Hills of Hayward

Christine and I have been having fun driving the Prius over the last month and half. I am the Type A kind of guy, so I am having fun getting my MPG “score” up every time I drive. Driving for me is like a video game now.

I think for Christine, she is more happy about driving a comfortable new car, and being able to listen to music or news on the radio clearly over a quiet engine as she drives to work.

Of course the first modification we put on the Prius was window tint from SnapTint.com. We went with HP True Grey 20%, it is just dark enough to prevent smash and grab auto theft.
As gas prices inch higher to $4 per gallon territory, I wanted to calculate how much gas savings we have saved over the last 2,500 miles we have driven.

Right now we are averaging 45 miles per gallon, so we have purchased 2,500/45 = 55 gallons of gas. Assuming price per gallon has average $3.35 over the last month and a half, this is $3.35 * 55 = $184.

If we had driven our Lexus IS300 for the last 2,500 miles, we would have averaged 25 MPG. This is 2,500/25 = 100 gallons of Premium gas. Assuming premium gas averaged $3.60 over the last month and a half, total cost would be $3.60 * 100 = $360.

So over the last month and a half, our Prius has saved us $176 in gas ($360-$184). Projecting this value out to an entire year, we could expect around $1,500 in gas savings assuming gas prices do not rise from current levels.

An additional bonus that we did not expect was that our car insurance rates dropped $800 / year due to the switch from the IS300 to the Prius.

If it were that easy in the rest of our lives to go green and save money at the same time, I would gladly give it a try. Solar panels next maybe?