I've been a 4dr Jeep Wrangler guy for the last 5 years and I decided to sell it and try something new. I must say that I hate cars in general but the Prius is appealing because of the advanced technology and good MPG's. I do like the hatchback aspect where I can just throw my tools and surfboard in the back with no problem. I've been test driving and researching for a about a week now and I have to say it is a very hard vehicle to buy. I'm trying to find a black prius with less than 30k miles with the grey interior for less than $17,000. I have always bought cars that come out of three year leases and they tend to have around 30k miles. I'm seeing some good deals out there even in the certified area but they all tend to be former rental cars or they are being sold at shady mom and pop dealerships. I guess I could go a little higher but my goal is to pay around 16k so that after I put 10k down my monthly payments will be under $150 a month. The biggest problem is that any car from a toyota dealership that comes out of a personal lease with low miles ends up in the certified program. Thats tends to jack the car up about 2 or 3k in price. I'm just having a hard time buying a used car at 20k when I can get a base Prius for 21k through my employee truecar benefits program. The other issue is that I do like all of the bells and whistles so the Prius two really comes delivered with the weak sauce. No navi and no sunroof etc. I did find a 2010 Prius Four with all of the best features for $16,800. Then I read that the engine is 98 HP at 5200 RPM's? Is that correct? Are all of the current Prius' equpped with the same engine? Anyways, I would love to hear some advice on what to buy and what to avoid. Where to buy from, what to upgrade, what year is the best etc. Also, any mandatory threads on here I should read? Thanks for your help and insights
I got prius persona new with more bell and whistles than s prius 2 for 22k. You can get about 23 % off msrp On new prius. They may be more desperate as the year end since new 2016 model is coming out. You will enjoy mpg from a Jeep to prius. I can regularly get 70 mpg with 17 inch wheels.
I absolutely call bs to the"regularly getting 70 mpg" in a Persona! Mid 50's is "possible" when driven very conservitativly and using all the tricks under optimal conditions but very rare to get 50 calculated out of a full tank. Pics of the mfd and end trip screen or it def. didn't happen. I drive pretty slow and am on my 3rd Prius (own 2 currently) and with my Persona my lifetime average at 8k miles is calculated at just under 43mpg (which is consistent with fuelly avg for the Persona's that are on there). You can expect high 40's to low 50's if you opt for a Prius Liftback with the stock 15" wheels. At least that's what I averaged driving like granny with my old three.. My wife only averages 37 mpg thus far displayed, so prob like 35 calculated on her 2014 v... Granted she doesn't really care and drives it like a normal car, but likes that it's better than the 17 mpg that the Rav 4 used to get... Unless Law is starting his trips on the top of a mountain and just rolling for miles not using the ICE resulting in a false readout... Or if he converted it to a Plug in Persona? Lol. And yeah, that is an unreal deal! Did you put money down to get it to 22k? I paid a lot more than that for mine. Back a few months ago the best I found and posted about on here and had other folks agree with was 21-22k for a brand new Liftback two. Not saying you didn't get this deal but over $6500 off on a $28500 car is amazing. Guess you opted for the discounts and not the 0% financing from TFS? Sometimes they can combine a smaller discount and the zero percent or sometimes it's one of the other.. I opted for the smaller discount and the 0.9% apr for 60mo, I bough on the last day of the month and little did I know that the next day TFS lowered the rate on all Prius to 0%, I couldn't change it though, oh well 0.9% is still good. Op: there are deals out there. Keep looking if you can only afford used, look at Carsense, car max, autotrader, check all the local Toyota dealerships webpages.. Think of a lease (there are some zero down leases out there) if you want to "try out" a Prius for 2-3 yrs and see if you like it. By then the gen 4 "might" be out and you can consider upgrading?
Emailing every dealership in So Cal and have them bid against each other, them haggle with them over phone. Easy peezy.
Yes I did opt for 2000 rebate because at time it was 500 and 0% or 2000 rebate. Total discount with rebate was 6199. I wanted a bigger discount and all weather mats at no cost but they didnt budge. I did get hats and keychains amd had them wash my gf Audi. Yes, i try to get everything i can. Only thing I put down was the tax and fees which was 2300 something and I used credit card on that and saved 2% with my doublecash. I can take a pic of the paper work to erase any doubt. It was more beneficial for me to take rebate since I have excellent credit and got low rate. Interest on loan cost over 5 years will only cost me about 700. If interest on loan cost more than 1500 then taking 0% makes better sense. I purchased car two months ago and I know I would get prius 2 for 19500 but my gf wanted nav and leather hence the persona. I actually paid 22300 for prius. I had choice of red or blizzard pearl persona and opt 300 more for white paint. I bought at end of the month when they were desperate. To be honest I don't think I got that great of a deal. I could have gotten an American car for 35% off easy. My gf drives like a lunatic and accelerates hard and she avg. 42 and most her driving is feeway. I drive about 30 miles with 90% of it freeway and I've seen numerous times avg over 70. Highest I've seen is 74. I should start taking pictures to prove it. Terrain has a huge influence and this free way is mostly flat with one hill but I lose more mpg going up than i regain on backside. Typically I can avg mid 60 s driving avg 70 to 75. I can get more mpg when freeway clogs up and there's a lot of stop and going. I typically try to stay in ev mode if possible and glide to stops so my brake pads probably will last forever lol. I've actually avg 90 mpg on 8 mile trip all on streets. I always tell my gf I'm so good when I don't even try. I rarely go into pwr mode on the gauge. I don't always get 70's because depends on flow of traffic and how I accelerate but I know for fact I can avg at very worst 60 mpg easy city or freeway. If I deplete my battery my mpg will plumet since engine will have to recharge it. Car has 3k miles and lifetime mpg is 48 and probaly 80% miles are from my gf. I always tell her she ruins my avg. I will start to take some pics and post them here later. Probably won't drive car till weekend so it will be awhile.
