2017 Prius Prime PHEV

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TomT said:
jjeff said:
I liked the styling much better than the (IMO) fugly new Prius.
I gotta disagree on this one. I've seen a few of the Primes and I find it even more fugly than the new Prius!
H'mm, purely subjective, but I think it's the best looking, followed by the Mirai and then the regular Prius. Not that I like any of them, but I'm reserving fugly for the Prius HEV; the other two are just ugly.
 
GRA said:
TomT said:
jjeff said:
I liked the styling much better than the (IMO) fugly new Prius.
I gotta disagree on this one. I've seen a few of the Primes and I find it even more fugly than the new Prius!
H'mm, purely subjective, but I think it's the best looking, followed by the Mirai and then the regular Prius. Not that I like any of them, but I'm reserving fugly for the Prius HEV; the other two are just ugly.
+ my feelings exactly. I'm not exactly picky about the looks of a car, heck I even went with the Leaf even though I didn't car for it's goofy headlights. I could live with the Prime, not so the new regular Prius and it would keep me from purchasing one. I can't stand the angular look, and this is coming from a current Prius owner......I'd think their target demo but maybe not. Maybe they are going for the millennials, and I guess thats OK, just leave me out :)
 
Cool, looks like the Japanese version of the Prime will get a solar roof, which they say on a sunny day could give you an extra 3.7 miles, which wouldn't be a lot in a BEV but on a vehicle that only had a 25 mile EV range, every bit would help.
https://thinkprogress.org/prius-solar-roof-breakthrough-2b929f467061
 
jjeff said:
Cool, looks like the Japanese version of the Prime will get a solar roof, which they say on a sunny day could give you an extra 3.7 miles, which wouldn't be a lot in a BEV but on a vehicle that only had a 25 mile EV range, every bit would help.
https://thinkprogress.org/prius-solar-roof-breakthrough-2b929f467061
That seems to be big enough to be marginally useful instead of purely a gimmick like the LEAF's, although what the price is will be the determining factor. Still, as someone who often leaves my car sitting at a trailhead for hours or days, not to mention in my driveway for a week or more, it might pencil out. Course, you'd have to deliberately leave the car so it was exposed to the sun all day instead of parking in the shade, so there'd presumably be some (battery and/or cabin) cooling overhead that would eliminate much of the charging benefit. I suspect that until the entire surface of the car is covered with cells at an affordable price, this won't be cost-effective.
 
GRA said:
jjeff said:
Cool, looks like the Japanese version of the Prime will get a solar roof, which they say on a sunny day could give you an extra 3.7 miles, which wouldn't be a lot in a BEV but on a vehicle that only had a 25 mile EV range, every bit would help.
https://thinkprogress.org/prius-solar-roof-breakthrough-2b929f467061
That seems to be big enough to be marginally useful instead of purely a gimmick like the LEAF's, although what the price is will be the determining factor. Still, as someone who often leaves my car sitting at a trailhead for hours or days, not to mention in my driveway for a week or more, it might pencil out. Course, you'd have to deliberately leave the car so it was exposed to the sun all day instead of parking in the shade, so there'd presumably be some (battery and/or cabin) cooling overhead that would eliminate much of the charging benefit. I suspect that until the entire surface of the car is covered with cells at an affordable price, this won't be cost-effective.
I tried to copy/paste to that article like you do, so people wouldn't have to follow the link, which I appreciate, but for whatever reason when I tried to SUBMIT it, I got an error code saying I couldn't. Something about it didn't like some code or another :? I tried deleting various things and retrying but was unsuccessful.
I agree, unlike the Joke solar panel on the back of my SL Leaf, this one sounds like it might actually do something, still was just the roof though.
 
LeftieBiker said:
I wonder if that panel will actually charge the Prime's pack when the car is Off.
Yes,

It charges a sMall NIMH pack then bucks it into the big pack from there, when moving it supports cabin loads only
 
GRA said:
Course, you'd have to deliberately leave the car so it was exposed to the sun all day instead of parking in the shade, so there'd presumably be some (battery and/or cabin) cooling overhead that would eliminate much of the charging benefit.
Park facing the sun, put up a windshield sun block, and crack open the windows for ventilation.
 
