the prius prime

[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]

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.

[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..

[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.

[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.

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