Reasons NOT to buy a PIP

More expensive.
Needs electrical work at your home to charge at home.
Needs electrical work at your employer to charge at work, and an employer willing to do so.
'Refueling' is now an everyday chore to remember.
Not available in every state, so mechanics will not be familiar with it in every state.
There will not be a 2016 Prius PHV.
Much shorter electrical range than Volt, Leaf, or Tesla.

 

As my experience for the last 3 1/2 years, no extra maintenance was required than oil changes.

 

Tied down to an outlet.

 

after two lift backs, the pip is a refreshing surprise in motive power and operation.

i have loved every minute of my 3 1/2 years and 33,000 miles. i cannot think of one reason not to buy one. it does not have a spare, so i keep one in the hatch. that is not a reason to stay with the lift back imo.

i think my favorite part (small things are sometimes the best) is when you start up, the engine doesn't start up until you want it to.

i will say, after 15 miles of ev, it leaves you craving more.

 

The PIP only requires a 120v socket so no additional electrical work is needed. 240v is an option not a requirement. Plugging in is no more a chore than plugging in one's phone. It's such a trivial matter, I frequently don't even remember that I plugged in. A quick check on my phone app verifies that I did.

 

Regular Gen IV!

Calculated cost to drive 25 miles in a 50 mpg Prius. The cost is even lower if more than 50mpg, $2.00 a gal/12 cents electricity looks like this! Compare Side-by-Side

 

With the ICE and slightly better fuel efficiency than the liftback, I'd don't see how that is so.

 

Fast Depreciation!

 

One reason I did not go with a PIP. Maybe someday but not now. Especially with a 100 mile round trip commute, the last thing I need is trying to figure out how to get to a charging station. Also don't like the idea of having it charge while I have it parked outside.

Just my preference.

 

Yikes you may want to jump as PiP1 is out of production, and I think MA may have decent rebate. But the downsides would be little less storage, no spare tire, and I now forget the third minor disadv. As you live in MA you get 150k mile CARB warranty helps. No one has reported much maintenance cost or batt issues of major nature. Gaso price headed lower so your elec saving is not that good in MA. IN some favorable cases the bigger batt helps to get more regen miles, but your needs may not allow getting too much more out of it than just the plug-in ability to buy elec rather than gaso.

I like PiP maybe PiP2 with the induction charging sounds fun.

 

I would love one.

 

In certain circumstances, Induction Charging is NOT such an advantage.
Besides, it is about an 80% efficiency......

 

The few commercials Toyota did produce for the PiP , they went out of their way to communicate that it was indeed a Plug In PRIUS, which means you can drive it EXACTLY like a regular hybrid if you wish, the plug in is optional. However...

The benefits produced by plugging it in and getting X amount of EV range, I don't know why anyone would buy one and use it ONLY as a regular hybrid. I'd charge and use EV as much as possible.- But you don't have to.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, and I might be, but I also seem to remember some exclamation that the Electric Motors in the Plug In Prius were built to slightly heavier duty specs. Electric motor bushings if I remember right.

 

No, charging isn't required and the car will behave like a regular Prius. It can and will regenerate WAY more than a hybrid because the battery is larger (you could conceivably fill it up with a long enough down hill road).

Many folks have said they only bought them to get HOV access and never charge them.

 

I have the idea to make that a solar recharger (not sure if it is possible)

 

It's a plug-in-lite and you don't have to plug in. The worse case scenario for you is depending on you routes it may or may not give you much better than regular Prius. But sounds like you drive with regen in mind so maybe you would benefit (not saying it's worth it $$).

 

My 2006 Prius, over the six years+ that i had it, averaged 50-51 MPG over it's lifetime with me. I now have a 2013 PIP, and I love it. My round trip commute is about 35 miles, and I generally plug it in at night when it's in the garage. My average MPG over the past two years is around 80. That's not bad. I just bought a JuiceBox level 2 charger, and it now takes only about an hour and 15 minutes for a full charge, great for weekends when I may charge it a couple times a day.