My 14 year history with Prius is drawing to a close. We bought Prius in 2004 and have enjoyed tremendous performance and the best reliability possible through generations leading up to our most recent Prime. I have nothing but praise for the Prius line and Toyota but I'm (way past) ready to wean myself off oil and combustion engines. A Tesla Model 3 is arriving Tuesday. The Prime may yet stay in our family for my wife if she gets her way, but my attention has migrated to EV and clean energy. Long live Prius, and thanks for the ride.
Great to hear people switch to EV. I really like to switch too but I can't risk for the range anxiety and expansive / luck of charge stations around the northeast region. At max I can only have an EV as 2nd car.
I agree. I do not like the limited range without a backup via the ICE. As I've said with other posts, my wife and I sometimes decide to go somewhere on a whim--and when that happens, I don't have to worry about running out of juice--I have an ICE. So for our situation, the limited range of the all EV just doesn't work for us. Maybe it would if we had more charging stations around us--but here in North Carolina, i.e. very red state NC, chagrining stations are limited--and I wouldn't be excited about waiting 2 hours or so for a charge anyway. But again, that's our situation and how we do things--no doubt an all EV fits like a glove for others.
I live in Colorado, not exactly the central hub of EV charger heaven. The only EV for us that is practical today as a general purpose car is a Tesla. You might be pleasantly surprised at just how good the Tesla charging network is for you. I know I was. Second, the Tesla network is a LOT faster than you imagine. I may never spend more than 15 minutes at a Supercharger since I'm more inclined to fly distances much over 400 miles. Superchargers in your area:
Moving up to full EV isn't a good enough reason to leave us on PriusChat. Come back occasionally to let us know what we are missing. Plenty more folks will be following the same path in the coming years. But no longer having a need for a commuter vehicle, my shift to EV will be delayed.
There’s only two around my area, and the locations do not work for me. We spend a ton of time in wine country (Yadkin Valley) and around the mountains in North Carolina and Virginia. But thanks for pointing out what is coming—with more charging stations and a 10 minute or so charge time, I would be very tempted to switch. When it works for me, I will. Thanks for opening my eyes!
That's great. I think Toyota has always ultimately refered to Hybrid technology as being a bridge technology. The truth is, financial means allow some of us to cross that bridge faster than others. I'd love a Tesla, but they are just not in my affordable price range. Even the Prius Prime is really out of my range now. If I return to Prius, it's going to have to be at a used Prius level, or Prius c. But if money were not a factor? I'd love the non-compromise performance of a Tesla, and to be able to wean myself off a combustion engine. Hey, keep the Prime...you never want to totally lose touch with where you've come from. And The Prime? Is a pretty efficient vehicle, even if it does have a ICE.
I agree. But the Tesla is becoming more affordable. The thing holding me back is the lack of flexibility—charging stations and time to recharge.
Thanks for the kind words, much appreciated. Not too surprising, a fair number of the PriusChat old-timers hang out at the Tesla forums these days.
I traded my pristine Tesla model S for the Prius Prime. I owned my model S for about a year, it’s a fantastic car very fast, but I felt I was driving a Faberge egg. I drove the car out of warranty and after that you are responsible for anything that goes wrong with it: $950 to repair pesky door handle $12,000 to replace broken TFT screen Minor bodywork on aluminum panels can run up to $13,000. Even though I have a perfect driving record, my insurance was close to $1800 a year… And since more claims are coming in on Tesla and what they cost to repair, that price for all insurance agencies should increase in the future activity. I miss the 4.3 seconds 0 to 60 times, but it’s much more satisfying with the Prius prime overall. I do not regret my decision.
That has certainly been a problem for some. My insurance costs exactly the same as my Prime for equivalent coverage. I'm a little itchy about possible repair costs too, but there are good reasons to think that the Model 3 will be a LOT cheaper to repair than a Model S: Bodywork is not Aluminium Much higher sales volume, allowing economies of scale, 3rd party, and used parts markets to develop. The same situation played out for the Prius. I remember the sticker shock of Gen1 Prius owners facing a $7k bill to replace the 5" display. Tesla is cutting off the price gouging by 3rd party shops by opening their own.
can you report your experiences in the tesla threads here? it would be very helpful to have an objective experience. all we seem to have over there are fan boys and haters.
Oniki, To be sure I am not taking anything away from your excitement on purchasing a Model 3. You will be under full warranty and you’re going to have a blast owning this car. You’ll be owning a car that is slightly in the future… And you’re going to totally enjoy it. I drove my Tesla until my basic warranty was up. And then I got a little bit paranoid of driving an expensive car like this with expensive repairs should they arise. For a new car company, the quality of Tesla is overall excellent, and I see no problem with it being held up with a great dealer network that Tesla has,as well as the unique solid feel that a Tesla is.
My guess is that I got a fantastic deal on it from the original owner. I’ve been buying cars for a long time and I like to negotiate the best price are usually pay cash my vehicles. I bought my new Prius prime advanced with the retail price of $34,900, and I got it out the door for less than 30,000.
