moving from prius gen3 to PIP. Regrets?

Ah geez, that's starting to get to me.

 

OP did say: "and about every 3 weeks I make a 110 mile trip"

OK, this is a one brand only site when it comes to possible EV choices .

Kind of like Fanboy iphone users never want to hear about how good other smart phones can be, even though another brand may suit their needs better, cheaper, faster, cleaner, in all 4 seasons....

Sorry about the butt in. Stay the course. Let's not have a real technical discussion on the EV choices that are available to the OP.

<62<13 ..... Go Team !! Hey! Your new team logo?!!

 

> If you want to support the new technology, get the PiP. If you want to save money, you may be better off sticking with your current Prius.

Don't forget the PIP qualifies for a $2500 rebate from the federal government, and in some states additional rebates are available.

 

bill norton, the pip will not turn off until it has finished the warm up phase. unlike gm, it has intelligent engineering. and btw, the o/p asksd about the pip, not his plug in options. you butted in with that unasked.

 

The system in Prius is rather remarkable... and some people just can't handle it, hence the off-topic content.

With respect to warm-up, an ordinary summer day starting at 78°F degrees means only needing to generate 25°F degress of heat to reach the first shutoff threshold at 103°F. That's not a big deal for a system optimized for rapid warming. If there is need for additional power, additional heat will be produced anyway. Reaching that final cutoff at 130°F then isn't a big deal either.

On the extreme cold days, it's not like the system won't take advantage of the extra electricity anyway. That's why short-drives in PiP yield much higher MPG results than the regular model... which takes longer to warm-up... which the OP didn't even express anyway concern about.

The off-topic nonsense is annoying. But then again, that's what encouraged me to do all that sub-zero filming last year... to prove the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) wasn't actually an issue.

 

I guess Bill miss the OP requirement about seating 3 people in the back (3rd post).

 

Oh I forgot. I went from a Gen II to PiP and here are my observations:
The PiP ride is better
The PiP seats are more comfortable.
The PiP is much quieter than my gen II probably because I'm almost always in EV mode most of the time. I have a short commute too.
The PiP heats up faster than my Gen II because of the bigger engine.
Not sure if the OP has snow where he lives but because of a larger battery mass in the rear, the PiP tracks better in the snow than the old Gen II, even with same snow tires now 9 years old.

 

and the pip heats up faster because of the exhaust coolant recirc system vs gen II coolant canister.

 

They heat up extremely fast. About 30 seconds.

 

I've used the defroster without the ICE kicking in to answer the first part of your question.

 

The heated seats work the same way whether the ICE is on or off. I haven't noticed any EV loss because of them. Since I have a short commute, my gas mileage more than doubled over my Gen II, even in the winter.

 

Ya, the heated seats are incredible. They make it so you wouldn't even want the regular heat on a lot of the time.

 

you can set the vent to floor/windscreen and use the fan with the temp set to low for no ice. there are a few times of the year when this doesn't do the best job of clearing the windscreen, but if you hit the defrost button, the ice fires right up.

 

I really wish there was a vent system Mode option that was windshield only. Currently the closest is windshield plus down by your feet. The only way to get windshield only is with the aforementioned, hells-a-popping front windshield defog button.

(First car I've encountered like this, too.)

 

me too! i stuff foam in the floor vents, not very high tech!

 

For what it's worth, I'm not seeing that big of a difference < 11 miles with EPA numbers and costs from that chart.
I'm seeing the 2012 volt being 1.019 times the 2013 pip's cost for that stretch, which seems negligible. (a difference of $0.00082/mile, which even at 2 charges (22 miles) daily would only amount to $6.58 per year)

 

Wait a minute! I've hit the defrost button twice and neither time did the ICE fire up. The secret is to have the HVAC temp lower than the outside air or on LO.

 

hold on! i'll have to check.