Help, Need Advice on Prius Plug-In

Fundamentally make sure you like a PiP since it was not your idea.
Keep in mind you lose spare tire and gas tank a little smaller.
See the recent thread PiP vs. non-PiP advantages and disadvantages.
Also surprising the dealer has one in a non-PiP roll-out state.

PIP Vs. Regular Prius | PriusChat

actually this thread is a little more spicy, which is what you need:

Prius vs Prius PiP GO!! | PriusChat

 

Regular Prii hold their prices very well and there is no reason a PiP would ever go below a similarly equipped Prius, and should sell for a small premium above.

 

I agree with you on regular Prius slow depreciation rate. Plug-ins in general are depreciating much faster I think (admittedly we probably need to give more years to see the trend) but I think part of it is tax rebates and dealer incentives lower resale value, but also the prospect of Li battery replacement is ominous as the car approaches even 100k in a non-CARB state like mine. So I am not so sure about the premium over a regular Prius.

 

In theory the battery should last longer than a regular Prius, if taken care of well. I see no reason on earth why someone wouldn't pay a little more for a regular Prius compared to a similarly optioned PiP.

 

And depreciation is totally thrown out the window on the PiP due to wildly different sales prices in the last few years, at least in terms of comparing it with other vehicles.

 

After the rebates go away and there are old PIPs on the road, here is how I think one should logically look at the comparison of a 2012/13 PIP and a 2012/13 regular Prius, both with 50K or 100K miles on them. The used Prius is a good car and is worth whatever the going rate is. The near identical PIP is worth more, even if the battery capacity is very severely degraded. The regular Prius battery only drives you a fraction of a mile and can't be augmented from the wall. The PIP battery can get boosted from the wall...but even if you never use this function the PIP battery is better. The PIP engine probably has only half the miles on it that the regular Prius has.
Everything else about the cars, on average, should be about the same...minus the spare tire and lower trunk space.

Mike

 

Well, it'll be interesting to see how it goes (depreciation). BTW, at the rate plug-ins are selling, the rebates are here for many years! In north VA, we have a hefty annual car tax on the depreciated value of the car, not to mention new hybrid fees. So I am wondering if a used/depreciated Prius or Pip could be in my future.

Hopefully the failure mode on the PiP Li battery is less random/immediate like the NiMH. I think I bought the Prius because in 2006 they said the individual cells could be fixed, but turns out to be you just toss the whole battery when the day comes one cell goes bad...thankfully this is not very often.

 

Nothing wrong with hybrids paying their fair share for roads too, but I'd like to know what's going through their heads when they think that the hybrid fees as they were set up are fair (well, fair enough to pass anyway?)... Not to mention, some such places nearly seem to be promoting guzzlers >_>

 

Toyota battery failures have been quite rare, very reliable, so its not really a major factor in your decision. Like me you probably live in a non-CARB state, which means the batts are only guaranteed for 100000 miles and 8 yrs (vs. 150000 miles 10yrs for CARB states). So that's one thing to consider. Some people lease Plug_ins for the purpose of hedging on the newer Li batteries, because we do not yet have a good picture of how these batts will hold up.

The NiMH batts in the regular Prius have held up extremely well (as evidenced by stellar resale value of used Prii) but when the NiMH do fail, it is a pain in the butt...they just sort of die without warning. Hopefully the newer Li batts in PiP have a more predictable slow death and as die as rarely as NiMH.

 

Excellent point.
In my case my everyday commute is 56mi total- of that 22-24 miles are pure EV, so your estimate is pretty close.