Trade in suv for '15 Prius Two?

Nope. You should keep your 4runner in your situation. Prius is a great car but can't handle even a 2" of snow. I got stock several times in an alley and I'm glad I kept a shovel in my trunk.

 

There is no benefit when you drive 7 miles

 

4rpr15 – Considering that you live in “Wisnowsin,” and require good and reliable performance in heavy snow and wintery driving conditions, I would not purchase a Prius Hybrid, but rather wait until the Fall of this year when the new 2016 RAV4 Hybrid w/ AWD hits dealer’s showrooms.

From the description of your driveway geometry and considering typical WI winter snow driving conditions, even with snow tires, a regular Prius sedan, c, or v sans AWD may find you getting “stuck while driving or even when I pull into my own driveway.”

2016 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid | A smarter way to have more fun

 

Lol. Are your tires bald or are you running slicks in the winter?

I have had zero traction related issues this last winter running the stock low profile tires wrapped in my Persona's 17" wheels, and we had a few good snow storms this past winter...

Heck I even managed last winter with stock tires on my Charger RT with 20's..

The winter prior I had a 2013 three Liftback with the 15" stock rims and tires and never got stuck, even during the big storm...

Maybe growing up in the mountains of Quebec taught me how to drive in the snow.

I reccomend snow tires but new stock tires work just fine... For me anyways..

OP: your gonna take a pretty big hit trading in your 4Runner. I doubt you'll ever make up the gas savings switching to a Prius driving only 10k miles a year. Your call though.

I save anywhere between $75-$125 a month in gas now compared to my old Charger RT that averaged 15-17mpg... So you'd be saving about the same depending on how much gas costs....

Plus my payment went down and a shorter term, take that into consideration too.. If your payment is very high and you can get a zero interest loan for 60 months with Toyota financial, you'd be paying no interest and have a lower payment... Food for though. Not sure if that is part of your reasoning..

 

Funny. I never "got stuck" when I drove Pearl all-year round. And I live in the "great white north". Proper tyres, good driving technique, and use of the brain are required, however.
Do note that the current version of traction control does not shut you down in a slippery situation. In fact, it helps, by stopping you from spinning the tyres uselessly.

 

I got low on my threads and don't wanna replace the tires but eventually sold the wheels with the tires. Got a new set of brand new wheels and tires so will see this winter.
I got stock in yhe alley several times since you can't accelerate more. Hrhehehe

Been an off-road driver in the mountainous province in the philippines with a lot of slippery mud. So driving in a snow is almost the same.

Turn right to go left ( i remember that cars movie) and it works.

 

That trade in amount seems a bit high

 

welcome! i would trade asap, the forerunner prices are high, like all gas eater right now, the prius prices are low, like all alt fuel vehicles right now. it's the perfect storm. when gas goes up, you'll be in the catbirds seat. don't wait until everyone is lamenting their suv mpg and dumping them on the market for cheap, while prius sells at msrp. all the best!

 

Well it's not accurate what you see on nada, or anything else for that matter. You'd be lucky to get 30k

 

I noticed that when gas prices are climbing high prius prices starting to creep up.

First rule don't mention you are trading your 4runner before you get your lowest price in a prius.

 

You're looking at $1000 difference in fuel costs a year. Is that amount worth it to be stuck in snow country? I don't know if you are still making payments or not, so you'd have to factor that in. But if it's an even trade then I'd keep the SUV.

 

4rpr15, I live in SE WI as well (West Allis to be more specific), and drove both a prius c and a liftback with snow tires. The only real issue I had was if the snow was deeper than 4 inches. But it handled just fine otherwise.

That said, I'm not sure how much you'd save on gas unless you plan to keep the prius for a while, like 10+ years, or gas prices skyrocket shortly. I don't have any problems with mine, aside from the fact that I wish it was a plug-in.

If you don't need a replacement right away, I'd say wait until the Gen 4 prius is announced in a few months. Then compare the specs to the current Gen 3 prius. This way you can determine if you'd rather just get the new model, or snag a really good deal on a Gen 3.

The Rav4 hybrid is also coming out in the fall as well. Might be worth checking out as well.

My suggestion is to take one for a test drive to see if you like how it drives, especially on the freeway. It will be sluggish compared to a 4Runner, but you won't have to spend nearly as much on gas.

My only real complaint is that my liftback doesn't plug-in, and getting a new Plug-in Prius in WI required either having a dealer special order one (but no rebates/incentives either), or fly to a state that sells one, then drive it home, which ultimately I concluded wasn't worth the hassle for only 11 miles of EV.

 

This has been quite variable over time. When I exchanged Prii, fuel prices were higher and resale values were great. But at the moment, fuel is cheap and the current generation Prius is long in the tooth, to be replaced by a new generation 'soon'.