Debating whether to buy a 2016 Prius.

welcome!

1) a car is never a good investment. what other cars do you consider to be so?

2) you have a 10 year/150,000 mile battery warranty.

3) take one for a test drive up a steep hill, you might be correct.

4) i carry a spare in the hatch, but you have an option to buy a model with a spare.

5) tyres.

6) all the best!

 

I drive up a big hill that other cars seem to struggle on every morning and I was a little worried about how the Pri would do. My old car was pretty smooth on it but was getting less so as it aged. My Pri is much better. It's got some surprising power and it's smooth.

I got the 3 because I can't see driving a car without a spare.

How are you figuring the 5 years to recoup gas savings? I see it as I used to spend about $100/month on gas. I'll save at minimum about $50 less on gas per month if I double my mpg from my old car, or about 50 mpg, and I got closer to 60 mpg on my first tank.

I drive about 35 miles a day to work, and I thought it was a no brainer for me to go with a hybrid since it was in my price range. Even without the cost savings it is nice not to have to fill up gas so much.

 

Assuming that gas prices stay low

The battery has a 15 year warranty[/QUOTE]* I'm concerned about its performance up steep hills with four passengers.[/QUOTE]If the battery is charged, there is no shortage of power.

You can put one in, just modify the foam filler

My EP22s are OK in wet just bad fir snow/ice.

Enjoy,

JeffD

 

According to Warranty Manual, the hybrid battery and system are covered for 8 years or 100k miles. Unless I'm reading it wrong.

http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/omms-s/T-MMS-Prius/pdf/2016PriusWSG.pdf

 

It takes a while to fully understand the Toyota hybrids. If the hybrid battery runs low, the power splitting device (which Toyota calls the eCVT but isn't actually a continuously variable transmission) sends power from the gasoline engine to spin one of the electric motors backwards to generate electricity to send to the other electric motor, thereby continuing to send a combination of gasoline and electric power to the wheels. There is no loss of ability to accelerate or maintain speed.

I live at 6,300 feet elevation and routinely drive about 12 miles straight uphill to a nearby town at 8,400 feet elevation, sometimes with 4 people in the car. I drive at least as fast as the stream of traffic with no problem.

 

I don't understand how the HP is calculated but the advertised HP is about 25 pts lower than my old car and it definitely feels stronger.

 

Krusty,

Gas is cheap because we're in an election year. What do you think gas will cost when the middle East blows up into war? Add "insurance policy" your pros list.

95% of flats are the slow leak kind that you can inflate long enough to get home. You can always keep a spare tire at home that someone could bring you in an emergency. If you're really worried just get AAA.

The battery warranty in most states is 10 years or 100k. At 11k per year you probably don't have to worry.

What other cars are you considering?

 

I assume you are talking of buying a cheaper car, say Corolla, which burns more fuel than Prius. When back in 2007 I was debating with myself which one to buy: Corolla or Prius, I did a very basic estimate when the price of the car + fuel breaks even. Corolla was about $10,000 less expensive. I assumed 3 scenarios: $3, $4 and $5 a gallon (I am in CA). For $3 it would be around 10 years, at $4 - 7 years, and at $5 - 5 years. During the 9 years I owned that car the average price in CA was around $4. So my car payed in about 7 years. (This is very rough estimate based on my yearly mileage).

On the topic of Dynamic Cruise Control, I bought Three Touring, which has it plus a spare tire. There are a few discussions on this forum about the spare. AAA may not help you if you don't have it, as some folks noted. It depends on your travel and risk tolerance.

 

Yes. Somehow you are reading it wrong.

Incorrect.

Incorrect.

The warranty most people are concerned about is the HV (High Voltage) Battery (aka Hybrid Battery). The warranty breaks down to 8year/100K miles (non-CARB State) or 10year/150K miles (CARB State). There are exceptions to the rule; Washington State adopted the CARB Emission Standard, but not the longer warranty provision; sucks to be a Washington State registered Prius owner.

The CARB warranty is based on the initial purchase in a CARB State and continuous vehicle registration in a CARB State. There have been exceptions to this rule, as some Gen2 owners found out. Toyota provide the longer CARB warranty in a non-CARB State either as CARB warranty or a Toyota Goodwill Gesture.