SageBrush said:
GRA said:
Course, you'd have to deliberately leave the car so it was exposed to the sun all day instead of parking in the shade, so there'd presumably be some (battery and/or cabin) cooling overhead that would eliminate much of the charging benefit.
Park facing the sun, put up a windshield sun block, and crack open the windows for ventilation.
I do all that other than cracking the windows when I have to park in the sun, but I don't have to worry about cooking a very expensive battery, just the 12V one. And my car color (silver metallic) has the second highest albedo (after white) of any car color out there, so I'm getting just about the best possible battery conditions.
 
In April, the Prime's U.S. sales passed the Volt for the first time, 1,819 to 1,807. I expect the Prime's lead to widen for the rest of the year, and that it will probably rank #1 for the year among PHEVs and maybe all PEVs. Low price will win out, unless the Ionic PHEV comes in not too much more expensive.
 
GRA said:
In April, the Prime's U.S. sales passed the Volt for the first time, 1,819 to 1,807. I expect the Prime's lead to widen for the rest of the year, and that it will probably rank #1 for the year among PHEVs and maybe all PEVs. Low price will win out, unless the Ionic PHEV comes in not too much more expensive.
The sad part is the volt in reality is usually cheaper out the door and a lot more car than the prime,
The Prime has a small handful of gimmicks but doesn't handle or drive like a Volt.
if I had to guess the Ioniq will be less than the Prime but won't outsell the name Toyo.

Hyundai has a lot to prove given is relatively recent history
 
I agree with rmay. It's not about price as much as name recognition. Toyota/Prius has that in spades, especially among the "green car" crowd. Gm/Volt, not so much. Hyundai/Ioniq will be interesting to see how they build a new brand but I doubt it will touch the Prius Prime.
 
rmay635703 said:
The sad part is the volt in reality is usually cheaper out the door and a lot more car than the prime,
I own a Prime
I paid about $17,500 before taxes and after credits for a car that thumps the Volt in reliability, efficiency, and safety.

Which is not to discount the awful GM brand, but the Prime is a phenomenal value.
 
rmay635703 said:
GRA said:
In April, the Prime's U.S. sales passed the Volt for the first time, 1,819 to 1,807. I expect the Prime's lead to widen for the rest of the year, and that it will probably rank #1 for the year among PHEVs and maybe all PEVs. Low price will win out, unless the Ionic PHEV comes in not too much more expensive.
The sad part is the volt in reality is usually cheaper out the door and a lot more car than the prime,
The Prime has a small handful of gimmicks but doesn't handle or drive like a Volt.
if I had to guess the Ioniq will be less than the Prime but won't outsell the name Toyo.

Hyundai has a lot to prove given is relatively recent history
I wouldn't call a heatpump heater a gimmick, in my neck of the woods it's almost a necessity for decent winter(5 months of the year :( ) EV range. I also wouldn't call 50+ MPG on ICE a gimmick. :)
My biggest complaint about the Volt is it's extremely tight quarters, front, rear and middle, tight!
As a owner of a 10 year old Prius(non PHEV) and 13 year old Scion I can also attest to Toyota's quality, I've basically had to do nothing other than oil changes and brake jobs on both, friends with Fords or Chevys(not a Volt though) much newer than my Toyotas have far more issues than I.
Truthfully I wanted the Volt to work, gave it several good tries but even dismissing any potential quality issues it just wasn't the vehicle for me, not that I don't dislike several things about our Prius, more than my Leaf, just neither did I have as many issues with as the several Volts I tried out.
 
rmay635703 said:
SageBrush said:
rmay635703 said:
The sad part is the volt in reality is usually cheaper out the door and a lot more car than the prime,
I own a Prime
I paid about $17,500 before taxes and after credits for a car that thumps the Volt in reliability, efficiency, and safety.

Which is not to discount the awful GM brand, but the Prime is a phenomenal value.

I also paid $17,500 for my fully loaded volt tax title and license and I live in a state that only penalizes EVs, no credits.

