BMW or Prius?

If you do not care about MPG, the 328i is an amazing car. I had one as a rental when my Wife's Civic Hybrid went into the shop and I was very impressed with it.


In the 328i I had no issues that I have with my Prius C on comfort.





So, if you want fun to drive, 328i. If you just want to get somewhere with the least amount of gas, Prius.

 

BMW's are fun to drive. Ridiculously expensive to maintain. Their quality is not that great on their lower trim cars (which the 3 series is) and is very expensive to fix when something does go wrong.

So definitely lease, not buy a low end bimmer.

The Prius is fun in its own way, but the BMW will be faster. No question there. The seats are different. Also the "sport" suspension they put on the US versions of the BMW's is a joke. It just makes it really hard and lengthy rides on non-smooth roads become horrible.

I've got the Prius that I drove most of the time. But then I also have my sports car for the fun, and a few others for other types of fun. The Prius gets 90%-95% of the driving. Many cross country trips in it.

It hurts when you have to put 16 gallons of premium gas in a vehicle that gets 8 miles to the gallon when you are used to putting in 10 gallons of el-cheapo gas in the 50mpg Prius.

 

These cars have different reasons for being. You need to decide which market you are in.

This is often a poor financial path. It is generally better to save money first, and delay the expensive fun until you are certain it is affordable. Of course, this is not the usual American Way.

 

I'm no BMW fan but I've test driven plenty of them and will acknowledge their smaller cars (like the 3-series) have pretty good handling. If you lease, then you should have to worry much about the money pit aspect of BMWs. Google for

Code:

site:priuschat.com jmd bmw money pit

. And yes, BMW reliability is pretty hit or miss.

328i isn't the that fast. I've owned cars w/comparable straight line performance and there are MANY that are way faster for similar or less money.

If you hate getting gas, you'll hate it even more if you go from a Prius to something way less efficient.

As for Prius seat height, you should be able to lower it on all Gen 3 liftbacks. Yes, the brakes feel funny on most hybrids, at first, but you get used to it. I'm totally used to it now and it's no longer weird at all.

Remember that if you lease, at the end of your lease payments, you have no car, unless you spend even more $ to buy it. You're paying the depreciation on the car during the time in which it loses its value the quickest.

Personally, I'm not into leasing and I don't ever plan to lease any car other than an EV (want to lease a Nissan Leaf), but that's another story.

 

I owned a 325CI before switching to a 2010 III. The 325 was great in almost all aspects, but once the included maintenance expired, the out of pocket for repairs and maintenance was very expensive. There is nothing cheap about the BMW. If you feel the need for speed, then get the BMW for now and the Prius later. You can't really compare to two vehicles side by side.

 

Used to own a 330I before trading it in recently for a 2013 Prius III. BMW is way too expensive to maintain.

 

I think burning a hole in your pocket will change your mind about the choices in your life.

Why come to Prius forum?

As other have said, there are others that drives fast & furious without costing that much like a BMW.

The mentality of how you drive in America has to change. It is no longer muscle car and horsepower any more.

Driving a Prius changes your mindset.

BTW, I looked at the BMW hybrid and the Mercedes Hybrid. Not competitive enough in technologically. Even Honda and Ford hybrid technologically is behind Prius Synergy System.

For the cost, Prius Hybrid is the best value, second to none (Consumer Report).

If you still want to drive like a racing car driver, Prius is not for you. You get used to it as I have. The "Power Mode" in Prius is fast enough for me.

Prius represents something different. Prius is the leader that started the "Hybrid" category. Others are just followers and they want to be like Prius. None of them come close.

So, Prius is kind of like IPhones and IPads. You know that you got a good thing when you own something that is wonderful.

Have you ever try riding a bike, or take a bus or train to work?

You need to look at different perspective in live and your mindset will change.

 

If you "hate getting gas" and have a place a work or home for a charger, a plug-in hybrid would be another choice. In addition to the Plug-in Prius, Chevy was running some aggressive leases on the Volt. (Would only lease one for the length of the warranty.)

If you have a need for speed and/or handling, there are a number of good choices that don't come at the high price (or snob appeal) of a BMW: Scion Fr-S / Subaru BRZ, Subaru WRX, MazdaSpeed 3, Mazda Miata, VW GTI, Honda CR-Z hybrid (looks fast, even if it isn't), etc.

 

Did you drive the Prius with "sport mode" turned on? It drives much like a "normal" car that way and mpg drop, but they still will end up being better than a BMW mpg.

