Camry owner considering switch to Prius Prime

If you can afford buying a new car, I would go for it. There are all kinds of federal($4500) and local credits you can get for buying one too. Also maintenance is low on a Prius. No belts, no starter, no alternator. Change fluids, filters, and tires for the first 120,000 miles. Brakes last awhile because of regenerative braking. I have gone over 150,000 miles without concerns of brake replacements. I currently don't use any gas on my daily commutes, which with less engine use can extend if any future oil leaks unlike your camry. Even on gas alone, I have gotten 64 mpg. So alot money savings in the long run. I bought the Advance trim and love my Prime. It is the best car I've owned so far. I like the flexibility of having the choice to drive only on electricity or gas. I would highly recommend a Prius Prime purchase.

#1 in Easley,SC

 

When the new 2016 Prius first came out, I saw a few here in So Cal. But as soon as the Prius Prime hit the market, I am seeing way more of them! The Prime seems to be more appealing regarding looks and and economic features. If I could afford one, I would.

 

makes sense to me.

 

plug in's have huge depreciation, so you may want to look at something a year or 3 old. but cali may be different.

 

California has some fantastic deals for people who buy Prius Prime. You can get the basic $1,500 cash if you buy the car. This is from the California rebate program. You can also qualify for a $4,500 federal tax credit. My city, Anaheim gives you $1,000 cash after you buy a 240 volt charger. Toyota gave me $1,000 off the price of the car when I bought it in February. The electric only range for the car is somewhere over 25 miles as much as 35 miles depending on if you're driving in heavy traffic or not. Driving slowly in heavy traffic or on surface streets you get much better fuel range and I've reached 36.3 miles in that sort of driving environment. The good weather out here also gives us terrific mileage. I bought the Prius Prime Advanced and I would recommend that car as a great value. Oh yeah, I got $100 credit on a plastic card from chargepoint because I bought the Prius Prime! How can you refuse this?!

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

The new car smell has to have some value. LOL

#1 in Easley,SC

 

Colorado is even better.

$4,502 federal credit.
$5,000 state credit assignable to the dealer at purchase.

 

Mine *appreciated* since last fall. The KBB value went up, despite the extra miles and time.

In other words, the market is growing and so is demand.

 

If you end up buying one let us know. We will give you the secret hand signal you give other Prime drivers you pass on the road.

 

I recently replaced my 2008 Altima S with the Prius Prime Plus. The Altima was averaging about 26-27mpg with mostly highway driving, but commuting 400+ miles a week meant that I was using about 16 gallons of gas per fill-up.I had considered a Volt or a Bolt, but decided on the Prime because it's a phenomenally efficient vehicle, both as an (short-ranged) EV and as a HV.

Couldn't love the car more. It's certainly noisier than my Altima, particularly on rough road surfaces, but the ride is still composed and it handles surprisingly well due to the added weight of the battery pack. My daily commute is about 80 miles round trip, mostly on California highways, with no workplace charging, but I still average around 60mpg and can almost get through 2 weeks without fueling up. Since it sounds like your commute is a lot shorter, the Prime makes even more sense, given that it's more efficient than the Volt as an EV, and you don't need the added range.

The main rebate to watch is the $1500 California Clean Air Vehicle Rebate. As of this post, it's about 44% claimed, and I haven't heard much on whether or not they'll be adding more funds for next year. My estimate is that, if they don't, the current runs will run out in a month or two.

Toyota MIGHT offer a bigger rebate as the 2018 Prius Primes roll in later this year, but I don't know if it'll be as good as the $1000 cashback + $1500 CCAVR. Still, it could be that supply finally catches up with demand for the car later this year, and dealers will be more inclined to slash more off the MSRP. Right now, it's hard to find anything that's more than a few hundred off.

Also: check with your energy provider to see if they have special rates for PHEV/EV owners. Up here, PG&E gives a pretty deep discount (about $0.12/kWh for off-peak use) for PHEV/EV owners-- and that seems to apply for ALL electricity use, not just the bit that goes into your car. It has a customer cap, however, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there's still room for us.

 

agreed. other than the loss of the middle rear seat and the hatch space, the prime is head over heals better than the pip.

 

I've heard estimates that the funds will run out by Q2, but who knows. My understanding is that car sales tend to pick up as the year goes on, but I don't know if it'll be draining at 1%/day or what. We had the opportunity to buy one that was on the lot at what we felt was a fair price, but we were pretty flexible about color.

I imagine Toyota will probably offer a bigger rebate when they're ready to roll out the 2018 model, so if you miss the California rebate, you can maybe wait for a better manufacturer's rebate. Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and CA will replenish the funds (but maybe with a lower income cap) and then we would have been worrying over nothing!

Or buy your car from out of state

 

Beware, 25 miles is from the driver's handbook. I only get 20 miles. It depends on your driving style.

Prime's all speed adaptive cruise control helps with congested traffic in a sense that you don't need to worry about distance, brake, acceleration, etc. It is a bless.

 

One of my most favorite features. I don't use the freeway that much during my daily commute, but on the weekends I'll often use them for further distances. For example, I went up to the valley this weekend from OC, and set the dynamic radar cruise at 75...there were times when it brought me to a complete stop, sped me back up, and maintained a safe distance at various speeds. It took a little while to get used to when I first used it, but I feel completely comfortable with it now.

As for EV distance, I got my car back in November and estimated distance was in the low 20s. Over the past few weeks since the weather's warmed up, my estimated range is now in the low 30s. This is with the AC set to auto at 73 (76 when the sun is out).

Love this car, I came from a 2006 Prius with 197,000 miles. Had no major maintenance with that car. The hybrid battery did die at 145,000 miles, but the warranty is to 150k, so I got a new hybrid battery for free. My justification for the Prime was my daily commute is less than 25 miles, the tax credit, CA incentive, and cheap electricity through a time of use plan (.13/kwh cents overnight). I rarely use gas during the week, and I've filled up about once every 5 weeks. My last fill-up was in Palm Springs a few weekends ago at about 1200 miles on the tank (and I still had a quarter tank left) because gas was cheap at $2.75. Based on your current car situation, and if you can afford it, I'd definitely recommend looking seriously at getting a Prime.

 

great car - just under powered on hills.

If gas savings mean a lot to you - get the prime.