the prius prime

[scaredyclassic]

i bought a prius prime on wed.

3500 rebate. after rebate it was 22,441 plus TTL

there’s a 4500 fed tax credit and 1000 edison rebate, so 17k net.

if we earned under 300k we could get 1500 from the state, for 15500.

at this price, it is actually too cheap not to buy, i think. esp if you’re poor.

i drove 20 miles today all electric.

i kind of love this car. i hate cars and car culture, i hate the destruction of the earth by our need to drive everywhere, but dammit; i love this car. i plug it in to the side of the house in a regular outlet, drive around town for pennies.

i wanted to trade in my wifes car and get another one. hell, id buy 3 if she were into it. in fact im dying to by another one! i love it!!!! i almost always have buyers remorse but i have none here. also on my ebike, no buyers remorse. but everything else, buyers remorse

they are so cool. i love the blue color. i love everything about it. i think 25 miles, the electric range, can cover weekend errands.

i see people i know thinking nothing of dropping 50 k on some loaded suv or quasi luxury car.

you could get 3 of these marvels! kids, wife, everyone gets one!!! here have a prius prime, i am happy to give u one

[FlyerInHi]

Why didn’t you buy an all electric car? I find a hybrid to be useless unless you need the range. People don’t, but they have range anxiety and “just in case” they take a trip.

Plus with a hybrid, you still need to service the engine.

Give the car to your son for college (where charging is not all convenient) and get all electric next time.

[spdrun]

FiH, the problem is that the only truly long-range, fast-charging electric car is a Tesla, and Tesla tends to be a stone bitch about working on your own vehicle/sourcing replacement parts. Plus, many people do actually take trips, and often not where Superchargers are. Electric on a daily basis/gas for longer trips seems like a sane compromise.

[scaredyclassic]

I think 25 miles electric range will cover 90 plus perc of our driving.

It was 2k off MSRP plus a 3500 toyota rebate.

Drove to the airport and got 66 mpg.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=spdrun]FiH, the problem is that the only truly long-range, fast-charging electric car is a Tesla, and Tesla tends to be a stone bitch about working on your own vehicle/sourcing replacement parts. Plus, many people do actually take trips, and often not where Superchargers are. Electric on a daily basis/gas for longer trips seems like a sane compromise.[/quote]

On second thought the Prius is a very good price. Can’t go wrong with that.

But I think that 1 gas car per household is more than enough. I like all electric they are engine maintenance free — no dirty petroleum products.

The eGolf is $10k off. My friend in SF bought one last month. Charging is via 110v extension cord to the parking stall below, haha. But it works.

[Coronita]

Congrats! You got great reliable car with great gas mileage, easy on the wallet for insurance, and easy on the wallet when it comes to collision repairs. and you won’t get stranded in the middle of nowhere.

How did you manage to get $3500 off? Which dealer? At this price I’m tempted to get one… Thinking I can flog it for the next 3 years to death before my kid can drive. Which blue did you get? My favorite is the dark blue.

[equalizer]

2019 has the $3500 rebate. It is a four seater, the 2020 adds tiny fifth seat in rear middle for Uber and Lyft requirement for 5 seats.

[Coronita]

wow that’s a great deal equalizer and scardey. I like it….great price…..hmmmmm ……It’s good to buy these things while gas is cheap and no one cares about gas prices.

And the key is reliable…

Anything German/European e-Car will be a crapmobile post warranty. Guaranteed.

[outtamojo]

That is an insane deal for a new car.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=flu]wow that’s a great deal equalizer and scardey. I like it….great price…..hmmmmm ……It’s good to buy these things while gas is cheap and no one cares about gas prices.

And the key is reliable…

Anything German/European e-Car will be a crapmobile post warranty. Guaranteed.[/quote]

Electric cars are much more reliable and maintenance free than gas cars.
Not pushing the eGolf, but you really can’t do any better on all electric.

https://slickdeals.net/f/13163326-21-000-off-msrp-2019-volkswagen-egolf-w-driver-s-assistance-package-125-mile-epa-range-final-price-10-000-13-500

[Myriad]

Too bad the CA CVRP doesn’t have enough funds for regular income, only low income.
https://cleanvehiclerebate.org/eng

I was planning on getting a new car next year, after my current one reaches 200k. Though, I like paying only $200/year for my insurance and not worrying about the dings and scratches…

The edison credit – is that SCE only? SDG&E has the EVCC.

