Advice please - 2018 or 2019 Prime Advanced or forget it?

It really depends on you.

As far as the level 2 charging station?

I’ve been driving an all electric Smart Fortwo for 11 months now and have been doing so on the supplied level 1 slow charger. Other than 3 times where I only had 6 hours between getting home and having to leave for work again, it has worked out. My smart takes about 12-16 hours to charge from bellow 20% to 100% on a level 2 it would be about 6.5-9 hours.

Our 2017 Prime advanced is also charged on its supplied level 1 evse. Takes about 5 hours (haven’t timed it yet) for a full charge.


iPad ?

 

Is that 32K USD with shipping taxes etc? Because if not ur only getting a 1k USD discount. Maybe go to another dealer even out of ur city. Like its cheaper to buy one in Toronto than Ottawa (Were I Live) and is a 4-hour drive away

Don't get an L2 charger. I don't use my city's charger often and still, just use an L1. UNLESS u like shopping or whatever ur doing than coming home and charging it and going out right away when its charged.

 

My guess is there is going to be very little change in 2019 model again just like from 2017 to 2018. Like many of Prime buyers did, you can buy it NY/NJ or Connecticut with $3500 rebate right now. I think this rebate will even go up a bit. Last year, when 2018 started to arrive, rebate on 2017 increased up to $5000. It is a long way to drive back, but even with one-way airfare, you will save tons. However, if saving money is your prime objective, keep driving perfectly functional 2016 Altima is going to be most cost effective. Good luck.

 

I’m in Texas, and just like Louisiana, no rebates since the really don’t get many of this car. Sometimes you get 0%, but that’s all I have seen. I bought a 2013 plug-in in Rhode Island, and they didn’t do discounts below msrp. In FL in 2017, they added a 20k market premium on their cars.

Get a level 2 at home and enjoy it. If CarPlay comes on 2019, that would be awesome, but no word yet it will. 2018s weren’t revealed until Feb 2018 so 2019 may be similar.

Good luck

 

The prime is a way to spend more money, but less of it on gas. The altima is a way to spend less money, but more of it on gas.

Also consider- you've seen the lack of dealer enthusiasm. It'll be a rarity on the road and your future repair options could be awfully narrow- not sure how long you were hoping to keep it.

 

19 won't have apple play. make your best deal in the northeast, fly up and drive one home, as many others have done. save yourself 5 large, you'll never save that on gas.

as far as charging goes, it depends on your habits. it only took me 3 months to realize i needed one, because i'm in and out so much.
best bet is to start with the L1 and decide from there.

 

Does your local dealer have Primes in stock? If so, you could roll the dice on them not selling and let them sit and languish until the 2019's are announced and they'd maybe do a deal on the 2018's then. If they have to order one it, they likely won't deal much. I had to order and they only took $500 off the sticker price.

You could buy a combo L1/L2 charger. I bought this one and have been happy with it. I'm only using it as an L1 charger at the moment, but if I decide to run 220/240 into my garage, the charger can easily turn into an L2.

I think this sells for $199 on the US site

Edit: Looks like I can't post a link. It's the Duosida L2 charger with L1 adapter cable.

 

We wanted carplay too. Luckily, we were interested in a different Prius and it turned out to be easy to swap the Toyota stereo for an aftermarket deck in our c. So now we have a nice Sony that can do carplay, and with the latest update it runs waze and google too.

 

There was a chart of the Volt L2 initial take rate and it was quite small, obviously after a while some would stumble into L2 after breaking their L1 extension cord but even on BEVs the take rate is lower than you would expect.
With $150 Duosida hybrid L1/L2 portable extension cords the math is getting a little better but it rarely pays financially unless you count convenience .

The Bolt and Tesla’s have higher L2 adoption rates but even for those it wasn’t over 50%

In many cases folks can’t gain access to L2 without extreme measures (like HOA issues) so I guess it makes sense.

Since I can charge at home and work the L2 math is even more skewed

Ah well, at least the leaf includes a dual voltage extension cord now which makes L2 less of a hurdle.

 

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/745658261/overview/

Hmm Prime prices seem to stay much higher than they should, normally I would say wait a year to purchase
but the cost reduction after tax breaks on a new Prime makes the Pricing on the one above seem lackluster.

Might be worth a trip to buy a new one

 

Personally I enjoy it even though my phone is too old to give the best experience. My wife is all dialed in with the latest and says she's never going back.

I've always hated the idea of picking a car for what's on the dashboard. I always prefer to view that as a blank canvas. I like to put in my own system and then update it a few years along so that the car always has modern features.

Unfortunately many cars now have nonstandard stereo systems with unusual screen sizes and special shapes. That makes it harder to swap in replacement gear.

This time around we really lucked out- we liked everything else about the prius c, and then found it used completely standard DIN-sized stereos so it was very easy to add carplay, and it will be easy to replace that with whatever comes next.

 

I'm speculating.
But since the OP use to own a Ford Fusion Hybrid and "loved it", "best vehicle I ever Owned"? And the OP is already getting quotes on in home chargers, I'm going to say option #3, isn't going to happen.

So the question becomes 2018 or 2019?
Since the OP states that local dealers aren't budging or "dealing" on 2018's, and it also sounds like with a perfectly good, working Altima, the OP can wait, I think...just wait.
That way there won't be any potential "future" regrets.
To me, buying a previous model year vehicle late in the year, should come with a discount. If the dealers aren't going to give that to you? Might as well wait, see what might be available with the 2019's.
Even if there isn't a whole lot of changes, you are at least starting out with the "newest" vehicle model years wise, you can have, as opposed to pretty quickly owning a new but 1 model year old vehicle.
If you buy the 2018, then read about a 2019 new available feature that you do want? You'll just have regrets. So if waiting really isn't a hardship, I vote wait.

I vote option #2.

 

I actually bought a late in the model year Honda Fit.
BUT....
I knew there wasn't going to be any significant changes, AND....there was a price markdown.
Without that discount?
I would of just waited.

If I'm going to take a 1 model year hit...in just a month or so?
I want a discount or I'm not doing it.