…and suddenly it was time to buy a new Prius

Loaded the bags into the trusty 2005 Prius ready to set out for the airport, pushed the power button, and the Christmas lights turned on. You know, the big red Christmas tree with the exclamation mark, the yellow Christmas ornament with the exclamation mark, the weirdly shaped Christmas gift with "CHECK" underneath it, and the VSC light wishing us a Very Serene Christmas.

Regardless, the gasoline engine still worked to get us to the airport, and we got our flight. On returning nothing had changed, so we took it limping to the dealer yesterday morning. A quick check with the OBD/GYN and the news came in: main battery pack needs replacing, brake actuation system might also need replacing, a couple of other things might also need fixing if the first two fixes don't fix 'em. Estimated repair cost about 4x the optimistic value of the car.

I hadn't planned on buying a car that day, but I had planned on buying a car some time in the next 2-4 years, so I had money squirreled aside. During our trip I had experienced the marvel of Apple CarPlay in our rental car, and knew I absolutely had to have it, so that meant a 2020 vehicle. They only had one 2020 Prius, and it was a fully loaded 2020 Limited with moonroof. If I'd been making the decision in my own time I'd probably have gone with an XLE (for the seats) or maybe considered a plug-in, but since we were looking at having no car and having to rent or lease something, I reluctantly talked myself into the deluxe package and negotiated with the dealer.

I did consider pure electric from some other manufacturer, but Consumer Reports lists most of them (in particular, the Bolt and Tesla 3) as having poor reliability compared to a Prius, and the one thing I've really come to appreciate over the past 15 years is having a car that starts up and runs every damn time — even, it turns out, after the battery pack fails. (The Hyundai Kona has good ratings so far, but good luck getting one, and our rental Hyundai Elantra had terrible headroom which made it a pain to get in and out of, even though it allegedly has more headroom than the Kona, so that was out.)

So, new year, new Prius. It's that weird gray/green/blue color ("Sea Glass Pearl"), with gray interior. (I'd have taken anything except black, because a black car is just a stupid idea in Texas.) I've got a bunch of questions about Entune and other features that I'll be trying to answer by searching the forums here, but in the mean time if anyone has any 2020 specific questions, go ahead and post 'em! Toyota's web site doesn't seem to have the 2020 manuals yet and listed it as a 2019 when I registered it, but it's definitely 2020 on the paper manuals and has CarPlay. (And no white plastic, thank god they got rid of that.)

 

Yes, the rebate might have made the Prime cheaper, but I'd have had to sort out an alternative while they special ordered a Prime Limited.

 

Only 130,000, sadly. But it was a 2005, so I feel like I got my money's worth.