hello everybody,

Welcome to Prius Chat Annabel123. Your car is known as a Generation 3 and the section dedicated to that model can be reached at: Gen 3 (2010-2015) Toyota Prius Forums | PriusChat

 

nice to have you with us annabel123, tell us about your car.

 

Welcome to the forum. The knowledge here is vast. Tap it or add your own experiences to it.

 

A warm welcome to Prius Chat to you also Amy.

 

Welcome aboard and enjoy the ride!

 

Wow, you are still around old friend.

 

Indeed ol' friend. Although it appears you have upgraded. Nice. Just flopping over 100K now. Hoping it will last another few years. Cheers!

 

Welcome!

 

My 2010 was at 105K. It was still in good shape but I was ready for a change. Oh, man what a change. I love this Prime!

 

Really? What do you like over the GIII?

 

Oh my. That's like trying to explain what happened in the interim while someone was out of the country for 10 years.

OK, after driving a 2010 for 7 years . . .

The ride. The 2010 rides on top of its springs like a marble rolling on tile while the slightly heavier Prime sits down on its springs. It moves through bumps like a smooth flow of water rather than skipping over them. Independent rear wishbone suspension on the Prime.

The EV only range. They specify you can go 25 miles EV only. I've gotten up to 33 miles EV only. Driving EV only is amazing and addictive. It's totally quiet, instantaneous responsiveness, and torque, if you want. The EV range allows me to do most of my miles in EV only. If a person can plug in at work and their commute is inside the EV range, they can avoid burning gas at all. Yes, the car knows to run the engine every few months if you don't.

Cost per mile. Seven years and 105K miles in my 2010 yielded $0.057 per mile. My Prime with 5,381 miles yields $0.0161 per mile. Yes, that includes three 500+ mile road trips and weekly 130 mile trips which burn gas. (our 2014 Camry Hybrid is $0.0618 per mile)

MPG. Even when you do burn gas, the Prime gets MPG out of the box with zero hypermiling in the mpg ranges that to achieve in the 2010 you HAD to do extreme hypermiling. It's nothing to see mpg in the 70's out tooling around burning gas.

The interior. Many of us said the plastic used in the new 2010 was sort of cheap feeling. Toyota countered with it was a very expensive light weight material. That stuff is gone in the Prime. I have the Softex seats and love them. The dash and other surfaces are much better. The Prime fits me better. It is only slightly longer and wider then the 2010 but that extra 1/2 inch inside at the door makes a difference for me. Lumbar support!

Advanced features. The electronics in the Prime are pretty amazing. You can read about these rather than me retyping them out here but I love the rear cross traffic alert. It's saved me 4 times already. I like the 11.6" NAV screen, the Dynamic radar cruise control, and lane departure warning. The advanced model allows you to use a phone app to preheat or precool your cabin before leaving. If you're plugged in it will use the house current to do this rather than your battery. Pretty nice to have a warm cabin when you get in on those 6° morning we just had. Heated seats, heated steering wheel. No MASSIVE center console to crowd your right leg. It's gone. Qi phone charger.

$4,502 fed tax credit, so the price works out cheaper than a normal Prius.

The Prime does not look like a Prius. Therefore all the Prius specific road rage is gone. Nobody knows what you are driving.

Because the Prime is an "order only" vehicle in the middle of the country and not on dealer lots, you are driving a somewhat unique vehicle. That's fun. We estimate there are only about 30 in my entire state.

I guarantee I've left out stuff, but this is a start. I love driving this car. Yes, I liked my 2010. I love this one. I keep reading similar comments from others that made the change so it's not just me.

 

Thanks for the very detailed review. I realized now that you have the prime. Sounds good. Not sure how the ev would work out of here, I am sure it would still get better than the GIII.
I am still really liking mine. If the now driving kiddos don't commandeer, I plan to drive it in the ground.