[Coronita]

I’ll wait to see what happens to a
VW eGolf , Fiat e, or BMW i3 10 years from now… When their electronics crap out (which it will guaranteed) or if they get into a minor collision, owners will be hurting

[spdrun]

Are their electronics really worse than electronic fuel injection systems on gas cars? I’ve had old cars with Bosch EFI systems that lasted 20+ years.

[Myriad]

I guess that’s the good thing about a Toyota, you can usually find parts for them.
But that brings up a good point, if you have a EV for 15-20 years, that’s at least 1 battery replacement. Which isn’t a problem if (and that’s the issue…) there’s someone that will do it and a reasonable battery pack of the same type.
Makes me think of my 9 year old fridge where the motherboard crapped out. Had to buy one on the grey market/refurb because Samsung doesn’t make the parts anymore.

[scaredyclassic]

I think my timeline is shorter.

I owned and used my first car from 88 to 2012, 24 years

If I did that with this car I’d be 80…m

Dang

[FlyerInHi]

Myriad, If you are thrifty you can get an off lease Fiat 500e for $8k.
Drive it 5 years and throw it away and it’s still cheaper than anything especially with gas savings.

Too many people want a car to do too many things, more aspirational representing possible family vacations, etc…

A small electric is awesome if you work at places where there is free charging. Drive it as a utilitarian car, and rent something for family trips.

[Coronita]

The BMW i3 and Fiat 500e that people I know have seen so much shop time I’m surprised they are surprised that it happens. Stupid electrical gremlins and random things, no necessarily directly part of the drivetrain, but nevertheless extremely expensive to fix once out of warranty. The eGolf won’t be any different.. It’s just the way that these European car companies build their cars. Things like Bosch fuel injection don’t normally break because that’s usually using common components every other manufacturer uses. But all the other electronic gizmos that comes from the company itself always tends to be buggy, and when it does need to be replaced, will be expensive because it’s closer to a custom/manufacturer only part than anything else. The eGolf/500e/i3 are such a low production car that when they do break, finding parts will be difficult, and being electric, it will only come from the manufacturer. It’s just a money pit waiting to happen.

Toyotas, on the other hand, have been doing their hybrids for so many years and while there have been a lot of advancement, there’s also been plenty of carried over technology. And because of the volume of the cars, their wont be a parts issue when things do break.

I’m not against European cars in general. Germans make fun ICE cars, and as a weekend/fun/toy car, they are great. Because you won’t be using/counting on them on a daily basis and you probably won’t trying to get 100-200k miles out of them. But for a commute/daily/car, where you’re going to drive it into a ground and expect repair/maintenance costs to be low, I wouldn’t count on something European.

[scaredyclassic]

That was my thinking. I hate that I’m basically a consumer but I still subscribe to consumer reports. And the reliability ratings to toyota are superior. For the next 9 months my kid will drive it 10 miles a day all electric.

If I drive it to work and leave the bike at home it’s all electric.

Costco, sprouts, trader Joe’s, and barnes and noble all electric. Old town temecula all electric.

That’s pretty much the majority of where we go local.

But sometimes we get crazy and head to l.a. or SD or riverside. If I’d gone with the used nissan leaf I’d wanted that might’ve been sketchy.

On balance, realistically, I feel like going and trading in my wife’s unreliable mini and getting another prius prime. But she refuses. I hate that car. I bought the super extended warranty and sadly it’s been profitable.

[FlyerInHi]

flu…. do you think that American Tesla is anymore reliable than Mercedes? Would you buy a Mercedes electric?

Honestly, I think electric is a new product line and you can’t project gas car reliability history to electric. But, yeah we will see in about 10 years. My experience has been very different with the Fiat 500e and the i3. Very reliable so far. Some rattles but nothing wrong. I think the Chevy Bolt would be reliable too — but not according to chevy’s reputation.

Scaredy, I buy so many things and don’t bother with reviews. Reading consumer reports seems old fashioned. I buy so many appliances and TVs for my condos — whatever is cheap enough but looks good works for me — never any problems. I think that commodity items are all the same. If the price is cheap, just replace it when time comes.
I do like Samsung appliances. I think they run quieter and the design is more modern.

