My first Post: Wanting to buy a Prime.

Hi all! I thought I'd join the forum as I'm seriously leaning towards buying a Prius Prime sometime this year.

How this all started (Jump down to the conclusion or questions if this bores you)

Well, I've always been the kind of guy who buys cheap, poor-man's, fuel-efficient cars. Several years ago, after getting weaseled out of my 45mpg 1993 Mazda 323 and landing a blown engine on my 30mpg 1972 VW Beetle, I ended up with a +500,000 mile, 55mpg, 1985 VW Golf non-turbo diesel. That car was awesome in terms of reliability and economy, but terrible as far as heat, A/C, looks, comfort and such go. So after several years, back in 2016, I finally decided to splurge and treat the wife to something nice, so I got a used 2013 Nissan Leaf SL.

Well that car has been a dream come true in most respects. I've also always been attracted to cars that are different (hence why I own at present an air-cooled car, a diesel car and an electric car.) The original plan was to just drive the Leaf for as many years as possible, perhaps keeping the diesel or even selling my other two cars and just renting for those once in a while out-of-town occasions. We even took the Leaf on several long distance trips, one as long as 700 miles round trip and another that was 480 miles.

But things didn't turn out the way I had planned. On the one hand I live in the high snowy mountains of Colorado. Not that I've ever seen much of a need for AWD (even during last year's freak "Snowmaggedon" winter I only got stuck once in the Leaf) but the Leaf just doesn't have the range for a new project I got involved in about 70 miles away two or three times a week. On the other hand my trusty Golf finally had a catastrophic transmission failure on a 1,500 mile road trip. (I still was able to drive it back to within 100 miles of home so AAA could tow it there!) With the Bug close to getting running again I spent all last week working on it but keep finding little problems that have prevented me from getting it roadworthy again so far.

Conclusion

With the Bug not cooperating, the ol' million-mile Golf needing a new transmission (and soon a new engine, seats, doors, frame, body, etc.) and the Leaf not meeting my new needs I've decided to sell all and get something newer with good range, good fuel mileage and yet not cost me an arm and a leg.

So my first thoughts were a used subcompact. But on second thought, with as many miles that I do (+25,000/year) I thought, why not get a cheap new car. After looking at specs for Honda Fits, Toyota Yaris' and Mitsubishi Mirages I suddenly stumbled across the same thing that lead me to buying the Leaf. Tax credits! Colorado gave me 24% off my used Leaf just because I bought it out of state. Now on a new EV or Plugin-Hybrid I'd get both Colorado and Federal tax credits in the thousands of dollars, placing a car like the Prime down to about the price of Honda Fit!

Wanting to get the best bang for buck, the Prime just seems to be the best I can come up with. So I sent in my last payment on the Leaf, am putting it up for sale and trying to get the Bug running to put it up for sale too. I don't make a lot of money, but if I can get one or both sold I should be able to have a good enough inicial payment to be able to whittle down the car payment to one that I can afford (For an example, I spend $215 per month on the Leaf in payments.)

Questions

Ok. So I feel certain the Prime is right for me. I am just a bit paranoid about a few things.

1. How likely will I get the Federal Tax Credit? I'm seeing things like the President wanting to shut it down or the tax credit tapering off. Do I need to jump on one now or can I wait to get a car sold first?
2. Is there a block heater for these? Yes, I know it will start in cold weather. But I want to make this car last as long as possible, and cold starts just aren't good for any engine. And hey! I drive in temperatures as low as -40°F and do not own a garage!
3. Can I preheat the car's cabin with my 240V EVSE? I love preheating the Leaf! But all I can find out about the Prime is the A/C remote feature, which sounds like it only cools not heats.
4. Is there any reason to buy a Premium or other certain feature for the Prime? Sure, I'd love the heated steering wheel on the Advanced. But $6,000 more just isn't worth it to me. I don't mind the smaller screen on the base model, but just have a hard time figuring out what comes on which level. I'd hate to pass up something very necessary, like cruise control.
5. Any buying tips? Where to buy?

