New/Used Prius

[TangoJuliet]

For commuting on the LIE, Prius beats Corolla even if the Corolla could magically match the Prius MPG.

The Prius gets you the HOV lane.

HOV lane is like a damn teleporter on Long Island during rush hour.
HOV + Hatchback + decent amount of room inside > Corolla.
I'd take a Yugo over the Corolla if that means I could cash in on the HOV.

You are correct. MPG/cost of gas doesn't really matter to me. If I could drive a H3 in the HOV lane I would do it. Like I said in my first post - NYS has a really specific list of what cars can go in the HOV lane under the clean pass. Most of them are EVs and would not be feasible for a 130+ mile commute. The only ones that make sense are the Civic, Prius and Accord...and out of those the Prius seems the most practical.

 

[TangoJuliet]

I just wanted to re-hash this thread. So I was finally offered the new job which will require the longer commute.

Nothing really has changed - the price of gas hasn't really changed my view of the vehicle. Its the single occupancy clean pass sticker that I want.

I went to a bunch of dealerships today and think the Prius Four is the vehicle that will work best for me.

The one I am looking at is a 2012 Four with the solar package. It has 40,000 miles, leather interior and I was able to talk them down from $18,999 to $18,000.

I test drove a 2012 Volt and 2010 Civic Hybrid and felt each had their +/-'s. There is another dealership that has a 2013 Prius C for a little more than $18,000 but from what I am reading they are cramped and its tradeoffs from the full size Prius are not worth it.

 

[Insomniator]

Uhh, move. Wasting your life away regardless of the money. I wouldn't take a prius for free, or a company paid driver to take me each way for that long.

 

[tortillasoup]

I just wanted to re-hash this thread. So I was finally offered the new job which will require the longer commute.

Nothing really has changed - the price of gas hasn't really changed my view of the vehicle. Its the single occupancy clean pass sticker that I want.

I went to a bunch of dealerships today and think the Prius Four is the vehicle that will work best for me.

The one I am looking at is a 2012 Four with the solar package. It has 40,000 miles, leather interior and I was able to talk them down from $18,999 to $18,000.

I test drove a 2012 Volt and 2010 Civic Hybrid and felt each had their +/-'s. There is another dealership that has a 2013 Prius C for a little more than $18,000 but from what I am reading they are cramped and its tradeoffs from the full size Prius are not worth it.

Where do you live? Unless you have a plug-in hybrid/electric vehicle, you won't have the privilege of being able to drive in the carpool lane alone. I'm pretty sure this is true for all states.

 

[TangoJuliet]

Where do you live? Unless you have a plug-in hybrid/electric vehicle, you won't have the privilege of being able to drive in the carpool lane alone. I'm pretty sure this is true for all states.

I live in NY. The Prii that I was looking at qualifies for single occupancy in the HOV lane.

http://dmv.ny.gov/more-info/clean-pass-stickers-high-occupancy-vehicle-lanes-long-island-expressway

With the Clean Pass vehicle stickers on a qualified vehicle, you can drive the vehicle in a high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane of the Long Island Expressway (LIE) at any time with the driver as the only vehicle occupant. Law enforcement agencies have been informed about the stickers and the qualified vehicles.

 

[Imported]

I just wanted to re-hash this thread. So I was finally offered the new job which will require the longer commute.

Nothing really has changed - the price of gas hasn't really changed my view of the vehicle. Its the single occupancy clean pass sticker that I want.

I went to a bunch of dealerships today and think the Prius Four is the vehicle that will work best for me.

The one I am looking at is a 2012 Four with the solar package. It has 40,000 miles, leather interior and I was able to talk them down from $18,999 to $18,000.

I test drove a 2012 Volt and 2010 Civic Hybrid and felt each had their +/-'s. There is another dealership that has a 2013 Prius C for a little more than $18,000 but from what I am reading they are cramped and its tradeoffs from the full size Prius are not worth it.

That seems like a great price. I unloaded my 2012 Four with Solar for around 22k/23k last May.

