Is the Gen 4 your first Prius?

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm probably a bit of an outlier, but I currently drive a 2012 Carrera S and a 2006 S2000 and I'm in the market for a Prius even though I've never even sat in one. As an engineer, I enjoy cars that do their job well; the Porsche and the S2000 shine on the track but the Prius would shine on my daily hellish Los Angeles commute. I appreciate the suspension work, the NVH improvements, and the optimized thermal management. It's all about picking the right tool for the job.

I just wish the options packaging made a little bit more sense (I'd love to get HUD and 17" rims, for example) and that Toyota had elected to go with CarPlay/Android Auto.

 

2nd. Put 123,000 miles on a 2008 Touring Prius.

 

I'm in the same boat. I'm currently driving a 2010 BMW 328i. The majority of my driving consists of 12 mile commutes to and from work in stop and go DC traffic (an hour each way). While I love the driving characteristics of the BMW on the open road (which constitutes less than 5% of my weekly driving), I am looking for better fuel economy and reliability. All that being said, I never considered the idea of purchasing a Prius until last year. I was given several of them as rental cars for business travel this summer and fall and was impressed. I was amazed when I managed to get roughly 49mpg on the drive from Denver to Aspen, despite the huge elevation changes and circuitous route. I'm also an unabashed techie and loved all of the displays and gadgetry (really wish CarPlay was an option though).

My remaining hangup was the exterior styling of the Prius. I've never been a fan of the egg shape. However, I find the new design more appealing to my taste. I'm also a fan of the new interior with the exception of that white lower console (I'm betting this goes away next year, in the meantime, I'm getting the black cover.). If all goes as planned, I will be receiving my new Prius Four in 2 weeks.

 

Second (4 with ATP+PCP)...upgrade from Gen2 2004, package #9 (and IMO it's a huge step up in terms of safety, convenience, etc.).

 

of course, we'll never know about the ones who don't join priuschat, but we could subtract this number from total sales for an rough estimate. but is suppose we can't assume it's their first prius just because they aren't members here.

 

This is my first Prius. I came from a 2014 BMW X1 35i. Great car, but the mileage was mediocre and I anticipate a long (1 hr each way) commute starting this summer.

 

I plan to get a 4 (ATP+PCP) around the fall season, and it'll be my first car I've purchased on my own. I still drive my first car, a Toyota Corolla 2003 and it has 245,658 miles. My dad got it for me for college, and the thing is a trooper for the last 13 years. No major problems until about two months ago, the catalytic converter went out. I thought of purchasing a new converter, but the cost is equivalent to the value of my car. So once the sale season starts I plan to retire my corolla.

 

Dropshot, did you buy directly from one of the local dealers or go through a buying service like Costco or AAA? Either way, how was your buying experience? I'm in Manitou and will consider trading in my 2010 gen 3 at some point.

I think of the X1 as an AWD lifted non hybrid upscale Prius, if that makes sense. Both are compact hatchbacks. How would you compare the interior quality, quietness, handling, etc.?

 

Royrose,

I bought from Larry Miller over in Motor City, but using the USAA buying program. They gave a nice discount off MSRP and gave me a decent offer for trade-in on the X1. The experience was quite good, since the USAA price (which uses Truecar, I think) was pre-negotiated between USAA and the dealership. My salesman (Matt) wasn't high pressure and was quite knowledgable about the Prius (he has driven one for several years). Overall, I had no problem with the dealer and would consider buying from them again (my wife is interested in a Highlander).

The comparison to the X1 is a bit tougher. They are both compact hatchbacks, but I think of them as more different than it seems you do. The X1 accelerated and handled wonderfully (I could easily pass most cars on I-25), handled great in the snow (with Blizzaks), and had very nice leather seats. On the downside, the rest of the interior was plasticky and not terribly attractive. With run-flats (which it came with) the X1 had significant road noise, but that was better when I put more conventional tires on instead. The tech inside was adequate. Overall, it was a great car for driving, but not ideal for commuting due to the higher fuel costs (premium), low mileage (about 22 mpg), and what I anticipated would be expensive upkeep once the mileage climbed.

The Prius, by comparison, seems like the perfect commuter car for my needs. The interior space is roughly what I had in the X1. Interior quality on my 4 trim with PCP is good. I like the Softex and think the seat is close to what I had in the X1, but I haven't had a long drive yet to assess it. While the acceleration isn't nearly what I had on the X1 (at least over about 30 mph), it's more than adequate for my frankly sedate driving style. The handling of the 2016 Prius is quite good. Again, not exactly the X1, but given how I drive I can't really tell much of a difference. Noise in the cabin is on par with the X1...maybe a little noisier during acceleration. The technology (with ATP) is significantly better than the X1. I particularly love the HUD and the Adaptive Cruise Control. Even the automatic parking, which I thought would be more of a gimmick, has turned out to be very useful for the underground parking garage that I use at work (whose concrete pillars have claimed many door panels over the years). Of course, mileage so far is in the 50s, so far better than the X1, and it does it on regular gas.

