Why get PIP, no cost savings.

a larger battery wouldn't have 'justified the extra cost', it would have cost more. the pip is around 4k more than the regular prius and worth every penny in many ways including price.

 

I for one couldn't be happier with my PIP. I have a 5KW solar panel array. Town is 3 miles from my house. I'm retired. About 85% of my trips are to town and back. I have about 5 miles I can cruise around town in before I have to zip to home to fill up the elec. tank on my solar electricity. Since Mar 12, I have banked 1.6 MWh of juice. Do the math now, and tell me if I'm coming out ahead or behind. Besides, the new 2012 PIP is a dream to drive; its quiet, the seats are comfortable, the radio is fantastic, heated seats are super, and the fact I can plug in my iPod with all my favorite music makes me love driving this car, which has water only dripping out the exhaust. Neat beans, Tony

 

Well that is part of the paradox. Sure a solar panel is great especially if you can sell it back to the grid.

But 10 miles per day at 40mpg and $3.50 gas is $320 per year in gas. Which doesn't make economic sense for the premium you are paying for having a plug in car. At least 8 years to break even, and that is assuming free electricity.

So yes, your solar panel might make sense depending on tax rebates and ROI, but you would have been better off with a cheaper car that got 40mpg and spent the money you saved on another solar panel. But yes, the psychology of saying you drive you car for free is great,, Just make sure you account for the premium the car costs over what you might otherwise drive and add that per year or 1/10 per year.

 

same can be said for regular prius. it's not all about cost savings as has been repeated here ad nauseum.

 

As already stated, if cost is the only factor you would be best off buying a used geo metro.
If saving soldier's lives, reducing the vulnerability to wild swings of oil prices our economy is currently subject to, or simply having a much more pleasurable driving experience, the a PHEV or EV are your ticket.

 

I did the math. After 10 years and 200,000 miles (we are at 185,000 with our echo, with more to come.) the PIP was cheaper than a new Corolla by $2300. That was including $4000 back TFS, $2500 Federal tax credit and $500 rebate from The electric CO. (LIPA).

Here is the OTD
price without tax,
with TFS cash back: $27,838.09

Without registration :
and other govt fees: $27,555.59

Read more: http://priuschat.com/threads/price-paid-on-pip.116433/page-25#ixzz2HuJGa0Uw

This also assumes $4.00 a gallon gas. (it would not surprise me if gas went up sometime over the next ten years) If, and I say if gas goes up, the PIP surges ahead.

We find ourselves charging up sometimes twice a day, this makes a huge difference in Suburbia. We are also able to charge for free at work, many days there are trips to town as part of work.

The risk of course is a crash or theft, major mechanical failure etc. In that case we lose on sales tax depreciation etc.... Mechanically there is an argument for a simpler car, such as a Corolla or Camry, cheaper parts and easier repairs.

Peace,
Peter

 

and honestly, would you rather drive a corolla?

 

yeah i still don't understand the people that compare these cars. i mean, no one bothers to compare a corolla to a camry, right? the camry will NEVER pay itself back since it gets worse fuel economy and is more expensive…lol

 

My first step into the high tech vehicles I purchased the Prius hybrid. Now that I feel comfortable with Toyota and the Prius my next purchase will be the Pip. When the Gen 4 is released in 2015 I will trade in my car.

 

we're all waiting for you!

 

You bet. and I bought a 2006 Corolla.

Me too. I think a Corolla is a much closer comparison to a Prius.

 

A comparably equipped Corolla right? I think Matrix may be a closer comparison.

 

in what sense? it's smaller in every dimension and unless you equip it comparably, doesn't come anywhere near the features on the base models compared to a prius.
whether you need those features or not is a separate question. but you can't ignore the fact that they exist.

 

my mother in law had a corolla. nice little car for what it is. i prefer the hatchback and hybrid synergy drive. and, of course, for this thread comparison, all electric driving blows it out of the water!

 

Don't know if it's been mentioned here- but the regular Prius can get some pretty horrendous MPG on short trips in cold weather. My weekend 4-8mi trips were killing my overall MPG on my 2012 Prius Five. I was getting MPG in the high 20's to mid/high 30's on short weekend errands where the ICE would never warm up enough and just kept running the whole time from start to finish.
Now with the PIP, the ICE never even starts up for the whole weekend. This weekend was pretty much average for me- I drove 29 miles from Friday night to Sunday night, all short trips- used all electric- zero gasoline consumed.
It's very satisfying to use no gas from Friday night till Monday morning...

 

For me, the weekdays are driven in pure EV and I use some gas in the weekend.

 

priceless.

 

Having driven a rental Corolla, I'd say the PiP/Prius is a much better car. Better features, standard or otherwise. More comfortable. Better acceleration/performance.

 

Just my spin.

Corolla says Mediocrity.

Prius says innovation.

 

+1