118792_IMG_2014.jpg


The reason you drive a Volt isn't so much about MPGs but in EV % as shown above.
I also find it to be a more comfortable car and took it with 3 adults out 3500 miles to Yellowstone and back.

Even with a Prime, I still would end up at a Wash (at best) in terms of gallons of fuel used

And as Sparkie the volt demonstrates drive 85mph+ all day 380,000 miles later...
the Gen I volt is at least as reliable as a Prius.

https://www.voltstats.net/Stats/Details/1579

In terms of heat pump, yeah its a gimmick, around here we have a minimum of 2 months with sub zero weather, far as I remember the heat pump does nothing and for me at least, if its above 15F the car might be preheated but I don't generally use heat unless the gas engine is running on a longer trip

Cheers
Ryan
 
In terms of heat pump, yeah its a gimmick, around here we have a minimum of 2 months with sub zero weather, far as I remember the heat pump does nothing and for me at least, if its above 15F the car might be preheated but I don't generally use heat unless the gas engine is running on a longer trip

First, you don't understand how a heatpump works. It provides plentiful heat in MILD Winter temps, allowing you to use the heat often, with little range impact. (I assume that you don't use heat much because it drops your range a lot.) Heatpumps are not much help in frigid temps - that's when engine heat is still needed. Definitely NOT a gimmick - heatpump systems allow generous use of the heater all the way down to a bit below Freezing.
 
LeftieBiker said:
In terms of heat pump, yeah its a gimmick, around here we have a minimum of 2 months with sub zero weather, far as I remember the heat pump does nothing and for me at least, if its above 15F the car might be preheated but I don't generally use heat unless the gas engine is running on a longer trip

First, you don't understand how a heatpump works. It provides plentiful heat in MILD Winter temps, allowing you to use the heat often, with little range impact. (I assume that you don't use heat much because it drops your range a lot.) Heatpumps are not much help in frigid temps - that's when engine heat is still needed. Definitely NOT a gimmick - heatpump systems allow generous use of the heater all the way down to a bit below Freezing.
Plus it's not just for heat per se, when I use my energy-hog resistive heater on my S Leaf to help defog my windows, when it's too cold to use AC my range is cut quite a bit, this would the perfect use for a heat pump. While I agree in the extreme cold a heat pump doesn't really help, there are still lots of temperatures between 15F and when you might want some heat.
 
My priorities are oil consumption and pollution. Our household of two adults drives about 16,000 miles a year, split between 5,000 miles of about-town commuting and 11,000 miles of 90 mile trips. We use a LEAF for the in-town commuting and the Prime for the 90 mile trips. Since the beginning of the year when both cars were acquired we have averaged ~ 150 mpg between them. The LEAF was bought used for $7000 and the Prime bought new for $17,000. The EV miles are covered by PV.

In terms of fuel costs, we pay about $25-30 a month total. This averages out to ~ 2 cents a mile.
 
LeftieBiker said:
In terms of heat pump, yeah its a gimmick, around here we have a minimum of 2 months with sub zero weather, far as I remember the heat pump does nothing and for me at least, if its above 15F the car might be preheated but I don't generally use heat unless the gas engine is running on a longer trip

First, you don't understand how a heatpump works. It provides plentiful heat in MILD Winter temps, allowing you to use the heat often, with little range impact. (I assume that you don't use heat much because it drops your range a lot.) Heatpumps are not much help in frigid temps - that's when engine heat is still needed. Definitely NOT a gimmick - heatpump systems allow generous use of the heater all the way down to a bit below Freezing.

I do understand how a heat pump works, but the number of days where I would want heat and it's above 15 are pretty rare and usually heated seats more than makes up for it on those days.
even in my gas car the heat stays off in mild cold. Maybe being a son of a Yooper is why but my jacket doesn't go on until it's quite cold either.

That's my point, around here it's either in the high 20's or below zero, very rarely between and my volt is easily 70 degrees in the cab when I leave work after a full day sun in 20 degree weather, it's below 15 that I need something better and that's several months a year.
 
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