When I decided to trade in my 2012 Prius Five for the PIP (picked up the PIP on Sat Oct 13th) I convinced myself that it would be primarily because of all the mpg killing 'weekend BS' errand trips I run on Saturdays and Sundays. I really didn't know if the PIP would be up to the task- because one of the round trips is pretty close to 1/2 max EV range- with a 40 min break then the same trip repeated again (bringing mom to 5pm Sat mass- returning home, then picking her up at 6pm then back home again). Well this was the first weekend where the PIP was fully charged Sat morning and ready to go for the day's tasks... Saturday was pretty typical- Brought one daughter to her High School @ 7:45 for PSAT- Picked her up at 12:00 noon. Went for hot hero's (and supermarket on way back from hero shop) at 2pm. Dropped mom at 5pm mass- picked her back up at 6pm. Went to Halloween party at 6:30pm. Sunday was pretty typical too: 7:45 trip for bagels and the paper. 1:00pm trip to Home Depot for plumbing supplies. 6:30 trip to Buffalo Wild Wings for football food! I'm happy to report that the PIP made it on full electric the whole weekend! Of course I had to do between trip recharges at home- but it did make it. Very happy with the PIP! After a full week of driving to work and the weekend errands I now have 400+ miles on the the PIP and my average mpg is 88mpg.
I did the same thing as you as well. I trade in my 2012 Prius 3 for a PIP and could not be more happier. It hurt a little to take the loss of the trade-in, but the tax incentives, TFS rebate, 0% APR, and HOV sticker helped ease the pain. I have not been to the gas station in two weeks since I bought my car. I have driven about 650 miles and still have half a tank left. Life is good!
Nice, it sure is an ideal vehicle for you. You still have a midsize interior with 5 seats and a flat cargo floor. When you do use the 50 MPG gas engine, there shouldn't be anxiety because you have the cleanest and most efficient one on the market.
The PIP has really made me happy... all those short 3/5/6 mi weekend trips were ruining the 50+ highway mpg I was getting weekdays going to work (28mi each way). Now it's the opposite- the short weekend trips are actually boosting my overall mileage! One other nice thing is- there's a free public Chargepiont station on the other side of the parking lot across from my job. I've used it every day now upon arriving at work. I plug in then it's a 60 second walk across the lot to work.
I just made my first fill up last night. First tank lasted me 11 days and 668 miles. The last bar was blinking and showed only 10 miles range left. I was surprised when the the gas handle clicked off at 8.3 gallons. I thought it was accidental and was about to pull the handle again when I realized I was no longer driving my Civic. I haven't had $36 full fill-ups since the beginning of the summer. EV doesn't last for my entire weekend trips but it got pretty close last weekend. I was 0.5 mile short of reaching Target where there are 11 free Chargepoint stations. I purposely parked next to a couple of Leafs and a Volt. I know it's ridiculous but I did strut some Prius smug as I walked away from a couple of shoppers curiously looking at what I was doing. I couldn't help it. I'll try to stop myself next time.
