Buying Gen 5 coming from 17' Prius Prime

I'm a few days shy of having my 2017 Prime for 7 years. I am in Delaware that doesn't get long stretches of bitterly cold (sub 10 F) weather, but I can't remember the ICE every coming on in cold weather except if I used the front defroster or had the EV range of the battery drop to 0. I have gotten less than 20 miles range displaying after charging, but that is due mainly to heater use. The garage generally stays at least in the upper 20's in cold weather, but I have parked for hours in the cold and still not had the ICE fire up.

 

With cabin heating on, the threshold of -10°C (14°F) stated in the manual (same as stated for G4) seems about right. At -11°C (12°F) engine will usually start, at -7°C (19°F) it usually won't. Temperature's been hovering in that area for about a month here.

Bit more of a tendency to start the engine when the battery is low, I think, but hard to say for certain. Could be confounded with the effect of the battery still being warm from charging.

Current range estimate after charging is 58km (36mi) with A/C. Think it's a bit optimistic, but not too much.

 

yea - i know defroster activates ICE around 14°f ..... but if trips are short enough that the windshield doesnt frost .... that's what i'm wondering. Might have to leave a window or 2 cracked - if frosting happens

EDIT
oops - post answered
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Everybody should be aware of the cars around them. If you see debris on the road, or somebody cuts you off, you need to already know who's around you (including coming up behind you).
Call me old-fashioned but I like to know myself what's around me, not trusting my life to a few blinking lights (after I've taken a valuable second or two to check them).

 

The gen 5 rear window is definitely smaller, but you can absolutely see what is behind you. Left and right side mirrors also do a great job in additionally helping to see what is behind you. Blind spot monitor makes it way less necessary to look over your shoulder at blind spots. In my gen 4 I had already trained myself to look for the blind spot monitor light as I am glancing over my shoulder at blind spots. May not be in all gen 5 trims but if you signal to switch lanes and something is next to you, it gives an audible alert, which is super useful. The area I get a bit frustrated is the front right corner - it is more blocked in gen 5 due to the placement and size of the rear view mirror, but I'm getting used to it.

 

And Gen 4 rear visibility was worse than Gen 3? I wonder why the trend, crash worthiness?