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New Man on the Block Needing some Prius Information

Discussion in 'Newbie Forum' started by KoolerKT, Jan 5, 2013.

  1. KoolerKT

    KoolerKT Junior Member

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    Hey. I am in the market for a new car now! I am anxious to get this over, but I am having a hard time finding out the best option for me with all the models and within the models all the options/accessories. I have been looking at the Toyota Prius, the Ford C Max, the Toyota Matrix, and a few others. I have a 2009 VW Jetta TDI Diesel SportWagon and I am so eager to get rid of it. I know it is supposed to be a good car, get up to 50 mpg, etc. but I have not seen any or very few good sides to this car besides the enormous moonroof which takes over the entire ceiling. That has been awesome, especially while camping and you are forced to the car to sleep.

    I am trying to make sure I get a decent price, but that is hard when I can't remember the various models of the Prius. So, I will name what I think they are (it has taken me awhile to just get the models down) so I won't even get into the accessories/options right now.

    If I have the correctly list the models, feel free in your reply to give me any pointers or things I should consider. Also, if you could tell me the main reasons why someone would buy the particular model.

    1. The Prius- Could somebody explain to me why the various models and what they mean? a. 5 DR HB One, b. 5 dr HB 2, c. 5 dr HB 3, d. 5 dr HB 4, e. 5 dr HB 5. I have been unable to find put what the difference is between all of these cars except the price.
    2. Prius C. As far as I know there is only 1 basic model with many options. It appears this is the smallest of the Prii.
    3. Prius V- which is new and has the most cargo area. Does anybody know if the seats are flat is the ground flat? would it allow for a sleeping bag to lay flat for a comfortable night's sleep? is this one of the only Prii that offer the large moon roof? What I mean by a moon roof is the sun roof that is the longest.
    4. Plug Prius-thisnappeals to me but it appears the Prius has become so popular that most of the rebates are gone. would the Prius Pkug In work as a road trip car or can one only get around 30 miles on a charge? Does the gas take over after that until you can get a charge?

    I am not very tech savvy, but I do like a good navigation system. Again, I am open to your feelings on the options. I would really like a moon roof or a large sun roof if this car comes with one. I like the camera when you back up. with the smaller Prii, can the back seats go down and if so how much space between the hatchback and the front seats? I am a rock climber,and I travel all over the us looking for secluded rock climbing areas. I sleep in my car and try to find a space off the beaten path. I am 6'4",200 lbs, my friend has a 6 year old Prius and I fit pretty comfortably in that car.

    I appreciate your help.
     
  2. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    1. Re: the regular Prius: see Exclusive: 2012 MY Prius - Changes and Additions | PriusChat (the Prius Two doesn't come w/backup camera though). Also see The Toyota Prius Hybrid models and prices. Try doing Build your Toyota to select the trim level and options on each. Also go thru the 1st 3 tabs of Toyota Prius Hybrid - 2013 Models: Prius Two, Prius Three, Prius Four, Prius Five.

    Prius One is basically for fleets only and is de-contented.

    2. Prius c: No, there are 4 trim levels. See The Toyota Prius c models and prices. Yes, it is much smaller than the regular Prius aka liftback.
    3. Prius v, not V.

    4. As for PiP, not sure what you mean by "most of the rebates are gone". What rebates? Factory to dealer incentives/rebates, some state incentive or Federal tax credit? All electric range is EPA rated at 11 miles. Yes, basically, but also under heavy acceleration, the engine will turn on. If you use the heater, the engine may turn on as well, depending on the coolant temperature. It will also need to run once you pass 62 mph. There are a few other cases.

    For me, if my Gen 2 Prius were totaled or stolen, I'd be replacing it with either a regular Prius (liftback), PiP base model or Camry Hybrid.

    I wouldn't buy the c due to its small size and lightness vs. the rest of the vehicles out there. Although I'm not an advocate of buying the heaviest vehicle, unfortunately, in a multi-car accident, the lighter, smaller vehicle usually ends up 2nd best. Avg. curb weight of vehicles sold in recent model years is over 4000 lbs. :( Prius c is 2500 lbs. Regular Prius is 3042 lbs., which is still less than other midsized family cars.

    I wouldn't buy the v as I don't need the extra room and don't want the mileage hit. I also don't like the speedo in the center.

    I'd possibly get the PiP because of the CA carpool lane sticker. I mentioned HyCam as I do miss having a car w/more power and the mileage hit isn't too bad w/the HyCam. 41 mpg combined for a 200 hp (and fairly quick) car is very good.
     
