LE, XLE, AWD? Which would you buy and why?

I purchased a 2020 AWDe LE Prius when my 2016 Prius 3 was kamikazed by a deer. The lack of a spare tire bothered me as well (The spare tire well is occupied by the power electronics for the rear axle motor), but I just borrowed () the spare from my 2016 sewed a cover out of towels and keep the spare in the footwell of the back seat. I do miss the heads up display and the lack of either a CD player or Android Auto (I don't do Apple) were almost a deal-breaker. The AWDe drive does help get me up my driveway when it is iced over (even with the poor traction of the OE tires). You will find that the standard safety features of a new Prius (and the Dynamic auto speed control) are systems that you would never want to be without. My wife and I just use Waze on trips and don't miss the built-in GPS (much). We use a portable CD player to play our audio books on trips.

JeffD

 

We’re on our third and fourth Prius, and all have been FWD. I’ve only encountered one situation where AWD would have been a significant advantage. I was forced to parallel park on a hill, with the front end pointing uphill, in the snow. I had quite a time getting out of that space without colliding with the car behind me, but I did make it work with my wife outside telling me how much wiggle room was available. We both have lower-back problems, so we buy the seats with adjustable lumbar support. That rules-out the LE, so we bought a wavy-window 2021 Prime XLE. It lives in the garage when not in use, and dirt accumulation in the dip has not been noticeable. The battery does significantly reduce cargo space. I do all of my shopping in a 2010 Prius IV.

 

We had the dealer use a car interior firm install leather in my spouse's Subaru Crosstrek to get rid of the white interior (now black with red stitching) and adjustable lumbar support. The adder was about $1500 in a larger interior, so that is an option instead of going to a higher trim level which adds features that you may not want to pay for.

JeffD

 

My speed and some warning messages were projected onto the lower left of the windshield in my 2016 Prius.so I could see them without taking my eyes off the road.

JeffD

 

Speaking as someone from the uk I wouldn’t buy the awd as style is limited due to weight. And if you don’t have the requirement for snow parking I’d go for the best trim you can afford. Trim and equipment changed in 2019 2020 and 2022 models 2016-2019 pretty much are the same besides exterior colour options

 

I had a 2013 Gen 3 Prius Two. I upgraded to a used 2016 Prius Four that had all the packages - moon roof, softex seats, parking sensors, all that jazz. When a deer murder-suicided that one last summer I jumped into a new 2022 Prime XLE

Here's a trim comparison page on toyota's website you can see exactly what differences they throw in with packages and whatnot:
https://www.toyota.com/prius/features/mpg_other_price/1221/1223/1263

and here's the same for the Prime
https://www.toyota.com/priusprime/features/mpg_other_price/1235/1237/1239

The prime will still function just like a regular prius if you don't plug it in. I have a 130 mile commute every day and can only charge a home so most of my driving is in HV mode. It gets about the same MPG as a regular Gen 4 Prius in HV mode. There are other reasons to consider a Prime even if you don't plug it in every day - as of now it still qualifies for a $4502 federal tax credit which may be going away later this year if Toyota passes 200k sold PHEVs and it's getting close. You may qualify for state incentives further reducing the price of the car and even a discount on EZPass tolls or use of HOV lanes in some states. Ultimately since I have a garage to charge at home and had enough federal tax liability to fully benefit from the tax credit the Prime made more sense for me.

I believe most northeast dealers are getting AWDs but most window stickers have 50 state emissions listed so I think Toyota doesn't really change it up much? AWD Prius was something I was interested in but there weren't any available for me to test drive at the time. AWDe only comes in LE and XLE trims so you'll miss out on a few things like moon roof. But the XLE does come with a heated leather steering wheel and the 8 way adjustable softex driver seat. (non AWD XLE has a 6 way manual softex apholstered seat). It does mean Limited trim Prius is hard to find in the region if you're looking for top of the line everything.

The seats on my 2022 Prime are more comfortable than the Cloth in my 2013 or even the softext in my 2016. The 2013 and 2016 priuses I had were very uncomfortable on long drives. The prime is much more comfortable in the driver seat. I didn't notice any issues with the softex seats in my 2016 but I only had it for a few years. It started life in Texas and wasn't garaged until I moved in 2019. I didn't notice any staining or bleaching. The steering wheel did bubble and peel which was common with Gen 4 cars. Not sure if it's been fixed.

All Prime trims have heated seats. The Limited has heated steering wheel. The regular prius I think only XLE and Limited have heated seats. The AWDe XLE does have the heated electric drivers seat and a heated steering wheel.

The 11" screen isn't ideal but it's not as terribad as people make it out to be. For regular prius and AWD prius you mostly get a pretty good 7" screen that has android auto and apple carplay. The prime only has the 7" screen in LE trim. XLE and Limited only come with the big screen and it only has Apple Carplay.

Something I don't miss about my 2016 Four is parking sensors. They got covered in road salt, snow, mud, ice all the time during winter and I constantly had warnings to clean them. For most of the winter I drove with ICS turned off.

I do miss not having blind spot monitor on my Prime XLE. It's standard on the regular prius but only available on the Limited trim of the Prime (which comes with parking sensors).

There is no moonroof for the Prime or AWDe priuses.

The car buying market really sucks right now. if you can wait for the dust to settle you may have more options with regard to inventory, options, etc. Many dealers are charging over MSRP for new cars and have long waitlists. If you can find a good deal now and don't have to wait go for it. But less than a year ago Toyota was practically giving away Prius Primes with a $5000 customer cash offer....So things can change quickly. If you can wait it out

 

With a 25 mile EPA EV range, it would be useless if you could not drive it as a hybrid only. My longest trip was over 6,000 miles and I almost never got to plug it in. Averaged over 56 mpg.

And not accumulating on the high parts as opposed to accumulating all over a flat window. The shape really helps clear the rain from the glass once you're up to about 35 mph or better.

It might. However, if I could not plug in at home, I probably would not have a Prime.

Unless they have improved it, the Softex wheel is the pits. It doesn't age like leather, it doesn't stain, it doesn't breathe. But it does blister, wrinkle, and eventually peel. Sometimes I think about seeing if I can find a regular wheel to install.

You can do either.

What are you hauling??!!!

Not the same. The Prime has a 288 pound battery in the back, which definitely requires some changes. But they do all have the same type of suspension which is a massive improvement over previous generations. Also note that the Prime has slightly less ground clearance in order to help with coefficient of drag. 4.8" in the Prime vs 5.1" in the regular Prius. The AWDe has 5.3".

 

Daisy,

Don't equate the EPA MPG rating with the MPG that you will actually get. The EPA ratings are based on a formula that penalizes the AWDe Prius for a little extra weight for the electronics and rear motor. My 2020 AWDe is getting about the same MPG as the 2016 Prius 3 that it replaced.

JeffD

 

Ok. Yes I can qualify from uk perspective. Awd cannot be combined with leather seats. Or in USA terms no moonroof (never a uk option) plus awd.
I run an excel grade (uk) so no awd for me