Lots of people want the Rav4 Prime for its size, the 18.1 kWh plugin capability and a very strong 302 hp. Granted, the first couple of years Toyota refused to make many R4P by diverting battery resources to straight 1.6 kWh Rav4 hybrids where they could make ten vehicles instead of one. Plus the straight LE to Limited Rav4 hybrids are made in North America while the Prime is shipped from Japan and is only available in the loaded XSE and Limited trims.
We (especially the spouse, who is older than me) have reached the senior age bracket where our remaining road trip years are becoming limited, and this has a very significant chance of being our last road trip car. I.e. dollar value is getting less important as our remaining healthy life expectancy rapidly shrinks. We are now willing to spend more to get what we want now, because "too late" is already visible on the horizon and rapidly approaching. As mentioned earlier, the PP was considered but rejected about five years ago, appearing to have less cargo capacity than our Gen3 Prius, which we could easily overfill with travel kit and outdoor toys. Even our winter-travel Forester got filled up. The RAV4P isn't meaningfully larger than the Forester, but can fill both its and my former Prius's roles in a single vehicle. And also be our first plug-in car, something that has been on my wish list for many years.
I don't understand this point. LE vs. non-LE, and FWD vs. AWD have absolutely no impact on what type of spare you can or can't use. The outside tire diameters and widths of the 17" and 19" wheel options are virtually identical, so there's no benefit in getting the LE for that reason. The FWD version doesn't give you any additional space in the cargo area over the AWD version. A donut spare will fit under the high floor in the XLE and Limited, but it won't fit under the low floor in the LE without some light modifications. And no trim level can fit a full size spare under the cargo floor without significant modifications. I could understand an argument for non-Prime vs. Prime based on a spare tire(as a donut will fit in the non-Prime but not in a Prime), but I don't get LE vs. non-LE and FWD vs. AWD.
Despite the few vitriolic comments I thought an update might be of interest to a (very) few members of this august forum. Today I cancelled my Prius order and had my deposit repaid. I then went to my local VW dealer and ordered the new Mk8.5 GTE which is a PHEV. What swung it for me I was the 19.7 kWh drive battery, more performance and higher specification for a very similar price. I can now leave this forum happy with my decision and wish everyone all the best.
The Golf GTE PHEV-as it is known hereabouts- looks like a good and fun choice. It's not on the US market (yet?) I believe. My only caveats for choosing it over the Prius Prime would be Toyota's much longer experience with mass production hybrids, and the price difference. I understand it costs the equivalent of almost $ 51K, whereas I paid under 34K for my Prime SE.
You don't have to leave. There is an "Other Cars" section with a VW sub-section. Come back occasionally, and tell us what you do and don't like about it, and what we are missing! Don't let a bit of vitriol chase you away, there will be a bit of that regardless of your choices and where you go. Plenty of other people would be happy to hear about other products. Nobody has a monopoly on great ideas and products. Other Cars | PriusChat
@Maturedriver drops into a Toyota forum to sht all over the new $30k Motortrend COY Prius - whining about brochures, key fobs, and the end of quality as we know it. Then she promptly goes out, locks down the new Golf PHEV which Google says is priced at $64,990, and circles back to tell us all how happy she is. What. A. Looker!!!
The cars are a very similar price in the UK. Golf GTE is £39,570, and the Prius is £37,315-£39,995. Not sure what planet your prices came from.
That Golf looks worse than the G4 Prius Catfish. The design team must have been blind... or just recently time-traveled from the 1980's.
Golf Hatch GTE Golf Hatch GTE 1.5 TSI 272ps 6-Speed DSG 5 Door | Electric | Consumption: 15.9 kWh/62mi | Petrol| Consumption: 795.7 mpg and CO2 emissions: 8 g/km Your chosen engine 1.5 TSI 6-Speed DSG Performance 272ps Electric Fuel consumption 15.9 kWh/62mi Petrol Fuel consumption 795.7 mpg CO2 emissions 8 g/km Electric range (WLTP combined) 81 mi Price £39,750 Price £39,750, Your chosen exterior paint Urano Grey Additional costs may apply Additional costs may apply Your chosen interior Soul-Black - Blue Seat: Soul-Black - Blue Instrument-Panel: Soul-Black Carpet: Black Soul-Black Your chosen wheels Alloy Wheels 17" 'Richmond' Standard equipment Standard equipment Your chosen options Your price specification Your price specification Golf Hatch GTE 1.5 TSI 272ps 6-Speed DSG 5 Door Basic price £39,750 £39,750 Basic price (exc VAT) £32,392 £32,392 VED first year fee (included in basic price) - RDE Standard Additional costs may apply Additional costs may apply Sub Total £39,750 £39,750 Total Price Price £39,750 £39,750,
