Trading 2017 Prius for 2020 Prius

If you need AWD - . Don't think it's got a spare tyre though.

 

Hmm... no.. it makes no sense to me. I'm thinking it makes no financial sense either. But that's me. I don't know your driving experience or conditions however so maybe it makes perfect sense to you. But.. you asked.

There is a riddle.. "what's the difference between and 2 wheel drive truck and a 4 wheel drive truck?"

Answer: You can get a 4 wheel drive truck stuck a mile further from the road.

I've stuck two wheel drive trucks once.. and it took a friend in a 4 wheel drive truck to pull me out. I've stuck my 4 wheel drive truck twice ... once it took a giant tractor to pull me out and once a couple of hours in mud with ropes and winches. (each time I knew I was risking getting stuck but went anyway.. so all my fault overdriving my equipment.. but that's what 4 wheel drive and AWD does in my opinion)

I remember a memorable drive in 1982 or 83 in blizzard conditions in my 81 Honda Civic. (front wheel drive with good regular tires) It was quite unsafe by the way as I was navigating by telephone poles going north on Route 1 from College Park trying to get back to home in Baltimore. I had to keep up speed to plow through drifts higher than my limited ground clearance. The sides of the road were littered with rear wheel drive vehicles and I was passing stuck Jeeps and other more robust trucks. (I don't recall there were 4WD or AWD cars back then.. maybe a few exceptions). I almost made it home when the road was blocked by a jackknifed big rig and no way to get around it.
( the state police on the scene told everyone to abandon their vehicles and walk 3 miles to shelter.. I was able to get my car about 48 hours later)

I've got 109K miles on my 2017 Prius and have never needed or wanted AWD. I'm guessing your driving situation is different.

Have Fun!

 

Sounds kinda like a "New/Car/Itch" that needs to be scratched? .............But, nothing wrong with that!

 

Could be..
If I lived in a snow zone, I would desire 4 wheel drive.
Yet, I do not live in a snow zone and can not speak the the comparison of front drive with snow tires vs all drive with or without snow tires.
I'd believe a second set of rims with snow tire is a must have

Also not mentioned is the mileage on your '17.
You desire long term ownership, does that mean years (5, 10 or 20) or miles (100K or 200K)?
I'd also image you are looking at a $10K (maybe more) cash outflow.

All above FWIW.

Good luck in your decision.

 

My 2016 Prius did fine on snow/ice when I put on good tires. Get a set of Nokian WRg4 all weather tires which are comperable to snow tires for bad weather. I now have a 2020 AWD-e Prius,(My 2016 was killed by a Kamikaze deer last month ) but have not used it in bad weather yet.

 

Don't forget...AWD Prius loses the spare (the electric drive motor fills the well).

If you can afford to satisfy your "itch", go for it. Keep your expectations realistic and you'll love the car...for many reasons.

 

If you live right in the city of Seattle, I can't see how spending extra to get AWD would ever be worth it. How many times in the 3 years you've owned your 2017 have you been stuck in your driveway? I'm guessing none. (If the secondary roads have not been plowed sufficiently that you got stuck on one of them, AWD probably wouldn't have helped you much anyway). If you travel frequently in the back country, I don't think you would want to take your brand new car on those roads either. The only way I could see the need for AWD in your situation would be if you lived in one of Seattle's higher elevation eastern suburbs where snowfall is a little more frequent and you found it necessary to commute on those still relatively rare snowy days.

 

I just did a 3-day, 30 hour, 1800 mile round trip from CT to Galena Il for a wedding in my 2020 AWD-e Prius. This tripled the miles I have driven it so far. It behaved well but I did learn one more fact; the gas tank only holds 10.5 gallons (My 2016 had almost 12g capacity) which limits the range to about 500 miles. My guess is that the rear axle motor takes some space away from the gas tank. I averaged about 50 MPG for the trip (a bit low due to it raining for about half of the miles).

JeffD

 

Interesting! I didn't realize that. I checked the brochure and sho 'nuff, it says 10.6 for the 2019 AWD-e and 11.3 for the others.

 

Go for it! My 2020 LE is better than my 2018 LE in many ways.