The topic is topical for me since I’m in the process of figuring out my family’s next car move. D18 just got her license and we need a 3rd car that she can use. We have other vehicles, but none that D can drive.
While the Toyota plug in is very nice, the range is so small and the ratings of the standard Prius are higher than the Prime. I like looks of the Chevy Volt, but the car seems far less roomy inside. And Chevy’s have a terrible history of reliability. We have two Toyotas in our family already and I think they’re outstanding cars. We’re also considering other Toyotas as well as other manufacturers.
The Prius Prime has less room inside than the Prius (non-Prime), since the extra batteries take up more room.
You can see a similar issue with the C-Max Energi versus the C-Max Hybrid, although in this case, the room consumed by the extra batteries in the Energi is lost in the cargo area.
Agree, sushiritto and ucbalumnus. Cargo and passenger room take a hit. If I were to recommend an affordable NON plugin car and could ONLY pick one my suggestion would be the Toyota Corolla. My D has a 1998 Corolla with 209,000 miles on it. We bought it used from a Toyota dealer for $3,000 when it had 112,000 miles. This was the same engine as the Geo Metro (I believe the 18R, which Toyota does not use any longer). This car still runs well but, unfortunately, we are looking for another one for her because the interior molding is shot and the passenger door won’t open from the outside. I am laughing right now because my D is an accountant and the managing partner in her firm took her to lunch a few months ago and asked her to drive because his car was being serviced! Yes, I DID ask her if he gave her a raise after seeing what she drove. He didn’t.
I own a 2017 Volt and have been very pleased with the car. 8000 trouble free miles and have used only one tank of gas. I routinely get 60 miles of electric range charging from my regular wall outlet nightly. I cancelled my Tesla reservation when I realized I have no need for more electric range than the volt can provide for 99% of my driving.
The Volt does have very high customer satisfaction ratings. Some owners border on fanatical. Sadly, the Volt seems to get lumped in with other Chevy models when magazines like CR discuss reliability. In reality, the Volt is nothing like any of the other standard Chevy gasoline vehicles. The Voltec battery technology has been proven to be very reliable since it’s introduction in 2010.
I’m not sure why anyone would opt for a plug in hybrid with such a low electric range like the Volvo (16 miles), Ford (16 miles) or the Prius (25 miles) when the new generation Volt has a range of 58 miles. Plus my fully loaded Volt with all the bells and whistles was only $35,000 before I claim the full $7500 tax credit!
Sadly, GM has never embraced the Volt and does not even advertise the car. Rumor has it that GM actually loses money on each Volt and that the model was really created to help GM meet CAFE standards. If true, there is a good chance that GM will discontinue the Volt in 2020.
I have a Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan. Can be plugged in a regular plug (takes 10-12 hrs for full charge) or Level 2 charger takes about 2 hrs. Because there were delivery delays they offered a free level 2 and so we are using that.
It is rated at 33 miles electric range but it definitely depends on the kind of driving you do. Lots of coasting or braking, you do better than highway speeds or cruise control.
I love the car, it is very comfortable, drives well, we rarely get gas, and it has a ton of room for people or stuff.
Regarding “rarely getting gas” and we certainly will also be in that same situation. I wonder how long you can conservatively keep the same tank of gas in your car for? I have read various blogs. Some owners recommend Stabil (?) others say it’s a no-no. Would 6 months be a reasonable period? Gummy gas could potentially cause lots of problems…
https://www.autoblog.com/2010/09/13/chevy-volts-maintenance-mode-will-burn-gas-to-prevent-aging/ indicates that the first generation Volt would run the gasoline engine to circulate fluids and burn off old fuel if it was not run for a while in normal operation. Presumably, the second generation Volt does this as well, and it would not be surprising if other plug-in hybrid designers have thought about this as well.
^ Yup. My Tesla has over 24,000 miles on it and I’ve taken it in exactly once for the annual service, nothing else. The only thing I’ve ever had to do to it myself other than plugging it in at night is to periodically top off the tires.
Regarding the Tesla maintenance, someone I work with has one and I saw his maintenance bill of around $5,000. Once they’re out of warranty, there are some big costs looming, if something goes wrong.
Tesla S and X are luxury vehicles, so I don’t think comparison with Ford and Toyota flies. The maintenance costs are quite reasonable compared to what other luxury car dealers would charge. And Tesla discloses their pricing upfront, unlike most others.
Bunsen, true but after doing a “3” month log on both our vehicles found that in the past 11 weeks of (typical) driving my wife drove a total of 952 miles. I drove even less-- 95 miles (yes, less than 10 miles per week). The oil changes and other related costs on a gasoline engine are rather insignificant. My 95-year-old MIL lives with us so we stay close to home on our infrequent outings. Probably makes no sense to keep a 2nd vehicle. If I cannot get my D the right Corolla at the right price, I will sell her my 2009 Honda Civic that has 47,000 miles on it. Roughly 90% of those miles from our S driving it before he moved to SF and opted to not have a car of his own.
The bigger consideration for me was the impact a new vehicle had on our insurance and annual registration fees. Before getting the Prme we had a 2006 Civic Hybrid with no collision. Our insurance went from $1,200 per year on 2 cars to now $1,800 per year on 2 cars. Registration on the Honda Hybrid was $112 or so, hundreds less than the new vehicle. The insurance and registration difference is about $1,000. Hoping to make that up in maintenance and repairs.
Tesla owners: Have any of you had to do autobody repairs? I know they are pricey but, maybe even more concerning, can any reputable auto body repair shop work on them or only Tesla body shops which are relatively far away from me in the east bay of SF? They have overlapping unibody construction made from aluminum, correct?
Vehicles with aluminum body panels may be more common than many people think. Besides some luxury cars, the very common Ford F-150 has had many aluminum panels since the 2015 model year. The Chevrolet Bolt also has many aluminum body panels.
To clarify my earlier post about my co-workers 2014 Tesla, in 2016 he had an $1,800 expense and in 2017 he’s had a $3,200 expense. That’s where I got my $5,000 number from.
