Featured Four-time Tesla owner opts for Prius Prime

My dad is like you so I admire you... But always feel kinda bad for the customer service reps that have to deal with you. Clearly, the success of Tesla points to you expecting way more than you paid for/that's even possible. I'll always admire that quality in a father who never stopped inspiring me to be even better than I could be, but not so much in an difficult customer who even complains about those who write about his awesome legacy as someone who never took no for an answer, even with a product as great as Tesla's. Thank you so much for clarifying your position on this on here!

 

They are really plentiful in this Bay area, too.

 

Welcome to PriusChat where both Tesla fanboys and haters comingle and where one way or another people contributing here has had experience with Prius (or at least Toyota hybrid). I am sorry if some of the comments posted here have made you feel uncomfortable, but I am glad you chimed in and let us get this straightened. I am sure the article linked on OP was not written to convey your real circumstance and reason for the switch. I can certainly understand your reason based on your experiences with your Tesla quality and reliability. As I said in my comment, I never thought Tesla S is a car to be compared to Prius Prime as far as the price class and performance are concerned. But, I am all for downgrading and frugality especially if that switch brings better quality and reliability for less money.

I am in search of my next daily driver now and really wanting it to be a BEV. I would love to test drive Tesla and experience the pinnacle of BEV built in the USA, but for now, no Tesla is for my consideration. Yeah, even if I can afford and have it purchased online and delivered to my doorstep, I will not consider owning a daily driver that can not be serviced locally. I would love to hear from you if you considered other BEVs when you are looking for a replacement for your Model S. Being twice Prius Prime owner, I know what to expect from this car, but it's hard to compare it to other BEVs which I have never owned.

 

Welcome! I'm glad you did that. This thread shows how goofy things can get when you make assumptions from a partial story.

We're a pretty eclectic bunch here. For the most part, people respect each other and try to be kind when we disagree. (There are a couple notable exceptions.) I hope you'll stick around and share your experiences and perspective. From what I've experienced here, I think the vast majority of us would appreciate it.

And, if you ever have questions about your Prime, we have a bunch of people here who individually know probably more than all the Toyota sales people combined and they love to help.

 

In the last year, I've used 9 gallons in my Prime, 2 in my mower and 2 in my snowblower. So, that's about a week of driving for a single-passenger commuter in a small pickup driving a short commute.

(Full disclosure - I'd have used more in the Prime had it not been for pandemic-related lack of travel).

 

Ummm...if everyone holds onto cars that still run, where would someone get a used car?

 

Hi five! I went for the Robomow RS myself, getting ready to start season #5 with it. Took some getting used to, but I love it.

Thanks for joining up, posting & clearing the confusion, and good luck with the Prius!

 

I was certainly an early adopter and dealt with plenty of growing pains. Your assumptions are incorrect though... though nice try being an internet psychologist comparing me to your daddy issues. I was quite reasonable with Tesla and the many problems. I didn’t care about panel gaps, paint runs, and loose trim like many of the new Tesla owners.

I brought my Model X into service at least 12 times in the first 18 months, for safety and driveability issues. The screen broke, drive axles were replaced, brakes seized, doors wouldn’t work. None of these issues were me being difficult. Service was always good, albeit an epic waste of time. My Model S also had numerous problems preventing me from driving it... but was more reliable than the X. Recently, it took 6 weeks to get a service appt. Just not worth it, at least for me.

 

I test drove a Clarity and Taycan. I previously rented the Hyundai plug-in and a Bolt. They all had their good points but the Prius was comfortable, quality, and is undeniably reliable. The Prime, specifically, was heavily discounted. I bought a ‘21 Prime XLE for less than $20k with the tax rebate. $5k off from Toyota, $3900 off from dealer, $4500 tax rebate, and a $750 military discount.

To put it in perspective, the depreciation on new Teslas (MS and MX) is about $10k/yr... $20k/yr for performance variants. Model 3 and Y should be far less.

If you bought a MX P90D in 2016... you paid $150k. It’s now worth $50k. A ‘16 MS 75D was $85k new. Now worth $40k. Not unusual for luxury cars, but combine it with the reliability and it drove me away.

 

Last yr - 2 gallons in the
Volt - & the snow blower?
~ 20 kWh's




(full disclosure - prior year 3,900 mile cannonball run up & back SoCal / Nashville 78 gallons)

 

The snow in Colorado can be very wet and heavy. A few weeks ago we got 27 inches of snow representing 3 inches of water. My snow blower is 24 inches wide. It can move about 6 feet per second under self-propulsion. 24x72x3 of water is 187 pounds of water to lift and throw per second. The 212cc engine in my snow blower wasn't enough to do that at my altitude. I had to make multiple smaller passes. I worked to physical exhaustion, despite it being self-propelled, 6 times during the storm and twice after to move that heavy, wet snow.

 

Thanks for bothering to join. I might have done the same at Teslamotorsclub if wall I had hit had been more forthcoming. I went there, since wanted the actual details, used their search, and found what was very likely your original post. When I tried opening it, it returned an Oops page about not being able to find the post. Perhaps it was down temporarily due to traffic. If I needed an account to view it, most other sites would say so.

 

Does it snow where you live? We used to get ~10 or so snowstorms in a season. Our official average snowfall at our location is still listed as ~100 inches, but I don't think we have been getting that much snow in recent years.

 

dang, the passive aggression runs strong here. Here’s the original post

 

Still haven't found the Prime to be more efficient than our Model 3 SR+, nor cheaper to operate, nor having a smaller life-cycle carbon foot print. The same Model 3 also has very low depreciation.

 

teslamotorclub forum members gave that post 31 at time of cut and paste. Dang!
I must just be used to passive aggressive s here or some tin but yeah - double dang!!

Cars Computers Cellphones

 

Yea, not the right car for you... Best reason for being a part of a DIY community online is sharing knowledge and figuring out how to fix stuff yourself. Tesla forums are amazing in the regard.

Being a part of the Tesla DIY community would of solved most of your vehicle problems because you'd be part of a support network that can get Tesla's resources / repairs out of pocket quick enough to barely remember the problems you had. Way different than expecting Tesla to deal with defects that aren't much of a priority for them or as you say: "epic waste of time."

And you probably deserved better from them considering how much money spent... I mean, you could of bought a house with the amount of money you've given Tesla over the years? Whereas most of us on here have old hybrid cars that are worth less than $10K. So please understand that it's kinda of hard to relate to why you have much to complain about. Sounds like you've been living a great life compared to how the rest of us live.

 

watching rich rebuilds videos on youtube is enough for me, just a big fast expensive pile of poo give me a prime any day

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I'm the exact opposite. Watching Rich Rebuilds on YouTube gives me hope that one day I'll finally be able to afford an old Tesla on the cheap and still have enough for a down payment to be homeowner too!

 

Ah each to their own I guess camper lol, way too hard for me!

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.