 

Yes, I should have put a after comparing the X1 to the Prius. Their dimensions are strikingly similar and I like a well equipped compact vehicle that has a roomy back seat and is practical for carrying cargo. The Prius and X1 meet those criteria.

Thanks for your comments. To me it is a positive that the Prius doesn't seem like a big drop in "luxury" feel. I'll take the fuel efficiency and expected reliability of the Prius.

 

Well, the X1 is the lowest model of BMW. Not terribly "luxury."

 

I"m a first time Prius owner. I considered it in the past but after a test drive of a previous model (around the 2008 time frame i think) - I wasn't very impressed. I absolutely LOVE the 2016 Prius! Makes me wish I had bought a Prius earlier (i paid attention a bit more to exactly how the prius system works and its benefits..... if i did that back in 2008 i probably would've bought it even if it didn't drive as well as i wanted).

I've owned tons of cars (Im' hoping this Prius ends my run of regularly swapped out cars for a long time to come). I've owned MINI twice, a small handful of compact to medium SUVs (including Lexus twice). I also commuted by motorcycle primarily a for a couple of contract jobs. I enjoy both sporty/fun "driving personality cars" and "do it all" SUVs. I even had a Honda Fit once as a high MPG / low cost of ownership car.

The reviews of this Prius is what sold me on getting one. I wasn't really in the market for a car but was lamenting the poor mpg i was getting on my big luxury suv. I definitely made the right choice to switch and have absolutely fallen for this car big-time.

As for "how did you buy". The Consumer Reports build/price/buy service (partnered with TrueCar) was a very PLEASANT experience. I'm a pretty hardcore negotiator and have a reliable method, but didn't want to work that hard for this one. I've tried COSTCO in the past and that has never been successful - Costco doesn't QA that process that well an thus it's nothing more than an "intro" service to your local dealer.

The Consumer Reports / TrueCar worked. It's a pre-agreed upon price that the build/price function tells you up front. It shows you which dealers have negotiated what price. You choose which dealers to submit your request to. The dealers have an auto-response setup to confirm their current price (none of them were above $150 more than the Consumer Reports reported "good price" it uses as a target. From there you print out your confirmation price form the dealership and bring it with you to the test drive and that's it. The price is honored. (For the 2016 Prius it was about $1000-$1500 below MSRP. Not too bad for a car that's only been out 2 weeks and should be a very hot seller.

but part is, yo don't have to be a member or prove you are a CR member - you just have to have the printout. So all you need is to know somebody that is a member who can logon to the CR site for you so you can initiate the build/price quote.

hope that answered your questions.

 

well this (when I get it ) will be my 4th Prii, 2002 ( Pioneer pkg 3 ordered off the internet), 2004 (Pioneer Pkg 3 again ordered off the internet), 2014 level 4 , and looking for a 2016 level 4 with ATP&CP .. So I have had a Prius from Nov 2001 to Current.

 

Never owned a Prius always looked at them especially in 2015 when there was some deep discounts on the MY2015. However, once I heard about the 4th generation coming out I decided to wait. Glad I did really like the design along with the improvements over the previous generation. Currently driving a 2015 Forester XT great cargo room along with the 250hp. However, the down side is getting 300 miles out of a tank of gas, premium at that.

So really interested in getting the new Prius 2 Eco and maybe doubling my miles per tank. Seems funny talking about saving on gas with the current gas prices. But I don't like throwing away money and based on the current prices I could still save approximately $1,000 a year.

 

Hello,

I just joined. I just bought a Prius yesterday. Honestly, I wasn't planning to buy a car this year but my electrical system in my nearly 11 yr old car died (Audi A4) and other issues found during the inspection ($$$) meant I decided it was time to trade it in and get something else. So I quickly did a variety of research online, decided to stop at a Toyota dealership for 'just' a test drive but I saw a hypersonic red prius and knew it was the car for me.

I actually don't drive a lot but I'm hoping for the Prius to become our weekend car which would be more driving. It is also a fun car to drive.

Oh and I was disappointed that I couldn't negotiate as much as I have when buying a car in the past but there were are at least a couple people looking at the car I was trying to buy but I did manage to get the dealer to knock $1k off the MSRP. And I did need a car that day so I didn't want to try to wait it out.