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=FlyerInHi]flu…. do you think that American Tesla is anymore reliable than Mercedes? Would you buy a Mercedes electric?

Honestly, I think electric is a new product line and you can’t project gas car reliability history to electric. But, yeah we will see in about 10 years. My experience has been very different with the Fiat 500e and the i3. Very reliable so far. Some rattles but nothing wrong. I think the Chevy Bolt would be reliable too — but not according to chevy’s reputation.

Scaredy, I buy so many things and don’t bother with reviews. Reading consumer reports seems old fashioned. I buy so many appliances and TVs for my condos — whatever is cheap enough but looks good works for me — never any problems. I think that commodity items are all the same. If the price is cheap, just replace it when time comes.
I do like Samsung appliances. I think they run quieter and the design is more modern.[/quote]

Consumer reports is kind of for old people. My kids think its dumb.

But I still feel it pushes one toward slightly better decisions.

Or at least alerted me that our Mini would suck

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=scaredyclassic]

Or at least alerted me that our Mini would suck[/quote]

Haha, That’s what I told my old proud cousin about his Mini.
He claims that the old Mini has been flawless. But I think he’s lying to me out of pride. Now the Mini belongs to his son and he has a Tesla 3.

[Coronita]

[quote=scaredyclassic][quote=FlyerInHi]flu…. do you think that American Tesla is anymore reliable than Mercedes? Would you buy a Mercedes electric?

Honestly, I think electric is a new product line and you can’t project gas car reliability history to electric. But, yeah we will see in about 10 years. My experience has been very different with the Fiat 500e and the i3. Very reliable so far. Some rattles but nothing wrong. I think the Chevy Bolt would be reliable too — but not according to chevy’s reputation.

Scaredy, I buy so many things and don’t bother with reviews. Reading consumer reports seems old fashioned. I buy so many appliances and TVs for my condos — whatever is cheap enough but looks good works for me — never any problems. I think that commodity items are all the same. If the price is cheap, just replace it when time comes.
I do like Samsung appliances. I think they run quieter and the design is more modern.[/quote]

Consumer reports is kind of for old people. My kids think its dumb.

But I still feel it pushes one toward slightly better decisions.

Or at least alerted me that our Mini would suck[/quote]

Scotty is your friend…
He’s very entertaining… Not far from the truth.

“Here’s why you should never buy a Mini”

You can count how many times he says retarded and stupid in the video. lol..

I tried working on a mini once. Thought it might be a fun Lemons race car..Fun car while it was running… Tried working on it…. I gave up..

[Coronita]

No. Tesla’s depreciate very fast, are expensive to repair, and can be money pits too over the long period of time. But at least if you spend $40k on a Tesla, you’re getting a Tesla and not a VAG product which is known to be a money pit and from company that’s cheated on emissions before. And plus at least for what my parents would need, it would be a low mileage car. My dad’s BMW 550 has been incredibly reliable. Because it only has 15k miles on almost 7 year old car. And since I do all the service on it myself.

[outtamojo]

To be fair all cars in the luxury category have astounding rates of depreciation but if you want all electric you gotta get a Tesla. The base 3 leaves the new leaf and new korean evs in the dust.
That said, do not buy a new all electric to save money on gas- not gonna beat the total cost of ownership for this Prius.
We have a Model 3 long range- we bot it in lieu of the 4 series bmw the wife wanted. We bot it because it was the better car, not for economy. I wanna see the model Y- supposedly they got the wiring down to about 100 meters vs about a mile’s worth for a car with bells and whistles.

[FlyerInHi]

Flu, I agree on your overall quality assessment. However, quality today is less of a differentiating factor than in the past.

Plus I believe that money or financial incentives can solve everything. Would you rather buy a used Leaf or a brand new eGolf? The 500e was a compliance car at $49/mo 3-year lease — almost free. That sure is saving money on gas and operating costs over even an economy gas car. It’s a super cute stylish car for the city.

