I am seriously thinking about upgrading my 2017 Prius Prime Advanced with 13.2K miles to the 2021 RAV4 Prime. From what I have been reading online, it appears that Toyota is not very serious about producing more than a token number of these cars. For this year, they will only be shipping them to CARB states. I live in a CARB state, and I just contacted my local Toyota dealer. They say that they will not be getting any of them this year. Has anyone looked into this upgrade and gotten the same runaround?
I live where Primes are scarce. I had time to kill yesterday so I stopped by my dealer and the RAV Prime came up. He offered to order(?) me one if that tickled my fancy. He has none to test drive etc so I would have to buy it blind so to speak. I'm not looking to replace my existing Prime so that's as far as it went. Not sure if he would actually order one from Japan or (as he did with my Prime back in '18) just hijack one on the high seas that wasn't assigned to a dealer at the time. That took 30 days then.
Yeah, many Prius Prime owners are thinking the same upgrade. But no availability. Even if your are very lucky to find one, Toyota is not giving you any rebate on Rav4 Prime. The car is an attractive option to upgrade our Pathfinder Hybrid, but even if the stock Rav4 Prime numbers become plenty, the price tag will likely to be too high for my liking.
it's too early, they're just ramping up production. as sweet as they sound, and tempting, give it some time and keep your ear to the ground. i'll be interested, but not at msrp or higher. escape plug in coming as well. ford knows how to build these things right.
Where do you live? I managed to buy one at MSRP in California but it took quite a few emails and expanding my search to a huge geographic region.
The Rav4 Prime is a 2021 model. There is still three and half months of 2020 left. Toyota just started production, and underestimated demand. They stopped taking orders in Japan something like a month after release. Getting the extra batteries for that demand was going to cost more than what Toyota wanted to pay. The availability will improve with time. Though it got a late start due to the pandemic, the Escape PHEV is a 2020 model, and it might easier to find. It doesn't have AWD, and has 37 miles of EV range to the Rav's 42. It does have a higher efficiency rating, and is over $4000 less on the starting MSRP.
Can you honestly say your Fords are on par with Toyotas in terms of repairs, number and cost? Every person with a car or truck from an American brand I've ever known in a half century has always experienced far more trouble with their cars and trucks than I've ever encountered from Toyota. I'm on my 5th Toyota and somewhere approaching 500,000 collective Toyota miles and not a single one of them ever failed to to turn on and go when I wanted it to turn on and go. The only flat-out failure of a Toyota component I've ever experienced is one burned out headlight bulb on my 2012 PiP. I can't say that about any other brand of car I've owned or anybody I know has owned.
My C-Max Energi has been a solid and reliable performer. I am not a fanboi just a satisfied owner. So, I am cross-shopping both vehicles but I think only the Escape will be available in my area for the foreseeable future and even those will be scarce. Although they are just rolling out right now in California, Ford (as typical) has incentives and is throwing $1500 cash on the hood. That makes the fully loaded Escape Titanium model about $10,000 less than the loaded Prime XSE but a maxxed out Prime has more and better features (IMO). And OpenPilot works with the Prime. Decisions, decisions. Sadly, the Model Y is beginning to drift off my radar. Due to current pricing and lack of incentives (up to $10k here), it's nearly a whopping $27,000 more than a base Escape PHEV. I would want FSD so we're talking closer to $35k more. WOW! YMMV
Since I've hadn't had my Toyotas for as long as the Fords, I can't say one way or the other. I can say that Toyotas, including the Camry, have least comfortable seats of any I've owned. All the Fords I've had needed the DPF sensor replaced, which is ridiculously simple to do. Got the 1996 Taurus new, and it was rear ended in the first week. In hindsight, that crash likely twisted the frame, and caused the clunking noise in the rack and pinion a couple years later, though that was replaced under warranty. In 2004, and after 130k miles, it was going to need a EGR valve. We traded it in for the Sable. The Sable was 2001 with less than 12k miles on it. Had it to 2017, when the Camry replaced it. It started having rust issues a couple years before that(all cars kept outside). Got a leak in the rain gutter on the driver side. Couldn't reach it to fix it, so just blocked off that down spout. The rust lead to the A/C compressor pulley eating its bearing. Lots of fun on a trip in summer. 2000 Ranger was also bought used. It had warped rotors, which were likely from dragging pads. I suspect the pin grease had dried out, as the truck sat parked as a third vehicle most of the time we had the Prius. It once stalled on me early on; a computer module was replaced under warranty. Had maybe 60k miles when my dad offered to trade me for the HHR. It was my daily driver by then, and the gas prices had spiked up. Didn't keep the Matrix for long, maybe a year. Had the Prius for 2 to 3 years. It did have the loose window trim pieces. 60k miles on the Camry now. Toyotas are less likely to not have issues, but the aren't issue free. I've hadn't had any, but others have had to deal with things like sludgy engines, failing inverters, software glitches leading to stalls, and rusty pick ups.
But hey, that's better than a Chevy. Or an International. (I came from a Ford family, from when F-250-class work vehicles were made only by American brands.)
