Is Prius for me?

If this is without your car, then I do not advise a Prius. If you will leave it on a trickle charger, it will still work.

http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-forum/94450-considering-prius.html#post1334003

 

If you park outdoors, use a solar panel.

 

The Prius is a remarkable vehicle, but from your life-style description .... I agree with JimboPalmer. However, once you own a Prius, in all probability, you will be driving more than you anticipate. We find that we enjoy an occasional ride, something we would not do if we did not own the Prius.

 

If I was you, I'd be looking at the Nissan Leaf.


Oops, missed the part about the lack of plug at your condo.
You might be better off with some of the other high mileage ICE cars.
The mileage on short trips in the Prius is less than stellar.

 

I would have to agree with all the other posts, I suggest you shop and buy any car you like-except a hybrid. I drive one because I put 15,000 miles a year on a car.
I might suggest a new Camry 4 cyl would probably be a good fit for you.

 

Hmm....

Sometimes I think I sound like a broken record on the issue. But the question I always pose, with similar queries, is "How Much Do You Want A Hybrid?.

None of your concerns, are absolute reasons for NOT owning a Prius, they are only potential minor inconvienences, that may or may not become an issue.

Detached, and trying to evaluae your "fit" for a Prius based on your post, like anyones- is pretty difficult.

The biggest red flag to me is your admission of how little yearly driving in total you do. IMO gas mileage and emissions, are the primary reasons for owning a hybrid, and as you say, given your minimal total of miles per year driven, this is an advantage to Prius, you won't get as big a return on.

I would need more on the other side of the scale, Pro-Prius than what you seem to be presenting. Good visibility, reliability and looks fine? While all arguably true, are all attributes I think you could find in a lot of other options.

If your desire for a Prius, is based primarily on those reasons? Then I'd say pass.

If you want the benefits of Hybrid Operation, even for short trips and for roughly 9000 miles per year? Then I'd say buy.

 

Personally I think if you really drive that infrequent and don't really get a huge joy out of driving (just guessing, I know you didn't say this), I would just buy a cheap high mileage used 4 cylinder car. When it comes down to it, as long as it's not a gas guzzler, buying used is more "green" than buying anything new, especially for how much you will use it.

 

Possibly look at the Yaris if you want Toyota.

The mileage of 9k/yr is about what I do give/take.

We just got a Prius C and a Prius 3G, but we are driving at least once a week.
If you think the Prius is what you want, get one.
Just look into how to keep the batt good.
Possibly look into a portable jump starter??

 

Do you need a car at all?

 

I disagree here. While the short trips will hurt mpg, preventing 50-ish numbers, it will still produce numbers that ICE only cars cannot touch.

 

Don't let the 12 volt battery be an issue. Just purchase an Optima yellowtop battery made for the prius and you would have a great car available when you needed one. These batteries are superior to the stock OEM 12 volt battery.

 

I just ordered a prius on 5/5/12.I was not aware of the thing with short trips.I drive 3 miles round trip each morning and 6 miles round trip for work.I might drive 3o miles on my day off.should I change my order if possible to a camry?

 

Even on short trips, you are still in the 51/48mpg range.

So unless you want to be at camry 25/35
or camry hybrid 43/39

Why could you want a camry?

Short trips are short trips.
In the winter short trips may hurt a bit, but that will be on any car.

 

There are 'issues' with the 12 volt battery, however for most drivers they are not major.

1) The 12 battery does not start the engine, so you never hear a Ur-ur-urrr noise as your battery is dying. (some 4 to 8 years after you bought it) There are diagnostics to test the 12 volt battery, the simplest is to use the power windows with the car off then with it on. If they are really slow when off, the battery is weak.

2) As the 12 volt battery never starts the engine, it is sized very small, so stay in Ready when you run Accessories for any length of time.

3) Toyota chose to put the battery inside the passenger compartment with you and your loved ones. As such, it needs to be an externally vented AGM battery for safety reasons, with JIS Posts for convenience. This limits the available batteries in the US to an Optima Yellowtop and the Toyota Battery, neither of which are cheap. (The Yellowtop has a better reputation, as it is a deep cycle battery)

4) The car is never completely off, it is listening for the Fob, so the 12 battery can discharge if left waiting for over a month (when new) to over a week (when older) This also makes the Prius a poor choice for 'snowbirds'. Some way to either trickle charge or disconnect the 12 volt battery will need to be planned for.

5) The Prius does not charge in Neutral, This mostly effects the HV Battery, as the HV Battery keeps charging the 12 volt battery as long as it can.

6) There are many ways for a Lead acid battery to fail, some of those ways lower the voltage, So the charging circuit keeps trying to charge it to 12 volts, wasting energy (lowering gas mileage)

 

Wait a second. If you drive 9,000 miles per year, that averages out to 24.6 miles / day, or 173 miles / week.

Obviously you get out and go on those other 2 or 3 days. 50 miles / day for the 3 days or 85 miles/day for the 2 days.

If you drive the car every week for a substantial amount, how is that going to be bad for the 12V battery or the hybrid battery? It's not.

The owner's manual only recommends to drive the car for 30 minutes at least once a month (can someone else verify? IIRC that is correct).

You wouldn't be the first person to only drive a Prius 9k or less per year. If you want to pay the extra and you really like the car, no law against it.

 

Short trips are not a failing of the 12 volt battery, as it never has to start the engine, it is not all that discharged. Since the charging is constant from the HV battery, there is also no decrease in charging when idling as you may be used to.

Should you find a plan to not let the 12 volt battery discharge during times without use, you should be good to go.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B00425NBRI?tag=priuschatcom-20 would want custom cabling, and will lose all your memory. (radio stations, window, door locking, etc)

 

Prius c is the most suitable for you. It was engineered with short trips. It warms up by ATF instead of coolant.

 

Change it to a Plug-in and you'll use no gas all week!