We just got our 6th Prius -- Wife facing a learning curve.

We did it! For a long time my dear, frugal wife wanted to drive the wheels off her 2007 Prius. In a way, she kind of did because it was going to need tires before long. But the reason for the change, I think, was that the poor old thing (the car!!! not the wife. She's still gorgeous.) was getting butt ugly with all the paint damage from the FL sun and that she wanted something more comfortable.

We vacillated between waiting for the RAV4 Prime, but that was going to probably be a long wait and a big payment. Also considered the RAV4 Hybrid, but still pricey as well as not as economical to drive as a Prius.

So, we were down to Prius or Camry Hybrid. Ever the frugal one, the wife was leaning toward a used Gen 4 Prius. Todd, over at Home - Tampa Hybrids Inc. had a 2017 trim two with safety package. It checked all of her boxes: cloth interior, small display with buttons, spare tire, outstanding fuel economy, five seats, Prius reliability. It did cost more than she wanted, but hey, it only has 20k miles on it and it's a Florida car and Toyota serviced, so it should last a long long time. Plus it had brand new Yokohama Avid Ascend Touring S tires.

Those were pretty much my check boxes except I also wanted to have the safety features as well as the spare tire. A trim two with the safety package was exactly what I was hoping for.

After she drove it (getting about 70 mpg on the Interstate at 70 mph), I asked if she wanted to head over to another place to try out the Camry. She didn't blink an eye. She just said, "Nope. I want this one." She doesn't decide what to order at a restaurant that fast!!!!

I had a trade-in number in mind, but never stated it. Todd exceeded that amount, which was the final part of the decision process. So, here it is in our driveway. Now the wife has some learning do do since she almost never drove my Prime. (And by the way, I noticed that it doesn't act quite like the Prime acts in Hybrid mode. But that's for another discussion. )

 

Thanks. I think my biggest motive in the purchase was just that the old car looked so bad paint-waise that it was getting embarrassing.

 

We thought about it. I also thought about a BEV for her, maybe a Bolt. But this was available and it'll actually be better than the Prime for vacation trips. I suggested a trip to the Northeast to get a new Prime and the tax breaks, but she wasn't very interested. I think she'll be happy with this.

 

Hmmmm... You know how everyone says that the middle of the dash looks a little like Darth Vader? It just occurred to me that the outside color scheme, especially from the back, has a bit of a storm trooper look to it.

 

Good idea. First thing is window vent shades and a fitted windshield sun screen. It doesn't have floor mats either, so those are high on the list. I'm now REALLY wishing for a two-car garage.

 

I got one from the dealer for my Prime. It's not quite a perfect fit even though it says it's for the 2016+ Prius, but it's close. For the PiP I had one of the Heatshield brand that you could buy from the Prius Chat store before it went dormant. I think I'll get her this one

along with a set of window vent shades.

 

I guess we were typing at the same time.

What I noticed coming home from Tampa Hybrids was that cruising on the 50 mph road that I often drive in the Prime, the Prius stayed in HV with the engine running almost all the way. It was getting what looked like 70+ mpg, but running the ICE almost exclusively. The Prime on the same road while in HV will go for one or two miles in with the engine off and then go about the same distance with it on. It alternates back and forth and seems to come out to about 70+ mpg also. Just using a different method.

One thing that the Prius has over Prime is when the Prime's EV range is depleted. When that happens, there is no EV mode available for just moving the car out of the driveway or something like with the regular Prius. It's not very frequent, but it has made me plug it in for a few minutes a few times so I could sweep the garage floor or something.

All in all, though, they are very similar other than I don't think she'll be able to go five months without buying gas like I can. LOL!

 

Yeah, Prime will go for quite a long time in EV with the EV range depleted once the ICE is warmed up. And I think I might have gotten away with the ICE not starting when staring up w/o EV range available. I might be remembering the PiP more-so. I guess I haven't really experimented with that.