I've got Questions!

Some dealers are giving life time no co-pay warranty on these batteries
Mine did

 

I'm in Arid-zona, not Tejas (ha,ha).

Oh, the guys who are buying all the bricks. Never mind.


Sounds like: (1) it's a TOTALLY different driving experience...a short, around-the-block test-drive is NOT truly representative of how 'different' driving a Prius can be?

Chevrolet has its own corporate culture. They have standard ways they arrange things, standard places they put the controls, standard answers to the thousand and one compromises that go into any vehicle. All the Detroit big three have some cultural similarities, vehicles that are more similar than they like to admit.

When you make the jump over to Toyota you come into the product of different thinking, different traditions. The cars look small. The engines sound funny. The controls are all moved around to where you don't expect them. You go to turn on the headlights and you can't find the switch. It's embarrassing.

When you go into the Prius specifically, the Prius is evolving fast and hard, it is speciating as you watch. Right now for example, there is the little bobtail Prius, the middle size hatchback, the station wagon model and the plug-ins, which are almost electric cars. I don't know which ones you are looking at, but I'm thinking it will seem strange. The ride won't be the same. The seats are different. Why is there a bar running across the back window? You pull up at a light and the engine seems to stall out. The cars clicks and whines and you're not sure if it's supposed to do that. the old car never did that.

I think of the Prius as being the king of the economy cars, the cleanest, most reliable and efficient car that a regular working man can own. This motivates me. I ignore the clicks and whines and the mysterious buttons on the mirror partly because I'm used to it, and partly because it makes me grin when I'm cruising down the interstate, keeping up with traffic and watching the mileage hover around 50 mpg. I know that you might feel differently. I know there are people who don't like this car. If you're going to put down $20k or more you should get something you like, whether it's the same as my car or not.

I think the best way to guarantee this is for you to get a little more trial than riding around the block with some sales droid. At the very least you should drive one through your daily commute. Renting or borrowing one strikes me as a good way to assure you that it either is or is not the one for you.

 

FWIW here in Phoenix I've never had any complaints about the strength of the AC on our older Gen 2. It blows just as strong regardless of whether the engine is running or not, and restarts the engine when needed to top up the battery. On the newer models I believe you can make it less aggressive by selecting ECO mode, which will shut down the compressor when the engine is off and just use the residual pressure to continue blowing fairly cold until the engine restarts and runs the compressor to re-pressurizes. This reduces the impact of running the AC on mpgs. The default non-eco mode behavior should be the same as my older one.

The displayed mpg seems pretty accurate, but errs on the slightly optimistic side. Comparing to long term averaged hand calculated values most folks seem to find it runs about 2-4% (1-2mpg on 50mpg) high. Its close enough that I stopped hand calculating

Battery %/range is really only a consideration if you are considering the plugin version. On the regular Prius you just drive and it manages the battery to improve efficiency.

Best of luck,
Rob

 

FWIW if you don't need the size of the regular Prius, the Prius C is really hard to beat from a cost of ownership perspective.

Using the numbers from consumer reports, they estimate the Prius C is $10k cheaper to own and operate over 5 years than the Chevy Cruze 1LT. $15k cheaper over 8 years. The 5 year ownership cost of a new C is even predicted to be $1k cheaper than the years 4-8 costs of the Cruze! The regular Prius is no slouch on ownership costs either, just a few $k more over 5 or 8 years than the C.

 

Toyota also makes the camry and avalon in hybrid. if you want a car the similar in size test drive the camry hybrid, if you want biger try the avalon. We have a camry hybrid and it is real nice we get average of 40mpg. We also have the prius c and it is real nice for in town.

As far as customer service I think that is dependant on the dealership. but I think you are less likely to need that customer service on a toyota.

My mpg average on the computer is less than one mpg off over the life of the car. It says Im getting just a little better than I acutally am.

 

Great thread! Enjoyable reading .

 

Plugin Prius is ideal for you. There are great deals going on. If it is not sold in your state, you can buy it out of state.

 

PiP is a regular Prius with ability to charge from regular 120v outlet to get about 11 miles EV range. Designed for local short trips under 62 mph so it is perfect for you.

On the highway, gas operation is a bit more efficient (49 vs 48 MPG) than the regular version.

It is only offered with 2 packages so make sure you like them. The Base comes loaded more than the regular Three.

PiP does not have a spare tire (used for battery) but retains the same amount of cargo space with the same flat floor (unlike other plugin hybrids).

 

You do only ~5,000 miles a year with many urban short trips. A regular Prius will not get the EPA rated 50 MPG in that driving condition. That's where PiP electric miles come in handy.

You can put half the miles on electricity and the others on gas. See the thread below some of the top champs and what you will be able to achieve.

Top 20 MPGe | PriusChat

 

I don't believe the AZ dealers are carrying the PiP anymore, so you'd probably have to buy one from CA. That said, its definitely worth considering. If you can take advantage of it, the $2500 tax credit helps erase the price premium and can even make it cheaper than a regular Prius three if you find a good deal.

To me the best way to think of the PiP is its just like a regular Prius, but every time you plug it in you can offset 10-12 miles worth of travel with electricity from home (which is generally cleaner/cheaper and more domestically produced) rather than gasoline. My understanding is you can also charge it from a standard outlet, so you don't have to worry about finding or installing a special charger. If you make a lot of shortish in town trips this can result in a substantial reduction in your total fuel usage. You get exactly the same benefit on longer trips or at highway speeds, but that 10-12 miles worth of electric travel will just be spread out over a little longer distance and represent a lower fraction of your total gasoline usage. But you still offset the same amount of gasoline per trip either way.

I wouldn't write off the "C" either. I've only driven one as a service loaner, but I've always been impressed. If you don't have any backseat passengers, it can haul an impressive amount of cargo and 60/40 split seat back adds a good degree of flexibility for passengers vs. cargo space. Here's a pretty good thread to get an idea of what people have packed into it:
Prius c cargo space | PriusChat

 

I don't know of anyone who does, but that is a recent change. AZ dealers did carry them for 2012 and 2013 I believe. I'm assuming they just collectively decided they weren't selling enough of them to bother but I really don't know how/why it happened.

You can buy one from CA and drive it back. Most socal dealers carry them, and I believe a number of out-of-staters have bought them from this salesperson as they do enough volume to give better pricing than you could get locally even when AZ dealers were carrying them.

Dianne's SoCal deal blast for Springtime 2014 (Feb, March, April, May) | PriusChat

Rob

 

If I'm reading Dianne's post right, that would be a Base PiP for $28,777 + tax/title/doc - $2000 rebate plus 0% financing for 60 months and then you can get the $2500 federal tax credit. Not at all shabby IMHO.

Rob

 

But do you want to buy a car where local service knowledge might be a problem? Yea 80+% of the parts are probably common but what if ...

Use a spreadsheet. It will take you a long time with your miles per month to make a hybrid/PIP pay.

 

Congratulations, and welcome to the Prius family!

As you've probably already noticed, PriusChat has a plethora of useful information, and people here are always happy to help each other out.