  3. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    If you have to have a moonroof I would get the standard Prius Model 3 with the roof option. It will cost a lot but you should price all your car options, check out invoice prices online, and hold out for at least invoice. May have to work more than one dealer and take your time. Sleeping in the car might be the deal breaker. Go to the dealer and fold the seat and try it.
     
  4. KoolerKT

    KoolerKT Junior Member

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    I have no idea about specific rebates. I just saw on a Toyota site that most of the Toyota rebates for this car are gone. That is what it said. But rather then focusing on that kind of stuff I was more interested in trying to learn the various models. Like I was really confused on number 1 and right off I do not see number 1 in your reply. Why so many models? Not sure what you mean by "de-contended" but the models listed in number 1 are still on every website about the current Prius models I have been to. They are, "1. The Prius- Could somebody explain to me why the various models and what they mean? a. 5 DR HB One, b. 5 dr HB 2, c. 5 dr HB 3, d. 5 dr HB 4, e. 5 dr HB 5. I have been unable to find put what the difference is between all of these cars except the price.'"

    There is a new website called trucar.com and they try to work with local dealers and they had all the models I listed under number 1 as current models. I have read a ton of articles on the cars I am interested in. I came here to get some additional help since it seemed like there might be a lot of current Prius owners here. Not to get defensive, just a guy doing some research and trying to learn the available models for the Prius.

    Read more: http://priuschat.com/threads/new-man-on-the-block-needing-some-prius-information.120379/#ixzz2H7JRZuNh
    quote="cwerdna, post: 1714654, member: 8380"]1. Re: the regular Prius: see Exclusive: 2012 MY Prius - Changes and Additions | PriusChat (the Prius Two doesn't come w/backup camera though). Also see The Toyota Prius Hybrid models and prices. Try doing Build your Toyota to select the trim level and options on each. Also go thru the 1st 3 tabs of Toyota Prius Hybrid - 2013 Models: Prius Two, Prius Three, Prius Four, Prius Five.

    Prius One is basically for fleets only and is de-contented.

    2. Prius c: No, there are 4 trim levels. See The Toyota Prius c models and prices. Yes, it is much smaller than the regular Prius aka liftback.
    3. Prius v, not V.

    4. As for PiP, not sure what you mean by "most of the rebates are gone". What rebates? Factory to dealer incentives/rebates, some state incentive or Federal tax credit? All electric range is EPA rated at 11 miles. Yes, basically, but also under heavy acceleration, the engine will turn on. If you use the heater, the engine may turn on as well, depending on the coolant temperature. It will also need to run once you pass 62 mph. There are a few other cases.

    For me, if my Gen 2 Prius were totaled or stolen, I'd be replacing it with either a regular Prius (liftback), PiP base model or Camry Hybrid.

    I wouldn't buy the c due to its small size and lightness vs. the rest of the vehicles out there. Although I'm not an advocate of buying the heaviest vehicle, unfortunately, in a multi-car accident, the lighter, smaller vehicle usually ends up 2nd best. Avg. curb weight of vehicles sold in recent model years is over 4000 lbs. :( Prius c is 2500 lbs. Regular Prius is 3042 lbs., which is still less than other midsized family cars.

    I wouldn't buy the v as I don't need the extra room and don't want the mileage hit. I also don't like the speedo in the center.

    I'd possibly get the PiP because of the CA carpool lane sticker. I mentioned HyCam as I do miss having a car w/more power and the mileage hit isn't too bad w/the HyCam. 41 mpg combined for a 200 hp (and fairly quick) car is very good.[/quote]
     
  5. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    The various models within the Prius, Prius c and Prius v categories are just packages. Every manufacturer does this. As you go from model 2-5 you add more features. I.e. a Prius Model Five has all of the features of a Model Two plus more.

    The Prius, Prius c and Prius v are different cars. The intent is to create very fuel efficient hybrids for as many needs as possible. I.e. a single man/woman living in San Franscisco with limited parking would buy a Prius c because it is small and offers excellent city mpg. A family with larger kids living in a typical suburban community would likely buy a Prius v for the extra room. Make sense?
     
