Passing on 03 Prius to welcome i3-Rex

With over 170,000 miles and a Kelly value of $2,000, we are giving it to our house keeper who is also my wife's day-keeper. She has enriched our lives but had the most miserable luck with cars. So she is cleaning it up and we'll do an oil change. Today, we started the car and opened the hood. Everything looked fine but when the engine auto-stopped … so too did the inverter coolant pump. Fortunately, I had already gotten a spare so we'll put it in too.

Funnily enough, one of my co-workers expressed interest in the car. But the value of our house keeper and wife keeper is far in excess of any money we might get for the car.

We will give her the manuals, the Graham miniscanner, a Garmin GPS, accumulated spare parts, and support any additional fix-up and repairs for a year. As long as she changes the oil twice a year, wipers, and keeps the tires inflated, she should easily get another 170,000 miles. So far, she seems enthused.

We're replacing the 03 Prius with a 2014 BMW i3-Rex:

• ~80 miles EV vs ~1 mile
• 4 comfy seats vs 5 somewhat smaller
• doors open front and back with no middle door jam versus "B" pillar
• EPA 150 mile range vs 480 estimated range
• EPA 39 MPG gas vs EPA 41 MPG (I'm getting 52 MPG)
• 168 HP vs ~94 hp (effective)
• premium/plus 2.1 gal vs regular 11.7 gal

I was thinking a Gen-4 but was disappointed:

• Level 2 ECO does not have TSS-P
• Level 3 does not have Level 2 ECO MPG (tested!)
• Gen-4 does not have a tow-package option
• Gen-4 does not have a 1.5 kW inverter option
• Gen-4 does not have a rear-wheel drive option

Far as I'm concerned, Toyota does not want my business. The Gen-4 has the technology but not in a Gen-4 model sold in North America. I don't have the energy to spend fixing their marketing screw-up.

We will keep the 2010 Prius, for now. After I've added the 120VAC inverter and tow package, the 2010 Prius will become redundant. Yes, I would like automatic braking but the i3-Rex covers so many other areas … we'll just have to stay sharp.

Bob Wilson

 

Sad to say, good news and bad news. First the bad:

• We checked the VIN against BMW and found it was just a regular i3, not the range extended
• We checked at the bank and stopped the sale

<SIGH>

Today there are two on Ebay for sale, one listed at $29.9k (buy it now) and the other at $36k (make an offer.) I had already spoken with the first one and he was hard on the price. I had already made a low-ball offer on the second which was rejected. Of course we're too far away from the end of the month and lease/payroll/mortgage payments.

Regardless, my loan is on the books and time marches on. Relatively low gas prices; the recent attraction to SUVs and; a weak oil economy … may make it a Bob's buyer market. … Then there is always the 2017 Gen-4 coming closer and closer (hint @Prius Team ).

Bob Wilson

ps. The 03 Prius is going to our housekeep on Friday.