Looking to join the Prius family

I would say that, if all your driving is longer trips like your work commute, there is not a huge advantage in the PiP. My commute is onlt 9.8 miles each way and I can plug in at work for free. For me, it's almost perfect.

Also, since you expressed concern about gad prices, what are your electricity prices. In some areas of the country, the electricity costs as much as or more than the gas per mile.

Just some things to think about. I have to get going right now. Welcome to PC and enjoy the hunt for your Prius.

 

It's a hard choice. Both good cars. The PiP is having renewed interest in Ca. as it qualifies for HOV to 2022, but if and only if, it has never had HOV stickers before.

The PiP has the following 3 small disadvantages vs. the 2012:
(1) No spare tire
(2) Slightly smaller gas tank
(3) Slightly smaller "underfloor" space in the back hatch

 

I did get better gas mileage with the PiP over my regular Gen 3 without plugging in.

 

PiP specific considerations: Look for HOV sticker issued or not on each of these two. If not issued so far OR issued in 2017 or later, consider that vehicle. If not, there is no HOV advantage in CA.
Also check both of them are Base OR Advanced versions of PiP and compare'em accordingly.
On the other hand, I usually check the used car price estimate on Edmund's TMV (True Market Value) with all known options and get an estimate. I will send the options list to the seller and confirm if anything missing from the available options on the list. Once I get the final estimate on Edumunds, I will try to get the vehicle for the Private Party value estimate while seller try for Dealer Price estimate(there will be three estimates on Edmunds 1)Trade in 2)Private Party 3) Dealer price). Its your negotiation around the sellers urge to sell it and your urgency to buy it, decides the price around private party price. I always keep the cash in hand for such purchase as sellers in used car market appreciate cash payment instead of loan.
I have purchased around a dozen of cars in used car market for me, family and friends (recently bought a 2013 Lexus ES300h advanced with 60K on it for $18K).

As @jerrymildred has mentioned, Electric part of PiP advantage depends on how much you can drive and charge the vehicle. I personally got the Electric part just for HOV stickers and I stuck the Gold as I can use my HOV till 2022. So, draw your preferences correct and choose the vehicle around them.

 

no spare tire in the pip, and loss of under hatch space. still, if you do any local driving, it's 10-15 miles of fun!
but you should drive each as well, before deciding.

 

I bought my 2012 PiP Advanced in 2015- Cert. Pre-Owned and have no regrets. It’s one of the best cars I’ve ever owned. Low maintenance, great mileage, and CA HOV Lane* possible for you.

If you charge daily and get even 7mi/day on battery...
1 year: 2,555 miles (7x365)
2 year: 5,110 miles
8 year: 20,440 miles

The ICE engine wouldn’t be taxed at the same % as a non plug-in. Theoretically this would add to the PiP’s expected life / longevity.

With your long commute it might be a wash. Some other benefits though are preferred parking and free ChargePoint stations here and there

 

I'm considering running a tank without plugging in, just to see what it would do in HV only. But every time push comes to shove, I can't resist plugging it in. LOL!

 

agreed, i've never done more than a single trip at a time to test, and even that hurts.

 

Yes, once you've used up your charge on the battery, you'll get regular (or better) Prius MPG. But, it's also not as cut and dry as always going 11 miles, then turning into a Hybrid. If you are on the highway, and go over about 62 mph, the engine will turn on, but the battery will still be helping until you've used up the charge, so you'll be getting better than 50MPG during that time. It's just part of the system design that it won't go EV only after 62mph.

If you accelerate quickly, even if less than 62 mph, the engine can turn on and will complete it's warm up cycle before switching back to EV only operation, but while it's doing it it's warm up, if you're not moving, it will be charging the battery back up.

If it's cold out, and you have the heater on, the engine will start and run until it's warmed up (so it can warm you up), but during that time, the battery will be helping the MPG.

 

I carry a spare. The PiP comes with a strap for that purpose and there are four cargo strap rings in the rear. I also carry a compressor and a plug kit since I don't think the kit that comes with the PiP is meant for more than just getting you to a tire store. The problem with even the for-real plug kit is that, if you get a flat while on the highway, you're pretty likely to have a tire that's too damaged to plug. I have not yet had a flat on my PiP, but I've had lots of flats in other cars, so it's just a matter of time.

 

Yours is a year newer than mine, so maybe there was a change. I've noticed that, if I punch it too hard and the engine comes on and I stop while it's still warming up, it refuses to show on the energy display that it's charging the battery while it idles in EV mode. But, if I switch to HV mode, it does show charging within a couple seconds. A local friend with a '13 PiP noticed it and mentioned it to me, which is what led me to check it out. Very strange!

 

The actual mpg would depend on your trip length when you used the EV.
For 10 miles EV and 50 mpg, a 60 mile trip would be the equivalent of 60 mpg, ignoring electricity cost. A 30 mile trip would be 70 mpg using the same calculations. I just picked these parameters to simplify for illustration.
In both cases, the return trip would be only 50 mpg.

 

I think I've seen that too, but I think the EV range goes up, even though the display doesn't show it's charging...

 

Exactly the same for me. Bought a better compressor and plug kit, then also sourced a spare from a non-pip prius through a salvage yard that I carry around. But no flats for me yet, and I'm now on my 2nd set of tires, so good luck so far.