 

[RLGL]

So it looks like my stint of working close to home is going to come to an end here in the next month. My commute is going from 10 minutes/8 miles to 1.5 hours/65 miles each way.

I had done that 130 mile commute for 5 years before I was able to get closer. At the time I had purchased a new Focus that wound up having 90,000 miles in 3 years. I only paid $12,000 for that car (brand new) and beat it up pretty good.

This time around I wanted to get a car that was a NYS clean pass vehicle. This would allow for a single occupant to drive in the HOV lane.

Here are some that I was able to find.

2010 Prius IV; 45,000 miles; $16,388
2011 Prius IV; 89,000 miles; $15,991
2010 Prius IV; 28,217 miles; $18,849

All of them have leather interior and either moon roof, navigation or backup camera. If that really matters as to which is the best deal then I'll edit the post. I believe both the 2010 models are pre-certified and have an additional warranty through Toyota. All of the vehicles are for sale through Toyota dealerships.

New York is very limited as to which cars qualify for the clean pass - the only other vehicle I would consider from the list is a Civic hybrid. However only 2003-2010 models qualify and the 2010s seem to carry a high price tag compared to the Prius.

Thoughts/Comments are appreciated!!

You will not recoup the extra cost of the initial purchase over the years in fuel savings.
I bought a '13 Civic with 10.5K miles for 16K. It gets about 34 mpg overall inthe Minnesota winter. It will do better in summer.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Uhh, move. Wasting your life away regardless of the money. I wouldn't take a prius for free, or a company paid driver to take me each way for that long.

I commute 70 miles a day round trip. Moving for me isn't an option. My son is in school where we live, we own our home and my wife's business is there (she works out of the house selling real estate).

Maybe the OP has a similar situation?

 

[tortillasoup]

You will not recoup the extra cost of the initial purchase over the years in fuel savings.
I bought a '13 Civic with 10.5K miles for 16K. It gets about 34 mpg overall inthe Minnesota winter. It will do better in summer.

He doesn't care about just the fuel savings, he also wants the time savings of the HOV lane.

 

[Insomniator]

I commute 70 miles a day round trip. Moving for me isn't an option. My son is in school where we live, we own our home and my wife's business is there (she works out of the house selling real estate).

Maybe the OP has a similar situation?

70 miles round trip is reasonable, 3 hours a day isn't. I'd quit and help my wife's business, move it or move the kid. There has to be a breaking point no? What if it were 5 hours a day? 15 hours a week commuting, almost a full day you lose each week driving.

 

[JulesMaximus]

70 miles round trip is reasonable, 3 hours a day isn't. I'd quit and help my wife's business, move it or move the kid. There has to be a breaking point no? What if it were 5 hours a day? 15 hours a week commuting, almost a full day you lose each week driving.

My commute is about 50-60 minutes each way. That's nearly 2 hours a day in the car... sucks but I make the best of it.

 

[Torn Mind]

70 miles round trip is reasonable, 3 hours a day isn't. I'd quit and help my wife's business, move it or move the kid. There has to be a breaking point no? What if it were 5 hours a day? 15 hours a week commuting, almost a full day you lose each week driving.

Real estate agents are paid by commission and hence him helping his wife involves him either finding leads for her or playing persuader to get the buy to pay more. The boost in his wife's income thanks to his help is not likely to be much. Never mind no sick leave and other perks that come with a salaried job. He probably can't access the MRIS system without his own credentials.

 

[Yuriman]

Looks like a great price, I vote go for it. I'd start stashing away for early retirement and get out of that commute.

 

[TangoJuliet]

Looks like a great price, I vote go for it. I'd start stashing away for early retirement and get out of that commute.

I am eligible for early retirement but for now I gotta do that commute. With the Prius' clean pass sticker I should be able to cut the drive down to an hour each way.

I guess it comes down to go with the full size 2012 with the solar package and 40k miles for $18k or a 2013 C with leather and 15k miles for $18k. I'm leaning towards the full size because it seems like I am getting more car. I am scheduled to drive the C later today.

