Featured Everything you need to know about leasing a BEV or PHEV—Consumer Reports

I had a PHEV, a 2014 BMW i3-REx. My thought was the 2017 Prius Prime would be a superior PHEV and retire the BMW. But the Prime flaws, experience by ownership for a year, revealed Toyota's abysmal poor, PHEV engineering. Speculation, Toyota wanted (wants) to sell Prius hybrids, not PHEVs.

In September 2016, I was not interested in early BEVs when I bought the Prius Prime. There were no Primes in SouthEast Toyota region so I flew to Rhode Island and drove it 1,200 miles home. It was that drive that identified both the promise and problems of TSS-P. By December, the Prime was becoming 'driveway sheet metal art.' That old, 2014 BMW i3-REx was superior to the new 2017 Prius Prime that began wasting time on my driveway.

It was Sandy Munro's review of the Tesla Model 3 that opened my mind to BEVs. Especially, the Tesla commitment to AutoPilot, a $1,200 option I bought in March 26, 2019. A medical problem one month later and AutoPilot saved me, my wife, and her dog. Now history repeats itself.

Before September 2024, the 2017 BMW i3-REx was my 'city car' and the Tesla my 'cross country car.' Then the first AI based, Full Self Driving arrived and there was a distinct step improvement. Since the latest of three updates, the 2017 BMW i3-REx is becoming 'driveway art.' It is much easier to let Full Self Driving handle driving me and the dogs around town.

I might decide to trade-in the 2017 BMW i3-REx for a used, 2022 or later Model 3 with HW 4.0. The 2019 would remain as back-up for the newer Model 3, replacing the function of the 2017 BMW i3-REx. Knowing the difference between FSD and AutoPilot, AutoPilot fully meets my cross country needs.

Bob Wilson

 

Semantics, "a rose by any other name, would still smell as sweet." But I agree with the fatal Prius Prime flaw you've pointed out.

The Prime was not a BEV with a range-extender accessory. It was a hybrid that poorly force fitted a battery under the rear floor. Seriously, they could not fit the battery in the spare tire well to lower the floor and use liquid cooling. Worse, it had inferior control laws layered on top to force hybrid mode.. The nicest engineering term, KLUDGE.

It took a year of 2017 Prius Prime ownership to change my mind. Having the 2014 BMW i3-REx to compare and contrast, killed the Prime for me.

Bob Wilson

 

It depends on your requirements:

• Range is sufficient for city driving.
  • My daily 20 mile work commute left insufficient Prius Prime EV range for other errands and L2-only charge rate too slow, 16 A, to add errand range after getting home.
  • 2014 BMW i3-REx 72 mi EV range totally handled both work and errands
• For longer distances, there is the gas engine.
  • Same with both BMW i3-REx:
    • 2014 bought in Charlotte NC, 417 mi.
    • 2017 bought in Palm Beach FL, 793 mi.
• There is nothing wrong with using the gas-engine heat for cold-weather defrost.
  • Only if requested, not because of a defective control law.
• In California, it is cheaper to operate a Prius Prime with gas in the HEV mode (70 mpg with $4.50-a-gallon gas) than a Tesla Model 3 BEV or a BMW i3 BEV (3 mi/kWh with $0.40-a-kWh electricity).
  • I live in Huntsville Alabama, $0.12/kWh, and COSTCO gasoline, today $3.259.
  • BMW i3-REx: (2014) 29 kWh/100 mi, and; (2017) 30 kWh/100 mi
  • Tesla 25 kWh/100 mi
• TSS 2.0 and TSS 3.0 help with sleep disorders.
  • Whatever TSS-P was in the 2017 Prius Prime, the 3d lane keeping nudge would send the car rapidly toward the shoulder and ditch. Tested twice in the middle of three lanes with no other traffic around.

I have no doubt there are Prius Prime owners, especially the current model, who are delighted with their car. I only had the 2017 Prius Prime in September 2016 and it taught valuable lessons ... don't do that again.

Bob Wilson

 

The Prius was an innovative, imaginative, and economical car ahead of its time.
Can remember waiting 6 months for our 2008 Prius. They had none is stock -you had to buy sight unseen and wait 6 months at the time to get one.

It would be interesting to know how much gas and money these humble vehicles have saved their owners over the years.

As innovative as they were they were reliable, cheap to own and very competitively priced.

Our Prius introduced me to the concept of a vehicle being a tool to save you money rather than an unnecessary expense.

 

Indeed! My 2003 Prius reliably gave 52 MPG city and highway and went over 170,000 miles before the unrepairable brake booster failed. The 2010 Prius was also efficient giving 52-54 MPG about 10 mph faster and more cabin space.

Because at the same time I owned a 2014 BMW-i3-REx to compare it to, the 2017 Prius Prime did not work for me. I have no doubt the Prius Prime works for others but not me. The 2019 Tesla Model 3 was the step improvement missing in my former, 2017 Prius Prime.

Bob Wilson

 

How convenient ... to pick such a high price for gas when today the prices are much less, as "GasBuddy" shows;



Heck for that matter you could post $7 for gas - since it hit that high at one time on the Northern coast.
And for that matter, our model X was cheaper to operate on electricity - because it ran on amortized PV solar - as well as free supercharging baked into the initial cost. Can't get that in a gas burner. Prices for gas & electricity are always in a state of flux - so best keep it real.

Here's a quick chart for estimating cost per kilowatt hrs versus cost per gallon that may help you estimate accurately;



Also noticed how expensive electricity is if you choose the wrong time of day - turning on if you have t o u and have to charge at the High Time ... 60¢ - 70¢;



So it's not all about "me" ... we all have different pay schedules.

 

Actually he is pretty close...

AAA Fuel Prices

 

I’m

I have a 2020 Prime and it serves well. Of course it is still fairly low miles at just turning 25k.

 

if it meets your needs, what else matters?