Prius vs tesla..looking for input

I am also leaning towards the Tesla Model Y as my next car. But I have recently seen a lot of ads for used Model S, around model year 2015, less than 50K miles and $30 to 40K. I have never sat in either car, but it looks like the Model S is also a hatchback and would have as much room and possibly more luxury than the Model Y. Does anyone know if I am right?

 

Thank you Fotomoto and iplug. I meant the FSD (Full Self Driving). Tesla has changed this feature many times that it's been hard to follow. FSD is a must have for a Tesla in my opinion.

 

I think the new Tesla Y or the new Ford Mustang EV (I know crazy its a Ford but whatever) are the leading cars now. The Tesla S is getting old and with the exception of the air suspension its not that appealing. Also the seats on the Tesla 2015 S are not my favorites. They changed them the last few years and are more comfortable now. I think the S will be be updated soon which will further diminish older models.

 

Red, talk with some Tesla owners, especially those who have had their cars a few years. A few years ago Tesla didn't scale up their parts & service capabilities as they increased their sales. Maybe they've corrected that. My wife's cousin really like his Tesla. He sold it because appointments for repairs were way to long before they would take the car in, and no one else except the Tesla shop would work on them, even something like brakes or window regulator. He traded his Tesla to a Porsche dealer. He told me about a friend of his who had a new Tesla with a defective driver's door lock. 6 week wait for the parts so the door could be opened. If that's all been corrected, great, do consider the Tesla. If not, steer clear.

 

I think that is an edge case in an edge part of the country.
I have owned Tesla vehicles for 10 years now. I have had brake shops work on my brakes, and alignment/wheel rotations done and local tire dealers.
Now, it may be that your friends local shop didn't want the business, but that hasn't been an issue for me anytime in the past ten years.
I've also driven into the Tesla service center without an appointment and had a swapped out tail light in under 20 minutes (that was two years ago).
Is everyone's experience as good as mine? Probably not. Just as your friends experience may not be typical.

 

Here is a video about the seats I mentioned above in the Tesla Model S

Normally seats are not a big deal but If you want to buy a used S it is worth trying the seats to make sure they work for you. Before I bought my BMW 640GT I test drove the model S and found them the worst compared to Audi, BMW and Mercedes. The car and drivetrain is great but the interiors are not for everyone. I think Tesla's new models have changed to in-house production and are now comparable.

 

Here is a video from Alex L. Dykes Alex on Autos which is one of my favorite car reviewers. He is honest, knowledgeable and fair in his reviews. This is on the new Ford Mustang Mach E which is better than I expected and priced competitively.

 

The reality is that you have to decide what's important to you. Toyota Prius is going to have parts in stock around the country with a service department that can more often than not get you up and running inside of days and that's if something fails which I haven't seen a single failure on my 2020 since new even after 50k. I know you can't say that about any electric car.

 

I think this is very simple. The Tesla Model 3 costs twice as much as the Toyota Prius Prime. End of story.

Apple announced the iCar today, which rattled the markets. You may want to wait to get that one in a couple of years instead of a Tesla.

 

Get the model Y. Trust me it’s worth it. Launch that mofo and hear the slight whine of the ev motor while snapping your neck into the headrest while you wear a huge smile. And road trips aren’t an issue. I road trip so much hitting the western half of the USA. And supercharger network is great! My advice though buy the longest range you can afford.

best thing about owning both a Prius and a Tesla is after 3 days of driving the Prius the speed of the model 3 seems shockingly new again.

 

You actually needed to have brake work done on your Tesla? I had no problem finding someone who COULD work on my brakes but aft 17 years they were still within specs and never had any maintenance.

It's odd that Tesla drivers quote the extra maintenance needed for a Prius PHEV due to the ICE. I've seen several reports recently which say that Tesla's require more periodic maintenance and repairs. Oh... BTW, when in EV mode, the Prime uses less electricity per mile (~250 Wh) than 3 of the 5 Tesla models. The S, X and Y are less energy efficient. So from that measure it's also a better BEV

Dan

 

This is a bit misleading. Most times I have heard a similar position it is from EV advocates talking about ICE cars.
And no, I haven’t had brake work done, but I did check that the local shop can handle the brakes if such was ever needed.

If a PHEV is the right tool for the job, that is great. I do drive over the range of PHEVs, so for me, a BEV was a better tool for me.

 

Well, I've owned the Model Y for a couple of months now. It's a 2021 model. It's kind of a shock to the system driving between the two cars. Is it worth twice as much as a Prius Prime? that's a personal decision. My initial impression of delivery of the MY was NEAR perfect. There weren't any problems and after at least 4 software over the air updates no other issues. They can even improve the efficiency over the air. The mobile app gives you so much control of the car, you have an iPhone/ Apple Watch, make a shortcut to open and close the trunk, as you approach it. You want to look at what your car performance/charging is doing, the data is available online and through 3rd parties. Little things like that.

If you wanted to gain .6 seconds Acceleration Boost, it costs $2000, Bang, over the air update and you got it. 0-60 in 3.9 seconds (1ft rollout). I've never squealed the tires once in this thing, AWD and sticky tires are amazing. Time will tell about the service, haven't had to use them, but they also have a mobile network that can come out to you and fix certain things.

