6.543 $3.299 $21.59 26440 333 50.9 47.6
2008-04-13 9.344 $3.299 $30.83 26857 417 44.6 47.5
2008-04-25 10.596 $3.519 $37.29 27374 517 48.8 47.5
2008-05-08 10.585 $3.647 $38.60 27938 564 53.3 47.6
I’ve been driving a 2005 Prius for a couple of months now. I love the mileage! Yesterday I decided to start a spreadsheet. Obviously I need to collect more data before it means anything. One thing I’ve noticed is that the odometer does not match the GPS distance. On a 200+ mile trip it seems to be between .3 and .5 miles greater than the GPS reading. Also the MPG on the nav system does not seem to be accurate when I divide the displayed miles by the fuel added. (Method: I insert the nozzle and pull it out as far as it will go, and stop fueling when it clicks off. I refuel in the early morning.) Dividing the odometer miles or GPS miles by the gallons added seems to indicate the MPG reading is high by approximately 5%. I’ll have a better idea after several more refuelings.
EDIT: On my commuting days I drive around 206.7 miles by the odometer. I generally add 4.3 to 4.7 gallons. I assume mileage would increase slightly if I wasn’t ‘tankering’ half a tank. Hey, 30 pounds is 30 pounds. I’ve noticed mileage has improved with the longer, warmer days. No lights or heater using energy that must be replenished by the engine.
I meant to look this up when I first heard it about six months ago on talk radio (Dr. Dean Edell - he’s equilvalent to SDMB on the air, not a nut job):
Taking into account the total amount of energy it takes to produce a Prius, it’s low fuel economy on the road is offset by the production energy: - materials to extract the nickel ore, cost to transport the ore to the battery manufacturer (Europe?); cost to transport the batteries to the factory, etc. It came out to something like 12 MPG equivalent when done.
Anyone have a cite for this?
Perhaps. But that doesn’t really matter to the end user. I like getting mid-to-upper-40s mpg in the Prius compared to 20 or so in the Jeep. 
Well, we wouldn’t want to be smug, now would we?
And what are the equivalent calculations for other cars?
A recent road test in The Times put a Beemer 520d up against a Prius and the diesel BM came out with better MPG overall. I’d go for a diesel too, but then its easier to refill them here in Europe than in the US.
Article in question:
That’s odd. The article reports that Toyota claims to get 65mpg. My sticker (and every review I’ve read) said it gets 48/45, and I’m getting 48 mgp consistantly.
I only skimmed the article, but I have to question an article entitled "**Toyota Prius proves a gas guzzler in a race with the BMW 520d **.
That title implies the BMW gets significantly better mpg’s than the Prius and I’m not sure I believe that.
Quoting that article;
“because it’s the entry level car of the 5-series many buyers opt for “badge delete” so they don’t show other motorists they went for the cheapest option at £27,190.”
Or more than $40,000. At the cheapest.
(BMW) “Fuel used on test 10.84 gallons (50.3mpg)”
(Prius) “Fuel used on test 11.34 gallons (48.1mpg)”
My Conclusion: Is that 2mpg difference worth $13,000 and the difficulty of finding Diesel in some locations? Heck, the price differential between Diesel and Regular ($4-something and $3.639 today at the local place) means that the BMW actually costs you more to drive in the USA.
My former boss (of Euro origin) told me that gas hybrids were rare in Europe due to the vehicle cost versus comparable diesels. Do you find this to be the case in the UK?
When I was still reading the UK auto rags, they usually tested fuel economy at a constant 56mph and a constant 70mph; the 56 number is obviously much better than you’d get in any real-world scenario. It says “mixed motoring”, though, which is probably based on the euromix test conditions.
I suspect it’s just bad reporting.
Anyway, the 520 is much bigger and much heavier than the Prius. It doesn’t make any sense to compare the two - the 320d is a much better comparison.
My Wife is an appraisor for County Gov. Central Colorado Rockies.
The County purchased four Ford Escape Hybrids to replace Jeep Cherokees as work vehicles.
They hate them. Not enough power is the main concern. One appraiser took a fleet maintenece guy for a drive. He ageed.
Take into account though, that we are looking at 9-10 g elevation.
It won’t lock you out. I’ve tried it.