 

[HitAnyKey]

I am eligible for early retirement but for now I gotta do that commute. With the Prius' clean pass sticker I should be able to cut the drive down to an hour each way.

I guess it comes down to go with the full size 2012 with the solar package and 40k miles for $18k or a 2013 C with leather and 15k miles for $18k. I'm leaning towards the full size because it seems like I am getting more car. I am scheduled to drive the C later today.

Buy the one that feels more comfortable provided its not too much different in savings. Anything longer than 30min in a car can really get on you over time. I would rather drive a bigger car and give up some features if it means not feeling so cramped.

Especially in Winter when you got your heavies on and you are fighting to get somewhere. Better to feel more relaxed and not cramped.

Plus I think the bigger sized Prius will probably hold its value better over time. Also check on the internals. Is the bigger one better built or have any advantage like longer lasting battery?

 

[TangoJuliet]

Buy the one that feels more comfortable provided its not too much different in savings. Anything longer than 30min in a car can really get on you over time. I would rather drive a bigger car and give up some features if it means not feeling so cramped.

Especially in Winter when you got your heavies on and you are fighting to get somewhere. Better to feel more relaxed and not cramped.

Plus I think the bigger sized Prius will probably hold its value better over time. Also check on the internals. Is the bigger one better built or have any advantage like longer lasting battery?

I did the same commute for 5 years so I am quite aware....its something I had to think very carefully about when accepting the offer.

The appeal of the C is that its cheaper than the full size but in this case the price is the same. The only upside of the C is that its a year newer and has less miles but I don't think that will matter to me.

 

[NutBucket]

I would go for the IV. The C is supposedly rather spartan in terms of comfort and sound insulation. It doesn't sound like a nice place to spend hours every day.

 

[TangoJuliet]

Just got done test driving the C. Its a nice little car to take around town but once you get on the highway it really struggles. The engine noise was really loud and going from 0-65 took what seemed like eternity. The road noise was also loud once you got over 60.

 

[Imported]

Just a note, the solar package does nothing but vent out the in-cabin air when the car is off if I remember correctly.

 

[tortillasoup]

Just a note, the solar package does nothing but vent out the in-cabin air when the car is off if I remember correctly.

That is correct. They wanted the Solar Package to charge the 12v battery but Toyota found that this interfered with the Radio's antenna/signal so they opted out of that. I would have figured they could have put some sort of filter between the solar panel and the battery so that the radio didn't attempt to use the solar panel as an antenna or something.

 

[NutBucket]

Either that or the figured out the output of the panel wasn't enough to bother with the added complexity/cost.

 

[tortillasoup]

Either that or the figured out the output of the panel wasn't enough to bother with the added complexity/cost.

Having a car that kept its 12V battery always topped off would have provided a minor boost to fuel economy and more importantly would have provided peace of mind knowing that your 12V battery wouldn't go dead if parked outside...

 

[NutBucket]

Because people commonly leave their cars parked for months at a time?

 

[jagec]

Either that or the figured out the output of the panel wasn't enough to bother with the added complexity/cost.

Once the panel is up there, most of the cost is already sunk. A suitable charge controller would cost about $50 as an aftermarket add-on, so I'd imagine that it might be even cheaper as a built-in system.

It's true that it wouldn't really be a useful addition (most people who leave their car parked for long enough to kill the battery would probably not leave it outside and uncovered), but the solar panel is a "feel-good" option anyway, and knowing that your 12V battery will never die would help increase the Prius's already substantial smug emissions.

 

[TangoJuliet]

Ok, I took the full size IV on a test drive today. It is much better on the highway than the C.
They are letting me keep it overnight so I can test it on my commute tomorrow. It should be a nice test because I am getting out of Queens at 3:30.

A couple quick notes about this car. It is a Toyota Certified Pre-Owned vehicle. The leather is an aftermarket add on (Katzkin).What has me a little confused is that I thought the IV trim already had leather - why would they put an aftermarket leather on it?