Let me just start by saying that I have a 2010 Prius I bought new when it first came out, so I am familiar with the 3rd gen Prius. Now here are my thoughts on the Plug in. I drove a plug in that had 4 miles (dealership seem to have a few in stock for sticker) #1 Throttle seems to feel a little bit more laggy compare to my 2010 in normal mode. It did have more power, I can definitely feel more going full throttle at 70 compare to my 2010. It did seem to average slightly better in fuel mileage than mine in the same condition too. #2 My car came off the truck not long ago, so it wasn't charged at all from the wall. Even though the indicated battery was full after I test drove it, I never got to drive it in full electric mode as it kept saying low battery. I was very disappointed as I really want to see what the car can do in full electric mode. For the plug in owner, does the car kick back to gas mode if you go full throttle in EV mode? Does that mean that the car can never use EV mode unless you physically charge it with a 120v or can it be charged under normal highway driving? #3 It sucks to not have a spare tire, I do not want to be stranded anywhere arggg #4 Outside of the engine, navi/ensing and the center cup holder, I thought the car was virtually the same as my 2010.
I had a 2010 Prius. The biggest difference I see is the mpg. My new plug in is averaging 99 mpg. My 2010 averaged 47 to 48 mpg. It is unfortunate you weren't able to drive it in the EV mode. Some dealerships have a plug in Prius in their rental fleet. You might try renting one for a fews days to get a better picture of driving a plug in as compared to the 2010.
#4 Outside of the engine, navi/ensing and the center cup holder, I thought the car was virtually the same as my 2010.[/QUOTE] Driving the PIP without a full charge is pointless. You missed out on all the amazing things this car can do. I'm not convinced that the PIP's ev/hv mode goes into normal mode when the EV range is used up, it always says eco mode after the EV range is used up. Now if you want real acceleration try the power mode, it moves. All in all it's a very different car from all the other Prius line. Go back and try it again fully charged. Your not talking 50 or 55 MPG with the PIP, but more like hundreds in EV and 70 to 80 easily on longer trips, some get much much more.
I also have a 2010 Prius and have not yet test drove a Plug in Prius. As for the spare tire goes I understand what you are saying. But, tires today are a different animal than they were 20 years ago. Seldom do people have flat tires as they did years ago. In the last 20 years I have only had one flat tire, I had a couple of tires that had slow leaks and they were repaired without any future problems. It remind me of exhaust systems when I was a kid. You would always see mufflers and exhaust pipes on the side of the road. Today exhaust systems normally last the entire life of the car.....
Janie's comment was perfectly fine if its about about gas usage, MPG measures that. Iy you want to include Elec usage, then you might perfer MPGe or maybe Miles Per Fuel Dollar depending in on what matters to you. MPGe for how effectively one uses energy in the car, MPFD for how effectively one uses money on fuel. MPG used to be a mixed use measure as it implicitly conveyed all three. For a PHEV, MPG is very good measure if one's goal is keep money in the US and reducing your daily payments to OPEC :ballchain:
I had a 2007 Prius; I LOVE my new 2012 PHEV. I'm averaging 88 MPG, and that's with a 600-mile trip at high speed, and a total of only 1200 miles.
I just drove the PIP at EVS 26 today. When I drove the prototype around Santa Monica last year the roads were so busy that I couldn't get the car out of EV Mode. This time I was able to punch the acellerator. There was a slight lag then the ICE cut in and the car took off. What disapointed me is that the car seemed to take a while before the engine stopped again. I asked if this was the warm up cycle but the guy from Toyota said the car keeps the engine running for a few minutes in case you need it again. Other than that I did the whole course in EV mode. I also got to drive the Volt right after the PIP. To be quite honest the I prefered the drive in the Volt although once I get back to work I will probably buy a PIP as it will suit me better. Noel
Guy's a knothead. Amazing. Last year, the service department at my local dealership here didn't even know a PHEV was coming out. Sadly, nothing surprises me at car dealerships.
We sold our 2010 for the PiP and to me, it's a soooo much better vehicle! I like the interior colors better, I like Sea Glass Pearl better than our 2010 Blizzard, I love plugging in of course. I like the look of the accents on the door handles, I like the way the front grill/lights look, I like the wheels way better than the plastic, cheap looking wheel covers on the '10 ~ which I took off anyway. I like the contoured bottle holders in the door panels, I love having Pandora, I like the sound system better (except those lame knobs that they kept), and the back-up cam is new to me and a real plus! I like these Goodyear tires, I like that you can stow the 'tonneau cover' in the car when not using it. I like the LED lights, and I love the two speed booty warmers! Also, it gave me a chance to start over on the customizations like my dash mat and floor mats and decals etc. and I didn't think I'd find a car I liked better than our 2010 Blizzard Pearl... But I did! radio
I understand it is a very good car, just not sure if it is $15K better (difference between my car and the plug in)
For $15K more than your model II, it sounds like you were test driving the Advanced model. If you factor in the California rebate, and the federal tax credit, it narrows it to about an $11K difference. Still huge. But if you go for the Base model, it's only about a $3K difference between your model II and the Base model. At that point it becomes a much better deal. The Base model has everything your model II has and more. You also get access to the HOV lanes in California, which is worth a lot to some people.
If the car was showing 8 segmented battery bars, then it wasn't fully charged at all. Especially if it was telling you that EV mode wasn't possible due to a low battery. What you had was a fully charged battery for purposes of HV mode. If the battery had been fully charged, the battery icon would've been solid and would've indicated the number of of EV miles remaining. The gas engine will fire up automatically if you press hard on the accelerator. Or whenever the system thinks it needs the extra oomph of the gas engine (going up a hill for instance). By going down a long downhill, or a short steep hill, you can charge up the battery to get some EV range. The most I've been able to do under those circumstances is about 2 miles. I do this on a daily basis. In order to fully charge the battery, you really need to plug it in. One of these days I'm gonna drive the car to Los Angeles, and I will be curious to see if the battery will get fully charged going down the grapevine. I'm pretty confident that it will do so...
Just saying the price gap is not $15k, if you take account of different trim level and the tax credit.