  6. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    Toyota is trying to line up trim levels between models.
    so the Prius Liftback (normal Prius) comes in 2 through 5
    The Prius c comes in 1 through 4
    The Prius v comes in 2, 3 and 5
    The Prius PHV has a model near 3 and a model near 5

    In any of these a Trim 1 will be a bare car, Bad fabric, non split rear seats, no smart key
    Trim 2 will be the entry level car with sensible options Better fabric, folding split rear seats some electronic goodies
    Trim 3 will begin to have Navigation, and other electronics
    Trim 4 has everything but leather.
    Trim 5 has leather (real or Softex) and is the only model with advanced technology options

    I have a v, which is actually the second oldest current model, (the v, and the PHV, and the c are all new in 2012)
    even with the head rests on, I find the back seats are almost perfectly flat. I use a cargo mat over the back seats facing backwards to make a large carpeted cargo area.

    The PHV (which has the potential of a $2500 Federal credit, unless you do not owe $2500) gets the best gas mileage if you can plug it every so often. (3 hours on 110v GFCI house current, 1.5 hours on more involved 220v installs) If you don't plug it in, it will be about the same as the liftback.
    The Liftback gets its best mileage as a highway cruiser.
    The c gets its best mileage as a city car.
    The v gets 10 MPG less than other Prius, but has cargo room to compete with station wagons and small SUVs.

    Here is Utah specific incentives Clean Fuels Program: Vehicle Tax Credit: Rules After 2009
    Every Prius seems to qualify.
    Clean Fuels Program: Vehicle Tax Credit $605
     
  7. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Ha! I finally caught Jimbo!

    Model Fours have leather! :p

    Prius and Prius v Model Five has 17" wheels also. Prius c Four gets 16" wheels.
     
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  8. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    In my defense, there is no trim 4 in a v, so I did not research that as well as I should have.
     
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  9. CLUBGUY

    CLUBGUY Member

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    The Toyota web site offers comprehensive differences between the versions offered within a specific model..ie:prius or Prius "c" or Prius "v" etc....just link to the chart to see the differences....
     
  10. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    If you are inclined to Plug-In Prius check out the thread Price Paid on PiP...but basically you could go out to East Coast eg NY, MD, VA, NJ and try to get a remaining 2012 PiP cheap and drive or ship it back. Many have been doing this as the 2012 PiP was only avails in 14 states with the good deals in the Northeast. Of course you are late to the 2012 PiP party but still seems to be some good price action, last guy said he picked one up near me I think.

    I believe both Prius liftback and Prius v lie flat and you can sleep 2, maybe 3 but I am not going to get into the sleeping policy. Our motto here at Prius Chat - "Clean car...clean mind...take your pick!"

     
  11. KoolerKT

    KoolerKT Junior Member

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    If you see the Prii that I mentioned in my post, out of those which one would the Prius Liftback be? I was interested in the Prius C. Living in Salt Lake City that might not be the best car. Which would be a good option to check out if there is 1 person and that person would like to use the back with the seats down for a place to sleep when I travel to rock climbing sites? I appreciate all the information. so thank you all.

    anybody know if the Habitent fits on one Prius model or on all of the models?

    Do all of the Prii have a lift back or hatchback?
     
  12. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Your post is difficult to read because you messed up the quoting.

    Regarding the missing Prius One. Toyota announced there would be a model I (they used Roman numerals in MY 2010). See Toyota Vehicles : Toyota Announces Prices for 2010 Prius / Toyota. Prius I, and Other News | PriusChat has the details of what the Prius I lacks.

    For model year 2011, they switched to spelling out the words instead of using Roman numerals, but they didn't change really anything else. See MY11 Prius | PriusChat.

    For '12+, they made a bunch of model changes across models Two thru Five. It's unclear to me what changes if the Prius I info I posted is still correct and frankly, I don't care. It's not so easy for a non-fleet in most of the US to get a Prius One anyway. I don't think you'd find one in stock at most dealers.

    As for "why so many models"? Well, Prius Two thru Five are just trim levels, just like many cars have multiple trims like CE, SE, LE, XLE, DX, LX, EX, 1LT, 2LT, LS, LTZ, etc.

    Toyota did expand the Prius from just a single vehicle to a family: regular Prius (aka liftback), Prius c, Prius v wagon, and Plug-in Prius.
    sums up the family.

    The "liftback" is the "regular Prius". If you go to a decent Toyota dealer, you should be able to see and get in all 4 members of the Prius family... well... I'm not sure about the PiP as I don't recall OTOH if it's available in your state.
     
