Regret ordering.

I downloaded the 2024 brochure from the Toyota US website less than a week ago (25 May). Because of the tire size issue I would only consider the LE model and NOT the AWD version since I will not own a car unless I am able to equip it with a spare tire.

The new Prius is appealing, but I really can't see the point in 'upgrading' from my quite-satisfactory 2020 Corolla (US) Hybrid. I purchased it for 'pocket change' on New Years Eve 2019-2020, have averaged 51.4 mpg through 75 fill-ups, have not spent a single dime on repairs, and IIRC have never spent much more than $100 at six-month services (including safety and emission inspections).

Only regrets: no factory options that year so BSM/RCTA was not available, the rear seat headrests can't be removed for rear visibility when not needed, and no hatch means large items are difficult to transport. (Absurdly, I needed to use my wife's Miata to bring home a replacement above-stove microwave.)

 

There's no problem fitting AWD models with spare tyres - there's at least one thread here with lots of details of such an installation.

 

Perhaps I should have specified a 'real' spare tire. €450 for a 'toy' tire, wheel and jack with an 80 km range and an 80 kmh safe speed is not an acceptable option for many of us where travel distances are long, road maintenance is typically not great and availability of a proper replacement tire (even the one in a size that IS available for purchase in the U.S.) is limited. Also, the delivery of the spare tire kit from the firm that most folks are mentioning here is currently six weeks.

 

If someone invents a collapsible spare tire, they deserve to become a billionaire.

 

Who knows, maybe someday Toyota will get back to supplying spare tires, and the tools, with proper storage.

 

Is there a significant difference in (not) fitting a full size tyre between the AWD and FWD?

 

The Prii Toyota does supply with a spare from the factory only get a 'toy' tire. That's the case with most cars available. A full size spare wouldn't fit under the trunk floor in every car I've owned.

 

Yeah I've tried dropping one of our regular-sized, mounted snow tires into the spare-tire well (on our 2010): it was chafing the sidewalls, rode high by maybe a couple of inches.

I wouldn't call the temp spare a "toy"; it gets you where you want to go, good compromise.

 

"MATURE"driver joins board to screech about vanishing brochures, weird tire sizes (that he didn't even order - 19's), a late promotion that can be easily obtain by cancelling and reordering, then formally announces that he's LEAVINGGGG!

And he isn't the first.

Entitlement is such a destructive character trait for everyone involved.

 

I can't say I'd ever want to get out and change a tire these days. Even if I didn't have roadside service and a cellphone for calling someone for help.

 

but it's nice if roadside service can use your spare, and you're on your way, instead of a tow.

 

I'd be happy for ride into town to get the flat fixed. I could have a pie and a coffee while I wait for my ride back.
It couldn't be all that expensive (if it ever happens).

 

or it could be when everything is closed and you're out of luck

 

It never happened at all in the 12 years I drove my Gen 3.

 

I saw something on the internet a few years back, about using polymer batteries in the body panels.
I think there's work to do to keep them from catching fire in a collision first.

 

It did happen to us, not in the Prius, but in our winter travel car, the Forester. A ways south of Missoula, just before normal shop closing time on a Saturday evening, I discovered a medium puncture leak, i.e. re-pump it and go a ways. And every regular tire shop we called, before and in Missoula, would not stay open for us to arrive. Even Les Schwab, which had a long running ad campaign highlighting many cases where they stayed open late to assist customers calling in from the road, would not stay open for us.

Costco would be open long enough, but wouldn't fix a tire not purchased from them (car only three months old, too early for replacement tires). Finally, found that WalMart -- the other WalMart, not the closer one that lacked a shop -- would still be open. Barely. Not special for us, they just had the latest hours.

Our troubles weren't yet over, as the vehicle was too new to be in the latest update of their model database, so they didn't know the lug nut torque spec, and refused to assume that it was the same as the prior model year. So I had to take the tire off the vehicle with my own tools and jack (for their liability protection), and just hand them the loose wheel for tire repair. But while they were fixing the flat, I was able to dig through my Owner's Manuel to find and show them the torque spec, which was sufficient for them to then to re-install the tire without any more labor contribution from me.

No free time for pie and coffee. But at least our next day (Sunday) travel plans were not erased.

The Prius later did suffer a catastrophic puncture flat from a plumbing pipe hangar, fast enough to destroy the tire before I could get off the freeway and to a safe pull-out. Put on the spare, drove home, moved all our bike event support equipment to the Forester, and took off again, reaching our event support duties a couple hours late. Dealt with Prius tire replacement after the cycling event was over.

In 12 years, that Prius experienced two puncture flats, neither repairable. Over the same period, the Forester also had two puncture flats, luckily both repairable.

Lack of a spare tire was one of several reasons I didn't trade up to a Prius Prime five years ago. The RAV4 Prime does have a spare tire, so that is what I recently traded up to.

 

What model year of RAV4 Prime did you get and how do you like it?

 

I acquired one of the current model year, 2024, a few months ago, just in time for a late season ski trip to the Rockies. Love it so far, though it hasn't yet seen the full force of deep winter.

The best household slot for a true EV is as the spouse's daily driver, but despite my pleadings for her to step up to the safer world of modern vehicles, she still isn't ready to give up the pre-airbag gasser I bought for her decades ago. If a modern EV, I'd drive it locally too.

A full EV doesn't (yet) fit as our long distance travel car, as explained in several other threads, so I'd been considering PHEVs for some years as our next step beyond hybrids. Considered a Prius Prime five years ago, but the reduced cargo capacity and lack of a spare tire nixed it. When the RAV4 Prime was announced, it was the winner, but it took this long for the supply to reach my state and local prices to drop to my threshold.

This does give the household two AWDs, which becomes useful when I'm away to my family's farm in winter. I always took the Forester during winter conditions, as my old Prius often lacked the necessary ground clearance, and sometimes traction, to get there without special snow plowing. But that meant during my absence, she would never go skiing on her own, refusing to drive the non-AWD Prius up the local mountain passes in winter no matter how good the weather and road conditions. She will drive the Forester there during my winter absences, while I take the new PHEV to the farm.

 

I think the issue, IMO, with the R4P, is that while it's a great car the price is high for what you get. The PP still falls into an affordability niche that makes sense when compared to other liftback/hatchback sedans. But the price difference between a Rav4 and an R4P, or an R4P and other cars at that price point, the value begins to fall off. But that's just my perspective. Its still an extremely popular addition to the Toyota lineup after all. I'm not into larger vehicles like SUVs, and the R4 while considered a "compact" SUV is still plenty big. Then again, the prius has gotten kinda big too, compared to other sedans from 10-20 years ago anyway. Latest gen is wider and longer than my matrix after all.

Kinda wish they'd just do Prius Vs again. Maybe they'll make a phev corolla cross so that we have something not as big as the r4p, and not as small as the prius