 

I would seriously consider getting a Chevy Bolt. I don't know if it has Adaptive Cruise Control. $30K after the, up to $7K Federal Tax Credit, which you may or may not get depending on your Taxes. Talk to your accountant about this.

• ZERO Gas
• Maximum of 238 miles on a full charge.
• White carpool sticker.
• Keep current car, if in good operating condition, as a spare for the long trips. Or just rent a car for any long trips; this would probably be cheaper than maintaining and insuring the infrequently used car.
• If you work in a nice business/office center, electric cars often times get prime parking spots and sometimes free electric charging.

 

MANUFACTURER’S WARRANTY COVERAGE Selected states

For 10 years or 150,000 miles, whichever occurs first:

Applies to California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont vehicles equipped with a California Certified Emission Control System.

So you have 10/150,00 while the gentleman in Hawaii does not.

 

The HP specified is peak HP, but a eCVT keeps the car near peak HP much more often than a transmission with fixed gears.

 

I'm in a non-CARB state and I don't see anything in any of the documents I signed saying they're voluntarily giving me the CARB state warranty. I hope it's true but I'm not going to count on it.

Ah, thanks. I knew there was some reason I was set on a car with CVT when I first started comparing models.

 

Your situation is considerably different. 49 states of the US are warrantied by Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. but Hawaii has a separate distributor, Servco Pacific. You can't trust that anything "Toyota" is going to do for you applies to HI.

 

Prius is a great car for California due to higher gaso prices, and if I lived in CA, I'd be expecting higher gaso prices, even if the lower 48 has lower prices.

There is really no negative of batteries or performance....batts are expected to last life of vehicle and if it does not you are covered for 10-yrs 150k miles.

As far as spare tire, I am not the expert on packages but you could go with a 3 or if you must go with 4 for the adaptive cruise you can also put the spare in by getting the dealer (or purchase yourself) the foam insert for the rear that basically converts the 4 rear to 3 rear with spare. Another CA person did this...I am not sure if it a perfect fit or just real close to perfect.

 

Hence "Goodwill Gesture." Toyota is not legally required to do anything for you, once the warranty for the part expires. They can be benevolent and extend "Goodwill" to you covering all or a portion of the repair.

Some Gen2 owners in non-CARB States had the HV Battery die a little outside of the warranty (8year/100K miles) for their State. A call to Toyota Customer Care requesting outside warranty assistance (Goodwill gesture) and a dealer confirmed diagnosis of P0A80, or other similar DTCs pointing to a HV Battery failure, resulted in Goodwill coverage. Some people got complete coverage (ZERO dollars out of pocket). Others had to pay some out of pocket: a few hundred, up to maybe $2k. One pattern seemed common: those who did more business with Toyota, vehicle purchases and/or paid dealer service, seemed to get Goodwill coverage more often, and more generous, than those who did zero, to very little business with Toyota.

As Jimbo pointed out, Hawaii does not fall under Corporate Toyota, but Servo Pacific. Looks like you may be holding the short stick for any pleas of Goodwill assistance.

 

What I don't see yet in this thread is that whether our not its a good investment is a lot to do with how long you keep it and what it's still worth when you sell it.

Prii keep their value very well and in that way can cost less to own than other cars that start out cheaper but lose their value more quickly.



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i have a Prius 4 touring ... it has the adaptive radar cruise control !! That was a game changer and really takes the workload off while driving. You don't need the more expensive advanced package to get Adaptive Cruise Control. Yes the Chevy Bolt looks very nice and so does the Tesla Model 3, so there is always something new coming out. In 5 years you'll be saying should i get a self driving car to take me home from the bar or after a party or to the beach... As opposed to spending more money with a car that flies over traffic... okay its an exaggeration but you get the point. Im very happy with my 2106 Prius 4T and i already have 25k miles on it. My ford truck gets 12mpg with luck the Prius gets 50mpg so pretty much the Toyota is the DD. After 40k miles the prius will still be worth a shiny nickel on the used market, but with gas prices depressed the argument for a Prius is sometimes hard to justify. I would rather spend nothing on gas if I had the choice and at $2,36 a gallon in Central California it is cheap to drive the prius.