Why I Hate my Prius Prime

This post is a little long, but if you have the time to read it, I'd be interested in other people's thoughts on this...

Okay folks, first of all, I'm being a bit playful with the title. There are plenty of good things with the Prime (I won't go into those, as others have gushed about them) as well as things not so great about the Prime (I'll mention a few of them further below).

But what really bothers me about the Prime more than anything... is that it's a teaser. A mere taste. A morsel. A sample of what COULD be. Especially for those of us who work 60 miles away from home each way.

I'm sure there are many of you here that would love an all-EV car. I sure would. For the last year or so, I had my heart set on the (at the time) upcoming Chevy Bolt. An all-EV car that had the range for people like me, who have to drive about 120 FREEWAY miles roundtrip to work, without a place to charge up at work (and as you all know, Freeway miles use up EV much faster than city miles with braking).

I've only used my new Prime for a couple days now, but yesterday, managed to (barely) go about 25 miles roundtrip, from my home to a wedding, all in EV mode. And I loved it. But the problem was, all it did was whet my appetite for a full EV car. Then today when I got in the car to do the long drive to work (about 55-60 miles each way, depending where I work, it's not always the same place), the EV was gone in what seemed like a flash.

This isn't the Prime's fault, of course. The car is what it is. But for someone who DOESN'T live a short distance to work (in which case, you could almost go all EV other than weekend family outings), the Prime is like offering you one bite of a gourmet meal. But only one bite, once a day. That's it.

For those curious, I didn't the the Bolt because: (a) too expensive still, (b) seats TERRIBLY uncomfortable (everybody hates the seats, just google it), (c) electricity is way too expensive in California.

I didn't get the Volt (which I considered higher up than the Prime because of over double the EV range on the Volt) because: (a) terribly uncomfortably high "deadpedal" (where your left foot rests) -- reviews have cited this as well, and (b) once the EV runs out (and for someone like me, who -- when he does drive -- it's always a long commute, not a short one), the 42 MPG is pretty bad compared to the Prime's 54 MPG.

But getting just a taste of EV makes me envy both those who have full EV cars, and those who have the Prime, who live close enough to work to be able to live all (or most) EV. Unfortunately, there are many people such as myself who have long commutes, to where the Prime pretty much just turns into a normal hybrid ("is it really worth charging 5 1/2 hours just to get a few EV freeway miles out of the 120?") is a valid question for people with commutes like this.

Also something to consider: California electricity rates are VERY HIGH. SoCal Edison has applied for yet another huge rate increase to make them even higher (if granted, these rates will be even worse in a year or two). But even right now, the lowest tier is about 17c. And the middle tier is 24c. And perversely, because I try my hardest to save energy (and usually get up to about 3/4ths of the first tier in monthly usage), they now BILL me a FEE for not using ENOUGH electricity -- $10/month, starting this past January (that's the thanks I get for switching to LED lights, shutting off things when not in use, etc). Even at 17c, the electricity is slightly under gas. But at 24c it would be way over (current) gas prices.

So even an all-EV car (which my heart would love) would be much more expensive to run, at least here in Southern California (yes, I've seen SCE's EV rates, but while charging them at night goes down, take a look at the day rates for every other electricity usage on that plan -- something like 45c!)

I think the best car (in theory) by FAR is actually Toyota's hydrogen Mirai (or the Honda Clarity). From what I understand, though it runs on hydrogen, the Mirai is a total EV car... so you get the EV "feel"... but instead of having to plug in (both $$, and depends how clean the electric grid is where you live), it uses hydrogen to replenish the battery, with absolutely zero emissions. Of course even here in So Calif, there are only a handful of hydrogen stations, so it's not at all practical if it's an only car. Maybe in a few years.

So that's the main reason why I hate my new Prime. Because it's a taste of something great that is only just a taste, if one has a long commute. And it's not the car's fault, per se, but that yearning is still there.

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Now, to mention a few more tangible complaints about the car. Again, I don't hate the car at all. It's the car I decided to get (knowing everything), that was best for me, with all factors considered. But I tend to be very even-keeled, and see the bad as well as the good. There's certainly is a LOT good about this car, but since negatives aren't brought up as much, let me mention a couple things...

These are personal dislikes, others may have the complete opposite opinion...

(1) Trunk space. This is probably the worst thing about the Prime. The older version PiP had a lot more trunk space (a colleague who has a large double-bass can fit his bass in the older PiP no problem. It's a problem with the Prime though, because the back is much higher, there's a lot less space, and also there's the seat divider in back...) There's basically no trunk space in the Prime. I put a music stand in (the only way it would fit is diagonally -- and barely so -- and that separates it into two small triangles where you can put a couple small boxes or something, but really, it's pretty bad). A friend has a 2015 Camry Hybrid, which actually DOES have an all-EV mode, that you never have to plug in (although he says it's only about 3-4 miles of EV, it's not really an EV car). That battery isn't as big as the Prime's of course, but still it's a hybrid battery, and he has a (relatively) very large trunk space. Way more than the Prime.

