Nissan: Leaf will snag Prius owners

I doubt many of those Prius owners are going to trade it for a Leaf. I believe the Leaf will just be the 2nd car.

Honda thought the same thing. Look where it got them.

 

This strikes me as odd, as I see the 'ideal' owners of these cars as not overlapping. Prius owners 'should' be folks who drive long distances routinely. 20 mile+ one way commutes, 20,000+ miles a year folks.

Leaf owners 'should be' short distance commuters for whom range anxiety is not a worry. Say under 25 miles each way, unless their employer has deployed charging stations. (I would think the Leaf would often be a second car)

Are there current Prius owners who fit the Leaf profile? Sure, the Prius was just the best that they could do when they purchased. Will there be Leaf owners who did not understand that 100 miles was an ideal range, not an average one? Yep, sorry.

I suppose Prius owners have already considered their driving habits, so will have less range anxiety than car owners who buy for colors or sex appeal.

I wonder how many Leaf owners will also own a Prius as their 'first' car, and use the Leaf as their 'second' car.

 

i might buy it as my primary with prius back up for a while just to see if i will ever need it. but i'm from missouri on these cars and their manufacturers. show me the money!

 

How much power does the Leaf have - If I raced a Leaf in my Prius would I win? Has my day finally come? Let the races begin!

Serious question BTW.

 

That's me!

My 2007 has just over 12,000 miles on it. It is gone just as soon as my number comes up for the Leaf. For me, at about 10-14 miles per day, the Leaf is a perfect fit.

 

I will tow a trailer behind the Leaf, with a Prius on it, and when my charge runs out, I'll back the Prius off of the trailer.

(or I could just buy a PHV Prius or Chevy Volt - Oh wait, those don't exist yet)

Is there any reason they don't pack the doors and roof, and [everywhere] with batteries? It seems to me that you should be able to make an EV Toyota iQ by packing the doors, roof, dash, underneath the seats, EVERYWHERE POSSIBLE (consult with the U.S. D.E.A.) with batteries and get a 150 mile pure EV range in a Toyota iQ.

 

And because many of these folks actually did buy a Prius -- the available non-hybrids were not right for them either -- I won't be at all surprised to see more drivers jump to Leaf from Prius than from any other car.

This should not be a problem for Toyota, because hybrids should still be going mainstream faster than Nissan and Chevy can build EVs for the next few years.

 

That could work. Taking it one step farther...

After you switch cars, rig the Prius to charge up the Leaf while towing it with the Prius? Then switch them out once again after the Leaf's power is depleated. Think of the gas you'll save!

 

This may be simpler.
Rav Long Ranger

(If I was a business, I would be having these made to sell to Leaf owners)

 

It would be interesting to see some numbers on the. Average distance Prius drivers drive each day. I don't suspect it is more than the average of all drivers.
In our case we own 2 Prius. 1 will be replaced with a Leaf as soon as the Leaf is available.
The other will be our long distance vehicle until the model S, or another 300+ range EV comes out.

 

that will be true for all but a few

i think your logic is a bit flawed. #1 reason for most Prius owners is a combination of technology and efficiency. both envelopes the Leaf is pushing

oh u will still need the Pri. my guess anywhere from 10 to 100 times a year. that leaves anywhere from about 60 to 90% of the trips for the Leaf

no. the Prius draws from 3 power sources; motor, battery, engine

you are correct. we have 2 Priuses. only one is driven fulltime. it does 65 miles RT. The Leaf will replace it and the other Prius will go full time but could do the long commute as well. that way, if i change my job (i am looking!!) and my commute does not allow me to use the Leaf, then we will switch.

either way we are covered. so the only time the Prius would be "needed" is for trips out of town. but since we are in the middle of the EV highway project. it is conceivable that even trips to OR could be done in the Leaf if a quick charge station is put in between Olympia and Portland. Chehalis would just about do it for us.

**a quick parting shot**

i am a bit surprised that the learned crowd here seems to think the Prius is only good for long distance driving and that people should be looking at other gas options if they have a short commute.

my 2010 i drove to work all winter long. my commute is 7 miles one way thru town and i still averaged nearly 50 mpg. sure, in real bad weather, it was more like 43-45 mpg...but that is still leagues better than other options.

there are a lot of people who come here asking questions with an agenda that makes it impossible for them to buy a Prius unless they drive 100 miles a day. they are looking at the cost benefit only and u will lose everytime when line #1 has a $30,000 item.

i did not buy my Prius to save money on gas (considering the prices lately, i would be pretty disappointed!!) i did it because it was a cool car with cool gadgets and it is moving in the direction i want to go.

that is why i am buying a Leaf. sure it will be cheap to drive, but why spend another $30,000?? i have 3 vehicles now that are all paid for. even with selling two of them, i will still have to pony up a lot of money. but once again, i am doing it because for the exact same reasons i got the Prius.

 

Unless my 401(k) has Toyota stock that I don't know about, I have no vested interest for or against Prius sales. I buy Prius because they meet our requirements.

Now I'm not really concerned one way or the other by:

• non-sale, proposed vehicles - until I can go to a dealership and see the vehicle on the floor, it is "Power Point" engineering

How many times have heard of wonderful "sky hook" machines that make Prius obsolete? By my count, about every 6 months.

I live in Huntsville Alabama, show me 'the beef.'

Bob Wilson

 

Well, I've to put the Nissan target demo here. Note -
- multi-car family
- Drives Prius

 

I think I saw that on the Nissan web site (or a link via their site) ... but yea I kinda agree with the marketing. Those of us who bought the Prius 6 years or 8 years ago ... the Prius was as good as we could do to get off our hated oil addiction ... where 50% of our money flys out of the country to sponser terrorism. EV's allow early adapters to move to their 1st choice.

.

 

That's really interesting. Yes, where did you get this?

Overall, it's a pretty flattering profile of who someone thinks Early Adopters will be.

 

In the summer I average 1200 miles a week to do field work all over Southern Indiana... in the winter my car is parked most of the time as I work from home but I do use it to go to meetings etc.

Also, in Southern Indiana... every place is a good distance away from anyplace else-usually about 50 miles.

I won't be giving up my Prius anytime soon. I hope to get 500K miles out of this bad boy. I take VERY good care of my vehicles and hope to push the envelope with this one. I am not one to buy new every two years... I have 4 vehicles but only one with a payment- my Prius. I am going to squeeze every penny out of it I can.

I have been married for 16 yrs and this is only our third "new" vehicle. We usually buy high mileage used and have one good car in which to drive any significant distance. Since I got my Prius... I live in it. I obviously drive it for work. I get paid mileage so my Prius bought my husbands used PT Cruiser last year. I hope it will pay for our 20th Anniversary trip to Hawaii as well. But we also drive it every where on the weekends. I can't in good conscience drive any of our other vehicles that at best get 20 mpg's when I have my Prius sitting right there waiting to give me 50+... not to mention it's just a joy to drive in and of itself.

I am waiting to see what comes out of the Toyota/Tesla partnership before I get my hopes up for any new auto-tech.