When a deal is super good, almost not to be true, you just have to go with it. I agree that scaredy’s Prius Prime is such a deal. I was just offering the eGolf as an even cheaper all electric alternative that would save gas/money. The Prius Prime and the eGolf are both no brainers depending on what you want. Other options such as Tesla are more aspirational for people who want to spend more money.

[treehugger]

What dealership did you use? I miss my old prius and this seriously has me tempted to get rid of the Volvo SUV. I live near the Carlsbad Toyota dealership, but have not had good experience with them….

[Coronita]

[quote=treehugger]What dealership did you use? I miss my old prius and this seriously has me tempted to get rid of the Volvo SUV. I live near the Carlsbad Toyota dealership, but have not had good experience with them….[/quote]
oh god don’t go there. Rip off alert.

none of the San Diego toyota dealers I found to be good in price.
Get internet quotes from LA dealerships.. get it in writing OTD price….you still end up paying SD sales tax 7.75% because that’s based on registered address.

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=treehugger]What dealership did you use? I miss my old prius and this seriously has me tempted to get rid of the Volvo SUV. I live near the Carlsbad Toyota dealership, but have not had good experience with them….[/quote]

I got a bunch of internet quotes all in a day, took the lowest price to temecula valley toyota that night, they matched the lowest and I bought it.

I normally would try to do a few rounds of trying to get each to go lower, but I felt like there arent that many 2019s around and it required some quick decisionmaking.

[scaredyclassic]

My mom thinks it’s terrible that I bought cars for my 3 kids, but I commute only by bike.

I think its cool

[Coronita]

[quote=scaredyclassic]My mom thinks it’s terrible that I bought cars for my 3 kids, but I commute only by bike.

I think its cool[/quote]

Nah.. You’re part of the cool club now…

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=flu][quote=scaredyclassic]My mom thinks it’s terrible that I bought cars for my 3 kids, but I commute only by bike.

I think its cool[/quote]

Nah.. You’re part of the cool club now…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RksFDe6nkaY%5B/quote%5D

Haha.

But seriously, why buy any other car?

[Coronita]

[quote=scaredyclassic][quote=flu][quote=scaredyclassic]My mom thinks it’s terrible that I bought cars for my 3 kids, but I commute only by bike.

I think its cool[/quote]

Nah.. You’re part of the cool club now…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RksFDe6nkaY%5B/quote%5D

Haha.

But seriously, why buy any other car?[/quote]

It’s just missing one small aftermarket upgrade… But yes, this proves you really dont need any other car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzLNC-strf0

[gzz]

I want to get a new car, however I live 3 miles from work and put about 2500 miles a year on my car. So my 9 year old Toyota is around 33k (purchased it used with about 15k). Hard to justify replacing a trouble free car with 33k miles on it.

I saw a Mercedes GLE 63 on the road last week, beautiful CUV.

I used to admire my old neighbor’s 2005 Quattroporte in the parking garage. Just beautiful inside and out and from every angle. I bet I could get one cheap now but it would be a money pit.

[spdrun]

CUVs are ugly, topheavy, chunky pieces of rubbish. Give me a real CAR any car over those delivery trucks.

[outtamojo]

3 mile drives are perfect for all electric- ice cars barely have time to warm up.

[gzz]

SPD a lot of CUVs these days are like 3 inches higher than the sedan platform they are based on. I would get a minivan before a full size crossover or SUV. But compact CUVs these days are basically the midsize hatchbacks of 10-15 years ago.

[spdrun]

gzz – I’d rather have an actual hatchback, whether it’s an Impreza, Insight, or Prius. I don’t need the “tough” styling designed to cater to suburban cowards who want to feel as tall as a pickup truck. My ideal car would actually be an electric Miata or MR2. Low, light, simple, unsafe, as cars should be!

If I wanted a tall car, I’d get a minivan. At least it’s honest and not pretentious.

[Coronita]

not that it’s a problem here.. But EV cars might have issues in cold climates.

[spdrun]

You’re still warming the oil temperature from outside temperature (50 to 80F) to operating temperature (220-250F).

[FlyerInHi]

We will see, but I believe that the future of the car market will be subscription. Why buy a car when you could rent for the period you need a car?

We have archaic laws that require cars be sold through dealerships. Those laws will slow down the development of new business models, wealth creation, and consumer choices. I believe that Tesla got an exemption in order to sell direct.

