Need help deciding in buying a Prius Prime

Benefits

• Gateway drug to EV driving (yes it's the opposite of the STi but once you have kids, you'll appreciate peace and quiet once in a while and an EV will give you that. The Prime gives it to you in short 25 mile bursts)
• I assume you'll charge at off-peak hours in CA (you guys seem to have a thousand tiers lol). Check your utility's rates for the lowest rates. Some utilities have a special EV charging rate in the overnight period that's cheaper than the typical overnight rate.
  
• I've created a thread if you want to use the formulas to calculate the savings. You have to know your electricity rate and your area's gas prices - How Much Does it Cost to Charge? | PriusChat
• Cool tech - full-speed radar cruise control (works well in freeway traffic all the way down to 0mph), carbon fibre rear hatch (CFRP), full LED lighting (low/high beams, signals, parking lights, brake lights, taillights), double-paned front door windows. And if you move up the range, full colour HUD, BSM, RCTA, ICS, S-IPA, 11.6" full HD (1080) multi-function screen, JBL Green Edge Audio
  
• TNGA chassis - it's much better than previous Prius generations. It's never going to handle like the STi but at least the ride is more comfortable and it's at least decently competent. You can upgrade the rims easily but at the expensive of electric range.
• If you keep the 15" rims, people have been getting more than the advertised 25 mile range (which means you're saving even more)
• Even if you have to use gas, it's still a Prius so you're getting fantastic mpg unlike other plug-ins

Here's an excerpt from the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show. It's for the 2016 Prius but the Prime has the same interior if you want to know the nitty-gritty details that Toyota did to save fuel and improve comfort.











The laser-screw welding is passed down from Lexus and results in a more rigid body structure will less likelihood of twisting as the car ages. PWR Mode (that POINT! section just above) is designed for more spirited driving.


In terms of maintenance, I don't know what the costs are in the US but in Canada, I found Toyota maintenance to be cheaper than Honda, Subaru and Nissan. The Prime requires a check up every 6 months/5,000 miles but the oil change interval is 12 months/10,000 miles. Coolant (there's two - one for the engine, one for the inverter) isn't done until 100,000 miles. The transaxle is maintenance-free (though owners have suggested that it's probably wise to change it as part of preventative maintenance - maybe every 50,000 miles). The brake pads will last as long as the car if you don't drive aggressively. In mostly city driving, our 2005 Prius' brake pads and rotors lasted the life of the car until we scrapped it.


Issues:

• Keep in mind it's currently a 4-seater car with a centre console. Not bad if you have younger kids since they can store stuff in the centre console but note you can't take 3 kids or 2 kids + one grandparent because of the lack of a rear centre seat
• The cargo area is large and useful with 60/40 split folding seats but the cargo floor is higher so you lose some height and overall volume. The cargo floor area is large, however
• Possible expensive rear hatch repair cost if you get into a minor rear ender (due to aforementioned carbon fibre rear hatch). Just ensure no one rear-ends you
• Be aware that Blizzard Pearl and Hypersonic Red may be difficult to touch up because they are special 3-coat paint colours with the white and the pearlescent layer (Blizzard Pearl) or the red pigment and the aluminium reflective layer (Hypersonic Red) posing issues for paint shops to replicate exactly. (Same for any of the special paints like Mazda's Soul Red Mica or Machine Grey Metallic)
• Some people find Entune 2.0 software/apps on the Prime finicky or unintuitive
• The turn signals at the corner of each bumper may be susceptible to dings and therefore will crack just due to their placement.

 

and licence plate lights. The only thing that is incandescent is the reverse lights.

 

Reverse lights are the least used so Toyota didn't see the benefits of electricity savings by switching to LEDs (vs. the extra cost). The rest of us basically said it was about electricity savings but just having a full set of LED exterior lights. It just looks weird to have incandescent reverse lights on a high tech car.

Oh well.