some pip buying advice please

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Many of the current owners pre ordered at a specific dollar cost. Today I believe it is possible to negotiate a better deal, as the Plugin is not in great demand. Warranty is a personal preference. Be sure to look at the PriusChat price before buying from a dealer. I got the extended warranty for my 2004 Prius, but didn't use the full cost, so I haven't purchased it for my Plugin.

Is there anything else that I should "Negotiate" for on the car?

Also most of you buy or lease?[/quote]

 

You can buy the Toyota genuine extended warranty any time up to 36,000 miles and three years. There are dealers who sell it via Internet; you can find it here. There are various Toyota warranties with different mileage and time terms, like 5/100,000, or 6/125,000 and so forth. But I believe the price range is $900 to $1,200 depending on time/miles. So if your dealer tries to sell you one for $1,500 or $2,000, politely tell him no.

There is nothing else to buy from the dealer at time of purchase. They just try to add on profit; just buy the car from them. Maintenance is included for two years.

You can read prices from dealers here on PriusChat. Go look at Dianne Whitmire's posts; she has very clear prices listed. I bought my car from her and drove it 500 miles home. I take it to the local Toyota dealer for service and they're happy to oblige me. They don't ask who I bought the car from.

 

Many have leased cause they hope their will be a longer range PiP coming in a few yrs then we can simply get the new one. Also with the lease deals out there the cost/mt is very low. I plan to buy mine out at the end if the new PiP is same. $17,600 Residual.

Dan

 

We bought ours on Aug 2nd and the dealer was happy to get rid of it. Sales are slow on the PiPs as already mentioned. I knew this so low balled a dealer via phone. Base price was $32,000 plus $760 delivery charge, $220 for the Blizzard Pearl, $150 doc fees. Total $33,130. Plus tax and license so no bargaining on those. I offered $31,150 and it was accepted with no attempt to get more. When I got there I noticed there weren't any floor mats and I whined a little but they said that car didn't have any and they didn't have any in stock. I think they were lying but after driving 250 miles to get it I was gung ho so let is slide and bought some from Danny on here.

Just letting you know how much we paid as a basis for when you make your offer. Oh and be firm on your lowball...be prepared to walk, or at least pretend to walk.

 

Simple, it's only been on the road for a few months.

Consumers want real-world data to justify the purchase. That's pretty scarce still, especially since it takes so much longer just to use up a tank of gas. Winter reports will play a major role in the acceptance of a plug too.

Also, keep in mind that it is only available in 15 states still.

 

I suspect that the initial price has a lot to do with it. There are less expensive new cars available. There is a little more hassle with charging but I do not find that overwhelming as an owner. I don't have high mileage but I am still on my second tank of gas at six months. The convenience of driving electric is huge if you have a lot of short trips.

I note that fleet buyers who "crunch the numbers" consider the after purchase costs and like the savings presented by cars like ours.

But the initial cost looms large to the buyer.

 

I'm going to speculate that since the PiP is only sold in a few states, that Toyota have outpaced demand a little bit in those states and haven't expanded the availability to other states quick enough.

I was wanting to get a PiP, somewhat blindly after having had a great experience with the 07 Prius, but Toyota does not sell them in Texas. So I leased a Volt instead.

 

Interesting "logic".

Anyway, I think the joe avg consumer who's considering going EV looks at the big numbers and does some basic math:

PIP $32,000-$2,500=$29,500\11EPA=$2,680\EV mile
VOLT $40,000-$7,500=$32,500\35EPA=$928\EV mile
The Leaf is even lower but is, of course, range limited.

The PIP is the best at long range driving (100+mile trips).

 

EPA estimates have always been for the purpose of direct comparison, not an expectation.

That's why YMMV is included in all the official references along with fine print detailing the performance range consumers will encounter. The big number doesn't mean much.

And since when is EV distance so important for a plug-in hybrid? That isn't even a goal. The point is to significantly improve efficiency, not eliminate gas consumption.

 

Since GM took over the PHEV market.

 

My take is why pay an extra approximately 8 grand for 14 miles of EV? I'm the best (or dumbest) scenario of that since we do mostly long distance driving so the 14 miles just wasn't worth it. But I'm a sucker for neat toys and a PiP is a neat toy. 8 grand worth to be exact....lol.

Today I was talking to a Mitsubishi Miev salesman at a charge station. He told me theirs was $32,ooo base also. And it's pure lectric. He said the mfg says 6o miles range but he's gotten as much as 90. I asked how long to charge and he said 22 hours at 120V. He also said he's the one salesman at their dealership that has sold one and only one so far. He also said the Volt was their biggest seller of the lectric 'uns.

I still find it hard to believe that it takes 22 hours to charge but would certainly explain why their sales are so low. Damned if I'd wanna drive one day and have to wait 22 hours until I could drive it again. Think I'll Google it.

 

22 hours for a full charge is not the way to look at it. think of it as 4 miles per hour of charging at 110V, and 10 miles per hour of charging at 240V. I'm assuming the Miev has a 3.3KW charger (implied by 60miles / 22 hours). If you only drive 20 miles, you will need 5 hours of 110V charging to top off, 2 1/2 at 240V.

I just checked the wikipedia entry for the Miev and it says 14 hours at 110V, 7 hours at 220V, and 30 minutes on a DC fast charger. so I am thinking it has a 6KW+ charger now.

Mitsubishi i-MiEV - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

I disagree...and apparently so do the prospective buyers. If the salesman told me my new car could only be used every second day (assuming total discharge on day one) I wouldn't buy it.

 

John...read further on Wiki. It says Mitsubishi itself quotes 22 hours.

 

You'd really have to read further since it was on the Consumer Reports page I read it....lol.

About 3/4 of the way down.

With the Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car, range anxiety is included

 

If your overnight charged added 40 miles of EV range (10 hours of charging) you could drive. You don't have to wait for a full charge before you can drive. If your daily drive is 100 miles and you don't get to charge somewhere during the day then the Miev would not be the car for you. That is where a PiP or a Volt might be a better fit, or a Tesla S with a larger battery and faster charger.

 

I wonder if they lowered their 110V EVSE to 8Amps default. GM did the same to the 2013 Volt. Enough people are plugging their PEV and PHEV into an older home with low quality or shared 110V electric outlets.

 

You can get a fully-loaded Prius for less than a basic plug-in. The biggest selling point for me was the commuter lane sticker, which can save twenty to thirty minutes on my commute.