What would you have bought if not a Prius?

That is really neat. Thanks for sharing. Could've been very interesting if it actually worked. The Volt and the new Cadillac electric car are interesting as well, but just incredibly expensive.

 

Do you use all-season tires or do you put on winter tires?

 

Just the all season one's that came with the car. I bet with winter tires and some steelies it would be fantastic, and cool looking.

 

This is my first winter owning a prius here in MN. I've read mixed reviews about winter tires. Some say "its a must" while others don't. Right now I plan on just trying with the all-season tires that it came with to see how it handles. I've never used winter tires before on my past vehicles so I assume I won't need them for the Prius.

I have a steep driveway though and I can't get a "running start" with the Prius since it sits lower to the ground and the front end would hit the driveway. So I hope things work out. If not I may have to try winter tires.

 

yeah, with a steep driveway you might have trouble. My wife, last winter (which was a pretty tough winter) had no issues. She still managed decent mileage too. You might want to try it out at first, see how it goes and then you can always get winter tires.

 

Based on price and value, the IS wins!

 

In 2010, instead of the Prius? I would have bought a used (2003-2006) Gen I Insight...and almost did. If money was not limited, Ultima GTR or McLaren F1

 

Ford C-Max Hybrid, Ford C-Max Energi or Ford Fusion Hybrid. Any of the Fords would have been preferred over the Prius except our primary criteria this time was cost. Toyota's low lease factor rates were the deciding factor that we ended up with a Prius as our second car.

 

It was April 2010 and my short list was ...

01. 2010 Toyota Prius III - hypermiling potential of +60 mpg, EPA 50 MPG rating, large owner driver community, estimated cost $24k, mediocre cargo capacity ( payload limit of 800 pounds), most complex tech


02. 2010 Honda Insight LX - hypermiling potential of +70 mpg, EPA 44 MPG rating, small owner driver community, estimated cost $20K, smallest cargo space, less complex tech

03. 2010 Hyundai Elantra Touring - hypermiling potential of 33 mpg, EPA 27 MPG rating, no driver owner community, estimated cost $17K, large cargo space, simplest tech ( DIY maintenance possible).

04. 2010 Volkswagen Jetta Sportswagen TDI - hypermiling potential estimated 45 mpg EPA 38 MPG combine rating, no driver owner community, estimated cost +$25k because diesel cars are very rare in my area and dealership normally want and get a premium over MRSP, large cargo space

Because of the HV battery reliability concerns, I removed the Honda Civic Hybrid from my list.
The Ford Fusion Hybrid was too expensive so I removed it from my short list.
A used Ford Escape Hybrid (FEH) was the only used vehicle on my long list of possible car but I removed it when I found out Ford was planning to discontinue making them - which would halt production of replacement parts for the FEH and making maintaining a used FEH more problematic.
Plug-in Hybrids and BEVs required expensive remodeling of my home to recharge so I removed from my list.

 

Another Lexus. If Lexus made a car/suv with the carpool sticker, I would have bought that instead of PiP. I'm not saying I hate the car, but a Lexus version would be so much more comfortable.

 

I wanted the highest gas mileage car available. I didn't look at any other car except the Prius C. I would have gotten the C1 but wanted cruise control so i got the C2.

I took a 1000 mile round trip to get my son 2 states away. On the way back home, 3 people, 500 miles was a little cramp but doable. I would of liked to have had a bigger Prius model but didn't want to spend any more money than i did.

This car with it's great gas mileage will help me pay off all my bills. Also i like that the C looks more like a regular car than a hybrid. I will definetly stay with hybrids from now on or a total electric vehicle if i can get one in the future with a high mileage range, a decent price tag and a better infrastructure for charging.

 

Surprised by this comment since the Prius Plug In and others can be recharged using 110v. Even a Level 2 charger and installation isn't cost prohibitive.

 

Everything else was status quo and boring. Luxury, sporty, diesel? Been there. Big yawn. I like regular gas best, scratch the previous three. I've always been a creature of habit. Not any more, I'm -1- of 5,000.000.

 

The cars I had when I bought my first Prius were running fine, so my answer to this question is easy: nothing.
If I was replacing a car I decided not to repair, I think only the Honda Fit would have appealed to me.

Nowadays our car use has changed. We keep one small city car and one wagon. There are a lot of small city car choices I could consider like the Ford Focus or Mazda3, but 40+ mpg wagons is a *very* limited segment. *Don't even bother mentioning diesel LOL

*Even small wagons do not compete.

 

I live in a older middle unit town home with one reserve parking space in front (no garage). The front of my townhouse lacks an external 11ovac outlet so a BEV or a PHEV would require that I updated my home with a front exterior outlet or a level 2 charger so I could recharge it over night. Early 2010, when I was looking to replace my car -- the Prius Plug-in was still being field tested in the USA - so the PHEV and BEV that I was referring to was the Chevy Volt ($37K) and the Nissan Leaf($32K) - the cost of a Level 2 charger is about $5k - I didn't qualify for any of the the tax incentives - My analysis for a PHEV and a BEV included the cost of upgrading the house with an front exterior 120vac outlet rigged to an indoor switch-timer - which is cheaper than a Level 2 timer but it would take more time to recharge..... Assuming that gas prices didn't go over $6 per gallon and considering my driving patterns, I had computed that my breakeven point between the conventional gas vehicle (aka Elantra Touring) to Insight was about six years and about eleven years for the Prius. The breakeven point for the Volt and the Leaf was over 16 years ... much longer than the estimated lifespan of the vehicle... so regardless of how much better the Volt and the Leaf could be for the environment - they didn't make economical sense for me. From a learning perspective - the Prius provided me with a superior hypermiling platform but from a ROI cost wise perspective an Insight might have worked out too. Near the end of 2010 when the dealerships were discounting Insights in my region the price dropped to about $20K for a base 2010 Prius and $14K for a base 2010 Insight... If I was buying a Prius today - I probably would have a hard time deciding C, hatchback, or V?

 

Wow

 

walt,
Sorry, I just have to speak up on a few of your points that I have direct knowledge on.

>L2 chargers (240V, dryer outlets): I have one that I paid a total of $285, it's the JuiceBox kit and a $99 J1772 cord from amazon. L2 charging is SO nice for preheating the car and multiple weekend trips

>'13 Volts were discounted, probably still are, and my after tax rebate price was $23.6k.
A simple summary of a Volt: The first 30-40 miles costs ~$1.20, after that it turns into a 38mpg Prius.

Where is it written that any car has a <16 year life span?

(When it's not below 15°F I can go weeks and not burn any stinky gas. There's a hack for the low temp engine running issue.)

 

Why didn't you get the PiP Advanced with the Softex seats? I didn't know that Lexus's are automatically more comfortable than Toyota's. Also the Rav4 EV has carpool stickers if you need the extra space.

 

One reason would be a PiP is: Only good for 11 miles and only less than 62 mph and only $2500 tax rebate because it is such a lame EV. How many people can live with that? There are urban commuters, I suppose.

 

a camel 2 ponys a camper van a new bike big tv and a ty bride or 2