Buying Used, Cold Weather, and Baby Car Questions

welcome to priuschat! when you say short distance ev mode, do you mean a couple feet?

ya, that's pretty short for warm up. your mpg's will take a hit, but still be better than most cars.

watch out for interior squeaking in the 2010, especially in colder weather.

can't help with the baby, my kids grew up in a minivan. all the best!

 

yes, you would need the plug in prius to do that. you couldn't get into ev mode until you reached the train station, and then, it will only do 1 or 2 km at best and slow speeds.

 

that's correct. there are several factors that involve the ice starting. if the ice is warmed up, and you don't have the heat on, and you live in flatlander country, and you don't press the pedal too hard, and you're starting with a full battery, you can make it about 2 km in ev. the car is not designed to drive ev, it's designed to store what would be wasted energy and use it appropriately for best mpg and emissions. the plug in is designed (somewhat) for ev operation, but is probably overkill for you.

 

I still think the Prius could be a good choice for you mr_yellow. Any ICE will have trouble with short trips like that, but the Prius is designed to handle it better than most, as it is expressly designed to turn off the ICE whenever possible.

The Plug-In would be even better, as she could probably do most of her driving on all electric. (In cold weather she may use some gas, as there is no heat, other than the heated seats, without the ICE) Toyota has aggressive incentives on the Plug-In lease right now if that's something you would consider.

We have 3 kids, and the PIP is the secondary vehicle for us. 2 car seats fit no problem, with the third being a possibility in a pinch. Lots of room in the Prius for kids especially when compared to most sedans. I would bet cargo room is not all that much less than your WRX.

 

I live in an area where it can get below -25C in the dead of winter. The Prius has to be able to work in cold temperatures. Just because it's a hybrid doesn't mean that you can't use it like a "regular car." I also asked a local Toyota dealer and they said pretty much the same thing. The key for using the hybrid as an electric car is that it has to be warmed up. Your fuel economy won't be super great in the winter, but the Prius is also very aerodynamic so that alone means you should get pretty decent fuel economy regardless of the weather.

 

Don't be concerned about EV. This is not an electric vehicle and the few times you will be able to use EV for the very short distance and slow speed it will be meaningless to you as far as any gas savings. It really doesn't even save you gas. EV should shouldn't even be in your thoughts about buying this car. Its fun to go a little distance in EV but I'm pretty sure your wife like mine will care less about it and more importantly she won't even want to learn.
Only thing on her mind will be baby and please lord I hope I don't get stuck in the snow.

Your WRX is a snow plow compared to a Gen III Prius. That's a good snow car. A Prius not so much.
Very low car. Aggressive vehicle skid control works against you in deep snow without excellent snow tires.

You didn't list where you live so no idea how snowy it gets but in your situation I would buy another good used Subaru. Save your money. You don't know what the baby's going to bring to spend it.

Good Luck.

 

I live in NW Indiana, we regularly get large amounts of lake effect snow here and I feel that my 2010 with stock tires preforms very well in the snow. Def does not make me worry about driving in the snow with it.

The only gotcha with respect to the baby is that as you move up to larger car seats as they grow. My little guy is 2 1/2 and his car seat HAS to be on the passengers side or I can't put my seat in a comfortable driving poisition for myself where it wouldn't give his legs freedom. I'm only about 5'11-6ft so i'm not tall by any means. So because of this his seat is on the passenger side and if my wife ever has to drive it makes sitting in the passengers seat for me a bit tight for comfort. Thats about the only thing i can think of though with babies at least.

 

I have two little girls, one is 6 the other is two. Both seem to fit fine in back of my car. there is plenty of room in the hatch for a large cooler to take for picnics, scooters, changing pad, diapers, etc...

i wish it had a big more legroom and hip room in back for them as my 6 year old is wishing for a bit more room. i am considering a V next, just not sure that really has more space or not.

I live in MN. my wife drove this car last year through a pretty difficult and snowy MN winter. she said it was fine. so fine that she bought herself a 2013 prius as well. the cold weather affects MPG, but other than that, there really are no problems at all with start up. much of the winter, my prius was parked outside, in sub zero temps and tons of snow. started up each AM right when I pushed the button. it was never, ever a concern.

 

the new prius V has more cargo space. the rear seats also recline and shift further back, which would be a nice feature for me. just not sure it's worth the price of admission. i also prefer the V's more traditional layout up front on the dash. test drive both of them. i think they will ride and handle the same. they have the same engines.

 

Is he still rear facing? I can't see how a forward facing seat would have any issue in this car.

 

both of my kids are forward facing in the rear seat. the car seats are so large that it pushes their legs pretty close to the seats. probably happens in most cars.

 

Wow, they must be huge. Our Diono's look like they were built to fit these back seats.

 

we have the britax pioneer- which is a 5 point harness booster. also britax marathon.

 

we have the britax marathon- which is a 5 point harness booster

 

sorry- didn't mean to post 2x.