  13. KoolerKT

    KoolerKT Junior Member

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    Not sure where I messed up the quoting. When I click reply, the post from that person comes up with there post in a "quote." I just reply at the beginning or right in front of where it says "quote." Does that make sense? what I was meaning before is the original post, I listed all the Prii that came up on the Toyota website. I will past them here again, "1. The Prius- Could somebody explain to me why the various models and what they mean? a. 5 DR HB One, b. 5 dr HB 2, c. 5 dr HB 3, d. 5 dr HB 4, e. 5 dr HB 5. I have been unable to find put what the difference is between all of these cars except the price.
    2. Prius C. As far as I know there is only 1 basic model with many options. It appears this is the smallest of the Prii.
    3. Prius V- which is new and has the most cargo area. Does anybody know if the seats are flat is the ground flat? would it allow for a sleeping bag to lay flat for a comfortable night's sleep? is this one of the only Prii that offer the large moon roof? What I mean by a moon roof is the sun roof that is the longest.
    4. Plug Prius-thisnappeals to me but it appears the Prius has become so popular that most of the rebates are gone. would the Prius Pkug In work as a road trip car or can one only get around 30 miles on a charge? Does the gas take over after that until you can get a charge?"


    Read more: http://priuschat.com/threads/new-man-on-the-block-needing-some-prius-information.120379/#ixzz2H9sBrlFg

     
  14. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    ^^^
    Can you fix your all your posts and only include the relevant text? The
    Code:
    [quote]
    denotes the beginning of a quote and
    Code:
    [/quote]
    denotes the end. Delete out stuff that doesn't matter.

    Your goofy quoting makes posts difficult to read and I generally skip posts completely that have messed up quotes. It's a waste of time to figure out what's changed/been added inside the quote, which is sometimes nothing. :(

    I'm not sure what your question is again. Again, there are 4 members of the Prius family: liftback (aka regular Prius, which is a hatchback, so I guess that's HB), Prius c (smaller), Prius v wagon (larger) and Plug-in Prius (aka PiP). It's in the ad. Did you watch it?

    Each of them really is a hatchback though... Each of them has various trim levels, ranging from One to (some upper bound) and a few exceptions like the Persona Series. The PiP only has two levels: the base model and advanced.

    I and others have already answered most of your questions. Click on the links in our posts. You should notice the pointer change to a hand/finger when you mouse over them.
     
  15. KoolerKT

    KoolerKT Junior Member

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    I was trying to tell you that I am NOT quoting. I just click reply and the quote is already in place. This time I will not use a reply with the quotes but what you say is my goofy quoting is not from me, it is already there when I click reply. sorry but I do not know how to change something I did not do.
     
  16. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Yes, when one clicks Reply, quoting is there. You are free to delete anything or everything within the quote tags or remove ALL of that text, including the
    Code:
    [quote]
    and
    Code:
    [/quote]
    .

    Please go back and Edit your old posts (by clicking Edit) and remove the irrelevant stuff that makes your posts hard to read. Leave in the stuff (in quote tags, written by others) that IS relevant.
     
  17. KoolerKT

    KoolerKT Junior Member

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    I did not put anything in quotes in my old posts. I clicked reply and added to what was already there. I added to at the beginning of the quotes. so you are telling me that when everyone clicks reply, they all need to delete the quoting that appears in the reply before they even type anything? If it is such a bother why not ask the moderators to do away with the websites quoting? It sounds like it is not my goofy quoting but this websites goofy quoting.
     
  18. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    I am not clear why we have moved to website technique, but 90% of the time I type in the blank box at the bottom of the page. That has no quoting. If I want some quoting, I use reply and try to cut it down to the sentence I wish to reply to. I reply after my quote.

    1) you are free to use Prius Chat as you feel fit.
    2) So is everyone else. And that includes not helping when they get confused. I sometime get posters for whom English is a second language and I try to work with that. It is clear that some have no first language, and I get way less helpful. Worse are those who ask a location dependent question but provide no hint as to their location.
     
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  19. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    ^^^
    Post #4 was the most confusing which was why I spoke up. #13 is confusing too and I don't see why what I wrote there needs to be quoted.

    As I said, I generally skip posts where the quoting is really whacked, esp. if the entire post has a quote block and there's nothing outside it.
    I'm saying that you should delete unnecessary cruft from your posts and if you wish to quote, please use quoting properly, including making sure you have proper begin quote and end quote tags, the syntax of which I already described and will describe again:
    Code:
    [quote] Stuff to be quoted goes here.  Remove unnecessary/irrelevant content. Follow it by the end quote tag. [/quote]
    .
     
  20. KoolerKT

    KoolerKT Junior Member

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    Anybody have any idea which Prii have the most room out of the regular Prii? (I am assuming the regular Prius is what I have as number 1, and they are also called liftback.) Is this right?