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/california-could-shut-down-those-popular-car-subscription-services-n1046481

[spdrun]

FiH — the future is subscription in dense urban areas. In less dense cities like San Diego, people use their cars like purses or backpacks … they don’t want to have to fully unload them between uses. Don’t underestimate the pack-rat tendencies of most Americans.

[Myriad]

[quote=spdrun]FiH — the future is subscription in dense urban areas. In less dense cities like San Diego, people use their cars like purses or backpacks … they don’t want to have to fully unload them between uses. Don’t underestimate the pack-rat tendencies of most Americans.[/quote]

That sounds about right. If you’re in NYC, yeah, you don’t need a car. But in SD… people have sports gear, surfboards, kids strollers, etc.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=spdrun]FiH — the future is subscription in dense urban areas. In less dense cities like San Diego, people use their cars like purses or backpacks … they don’t want to have to fully unload them between uses. Don’t underestimate the pack-rat tendencies of most Americans.[/quote]

Hoarders in cars, haha. How about changing cars every 3 months? What if the subscription allows you to select a pickup, suv or sedan every 3 month period?

I have a car that I rent out on Turo along with my Airbnb. Works out great. When people stay, they need a car. If they stay longer, but not too long, they are more likely to need my car. If they are foreigners, the car rental companies quote them high insurance rates so they take my car.

The same will happen to housing in many ways, especially with millennials.

[treehugger]

We are seriously trying to buy one for our daughter (or at least help her buy one), she is in college and wants a new car (grandpa is giving her a few thousand for down payment) and I have e-mailed about 20 dealerships and they are the biggest bunch of morons I have ever dealt with!!! How soon can you get down here and test drive??? As soon as you give me the best deal I will come purchase! Does anybody actually waste their time dealing with these idiots in person? At least at home i can have a drink and relax on my couch while I waste my time. Or talk to them while I am out on a run with my dogs, that was fun!

I search the internet it says base model MSRP is $27,350 with $3,500 toyota incentive starting point should be $23,850 plus any other incentives from dealership, they have marked the cars up and are trying to pretend the $3,500 off of $29,800 is a great deal, do they not use google? Type in 2019 Prius Prime MSRP and every site says starting at $27,350!!! Only one dealership actually provided a breakdown of costs and I am still awaiting final, but we are at about $21,900-$4,500 fed rebate would equal $17,400 and she would definitely qualify for the state rebate of $1500, so now at $15,900, ugh, don’t really want to drive to Moreno Valley tomorrow!

[zk]

[quote=treehugger]We are seriously trying to buy one for our daughter (or at least help her buy one), she is in college and wants a new car (grandpa is giving her a few thousand for down payment) and I have e-mailed about 20 dealerships and they are the biggest bunch of morons I have ever dealt with!!! How soon can you get down here and test drive??? As soon as you give me the best deal I will come purchase! Does anybody actually waste their time dealing with these idiots in person? At least at home i can have a drink and relax on my couch while I waste my time. Or talk to them while I am out on a run with my dogs, that was fun!

I search the internet it says base model MSRP is $27,350 with $3,500 toyota incentive starting point should be $23,850 plus any other incentives from dealership, they have marked the cars up and are trying to pretend the $3,500 off of $29,800 is a great deal, do they not use google? Type in 2019 Prius Prime MSRP and every site says starting at $27,350!!! Only one dealership actually provided a breakdown of costs and I am still awaiting final, but we are at about $21,900-$4,500 fed rebate would equal $17,400 and she would definitely qualify for the state rebate of $1500, so now at $15,900, ugh, don’t really want to drive to Moreno Valley tomorrow![/quote]

I don’t know about other dealers, but Dodge dealers clearly list their prices and incentives online for every car they have in stock. When I bought my Challenger Scat Pack last year, I looked at the website of every Dodge dealer in California and looked at each of their Scat Packs. The cheapest two (by a significant margin) were at the same dealer in Marin County. I called the guy and said, “how much is the car going to cost out the door.” And he said the price on the internet plus tax, title, and fees. He told me exactly how much the tax and fees would be (I think the fees were like 80 bucks or something) and gave me an estimate on the title (which is set by the DMV anyway). I told him I’d be on a plane in two hours and asked if I was going to have any surprises when I got there. He promised me I wouldn’t and I didn’t. I got it for about $2,000 cheaper than anywhere else in the state, and about $9,500 off MSRP.

