Cost of Ownership: gen1 vs. HCH vs Leaf, Volt, Civic

[samwichse]

Hello,

Found this spreadsheet "somewhere" (can't remember exactly where, though searching for "fuel efficient car shootout spreadsheet" gives a link to a modified verson on PriusChat, oh well).

It had the Volt, Prius, Leaf, Jetta TDI, new Civic, and used Civic compared with TCO, you can enter your own commute lengths, road trip frequency, prices, maintenance costs, etc.

I added what I came up with for my 00 Insight, plus for the HCH1 I got later last year. I went ahead and made the cost of repair high to make it "worst case..."

You'll never guess what won .

Editable spreadsheet is here.

Feel free to play with it, if it gets too screwed up, I can always just restore from my non-editable google docs version.

Sam

EDIT: The crib notes for those that arrive later:

Car		cents/mile
Volt 		0.35
Leaf		0.32
Prius 		0.33
Civic		0.34
Jetta TDI	0.38
Used Civic	0.35
Insight G1	0.27
HCH1		0.29

[samwichse]

Maybe this should go in the "other hybrids" section, because it's also about non-honda hybrids and the HCH (and maybe a genII person will add to it?). If a mod thinks so, they can move it.

Sam

[samwichse]

Whoops, forgot to make it editable....

Fixed.

[Varak]

That .27/mile for the Insight is definitely worst case.

My Insight has cost me about .12/mile including depreciation and insurance.

[thedhgroup]

Originally Posted by Varak

That .27/mile for the Insight is definitely worst case.

My Insight has cost me about .12/mile including depreciation and insurance.

The other guys at work hate me because after I turn in my mileage logs I make money. Once I was asked if I would take less per mile because it didn't seem "fair" that I made money and the others broke even with their gas and payment expenses. I said heck no. Not my problem.

[3-Wheeler]

Just my opinion, but I think the Leaf would be cheaper than the Insight, or any other gas engine for that matter, if you consider similar initial costs, insurance, fuel prices, and so on.

Especially, if one has PV solar on their roof as well. I'm hoping to have at least one panel up there this summer.

Jim.

[Cobb]

Did the ownership of the Insight include the price of a C&C meter, Mike DB2K grid charger/balancer? What about moon disks, coil overs and what ever else is purchased for those cars to get the supreme fuel economy like the various mods as the clutch, card and mima?


Sent from my Autoguide iPod touch app

[Varak]

My estimate included the grid charger. The repair costs on the Insight have been lower than any of my previous cars. I've had only two major repairs since I bought it (ISB and Fuel Pump)

Total Miles - 147K

Gas costs - $7,836 (5.34 cents/mile)
Repair costs - $5,689 (3.8
Insurance - $1,800 (1.22)
Depreciation - ~$3,000 ( 2.04)

Total 12.48 cents/mile

[Eli]

Yeah..That doesn't seem right..

I'm at like 35 cents a mile.. If you include two MIMA systems, grid charger, transmission and two other Insights and their repairs.

Insight #1 - $8600
Insurance - ~$6500(4yrs)
Fuel - $5250 (90k miles @ 55mpg avg @ $3.20)
Insight #2 - $2500
Insight #3 - $1800
Insight #2 Repairs - $1650
2 MIMAs - $1600
Transmission for #1 - $1500
Misc Crap - $1000 (generous)
Grid Charger - $800
Maintenance - $500
----
$31,700 / ~90,000mi = $0.35/mile lol

[kennysmith]

Don't forget to include the unproductive hours wasted at the computer.