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Why would one goes with a "regular" Prius and not a Prime?

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Main Forum' started by toolbox2014, Mar 5, 2020.

  1. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    Hummer and not a Jeep:whistle:?

    Go for a Scrambler:).

    It has the bumpers you not so secretly desire(y).
     
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  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    2 wheel Scrambler?
     
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  3. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    906DB849-BAA3-485B-8FEF-668559FB9F07.jpeg

    4 wheels:).

    Looks good(y).
     
  4. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Depends on where you draw the line between "practically impossible" and "needs extra effort." :)
    Prime Stealth Camper | PriusChat
     
    #64 jerrymildred, Mar 11, 2020
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2020
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  5. ice9

    ice9 Active Member

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    Hey. That's why I qualified my statement! :cool:

    The one thing you don't have in a Prius Camper is head-room - you can barely sit up at night. The Prius camper citation you provide takes a barely tolerable situation and removes an additional four inches from it.

    Of course if you really need to sit up at night, you can always put one of the rear seats up and move over. But yes, it is possible.
     
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  6. 2018_Prius_Prime

    2018_Prius_Prime New Member

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    IMG_6138.JPG

    Hey first post here!

    In 2018 we bought a brand new Prius Prime for our business (the $4500 tax credit was a big factor). I do a lot of local city driving and get on the highway maybe three times a week so EV mode is the main means of propulsion. I don't baby it and drive it like a normal car (Most times a bit harder than a normal car since it's always in EV) I charge the car every night from our normal 120v outlet and normally takes about 3-5 hours to charge depending on how much energy I used during the day. 2 years in and I'm averaging a bit over 220 mpg.

    This picture was taken in February with a little over 1/4 tank left and just refilled the gas about a month ago in April (ethanol free 91 octane since I fill up every few months) I go to the gas station about 4 times a year for a total of $38 each fill up using the expensive ethanol-free. Since it's a business write off, we write off the gas and also keep track of the kWh used to charge at our house so part of our electric is also written off. Our electric to charge is about $11 a month for charging.

    This vehicle purchase was "testing the waters" before I go to a full EV vehicle like a Tesla. So far I absolutely love the Prius Prime.

    Thanks!
     
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  7. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Welcome to PriusChat!

    That's basically $170/year for "fuel". That's why the Prius Prime is cheap to run (yes not as much as an electric car but it also has a reasonable low MSRP too).
     
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  8. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    You might want to add some StaBil to the fuel to insure it is not absorbing water or going stale.
     
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  9. PriusPeep

    PriusPeep Member

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    The Prius charges itself.

    I don’t want to deal with charging a car. It’s time consuming and a pain in the caboose.
     
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  10. Chris Wolfgram

    Chris Wolfgram Active Member

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    Well, I don't want to charge a car, and then only be able to drive 20 or 30 miles on electric only. But I'd like to be able to pull into my garage, and have my car automatically start charging, and be good for 500-600 by the next morning. I know we are not quite there yet, but it's coming
     
  11. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    You really should look into working from home or shortening your commute. :rolleyes:
     
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  12. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    I read that most (?) Twitter staff have been offered the option to work from home FOREVER.

    But - doing TAXI driving from home probably wouldn't work as well.
     
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  13. 2018_Prius_Prime

    2018_Prius_Prime New Member

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    I have to admit when I heard about only having a 30 mile range it put me off. So then I thought to myself "What's 15 miles on a map?" since you'll drive out 15 and return 15.

    Try this out, go to Google Earth and starting from your house create a radius circle of 15 miles. That's what I did and was actually really surprised at how far out 15 miles is from my home. I normally do about 3 stops for errands each day. Whenever I come home I plug it back in and whenever I have to leave again (the same day) it's normally at a full 100% charge. When I have a long distance drop I keep it in "Eco" mode until I get to the destination and then judging on the amount of power left I put it in "Power mode" for the return trip. It's surprising how fast the car takes off up to about 35mph in EV mode! It's the reason I'll be stepping up to a Ludicrous Tesla in the future.


    It's incredible that we spend less than $300 on fuel and electric in total per year (and drive it everyday). Our large 1 Ton work van gets about 8mpg and costs almost $1,800 a year. So the savings are significant whenever we can use the car.
     
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  14. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    The other thing is that people forget (oh I can't do round trips in this. The EV range is too short). But then, you still get 30 miles of EV before the engine comes on so that's still 30 miles' worth of fuel lopped off. In addition, it's a Prius, it's a super efficient hybrid in hybrid mode.

    Honestly, with my use, I probably could've gone with a full EV. I only used half a tank since the beginning of Nov and I only refuelled to take advantage of the cheap gas. If I didn't top up, I'd still have half a tank from Nov. (Most of the gas used was either going up to the ski hills or when the cold shortened my range and the engine ended up coming on sooner than it would in the summer)
     
  15. Rmay635703

    Rmay635703 Senior Member

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    but if the charging version of the car is cheaper brand new up front you could just not charge the car if that 25second ritual is too traumatizing.

    then when gas goes to $6 a gallon you can at least hedge your bets

    Youtubers can work from home but most have been demonitized without pay during the pandemic due to a 90% drop in ad revenue
     
    #75 Rmay635703, May 13, 2020
    Last edited by a moderator: May 13, 2020
  16. tucatz

    tucatz Active Member

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    Another reason to buy a regular Prius versus prime is if you don’t have a place to plug it in and charge it
     
  17. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    A problem here is that the circle is air miles. The car uses road miles. For many of us with terrain blockages, the discrepancy is large.
     
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  18. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I'd second @Tideland Prius' point, that the object is not necessarily to completely avoid using the gas engine. That could actually be detrimental; the engine does need an occasional workout.

    It's more so to make a significant reduction in your gas engine usage, and a moderate range like the Prime's is good for that. Short trips can be pure electric. Longer trips, even if it's 50/50, that's a big leg up.

    It depends on your usage too. As an example, our car use is normally very low, and with COVID it's lowered further. I did an 18 liter top-up about a week back, for the first time in over two months. And that's with just a 2010 Prius hybrid. For us a Prime would be kinda pointless.
     
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  19. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    So the Prime accepts gasoline too.
     
  20. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Occasionally. Last time for me was March 6 and I still have over 3/4 tank. It would be higher, but last Friday I drove it 80 miles.

    Seems very logical. But then again, if you qualify for the tax breaks, it would probably cost less than the regular Prius and you'd have the option of plugging in if it presented itself. If I was getting a new car and couldn't plug in, I think I'd struggle with this decision.
     
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