Late to the party; question.

EV mode is very sensitive to incline. I can stay in EV mode for about three miles at 40 mph, but on slight decline to flat. Any up cancels the EV mode. Also, the car needs to be fully warmed up, so first 1.5 miles will likely not be in EV. Dust might trigger harsh duty, so oil changes sooner plus filters.

 

The electric motors are inside the transaxle and bathed in ATF. If you worried about them, you could change the ATF (simple drain and fill of 3.5 qts, no flush) often, say every 30,000 miles. I would not worry about them, ground clearance would be my worry.

Here is a cut away of the 2016 transaxle, you can see both motors are well inside


You will not be able to use Cruise Control below 24 MPH, so ECO mode may help on gravel. I would leave it in ECO all the time, unless the A/C can't keep up.

 

EV isn't "free" (using electric power now to save fuel will generally mean you burn more fuel later to make up for it), and you won't get 2 miles out of it unless it's downhill both ways. ;-)

Probably the biggest effect on your drive will be speed. If you keep it to 65 or less, you can probably get 50 mpg or close. If you're going 70, 75, 80... You can pretty quickly get below 40 mpg. Aerodynamics is a bitch that way - going from 55 mph to 80 mph is only 40% faster, but you'll get double the drag.

Dust shouldn't be a problem, but as mentioned, you might consider following the maintenance for "Special Operating Conditions". For dusty or dirt roads, that means extra inspections of the engine air filter, ball joints and dust covers, drive shaft boots, steering linkage and boots, replacing the engine oil and filter at 5k instead of 10k, and tightening nuts and bolts on the chassis and body.

I don't often do dirt roads, but it does fine. Most I've done was a 15-mile trip (30 round trip) on Mineral King Road in Sequoia National Park. I've also gone on a couple excursions into National Forests and some other backwaters where I was dodging potholes the size of a cow. It's not a Jeep, but honestly, anything that's still labeled "road" probably doesn't need a Jeep anyway.

The rolling resistance on a dirt road is pretty high, so you won't get great fuel economy on it - but 30 mpg is probably easily done for those 2 miles, and that's better than you'll get on any other car. I don't have mileage from just the dirt roads in Sequoia NP, but the tank that had those 30 dirt miles plus 360 other miles (a lot of which were going up and down the Sierras) was about 44 mpg - my typical mileage is 53 mpg. That said, if you're mostly driving on the highway, there are some other cars that get pretty good fuel economy on the highway that you could consider too.

 

welcome! look around for a used pip. there are some great deals out there due to low gas prices, and you could do the dirt and more in ev, plus add to your mpg. it's also cool for running around locally. all the best in your search!

 

Prius has low clearance (lower than Corolla/Civic), so if rain there can be a trouble. First mile will be warming up, so not much ev mode, last one probably ev. If I drive 65-70 mph, I get around 52-54MPG.

I think for his commute 50 miles, plugin is not a big help. Unless price is close to regular, I wouldn't bother.

Special operation conditions are not only for Prius, it is probably for all cars. As long as clearance ok, and you can handle rainy days, you'll be fine. Don't worry about first mile, it's not efficent for any ICE, and Prius will make job better than other car. Can you ask dealer for a test drive on you commute route? When I was buying my car form Hertz, I've got it for three days, so when I was buying I was quite comfortable with the car and cost of rent was waived.

 

Just about any negatives that are not strictly hybrid related you can come up with on a Prius are negatives on a regular car. Your fuel economy will suffer on a dirt road just as your Liberty will. The dust will adversely affect the engine and air filters on a Liberty same as on a Prius. So continue to do everything you've been doing to maintain the Liberty as you would do on a Prius.

Distance doesn't matter either. If you get 45 on a Prius, you'd get 60 on a plug in Prius and 22 on your Liberty. It could be a 5, 10, 100 mile commute. You'll use less fuel. Why wouldn't you want to pay less for fuel? The distance only affects how much money you'll put in the gas tank. (I have a 53 mile one way commute with a plug in getting averaging 69 mpg)

The only thing that matters is the the dirt road and the Prius is relatively low to the ground. I can say that my 1998 Corolla and 2006 Civic have even less ground clearance. (I can go faster over the dip in my driveway in my Prius without scraping than those two cars) So again, Prius is no different than any other car. You will notice a big difference from your Liberty, though. You might want to slow it down to 7-10 mph.

 

agreed. strangely, in some areas, they are cheaper.

 

I would certainly buy it if marginally higher price, at least for a green sticker (carpool pass), whatever it last.

Are you looking forward for "prime" or electric?

 

depends on what's available when i'm ready. hatch space in the prime concerns me, i'm already over the loss of the bench seat. i could probably live with a 200 mile bev. so, there will be a lot of factors to weigh, price not being the least. hard to give up toyota quality though.

 

The dirt road will not be a problem.

 

Your commute sounds very similar to mine. Its about 45 miles one way. 1 stop sign and a stop light and I am on the interstate. The street my house is on is not paved it is a rock road. It's rough and seldom maintained, yet never been a problem. The short amount of extra dust incurred is dampened by the 49 miles of your commute that is not on the dirt road. No need for extra maintenance.

The only caveat I have is if your road is truly a dirt road or gets muddy and or slick, you might have issue with the traction control taking the power away when the tire slips. Traction control cannot be turned off.