Featured Four-time Tesla owner opts for Prius Prime

Congrats!!

 

My highest priority after my at fault wreck in 2019, which took the "life" of our Alfa Romeo Giulia, has been the advertised Full Self Driving. After recently test driving a Y with FSD Beta I concluded I was more stressed watching it learn how to drive like teaching someone to drive, than if I were to drive on my own.

I'm left with the ideal of supporting a US based company with US based manufacturing, if I'm not mistaken. Heck, that's good enough for me, for now...

moto g(7) power ?

 

While Toyota has not formally announced it they are going to have some exciting news about a system that will exceed the current Tesla Self Driving software.

I would look for more information at the end of 2021 as far as public announcements.

They had a seminar for current and former employees about future items that are developed and in the process of being introduced and this was one of the subjects.

I am not a fan of self driving, some are and may be interested in this upcoming Toyota Technology.

Toyota, Autonomous Vehicle Startup Aurora Enter Self-Driving Cars Partnership - Bloomberg

 

From the article:

LOL!

Guy buys five brand new cars to drive alone in and cites eco footprint.

This guy doesn't need an electric car; he needs one that runs on hypocrisy.

 

You mean he just scrapped the ones he replaced with new? Maybe buried them in his back yard? I figured he sold them and someone else is driving them now. I only buy used cars. (But I might get a new one yet before I die. )

Just teasing. I do get your point.

 

Well to see the lighter side I could say he's produced four more, "more-affordable" Teslas than Elon Musk ever has.

Our c is the only new car I've ever bought, and on balance will probably be the last. It's a great car, but honestly the only positive thing that stands out about the buying experience was access to cheaper financing via Toyota Motor Credit. I've bought cars with 40k miles that were cleaner/better prepped than our brand new c.

 

I read somewhere that 11 Prius Primes take about the same amount of Lithium as one Tesla. And I, for example, only burned about 16 gallons more gas last year than a Tesla driver. If that Tesla driver mows his yard or hires someone to mow it with a gas mower, he or she would most likely have actually burned more gas than I did.

 

well, that's one more prime owner on a very short list

 

No, it doesn’t

 

Don't know anything about Tesla. Have not sat in one yet. And it's not likely to happen anytime soon. There is no showroom in my state. I don't know any friends/family who owns one. When they start selling in rural America, then maybe I will try it. I just don't think Tesla Model S the guy replaced is the same category of cars as PP to be compared. Otherwise, I am all for downsizing and going frugal.

 

I was wondering how they figured that foot print. The older Model S with induction motors didn't have the best efficiency, but it wasn't the worse. I think this would depend on exactly how much driving of the Prime is in EV.

Of the other reasons cited in the article, I have no opinion on Android Auto and Carplay being better than Tesla's system or not, but the Prime literally just got them both, and you can't get them on the upper trims with the big screen.

Customer service can turn a person off any brand, and the insurance costs are because Tesla is the sole source for parts, with few certified shops for doing repairs.

Tried looking for the actual post, but seems to have been taken down.

Lithium is pretty abundant. If raw materials will limit battery production, it will more likely be the cobalt and nickel. On that front, Tesla is moving to Li iron phosphate for their standard range cars, which neither of the nickel or cobalt. Toyota could do the same, but in a Prius Prime as is the cargo floor is going to be even higher.

On the ecofootprint front, the battery does mean a plug in has a higher one for production, but the difference in fuel use quickly makes up for that during use..

 

There is no single ‘best car’ as the owner’s requirements must come first. I had a Prius Prime but it became the driveway queen as the 2014 BMW i3-REx was more practical.

It was easy to trade-in the Prime for our Tesla. Then the BMW became our driveway queen. Now my SO drives the BMW and she loves it. She is learning the Tesla but that is a question of seat-time.

So I am OK with others who daily drive a non-Tesla including a Prime or even an earlier Prius. Compared to ordinary ICE, a good choice.

Bob Wilson

 

Exactly!!!! Bragging about how many eco-efficient cars you have is the anti-thesis of frugal and not at all eco-efficient.

 

Wow I’m shocked at the amount of hate in this post levelled at someone who buys new and improved cars. He, quite frankly, moved away from a poorly built and expensive car.
Do I get the same hate for having 4 Prius models in 16 years ?

 

I'm with you. My last four cars were sold at around 60-70k miles. They went to new owners who were pleased as punch. They all got well running and well maintained cars with all maintenance records. They were all also 7 to 15 years old. I now buy for the features...particularly the safety features. As I age I'm not the driver I once was and I need all the help I can get.

I have a Toyota with LKA and LTA that pretty much drives itself on an interstate. I don't use the features anywhere else. But boy are they nice on a normal day for eating up the miles in a low stress way. My first drive was a 350 mile solo driver trip back after picking up the car. I had driving up the same day so that made 700+ miles in a day. Hands on the wheel and attention on the road but not having to do all the fiddly things made it easy. Can't imagine being without it. Really surprised the Avalon hybrid limited doesn't have it.

Last 6 family cars have been hybrids, one plug-in hybrid.

 

For us, the Prius Prime was a good gateway into the EV lifestyle. Just took delivery of a 2021 Model 3 SR+. Couldn't be happier. I can see how the spartan interior might be intimidating for older people who are not great with technology. If you can use a smartphone though, it shouldn't be a huge issue. Coming from the Prime, it's like upgrading from MS-DOS to a current gen iPad. This can be a benifit or an annoyance depending on your personal preferences. Can't beat Toyota on build quality though. There are no nightmare issues (paint, panel gaps, etc) with our Tesla, but it still came with a variety of weird inconsistencies and dirty spots in the interior. These are things that you will never, ever see with Toyota.

As for performance...it's kind of pointless to compare.

 

I've always used a corded electric mower. But it takes about a gallon of gas in a riding mower to cover an acre. So the Tesla driver would need to have a pretty large lawn to use more than 16 gallons in a year to mow a lawn.

Last year we filled our Prius plug-in about twice, so probably ~16 gallons as well. 80% of miles were in the Tesla

Mike

 

I have a friend who has four hybrid cars. He runs a small Taxi cab business. His vehicles are constantly being used. That's an honest way to go about it. I also know people with short attention spans that have way too many cars cluttering up their yard that they never get around to dealing with, that's dishonest and irresponsible.

Also HV batteries work way better as a daily driver and are more problematic when not used. It's why @bwilson4web has almost all his Prius packs replaced under warranty, which is wastefulness on top of wastefulness.

And I get it, we all have our collections. I have was too many houseplants and way too many container plants in my 20 year old tree nursery. But too much greenery and no machinery is more planet saving than the opposite.