Thinking of buying 2012-2015 Plug in Prius

The Plug-in will only give an all-electric range of around 9-12 miles on a full charge, and EV mode only works at speeds under 60 MPH - so you're not going benefit much from it on a commute like that.

 

You might be best with a used Volt. If you are definitely set on a Prius, just buy whichever one is cheapest. Some people report seeing PiP's cheaper. But it won't save you much with its tiny battery.

 

For folks that live in warmer areas, that can charge on both ends and have distinct slow and fast segments of their commute the Volt is king. If you rarely/ never drive on extremely long vacations with the car your fuel use and overall cost will be lower.

With 100 miles if you can “drive slower” on your commute, precondition and use minimal AC, and use OEM tires inflated to sidewall rating you will likely make your commute on all EV with the Volt.

I recommend the lighter interior for your area.

Where the PIP shines is mainly where you would always be using gas and it gets you into the carpool lane for a little longer (expires soon)

 

the plug in does not have a spare tire. if you can live with that and can find a better deal than prius, maybe you can take advantage of the ev outside of your commute.

any year is fine, there have been no year specific issues. over 100k just means the possibility of bigger problems like any car. cali has 10/150 on the hybrid battery, and you may want to clean the egr/intake on any gen3, as they are prone to oil deposits and sludge.

 

The used PiP is a fine choice although you need to realize the 3 things vs. regular Gen3 Prius: (1) no spare tire (2) slightly smaller gaso tank and I forget the third thing...slightly smaller cargo space under floor. But Gen3 Prius has incredible cargo space and PiP keeps most of it. So you have small EV range but superior cargo space for a plug-in...OK trade-off for me. In your case regular Prius may be slightly better but free HOV could swing it for you.

Re: free HOV -
As we currently undertsand it, used PiP can qualify for free HOV out to 2021 *if and only if* it has never had a pre-2017 HOV sticker. So there is some interest in out-of-state used PiP's in Ca. which would qualify.

 

If I was commuting that far, I'd probably not bother with a PiP and get a regular Prius. But, if I found a PiP for a good price, I'd go for it. I love mine.

 

Some PiP's might not have as much mileage on their ICEs as it seems. For example, my car is close to 130k miles, but under 100k on the actual ICE. That makes a difference.

 

great point!

 

I bought plug in part of prius solely for its HOV sticker. Otherwise, I might have chosen regular prius (Where I can get for lower price and more room inside). No idea about volt. From the manufacturer reliability point of view, I choose Prius over Volt.

 

Yes exactly 50 MPG but as we say here: YMMV (your mileage may vary)
The bigger v wagon woud be a little lower

 

That's a pretty decent price if it's in good shape. The local guy I buy from has a 2013 PiP with 77k for $12,995 firm. It seems prices have gone up because that's exactly what I paid him 1-1/2 years ago for mine with 54k miles at the time. So I think what you're seeing is right in line. (Interestingly, mine will hit 78k miles before the end of this week, so it has apparently depreciated only by the difference between street price and dealer price.)

I recently drove a full tank w/o plugging in just as an experiment. I got 55.8 mpg in mostly 50-60 mph driving with frequent stops. It's just under 10 miles each way to work.

My only beef is the lack of a spare tire. But I keep one strapped down in the cargo area.

 

Values on non-Cali pips are boosting because of car pool stickers

I’m told those stickers can add $5000 to the purchase price

 

i think it is a great price if you can get the history. accidents, service, owner(s) etc.

 

That could make sense! I wonder how many Californians are thinking that way (importing used out-of-state PiPs so it would be eligble for the new red HOV stickers)?

 

I remember a few months ago a Cali Volt buyer was complaining his recently purchased out of state purchased Volt had the wrong emissions package and he was denied.

 

2012 works for me.

 

I purchased a used 2013 PIP a year ago and have been happy with it overall. I have been averaging 300MPG on a 15 mile commute. I can charge at work so that helps a lot. Once I was able to go the whole way with using the gas engine, but all the lights aligned for me. The PIP makes it easy to hyper mile.

Also make sure that the fuse in the battery has been changed. It was a factory service recall I had to do and the trip computer was reset

So far I have 19K electric miles out of 50K miles total and have saved 397 gallions of fuel.

 

Also I have put 4761 KWH into the battery, so over 1000 cycles. I charge 2-3 times a day.