'20 Prius Prime - Buy now or wait?

i'm waiting, and hoping for the full hatch. but we won't know until they make the announcement.

it's a personal decision, but it never hurts to reduce your debt.

all the best!

 

The key word is potentially. Every newer model will have newer features, greater range, nicer colors, etc. I would buy the sure bet now and have the advantages of that car now, rather than wait for what might be.

 

and who knows what else might be available in a few years?

 

If the car currently owned is reliable and gets decent mileage, there may not be a need for a new car now. I would hang into it and not replace it with anything until it needs replacement. That is almost always the least expensive option.

 

due to dwindling sales, toyota has admitted that prius isn't good enough anymore. i hope and expect big changes, but who knows?

 

Without knowing the mortgage interest rate being paid, the first thing I notice is the "very old Corolla with over 210K kms," but it has been "dead reliable." So will it keep gonig for another 60K kms without any major expense? If you purchased it new, meticulously maintained it, then maybe. What if you traded the "dead reliable" Corolla in now, while it is still reliable as opposed to a year from now if it needs a transmission?

The next thing I see is "if a 2022 Prius Prime has a significantly better battery life." Is there a major problem with the 2020 Prius Prime battery life? I'm hoping to know, as I now have a 2020 Prime Plus. So if Toyota manages to extend battery life by 20%, which I'd consider doing good, what will the financial impact be?

So waiting until 2022, what will the price be? Will Toyota boost the price as it then has a better battery? Will the $2500 rebate still be available? Will the price of gasoline triple, thus sending the price of the car that much higher with soaring demand?

Probably as long as the "very old Corolla" is going, I'd hold off. Waiting until the end of the 2020 model year might be more advantageous, if it can be done

 

Notice you are comparing the known attributes of the '20 model to the unknown features of the '22 mode. Is there reason to believe that Toyota will make a major change to the Prime in 2022 rather than in 2021?

 

only if you read john1701

 

Just thought I’d chime in having purchased a ‘20 Prime XLE $29684 w floor mats Internet Pricing at high volume dealer. TFS gave 4.1% and contrary to the OP the Fed Tax Credit is $4500 (Just make sure you owe that much in the year you claim) Think of it this way, your getting the best of both worlds. Engineering can’t really significantly improve the engine efficiency or battery efficiency currently. With a hybrid plugin you get the electric for “most” of your driving but don’t need to pay for and carry around heavy battery capacity you only occasionally need. Take a closer look at the Camry Hybrid LE is LiION the SE and up are NiMH and fuel efficiency tanks from 52 to 46 combined. I drive 30k annually ‘12 Camry SE 30mpg my main goal was to reduce fuel cost while managing overall purchase price. Which back of napkin only happens w/ plugin hybrids of which the Prime is the most efficient. I used the information and calculators on fueleconomy.gov as the basis for my decision. I would start with answering “Do I need a new car?” then decide whether Gas, Hybrid, Plug-in Hybrid or Electric fit needs and budget. I stumbled into the Plugin Hybrid while looking at the side by side comparisons on the above website and glad I did. I should save $1.3k to $2.1k annually (working on a charging plug at work)

 

Why not have your cake and eat it too. You can buy one now, take advantage of the tax credit then sell in 2022.
You can have a 2019 model for 3500 off plus the tax break. In two years you will probably get 22K for it. 6K devaluation or 1.5K with the tax break. Pretty awesome if you ask me. Don't forget to calculate your fuel savings if you are driving something not as thrifty.

 

How much is your total car expenses per year?
I found that I have never really gotten under 2500 or so.
Insurance, devaluation, fuel and maintenance.

I have owned many jalopies, and have spent about 2500 per year on them.

I also hate buying vehicles but I think i'm going to start replacing them sooner. $2,500 is my magic number, it is really difficult for me to get bellow that number without great effort.

 

Today I went out for a simple family excursion in our Prime Advanced, it was about 110 miles round trip.

In an effort to achieve "reasonable" gas mileage, I tried to mostly drive in the slow lane behind a 18 wheeler at roughly ~67 mph. The reason I mention this is because of the Radar Cruise Control, I set it at about 73 mph and just let our Prime do most of the work by following at the minimum distance (one bar / RCC) behind the truck. On one of the few occasions that the big truck nailed the brake quickly, I just let the RCC do its thing and slow our Prime down quickly to the slower speed; I never helped out. For me personally, I really like the RCC out on the highway as a safety device, it does a great job.

I told you this story because your older car most like does not have all of these safety features, a new Prius Prime purchase "Could" keep you from having an accident, this alone would make your new potential purchase a good decision.


Rob43

 

i have done the used car purchasing route where you buy a 5 to 10K car and drive it till it dies. Honestly I have spent just as much over a 10 year period as if I would have bought a 30k new car and kept it for 10 years.

My wife and I did the math after our last used car purchase went belly up (a 2015 Prius 3). We decided that we wanted a brand new 2020 prime xle and went for it. We don’t miss the other car and are really impressed how well all these features work.

It’s really up to you.

 

If every car have the same safety sense features (Honda/Toyota/Nissan/etc).. it would be accident free most of the time.

I got rear ended the other day because the Honda Accord was old (No safety Brake system) and didn't stop on time