(2) Back Seat Separator: I suppose if you constantly have 4 passengers, having a cupholder and separator in the back seat is ok. But why is it NOT RETRACTABLE like it is in the Hybrid Camry? Surely, it could've been designed to retract back into the rear seats (and not take up any more room than the rear seats next to it). Instead it's there -- and if one needs to lie anything down in the back seat, it makes it very hard and awkward. I'm betting something like 70%+ of drivers either drive alone, or have only someone in the front seats most of the time. Can't figure out the decision not to have it retractable.

(3) The Touchscreen. Now, I ordered the low-end Plus trim on purpose. I was going to get the mid-grade Premium, but then realized I'd be much happier with the Plus, for reasons besides the lower price. Why? (a) Cloth seats don't get as hot when the car is parked in the hot sun as fake leather, and (b) I didn't want a giant touch screen constantly in my face. I know a lot of people like it (no problem, to each his own), but I find it a really annoying driving experience to have a giant screen like that all the time (yes, you can turn it off, but it's a pain each time to have to manually turn it off). With the Plus, at least it's just an in-dash thing, not in your face (not to mention that with the smaller Plus screen, the middle A/C vents can be in a normal place, not little wedges as is necessary to fit around the larger screen). But never having had a touch screen in a car before, one thing I found annoying is the terrible glare from the sun that can hit your eyes if you're driving with the sun behind you. I generally drive with the sun behind me (which, up until now, was nice, as you're not "driving into the sun") -- but even with the small screen (and I can't imagine how much more glare there is with the larger screen if you have the sun behind you) if you're stuck in traffic and that sun is hitting the screen and bouncing right off it into your eyes... it's not nice. This isn't just Prime-related, obviously... any car with screens like this would have this problem, but this is my first car with a touchscreen, and the glare/reflection can get very annoying (and again, would be so much worse with the larger screen).

(4) Steering wheel: why is there no "hollow" area at the bottom? Maybe I'm just used to Hondas, but if I get tired on a Honda, I can rest my hand in the hollowed-out bottom of the Honda steering wheel. On the Prime, it's solid plastic, only place to put your hand is higher up on the wheel.

(5) A couple "cheap touch" examples that didn't have to be (ie, wouldn't cost but a few pennies to change). (a) the cloth right behind the steering wheel. Mine is not completely glued on, so it's starting to come off in a corner. They could have just left it hollow, or put a piece of plastic instead, instead of a flapping piece of felt/cloth. (b) Where you charge the car... to the right of the charge port we use is a useless-but-shaped area for where the higher level charger would go if the car was the Japanese model. At first I thought it was a place to somehow "fit" the charger cap while you were charging, until I realized it was just a "dead" area where a higher level charger would be if it was a Japanese model. This is fine, but... why not just substitute a FLAT piece of plastic (with only the one usable charge port), instead of having it be "shaped" there to the right of the charge port. All it does is remind you that you don't have the higher level charger port

(6) Lack of areas to put things. Other than the pop-up area between the front seats (where I always put a box of kleenex), there's basically just the square area in front of the cupholders. The Civic Hybrid I had before had those same areas, plus another in the dash under the radio, plus yet more small areas on the left side of the dash for loose change, etc. Not sure where to put the coins and other little things.

(7) Lights in both the hatch area and glove box are pretty disappointing. The hatch area you have to manually turn on (if you can even find it in the dark). Why not an automatic light, like most cars when you open the trunk, that shuts off when you close the trunk/hatch? And the light in the glove box I only got to come on once (maybe it only comes on when the car's lights are on? Haven't figured that one out yet).

I've only had the car a short time, and really only driven it three times. Those are my thoughts. Again, please don't misunderstand. I DO like the car. I knew all of this going into it, and for me, it was the best car currently available. But I did want to post both some of the small (real) things that could have been done better, as well as the feeling I get when driving (for a short time before it runs out) in the real EV mode that I wish it could have been longer range, a la the Chevy Volt (or better yet, an all-EV).

Still, I'm happy with the car -- and am looking forward to many long years with it.

On a side note, I'm also very glad this community exists here at PriusChat (I had a Honda Hybrid before this, never a Prius, so never really hung out here before). Seems like a great site -- both the people who run it (whoever you are), as well as the friendly folk who post here.