Is the Prius Prime right for me?

Yes, you will use mostly gas engine, but you will still save a boatload of money. On gas only, the car gets 50-55 mpg on the highway. My daily commute is 70 miles roundtrip with 7-9 trips a month that are over 100 miles roundtrip, putting about 2k on the car per month for the three months I have owned the car. I juice up every night, and have little opportunity to charge outside of my home. I have been filling up about 3x a month, at about $20 bucks a shot. But, if you have a need for speed, this is not the car for you. I can cruise comfortably on the highway at about 75 mph, but over that, it feels like a push of the car if you are going on gas engine only. On warmer days, the car does much better, both performance and gas mileage, so I am looking forward to spring.

 

Independent of the 100-mile trips, do you also have a daily commute you could do on electric?

If not, you might be equally happy with a regular Prius. That would give you a little more than double the MPG.

However, at least for now, Trump's grumps haven't trashed the $4500 tax credit for the Prime, for failing to subsidize the oil industry enough. You mentioned the EZPass. If that's for CA, then you'll probably have state incentives...

 

Answer is YES.

 

NY has a new tax benefit for plug-ins.
Prime has a nice cruising range so you could possible save gas and visit stations less often.
You need to decide if Plugging-In is something you want to mess with, althouigh that is optional.
With Plug-in you give up spare tire option, space in rear cargo, and 2 seats vs, 3 in back vs. Gen4 Prius.

PS- you can always carry a spare in rear ....some do

 

I think NY is $2000 and it is live...but somebody verify

 

The car starts in EV mode, engine off, which means reaching higher speed segments. Then I flip to 'hybrid' mode and the car continues with the engine warming up.

This gives very high MPG during what is ordinarily a very low MPG area, the cold-start and start of trip acceleration. On the road, I get typically 55.7 MPG using dynamic cruise control and following trucks, 67-75+ MPG. When you get near your destination, the warmed up engine and control laws are very efficient.

The 2017 Prius would also be an excellent choice. Avoid some of the 2016 models that lack TSS-P. I had the Gen-1 and Gen-3 Prius and they were good rides that delivered 52 MPG.

Bob Wilson

 

Everyone here will give you the pros. Consider these cons as well:
1. You will save fuel but you may not save money. Buying a $30,000 vehicle when you have a perfectly working paid off or nearly paid off car may not save you money.
2. The Prime is a low FWD drive vehicle. Your X3 even though it's not AWD may perform better in snowy conditions.
3. The cost of the Prime is spent on the hybrid powertrain. The interior is markedly low rent compared to your X3. Consider when you spend that much time in a vehicle that noise, harshness, and vibration may be worth the price in fuel when you arrive at your destination. Most importantly your seats will be a lot more adjustable.

 

In my case, dynamic cruise control and collision avoidance was what I was buying. One accident avoided fully pays the extra purchase price and dynamic cruise control significantly keeps the driver fresh.

Bob Wilson

 

sounds like prime is right for you. if money, winter driving and luxury aren't issues, go for it!

oh, one caution; some peoples body's start to hurt on long drives. you may want to rent one first.

 

Once you're out of the 25 miles of EV, it switches to normal Prius mode (not just gasoline mode) and gets around 50-55 MPG with normal driving. Efficient driving can get you 60-65, but I'm not a hypermiler.

 

Geez, Bisco don't oversell it. Want to mention any blind spots?

 

I too *really* like the ADAS functions. Many cars have them of course, but even the P.Prime Plus ($28K - $4500 - state or local incentives), with TSS-P, has quite a lot of ADAS functionality for the price!

Based upon my (finally!) test drive this morning, the P.Prime strikes me as a very clean- and smooth-performing, and confidence-inspiring car!


iPhone ? Pro

 

I laughed when I read that.

 

My wife was one who had trouble with Prius Plug-in driver and its front passenger seats (base model without lumbar support). However, she has absolutely no trouble with Prime's driver seat with lumbar support. She also says the front passenger seat is better night and day compared to Plug-in's.

She drove about 190 mile round trip to Fresno with a full charge at home on 2/1/17 (on mostly Hwy 99 at DRCC set to 65 mph). She got 81.5 mpg on the car display (not a pure HV figure, but amazing none the less). Per AccuWeather, average temperature of the day was 59F. She does not hypermile nor follows a big rig. I am truly astonished at how efficient the Prime is compared to the Plug-in. The full speed range DRCC is as useful as people say it is, a must have feature IMHO too.

 

Bob, that's exactly what I do with my PiP. It's 35 miles round trip to my church. No charging there. So I left this morning with 11.5 miles showing for EV range. Turned on A/C, which dropped it to 10.5. Started out in EV till I got to the highway and switched to HV. Went back to EV when the speed limit dropped to 50 about 2-3 miles from church. Did the same on the trip home. Back to EV to stay about 5.5 miles from home with 5 miles showing on the battery range. Finished off the EV range about 3/4 mile from home going up the hill we live on and managed to still drive all but a few seconds of the rest of the way home on battery.

About 95% of the trip is 55-60 mph limits with traffic lights strategically placed and timed to keep you from going more than two minutes without stopping and having to re-accellerate. I'm sure one of the major oil companies is behind this. When I got home, I had averaged 75 mpg. I'm happy as a clam! Still, if I had the money, I'd buy a Prime in a heartbeat.

So, @xdriv3 , I would agree with what several people have said. You'll save big bucks on fuel with a Prime, even if you can't plug it in as often as you'd like. After that, it's just a matter of if you like the car enough to get out the checkbook.

 

Maybe just get a regular Prius. Depending on the level, you'll get:

50+ mpg
Spare tire
More hatch room
5 seats
No plug-in hassles

Especially with a lot of round trips, the plug-in model advantage are not that much.