The car just works. Using the supercharging network is kind of cool, and pretty quick to add 165 miles in less than 22 minutes. YMMV

Now when i get back into the Prime, I have to remember to do a lot of things you just don't do in the MY. But I still enjoy the car, and it will be making a 2800 mile trip to it's new home in FL. Technologically speaking there isn't a direct comparison, and it's something that bugs me about Toyota, they are so slow to improve this segment. What I do love is knowing this car, as most Toyota's won't let me down. Tesla is still an unknown in comparison.

 

The car just works. Using the supercharging network is kind of cool, and pretty quick to add 165 miles in less than 22 minutes

A 600 mile range and 5 minute refueling is cooler.

 

Sorry. I must have misunderstood the meaning of "I have owned Tesla vehicles for 10 years now. I have had brake shops work on my brakes, and alignment/wheel rotations done and local tire dealers."

There's probably a typo in there some where that lets one interpret "I have had" as "I never have".

Given that Tesla ( Car Maintenance | Tesla ) recommends yearly brake maintenance, I'm sure that in 10 years you've been in the shop a few times at least. " Winter Care: Tesla recommends cleaning and lubricating all brake calipers every 12 months or 12,500 mi for cars in cold weather regions." I was able to find only two Tesla dealers in Minnesota and they are located within 20 miles of each other, so that's convenient, right?

How do you manage to "drive over the range of PHEVs, so for me, a BEV was a better tool for me." ? The range of the Prius is about 640 miles, and the range of the Tesla Model Y is 230 - 330, depending on how many batteries you purchase. I suspect that it's the "on battery power only" that matters in this discussion, but if that's the case, why drive the Model y which is rated at 28 kWh/100 mi? The Model 3 and the Prius prime both use only 25 kWh / 100 miles so both would be more economical.

Looking at the Minneapolis area, the power is kind of dirty. The model Y uses enough electricity to to create 170g/mi of green house gases, compared to the Prius at 180g/mi even when it has fallen back to using the ICE for part of the ride. An average ICE puts out 410 g/mi so both the Prius and the Tesla are about 44% cleaner.

The kicker in all of this is economics, not environment. If you get free electricity for an extended time it may lessen the bite of the much higher cost of the Tesla. If you get a subsidy that cuts your grid charging cost, that's also a plus for the Tesla as long as the subsidy is enough to overcome the 54 MPG that the Prius gets. Currently Minneapolis gas is about $1.80 a gal, and 11.5 cents per kWh. Is that electricity price cheap enough to make it more economical than a PHEV that gets 54 MPG? Probably be close.

I'd say that unless one needs bragging rights, the $20,000 extra for the Model y is not worth it.

Dan

 

You are correct, I misspoke, thank you for pointing that out.

10 years ago, I had alignment work done on my first Tesla, at a local mechanic.
I also had the wheels swapped for winter wheels at a local Discount Tire shop.
The local shops also confirmed for me, that they can work on the brakes should the need arise.

Any shop can do the lubrications, although I never had.

Again, I apologize for the shorter wording. By "...drive over the range of PHEVs..." I meant I often drive over the electric range. Apologies for any confusion.

The Model Y best fits my needs, which is why I drive it rather than the Model 3 or Prime. We charge it with solar except when on trips (even then if possible).

For me, emitting less CO2 is well worth the money. Everyone has their own calculations though.

If you want to continue this off topic berating of me, I'd suggest one of the other Tesla threads rather than this one.

 

Tesla remains king of efficiency:
fueleconomy.gov

2021 EPA results for the Model 3 SR+ should be out soon and are expected to have even higher efficiency.

 

I noticed some factual discrepancies that tended to make the Model Y more attractive than it would otherwise seem. That prompted me to look into the rest veracity of the rest of the post. I countered those assertions in a reasonable way, and every point was to the original thread, which was (and is) Prius VS Tesla, Looking for input. There is nothing personal about it.

I like the looks of the Tesla, It looks great. But the main reason that I would not buy one is that many of their engineering decisions have been capricious. The fruit of such decisions resulted in an autopilot that does not recognize unexpected barriers and that has resulted in deaths. There are multiple MUSK interviews where he has eschewed use of lidar or radar for object detection. Then there are the frequent software pushes. As a former systems analyst (systems design) I find that the mindset that requires multiple OTA updates in a month to be scary. It's OK for a cell phone app or a video game, but not for a complex system where lives depend on it.

And the last reason that I would not consider a Tesla is the pricing structure that once promised autonomous driving (dubbed auto pilot) that was eventually renamed FSD and licensed at a huge premium. ( $10K ??? - Not sure ) . I hate to imagine what happens to the commuter's cost of ownership when Musk decides that they need another revenue stream and start charging higher prices at the superchargers.

So that, when combined with my previous post is my two cents worth on the subject.

Dan

 

Yep. Tesla is champ. Last year, one of the many model 3 models was more efficient than a Prius by about 4% though rounding errors may reduce that a lot