And here we are a week later.

Congrats on the PIP! Great car...

As far as the AC usage- it's all electric (no belts) and hardly draws any current from the big battery so there's not a big hit in overall mpg. I was very stingy with my AC when I first got the PIP- but after using the AC a bit more liberally I found there was little difference vs when I hardly used it- so now I use it and don't worry about it!

 

Congrats and welcome to Prius Chat. BTW, good luck trying to make converts of people who think they need an SUV to get to and from work! Some of them could just about pay for a Prius out of the money saved on gas by parking the SUV for when it is really needed.

 

Congrats, no matter the distance of your travel, PiP is very efficient!

 

It took me a long time to go for the Prius. For the most part, the gas savings hasn't penciled out in the past. With my new drive, it does. Most of my friends are retired and drive about 5 miles a day. None of them can make the math work out. If they ever figure out how to make going Green, actually be cheeper than the alternative, watch out.[/quote]

Yeah, hard to make a case solely on fuel costs against some entry-level, $15K cars, but easier when you're talking an SUV. I'm mostly retired, and my daily trips around town are almost exclusively done in EV. These trips are short, where even economical ICE cars are least efficient. I meet a bunch of other old retired guys for coffee every morning, with most of us making a round trip of less than five miles. There's a Jeep Cherokee, a Cadillac, a Corvette, etc. can you imagine the fuel consumption and air pollution with those cars every morning?

 

Here in small-town Wisconsin, a 3 mile commute to work is the norm. A pretty nasty winter has driven me off of the bicycle and into the PIP a bit more than usual. We bought gas twice in 2013, and already will need to get a second tank here in 2014 by the end of the month. Tell that to the "Really - a Prius" SUV guy! My 2001 Prius is going strong as well. I don't know if these things ever stop working.

 

I'm retired and drive about 10 miles a day. Gas... what gas? Maybe every 3rd month. We take short trips (200 - 400 miles) about once a month, 58 to 60 mpg gas measured for the trips.

 

I experienced the same thing last summer, my first with my PIP. I assumed, running the AC in the summer was the same as the heat in the winter. My EV range is unaffected using the AC. I seldom use the heat in the winter, but couldn't do the same with AC in hot weather.

 

That's the way to do it - after all ... if you're too warm then the traction pack is too warm. So it works out great that way ... keep it cool
.

 

To the OP: One important note about the AC in the GenIII Prius (which includes the PIP)...

Many have noticed/complained about a moldy smell from the HVAC system in high humidity areas when using the AC extensively.
The cure is to turn the AC off for the last 5min of your trip- but leave the fan on (with outside air- not recirculate mode) to remove the moisture in the system which is causing the moldy smell.

I was getting the mold smell last summer during a 95-99 degree hot spell- once I started using the above solution I never got the small again.

 

Don't forget- you also get a $2500 fed tax credit for the PIP.

 

Certainly check with your tax guy. However, AMT has not lessened the $7500 tax credit I have received in the past few years.

 

What causes confusion is that there was a similar tax credit a few years ago (since expired) that was disallowed under AMT. The current federal credit is allowed under AMT. I have to pay AMT, and I had no problem receiving the $2500 credit. Some people have had to appeal a denial of the credit when an IRS worker denied it, thinking of the old program.

 

I was denied my $2500 credit last year and I don't pay AMT I itemize deductions. It took a few weeks but they eventually restored the credit and a I got a $2500 check a couple of weeks later after my regular refund.

 

It wasn't that long ago that 80MPG vehicles were little experimental toy-cars with tiny motors. They weren't crash-worthy. It was assumed that the laws of physics would prevent a full-sized car from getting 100 or even 75MPG. The PIP really represents a paradigm shift, but Toyota's terrible marketing strategy didn't allow that to show, and it's still almost a secret.

 

Prius gets about 74 MPG, unadjusted raw dyno numbers -- the same numbers the 80 MPG SuperCar goal was set.

I think Gen4 Prius with 10% higher efficiency would finally reach the 80 MPG SuperCar goal.