My Leaf is a great car, but it's a bit small for the kids now that they've grown as much as they have since we bought it. Looking at a Prius as a replacement. The numbers say an 08 prius has 5.5"more leg room and a 12 has 3.5" more than the Leaf. I've driven both and prefer the interior and overall driving experience of the 12 PiP I drove. I'm debating on the PiP vs a regular Prius as the PiP is about $3000 more and being a more rare car it seems like it may be harder to get used parts for. Opinions/thoughts?
More info, I've looked at a few 08-09 models that are $3500-$5000(closer to my get out of debt quick goal) with higher miles (~180,000) and I found a 12 PiP advanced (they claim it is anyway...I need to look into that a little more. It doesn't have leather seats.) With 144k miles for $8,995. My commute is 80 miles round trip. I have level 2 charging available at home and free at work.
The Gen2 (2004-2009) Prius has legendary leg room in back seat, but my understanding that was partially because the front seats had short rails so they did go back as far. Gen3 is legendary cargo space/maybe total space for a hybrid that size.
Given your long commute and the short EV range of the PiP, it might make more sense to get a regular Prius, especially if you can save a few grand. Maybe parlay your savings into a future plug-in. Yes
Kinda my thinking, but I was also thinking with the 50mpg vs 60mpg it could be worth the extra up front investment. I guess the reality is that it would take several years (assuming gas doesn't go to $4+per gallon again.) to save that $3000 in gas.
PiP vs hatchback is a complicated decision. PiP gets slightly better mileage thanks to the larger battery even aside from plugging it in. Also, for short errands, you'll use no gas at all. But plugging in is still worth it. I make lots of trips around town that come to 40-50 miles, which is obviously way beyond battery range. These are mostly stop and go with 45-50 mph limits. I get over 70 mpg on those trips almost every time. We recently took a trip that was mostly Interstate, 90 miles each way. Started each direction with a full battery. Got 60 mpg one way and 61 the other way. Drawbacks to the PiP are: No spare tire. (I usually have one strapped in the back.) Almost no under-deck storage. Smaller gas tank. Advantages are: I get 800-1,000 miles out of the smaller tank except on long road trips. More bells and whistles even on the base model than the lower trim level hatchbacks. All but a few parts are interchangeable with the hatchback. I guess. I've never needed any.
Thanks. In 17 years of driving, I've never needed a spare tire. *Knock on wood* I've had a handful of almost flats but discovered them where I could pull the screw out, plug and refill the tire.
I've had one blowout that shredded the tire and a few months ago, my wife put a 3/8" carpenter's drill bit through a tire. I don't remember any other times when I HAD to have a spare. Lots of times when it was convenient.
Let's not overlook an obvious PiP advantage... LESS ENGINE USE The fact that the engine is used less frequently and started with such a protective process (held to 1500 RPM at first) will give it longer life then a regular Prius.
Excellent point, John! I forgot that one. My odometer shows about 85,300 miles, but I think only about 50,000 are on the ICE.
We just got home from one of those trips -- about 45 miles. Full charge when we left home and no charge when we got back. Computer showed 86 mpg.
We all went to drive the PiP I found. It's definitely more roomy than the Leaf. My wife seems to think something was wrong with the car... That it's noisy in the cabin/the engine is noisy. She's too used to the quiet cabin of the leaf and how quiet and smooth the v6 in the Odyssey is compared to a small 4 cylinder. We have to sell the Leaf before I can make any move on a Prius anyway. Gonna have to go test drive a few others for comparison. One down side is the Prius definitely doesn't get up and move the way the lead can.
It's too bad you have to sell the Leaf amid such low gas prices. If you waited til gas prices were high again you would get a lot more money for it.
