New new Newbie questions

Either the Prius C (53/46/50) or the regular Prius (51/48/50) are going to get you the best gas mileage for the Prius lines.

The regular Prius has more room than the C.

If you want to run more on electrical, then I'd consider the plug-in Prius. It has the more energy-dense lithium-ion battery. But I'll let others fill in the details on that, since I've only been investigating the non-plug Pri's with the standard nickel-metal hydride battery.

 

c gets the best mileage but is tiny. hatchback is almost as good and a good size. v gets a little less and is a little larger. pluv in is same as hatchback and only goes 15 miles on a charge so probably won't help much. no inherent problems in any of them altho the hatch has 8 years of experience. volt will give you 40 mile range but when the gas kicks in you lose, so you'll have to do the math.

 

However in stop-and-go traffic won't that battery be getting some recharge through the regenerative braking system?

 

All of your current vehicles are terrible to commute long distances in so you should be happy with the Prius. The Prius c is also an option.

Without a plug in option there is no real way to make the car more dependent on electricity unless you install a plug in conversion kit. At that point you may as well just get a Volt. The Volt would likely suit your taste better than the Prius but you never know. We all change at some point.

 

Certainly the PIP (Plug In Prius) has the highest MPG, as it goes about 13 miles on electricity. (or you can blend that in to your mileage getting about 60 MPG for your whole commute)

The Liftback gets better highway mileage than the c, as it is more aerodynamic. The c does better in town than the Liftback as it is lighter. The v is bother heavier and less aerodynamic than the Liftback, so it is only 'best' for cargo and larger families.

I hope you enjoy which ever one you choose. None of the Prius will easily replace any of your current vehicles, it will 'just' be your daily driver 90% of the time.

Make sure you get a rear wiper, always run your headlights. You can turn them on at the dealer and just never turn them off, ever.

Here is a post I made about who should NOT own a Prius:
http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-forum/94450-considering-prius.html#post1334003

 

it has more capacity than standard prius for recharge, but you won't get it in stop and go traffic. only on long glides like downhills. and it will never make up the price diff.

 

Imho the regular prius hatchback would be your best bet. I drive from richmond to charlottesville va and get 50mpg with the cruise set at 70-75.

A volt might work, depending if you can charge at work, but the prius will cost less initially.

 

Prius PHV (plugin) > Prius C ~= Prius > Prius V
But you also get space, cost and other tradeoffs among the family

Your post talks about time.. not miles. Harder to discuss if Volt Prius or Plugin Prius would be more efficient without more details. I don't have enough experience in seattle to know if an hour away is 30miles or 50miles or 75miles. Also important to know if you can charge at work.

Prius PHV would probably be more efficient than volt if range between charges its > 70 miles, Volt would probably me more efficient if its < 50 between charges and in-between will depend on your style and highway vers stop and go.


I recommend you test drive a prius PHV and a Volt each to see if you like them. Seems a leaf might be risky (unless you can charge at work or its < 30miles each way).

 

Actually, if he wants to run purely on electricity, there is the Nissan Leaf. The drawback with the Leaf is that its round trip range is about 35 to 38 miles (IE, you get about 70 to 76 miles at the worst case scenario on a full charge). The Volt and the Prius Plugin would be the next likely choices to have the benefit of Electric and the added range with the use of Gas. The Volt is more likely to be better choice due to the fact that it's electric range is good if he only needs to travel about 10 miles one way, minimizing the amount of gas, but the Prius Plugin would be better for longer ranges gas wise.

 

The c is the small Prius and the v is the large Prius. The Liftback is the regular sized Prius most commonly seen. The c may be a great choice if you just want a reasonably priced high tech commuter that gets excellent mpg.

The stereo can be swapped like any other car. The hatchback design works very well with subs.

 

All car radios can be changed out. The only drawback with not sticking with the one in the car is dependent on how much of the Car information goes to the car's radio head unit. Like for the Prius v, the Fuel Economy information is displayed on the nav unit. For the Prius c, I believe it is displayed on the small screen in the MFD/HSI dash.

 

The C beats the regular Prius in the city (53 versus 51). The regular Prius beats the C on the highway (48 versus 46). The C is lighter, but the regular Prius is more aerodynamic.

The regular Prius is sometimes referred to as a Prius HB for hatchback.

The V is bigger, heavier, and less aerodynamic (44 city and 40 highway). So it doesn't sound like you should consider that one at all.

I'd stick with the regular Prius.

Within each body style the packages available are called two, three, four and five.