Do you know anybody who sold their Prius and returned to a non-Hybrid car?

well i dont know anyone who did that. actually i dont know anyone who drives a hybrid besides us. and most likely my next car will not be a hybrid.

 

I just bought my second Prius this summer. My daughter would have loved to take my 05 but I need it for the down payment. One of the psychiatrists that I work with keeps buying white ones, he passes them down to his kids so the whole family is Prius oriented. I personally cannot imagine driving something else and so disagree with the poster who said it was boring......of course having a 2010 IV/SR helps a lot!!

 

Actually you weren't as far off as you might think. CraigK lives in a suburb of the Twin Cities (MN), which has a climate pretty similar to Chicago, which is where FireEngineer lives and I assume you visited (I've driven in both states extensively). Both places can normally get a couple inches of snow in a typical storm. The Twin Cities is more likely to get 6+ inches in a storm, but this only happens a few times a year, so to "need" AWD rather than wait for the plows maybe a half-dozen days of the year seems more like a "want" to me. I don't want to presume too much, maybe Craig has a job where he's on call and needs to drive at a moment's notice. I know when I was driving my Prius in nearby St. Paul they didn't plow for several days and there was a good 4 inches of slush/snow on all the residential streets, with banks and ridges over 8" high. My son got a kick on the corners when I would deliberately cut the corner tight and make the back wheels slide out, but otherwise I thought it handled quite well, as long as you made allowances for stopping and such, like any FWD car. (FWD cars easily outnumber AWD/4WD vehicles in MN as in any other state I've been to ... which doesn't include Alaska so I can't comment there).

I came from a Subaru (AWD), which was absolutely great in the snow, but usually in urban areas traffic is so slow when there's snow that you can't take full advantage of it anyway, and that's only a few days of the year, so I reluctantly turned in my Subaru for the Prius, and haven't looked back since.

Chains aren't allowed on tires in MN, but maybe that tire sock thing from Norway or Sweden would be a good alternative.

Okay, sorry about the distraction. I don't personally know of anybody who sold their Prius and went to a non-hybrid, or are even planning to do that, but there have been a couple members of PriusChat who have, including one person who got a large SUV to better haul their family around.

 

Also, I saw a used Prius at a Ford dealership this morning.

 

For awhile I had 2 vehicles: a 2004 Prius and a 2007 FJ. With a major promotion at work, I could do virtually 100% of the work from my home office

The Prius already had >200,000 km on it, and the FJ <6,000 km at the time. My driving now is typically under 300 km a month

Given the fact my '04 already had the miles on it, and I found a taxi driver in Winnipeg willing to buy it, I sold the Prius and kept the FJ

I also moved to a smaller community, with plenty within walking distance. So my FJ may sit for a week to 10 days at a time, the VDC Battery Minder is a must

Did consider getting a 2010 Prius. I doubt my driving needs will change in the future, so I might as well hang onto a lightly used, immaculate FJ

Doesn't matter one bit if it only gets 15 mpg in town driving. I can keep the gas tank topped off for usually $30 a month

 

This does not mean it was traded for a ford, it might be they bought it at an auction.
This is where my next Prius will most likely come from Government Auctions SA

 

Removed.

 

Removed.

 

If that's true for 2010 V during winter driving, I'll be soo happy since I don't really want to go through snow tire hassles!

 

Lucky you!

 

yes, two as a matter of fact. one couple had twin girls. since they already had a child they made the decision that they could not afford to continue with their very high car payments. at the time, the Prius was in short supply and hard to get. they sold theirs for just about what they had paid for it. took the money and bought a used mini van.

another person i know had MS and was recently forced to a wheelchair. she is not strong enough to manage the chair and they qualified for home renovation and a huge discount on a van with a lift. they were required to give up their two other cars to do this.

as far as regrets, well... the mini-van that seemed like such a great deal, (their payments went from $500 a month to $120) had electrical problems that eventually cost them several hundred to fix. then brakes went bad prematurely and they did not get them fixed right away which added to the cost, but no issues that i know of over the past 18 months or so. they want to get a Prius, but still dont have the money for it. they are lucky enough to work in the same area (less than 2 blocks apart) so not a big need, but he has been advised that reductions at his location might be in effect which may require a transfer 30 miles away.

they should have the money, they both make decent wage and no longer have any bills although they were complaining that daycare was expensive with 3 kids in either full or part time (2,2 and 6)

 

For seeing snow or living where I do? There is room further south you know.

 

I just did bought a rx-8 I went for more power due to me buying a new home I live faruther out and have yahoos in pickup trucks behind me, on 2 lane roads, i needed the power to get out if the way if needed miss the pri and i am sure i will have another, but not know

 

There are a lot of threads about AWD and the Prius. Here is a Google search:

Google

Tom

 

Oh, I mean that you are lucky that you don't have to drive on snowy or even icy roads like me who has no choice but to commute to work every day! And I heard Australia is so beautiful. I miss beaches and oceans!