Prius Prime Plus vs Premium. Final decisions.

Just go with whatever color you like, or whatever is readily available. No one is going to care by the time you go to sell the car. To me a fun color like blue would be a slight benefit when buying a used car. But don't make your decision based on what other people think.

I's vote the Plus. The Premium doesn't add much of value to me, and the climate control buttons on the Plus are probably better. Consumer Reports makes their recommendations based on what they think people want, but you should make a decision based on what's important to you. For example I also have a Toyota 4runner, and CR gave it something like a 39 out of 100. But in my opinion (and for my needs) it's still one of the best cars ever made.

 

I wouldn't worry so much about color - you can always get the car wrapped or plasti-dipped (which will also have the positive effect of keeping your paint absolutely perfect). Hell, you can even get this applied if you want (though Sekanskin where this particular example was done is located in Toronto).

I figured the Premium was only about $2500 or so more than the Plus and I'm going to keep the car 10+ years, so I might as well get the big screen (admittedly because I like using the onscreen map on our Tesla). We weren't so hot about some of the stuff on the Advanced, so we ended up with a Premium. I really hate the softex though - always hated leather seats. I would have paid quite a bit more for an Alcantra option like on our sports cars.

I need to buy another car soon and I'm kind of having second (and third) thoughts about picking up a Taycan wagon, so I might end up with another Premium.

 

I finally ended up with Plus. The major reason is the large screen on premium. It is absolutely terrible. Super inefficient use of space (the top area shows a car with no other information). Sat-nav is counterintuitive (need 20 minute to enter an address?). Also, I heard they charge for map update.

So here is some of my thought after 2 weeks of ownership, hope that is helpful:
1. 1 door SKS is a thing. Specially at grocery store when you have stuffs in both of your hand and trying to open the hatch. My last car has SKS on all 4 doors and the trunk. Probably I need some time get used to it.
2. Automatic headlight is missing on Plus. But you still got Daytime Running Light, which is a dimmed headlight. I constantly forget to turn on the headlight because DRL is very bright and I don't feel dark. However in this case I will not have taillight on, which could be dangerous.
3. The small screen shows enough information for me. It is actually the same as Gen 4, by part number. Which means I may able to swap an android head unit that runs android app and support Apple Carplay. Those head unit are usually cheap ($300~500). That's something to think about.

 

It's interesting to hear others rational for picking a trim level.
I went with the Advanced and enjoy all the additional features.
I KNOW if I went with the lower Premium or Plus I would be kicking
myself after taking delivery and not having a valuable feature
(like blind spot/rear cross traffic?).
As far as the Nav taking 20 minutes to enter an address?
Perhaps an exaggeration?
I can enter a destination in 10 seconds just using voice recognition.
It's interesting how you speak a destination naturally and then the system parses
it back to you in reverse order. Way cool. And for me very accurate.

 

Go with plus if you don’t care “leather” seats.

 

I went with titanium (sort of silver) because of the heat absorption of darker colors. My previous blue Prius was a greenhouse in the summer. My new lighter color plus tinted windows has felt a lot more comfortable in July.

Hard to even remember in February in Minnesota.

Silver and white cars are cooler, says study

 

I don't like how my silver PiP looks so bland and ordinary because I'm a bit of a contrarian, but I love how it hides the dirt. Then again, when I wash and wax it, it really doesn't look much better. So, I don't wash & wax it very often, which saves me time & effort.

But at least it reflects some of the Florida heat.

 

I'm gonna be resident luddite: 4+ grand for a radio? How did we swallow this?

 

I have the advance and people sure know how to complain about things. Get the car and trim you want, live your life


edited: now that I have the advance trim. I won't go to the other options.

I am very happy with what I got. And I love it
Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

If the only thing you care about are the seats, then just save your $4K and buy factory oem covers from Wet Okole or something like that. Honestly, you'll be doing yourself a favor to avoid the dog shit premium entune trash system.

 

Take my 11 inch screen. I hate it.

When starting the car, I have to wait for the scren to load before I can adjust the temp or fan control. SUcks on hot days.

Sometimes it freezes randomly and has to restart.

It's super laggy.

The only reason I got the advanced was some safety features were unavailable on the regular model at the time. I also wanted the fog lights but now realize it doesn't really make much a difference.

If I could go back I'd get the plus. I miss having actual buttons to press.