I plan to look around on this forum for answers to my questions. I'm wanting to spend my time getting things all figured out beforehand and then jumping on the opportunity.

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

I'm also paranoid about ending up with a new Prime that had previously been flooded from last year's hurricanes. Any advice on that would be appreciated too.

 

Thanks! I'll have to look into those factors.

Does the Prime not have a battery heater??? I know my Nissan Leaf with Lithium Ion batteries does and it works fine in the cold. Actually I got the Leaf knowing that cold weather helps preserve the life of lithium ion batteries. I don't know how much of that can compare to a Prime though, so thanks for the heads up!

Edit:

Ground clearance may be a factor. But in my 20 years of living and driving in the Colorado Mountains I have to say the snow removal is excellent in the mountains. People are always trying to convince me I need a Subaru or SUV. But I've always driven 2WD and have had excellent results with just having good tires. I'd suspect that those living in the city of Denver have more problems with snow accumulation and low ground clearance.

The main thing attracting me to the Prime are the tax credits. $4,500 Federal and $5,000 Colorado. That knocks the price down from about $29,000 to less than $20,000. Are there such credits on the other Prius cars? Sizewise I'd rather have a Prius V. But pricewise If I have to decide between a $16,000 Yaris and a $30,000 Prius, I can only afford the Yaris. But if I have to decide between a new $16,000 Yaris and a after-tax-credit new $19,000 Prius I'm getting the Prius, whether it's a Prime or otherwise.

 

Thank you all for the fine answers and your help!

So it's looking more and more like I'd be best off getting a Prime. Maybe it's not the most perfect car in the world, but I can't seem to find any six-wheel-drive, solar-powered, 300mpg, 5-dollar cars with million-mile warranties, so it'll have to do.

Just one more paranoid question. Does anyone know how close the Toyota Prius Prime is to it's Federal Tax Credit cap and phase out, that is, the point when 200,000 qualifying vehicles have been sold from the manufacturer Toyota?

I'm just wondering how much time I have left to jump on the Federal Tax Credit?

 

Well, I'm one step closer to buying a Prius. I sold my Nissan Leaf last Monday for $7,000. Now I just have to work on selling the 1972 VW Beetle. Then lump that together and go buy a Prius.

I'm still leaning towards a new Prime with it's $9,500 total tax credit here in Colorado. Otherwise I will probably look for a used Prius, one that hopefully isn't flooded or something.

 

I have been told that I sold mine for cheap. But I live in an area where Leafs aren't very well accepted. Actually I ended up towing it over 200 miles away just to be able to sell it.

I sold my 2013 SL with the works and 53k miles and 11 battery bars for $7,000. The place that bought it was a dealer so I'm guessing it's worth more than that and they will be selling it for more. But this was the first person to call about it and offer that much since I started putting it in ads and on Autotrader and Cars.com a few months ago. A couple people had offered $4,000 before this.

Actually after I sold it I started getting more calls. I guess that hail storm really damaged all cars including Leafs in the Denver and Front Range areas, so people started looking elsewhere in Colorado.

 

For me I still kept getting 80 miles or more on the guess-o-meter. Otherwise: Dropbox - LEAFrangeChartVersion7G82.pdf

 

Here's maybe a dumb question, if a Prius breaks down or has any other sort of problem, where do I take it? Are there only certain dealerships that work on hybrids?

I say this because when I had the Leaf, an all-electric vehicle, I simply wanted to get a key fob programed. So I called the nearest Nissan dealer, about 70 miles away and made an appointment. I should have known that something was fishy when they also asked if I also wanted an oil change on my EV. Anyhow, I drove the 70 miles in my 75 mile EPA rated electric car with it's 4 year degraded battery through a snow storm over a stretch of highway with no place to charge, barely making it with less than 10% left on the battery. And when I got there I was then informed that they couldn't program the key fob because they didn't have anyone certified to work on EV's!

So you could say I'm a bit afraid that something like that could happen to me in a hybrid like a Prius.

 

Ok. There is a Toyota dealer in Montrose.