If the manufacturer of the car you’re looking for lists their prices like that, it’s a great way to go.

[Coronita]

[quote=treehugger]We are seriously trying to buy one for our daughter (or at least help her buy one), she is in college and wants a new car (grandpa is giving her a few thousand for down payment) and I have e-mailed about 20 dealerships and they are the biggest bunch of morons I have ever dealt with!!! How soon can you get down here and test drive??? As soon as you give me the best deal I will come purchase! Does anybody actually waste their time dealing with these idiots in person? At least at home i can have a drink and relax on my couch while I waste my time. Or talk to them while I am out on a run with my dogs, that was fun!

I search the internet it says base model MSRP is $27,350 with $3,500 toyota incentive starting point should be $23,850 plus any other incentives from dealership, they have marked the cars up and are trying to pretend the $3,500 off of $29,800 is a great deal, do they not use google? Type in 2019 Prius Prime MSRP and every site says starting at $27,350!!! Only one dealership actually provided a breakdown of costs and I am still awaiting final, but we are at about $21,900-$4,500 fed rebate would equal $17,400 and she would definitely qualify for the state rebate of $1500, so now at $15,900, ugh, don’t really want to drive to Moreno Valley tomorrow![/quote]

I am sorry because people like me ruined it for people like you.

I bought all my cars over the internet with a large paper trail and now internet sales managers are very hesitant to deal with people over email because they know that the moment they give a price, you’ll shop it across 10 other dealers until you find the lowest one….

However you only really need one dealer to name a price and then you can let the ball roll.

My advice is to first contact one dealer via TrueCar. Don’t let the TrueCar estimate fool you. You can usually do a lot better than TrueCar … all the cars I bought we’re always well below the “exceptional” price range .

Get one estimate from exactly one dealer from TrueCar. Then take that estimate and open your favorite HTML editor and knock a few hundred off that email and forward it to the next dealer to see if they can beat it. Contact the interest sales dept directly not through TrueCar, that way it costs the dealership less. Rinse and repeat. Usually the Toyota dealers that have a large inventory are usually the ones that are more willing to wheel and deal over the internet. Don’t ever set foot in the showroom. Never give them your real phone number … Always do things over email or text. I negotiated my last car completely over SMS between 4 dealers. Cerritos and Browning in LA, and El Cajon and Mission Valley down here. Some of them didn’t want to do it over email,so I convinced them to do it over text. I guess they felt it was more like over the phone than over email (despite SMS having a paper trail too. )

On first year production car (4 months from US debut) I got my car about $4200 below MSRP or about $1500 below invoice. That was better the friends paying MSRP (lol) and family s-plan discount pricing. My original car that I wanted was a previous year leftover that I got down to about $7100 but decided I wanted the current year model. The two dealers up LA provided the feeder prices, I got Mission Valley to match, then I applied a high pressure text blast to El Cajon saying I was going to buy in a few hours and I needed a price quote. El Cajon lowered their price and sent me the OTD total price via SMS..I took a screenshot of that and forwarded it to Mission Valley and said make me an offer so I don’t need to go all the way to ElCajon. The salesman find ally got tired of it and gave me a final price $800 below ElCajon….I bought it the same day.
….and then burned my temporary Google Voice number and never heard from the other 3 dealers again.

Yes, I guess it was kind of cold and brutal…Bit I never got a good treatment whenever I was physically in any of the dealerships…With the exception of the Aston Martin dealership in Kearny Mesa, who was very nice to me and offered me a test drive and Porsche of San Diego that let me borrow the 991 911s demo for almost an hour to try it out. God I miss driving that car….But buying that short sales condo was a better investment back then..

[FlyerInHi]

VW ID3. The new people’s car is out. I like it.
Electric is coming of age.

As far as charging goes I see commercial real estate owners leveraging their parking spaces to increase revenue or attract customers. It’s an opportunity to take away revenue from gas station owners.

governments could turn rest areas and parks into self-sufficient service centers with pay for charging and food and beverage concessions…. so many opportunities.

[Author]

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