The engine is 98 HP/105 lb.ft. and the electric motor is 80 HP/153 lb.ft. The two combine when mashing the accelerator with your right foot.
...I fought the Law, and the, Law won? Wrangler? don't we have a RAV4 hybrid coming out? OK won't be "used" for a while. Also consider the Prius v wagon.
Hehe a Rav4? A Prius wagon? I'm not the most manly man but I won't be caught dead in either one of those!!! Yuck!!!!! Those are full on grocery getters.
Def can't do a lease since I'm mostly getting it to do Uber /Lyft on the side. From what I have seen of the gen 4 I won't be upgrading. From the photos it looks hideous. Have you seen the spy shots? that thing looks butt!!!! It's hard to buy a Prius to get around the battery issue. I mostly use Gargurus, Yahoo Auto and Edmunds for searches. I really can't seem to find a good deal. I'm probably going to drive it into the ground so getting a new one doesnt make much sense for me. Carmax is always about 2k over everyone else.
Look in the for sale section of this forum! There are plenty of nice Prius for sale and in your price range. West coast too. Give it a shot. There is a fella selling a pip for under 18k and low miles. FYI.
You can average 70mpg in socal traffic? You need to get your grandma driving miss daisy stuff off the road before you cause an accident. 42 - 45 mpg is very typical for 17" wheels, anything above that wouldn't be your average.
Yes of course. Go to your credit union (preferably due to traditionally lower rates) or your bank with the vin, make and model and as long as the selling price is within their "book" value they will issue you a check after you complete the loan application and are of course approved for the loan.
To further add to just how impossible a 70 mpg average is with 17's, he states he averages that said 70 mpg while rolling down the highway at 70+ MPH! As soon as you hit any traffic lights or stop signs or traffic or drive anything but perfectly flat highways your average gets lowered... I don't even think a consistent 70 mpg with 17" wheels is possible on a flat surface going a constant 40 mph.. I overinflate my tires to 44f/42r, I rarely go much over 60 mph, p&g when I remember and generally am pretty decent at driving a Prius and the absolute best I can average on my 18-19 mile commute which is mostly flat is low 50's, with lifetime average at just under 43mpg. I like to use my AC though so I can see how maybe a couple more mpg avg could be possible with no AC use. I think he might be looking at his 30 Minuit screen and seeing a few minuits of very high numbers where there might be a slight decline for a few miles on the highway and saying hey this is my average.. How many miles are these 70 mpg avg trips?? Even yesterday on my commute I was able to "average" 70mpg+ but only for a few minuits, ok maybe even on the 5 min increment mfd display after a slight decline and again after some good p&g, but at the end of every trip it always averages out to under perfect conditions and weather to be just over 50 displayed, and like I said lifetime average is just under 43 calculated. the proper way to document your mpg accomplishment I think is to post trip, take 3 or 4 pics. Pic one should be the screen that pops up post trip on the mfd (shows miles driven, time spent driven, and average displayed mpg). Pic number two and three should be the 5 Minuit display as well as a screenshot or two of the Minuit by min display if possible. And lastly maybe a pic of the hvac screen to show outside temp and your hvac settings. Btw my very best mpg trips have been on cc at 55, which I used to do, but normally just stick to 60 now... I'll admit I did get 61 mpg once and only once on my commute but that happened only once and I started my commute at a higher elevation and the traffic lights aligned perfectly for p&g and regen when needed. It was just maybe a mile or two shorter than my normal commute but I was very impressed and even posted about it on here... To average 50 mpg calculated for an entire tank on a Prius with 17's aka a Persona that is impressive in and of it self. I have yet to get over 50 for a tank and have given up and am happy with the 43ish calculated... And op if above is considered a thread derail I do apologize but simply did not want you having unreal expectations should you opt for the persona
I will take those 4 pics next time my gf wants to eat korean bbq. I have no reason to lie, I'm a lawyer. I live out in San Dimas so traffic isn't that bad unless it's rush hour or accident.
Oh nice one, lawyers are angels We are looking at the average mpg, not based on one of your best trips going downhill on the 57 fwy. You said yourself your lifetime average on the car is 48mpg, which I think is very good for 17" wheels. I'm able to get 99.9 miles going down hill for 15 miles coming back from Vegas on the 15 fwy, but that's not going to be my average.
Photo above does not look like the upcoming 4th gen Prius. It is probably a 2 year old photo and is a spittin image of a 3rd gen Prius in spy clothes.
It does seem that most of the blocks to good MPG in this thread are mental, so much so that I suspect unintentional sabotage of your ride until you go back to a car that fits your mental image. (you are driving a Jeep in Los Angeles, not Kalispell Montana where it might be needed) Keep the Jeep, until you are ready to be more concerned with MPG than image. (I drove an AWD Subaru Forester in Elko NV, but my commute went from 5000 feet to 6500 feet and it snows ten months of the year)