 

Talk about the proverbial apples and oranges! The two machines have different design targets. Obviously the BMW ranks up there in performance, comfort, and style. The record shows that they also are over priced, expensive to maintain, and resale is not one of the best. So it boils down to being pragmatic and what is affordable. If you have money to burn, no pun intended, need your ego stroked, and love luxury and comfort, if that is your priority, the Beamer is your best bet. On the other hand, if your looking for state of the art in modern hybrid vehicles, futuristic design and instrumentation, high resale, low maintenance and operating expenses, then the Prius is your girl.
I have posted many times and stand by my comment, the Prius is the most Pragmatic vehicle I have owned in 43 years of driving, I certainly have owned many many very Gucci cars, they are very nice. But today my wife and I both own his and her Prius. Not judgin just sayin!

 

This is my 2 cents worth, If you can afford a BMW then you can afford the gas. I'm an average person with an average salary so I bought a used Prius that fits my financial situation. It's like people that can afford an RV you don't need to ask them about how much they get in gas mileage. If they can afford it they don't care what it cost to fill it up!

 

Thats a tough one. I think you should get the BMW. Especially if you never had one before. Get it in manual.

 

I love BMW and I loved mine till the day I traded it (550i GT). However I agree with the comments above, horrible on gas, expensive to maintain especially after the warranty expires. The overall cost of ownership on a BMW is crazy, even though I could afford it i could no longer justify it and finally bought a Prius after looking at them for 5+ years. You need to decide how you use it most and base your decision on cost and common sense, what works best for you?

 

Get a Prius with the Plus performance package.

 

If the driving performance is something that is making the BMW desirable, go find a Tesla Model S owner that will give you a test drive. The driving experience will make the driving experience of the BMW seem like a horse drawn carriage.
You can then go buy the Prius, enjoy the low gas usage, and when you are ready for your next car you can get a third gen Tesla and get a the best of both worlds

 

prius if you want to save on gas, cost of ownership and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions (Fuel Economy). bmw if you're not ready to sacrifice the "ultimate driving machine" experience for those things

 

Here's some options for you.

* You may want to check out the Ford C-Max hybrid. It's only scratching about 39 MPG average on Fuelly | Share and Compare Your MPG, not the 49 MPG the Prius liftback gets, but, C-Max claims about 188 total HP, comes with 225 tires and the cockpit is more 'conventional' and sexed up a little.

If you want a reliable, very efficient, 'good' car and can live with some quirks and aren't to keep up with sporty cars, new Prius may be for you.

However, Prius cockpit, although it is very futuristic, is 'not quite there'. I find Prius seat to be pretty darn good for the class, but there's something off about the steering wheel - the steering wheel 'face' is not as vertical as I would like it to be. You know how a bus steering wheel is really horizontal, well Prius has a bit too much 'horizontal tilt' to it, so my wrists are a little bent downward when gripping at 10 and 2 o'clock. It feels 'ok' in my hands, but definitely not great.
The Prius armrests are also hard, only a bit of fabric over hard plastic. Door armrest is too low IMO. After 1 year, finally caved and put a 1" dense slab of foam on driver's door armrest - not what you'd expect to see in a $25k car.

Edmunds has stated that for taller drivers, Prius steering wheel does not telescope nearly far enough towards driver and I agree. The seat can scootch back pretty far in 3rd gen Prius, but it's sort of a waste because my arms would be mostly straight trying to reach the wheel when pulled out. I have to slide 2 clicks forward. 1 click forward would be really good, but the wheel is a tad too far away.

It's not really bad, but not something you would expect to see in a $25,000 car.

Push the wheel full into the dash - who would need the wheel that far away? Someone who is 4'6" tall?

For Prius drieveability, you'd want to look at the new Prius Persona on lower end price, Plus performance package, or Prius Five trim.

* Another option is to consider buying a used BMW or older Prius for now. Save your money and wait 2 1/2 years to check out the 4th generation liftback Prius. It might arrive on dealer lots in May 2015. From there you could decide to be an early buyer, or wait 2 1/2 more years to catch a 2018 midcycle refresh which always has some nicer exterior and interior upgrades.

 

I'll bet you didn't know you can adjust the Prius seat, not only forward and backwards, but also up and down. It was probably adjusted all the way up! Buy the Prius!

 

And if you want more "oomph," just press the button to put it in the "power" mode and you've got all the Ooomph you need!