Hello all, I'm a company car driver considering the 2016 Prius, however if what I've read is correct Toyota have missed a trick with the specification that will drive company car users away, and its all about Sat Nav. According to what I've read all versions up the the Business Edition have a CO of 70g which puts them in the 9% company car tax bracket with a 40% BIK of £72 per month. For Sat Nav you have to upgrade to the Business Edition Plus which has a higher CO of 76g, is in the 13% bracket with a BIK of £112 per month. This is due to the 17in wheels. So, if I want a Prius with Sat Nav (Essential for my job) I need to be prepared to pay an extra £40 per month in tax and that's too much, and I hate having to stick an external sat nav on the windscreen. It also puts the Prius in a different league when I'm considering choices. For example for £123 per month BIK I can get a Mondeo (Fusion) Hybrid which is far larger and more refined than the Prius. It would be infuriating if Toyota have really got this wrong for company car drivers in the UK because I really like the idea of trying the Prius when I order later this year, but I'm not prepared to pay an additional £40 per month in tax for something I need. Of course, there's always the chance I've got it all wrong...And the Business Edition does have Sat Nav as standard ??
How does it work with other cars? Are there vehicles that have sat-nav and less than 76g (except for electric ones)? That seems a pretty steep taxing system to me
I haven;t found another hybrid in the broad price range that has sat-nav in the lower CO category so I can see why Toyota may have taken the decision; however it's pitched the car right next to the competition when the opportunity existed to really make it attractive. The UK company car tax system is steep and that's why you've got to be really careful about what you go for. If the forum allowed me I'd post a link on to the Parkers company car tax calculator so you can see the calculations.
You might want to consider the UK Prius forums with that question of yours. Hybrid / Toyota Prius - Toyota Owners Club - Toyota Forum
Company car tax is a nightmare. I also think it's how Toyota UK spec their cars. If they insist on sat nav being on their top end and expensive models, then it costs more in car tax for the owner. If Ford put it on their lower spec cars, then it makes them more attractive to some. But it's horses for courses. Some insist on sat nav, others prefer other stuff.
Actually, if it's only satnav you are after you can buy the Base model and add a third party Pioneer, Kenwood or similar unit. That will cost you about 600£, but it will still be cheaper then the option and that 3rd party unit will probably be better than Toyota one. You still get to keep wheel commands, and most units even have reverse camera. My unit died in the gen3 and that's what I'll do. Original unit is over 2000£. For that price you can get a HiFi setup, subwoofer and change all the speakers in the car ffs. I'd why it's so expensive.
I would in general never advise to get a built-in Sat Nav - it is expensive, obsolete when you buy it and obsoletes fast within a couple of years from purchasing. I'd rather spend 300€ every 2-3 years to get the latest and greatest in technology and not depend from a company, Toyota or whomever else, to provide me with technology they don't really know much about, that 1k-2k€ for a Sat-Nav that is nothing special and old. Repairs of in-built Sat-Navs are really expensive, typically offer no live traffic services (like e.g. TomTom HD traffic - which I must say works extremely well), it is not possible to really upgrade hardware, and software upgrades are not really that often. I'd get the model without it, and simply install a removable (for looks?) state-of-the-art portable Sat Nav which BTW in the Prius can sit nicely right in front of you, on the dash, in line-of-sight. Or install the latest app, on a phone that is rarely more than 2-3 years old and runs apps and gets information faster than any built-in Sat-Nav ever will. The only benefits of an in-built Sat-Nav are convenience (they cannot really be stolen if "forgotten") and precision in tunnels/lack of signal areas (like indoors or garages) as they are connected to the wheels and steering wheel. In all the years I have owned an external portable Sat-Nav, never really felt a burden not having both.
From what I can tell Toyota is aware of this issue. If you look at the car broker sites like drivethedeal you will find that there is an option listed to downgrade the Business or Excel models to have 15" wheels, and save some money in the process. I'm assuming this is to drop under the co2 threshold. Good news if this the case Appears to be about £4K of discount available including £1K contribution from Toyota if taking their finance.
Agree completely with the post above. You can get really fancy unit for the price of the inbuilt one. And i mean REALLY fancy, like top-of-the-line.
When thinking about the inbuilt headunit replacement, let consider that you will loose some car integrated info systems and setup screens. We will see when real cars arrive to showrooms.
On the Gen3 you lost about nothing except for voice commands, but if the 3rd party head unity has voice commands (and many do) - you loose nothing. And you can move that head unit to the new vehicle if you ever decide to sell the current one. You will save about 1000GBP by going for cheapest head unit and then replacing it btw. merged. I have a Prius that would be a V in US, but I have 15" wheels. It was bought in Italy. Could it be that this is similar? I even prefer 15" more since they have higher mpg and supposedly better ride quality, and tires are very cheap in the 195/65/R15 size.
