Cost to Purchase PIP??

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Hi, CRT1 -- I've sent you a PM.

I found the dealership when I was down in NC visiting my sister and getting my son Baptized. Her house is 3mi from Modern Nissan and I got a test drive in the actual vehicle I purchased there at the end (30th) of March. The salesman really wanted to make a deal for the end of the month right then but I begged off because my wife's work was going through layoffs and we weren't sure about the impact to us. I called him up again on 4/27/2012, then got the call back and worked the deal on 4/30/2012. It was delivered to my driveway by truck on 5/7/2012.

[bear15]

Sean,

How do you like your Leaf? We also looked at these and the dealer let us take one for a 24 hour time period. We thought this was great!!

In IL., the incentive is fairly good, however, when I spoke with the person in charge of sending out the checks for the state, he told me that almost all the money the state allocated (this was in May) for this incentive was used up and I was not likely to receive any money-- I guess they have an application process based on a first-come-first served basis.

Regarding the PIP, we could not get the deal we wanted. Anyway, when we found out that there was only a $100.00 difference in the yearly fuel cost btw. the PIP and the regular prius, and the fact that we are commonly reaching mid to high 80's mpg with the rental we used, we decided to go with the 2012 regular prius. We sure did like the other 2, however.

Cheers!

Originally Posted by Right Lane Cruiser

Hi, CRT1 -- I've sent you a PM.

I found the dealership when I was down in NC visiting my sister and getting my son Baptized. Her house is 3mi from Modern Nissan and I got a test drive in the actual vehicle I purchased there at the end (30th) of March. The salesman really wanted to make a deal for the end of the month right then but I begged off because my wife's work was going through layoffs and we weren't sure about the impact to us. I called him up again on 4/27/2012, then got the call back and worked the deal on 4/30/2012. It was delivered to my driveway by truck on 5/7/2012.

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Hi, Ed -- I love the car!! It now has just about 2150mi on it and it has delivered everything I've asked of it and more.

[BillLin]

Timing's everything. There's now a $3500 rebate on the standard model pip and zero percent financing.

Cheers,
Bill

[xcel]

Hi Bill:

The upcoming C-MAX Energi and Volt HOV lane access moved Toyota in the right direction a bit, didn't they

I thought the $4 to $5K upcharge for the 3 kWh of extra Li-Ion was a bit much. $3,500 brings it back to just about what it should have been priced at in the first place.

Wayne

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Originally Posted by xcel

Hi Bill:

The upcoming C-MAX Energi and Volt HOV lane access moved Toyota in the right direction a bit, didn't they

I thought the $4 to $5K upcharge for the 3 kWh of extra Li-Ion was a bit much. $3,500 brings it back to just about what it should have been priced at in the first place.

Wayne

Indeed.

PiP - Prius Three = Heated seats + Chargers + 4.4kwh Li-ion - 1.7kWh NiMh
32k - 25.5k = 6.5k

[BillLin]

Thanks for the comments here and in the C-MAX Hybrid topic.

My wife and I decided to get a 2012 PIP. I have no illusions about this making financial sense as far as giving up her 2010 Prius III hatch goes. I had hopes of buying that car at the end of the 3-year lease (<$15k residual). Still, she deserves a reward for her hard work and success in her first year as a real estate broker, so I was happy to go along with the splurge. She is comfortable with the way the Prius handles, so an incremental upgrade with plug-in bonus seems like a good way to go. We recently switched from oil heat and standard central air conditioning to geothermal heating and cooling. I thought about putting his part in the recent 'how cold will this winter get' topic but didn't get around to it. We also had ground mounted PV panels installed and are now net metered with the grid. Home charging a small plug-in battery will be a tiny blip in our overall energy usage, but we're very much into reducing our oil and gasoline consumption and the plug-in should help in that regard. My work commute has been reduced from 29 miles daily to about 9. My MMH gas mileage is still higher than I like, but I'm no longer putting very many miles on it on an annual basis. She, on the other hand, works from home but makes many short trips to home showings, and also a couple longer trips (about 55 miles each, 95% highway) a week. She'll probably use the 15k allowed annual miles. She will have many opportunities to recharge during most days, hopefully not fully discharging the battery and not needing to fully top off. The latter will take more discipline so maybe it won't happen, i.e. the battery will always be topped off. Once or twice a year, we also take road trips to the Chicago area to see family.

I do love the thought of the C-MAX Energi, and maybe if I were due for a vehicle change, I'd swap my MMH for that. The Volt is also very interesting, but lower efficiency charge sustaining operation is a deal breaker for me, as well as the apparent lack of cargo space. The price even with $7500 tax credit still puts it out of my comfort zone, though the low lease deals could change my mind. My sister has a Volt. She drives a lot, and much of it is on extended interstate trips for her work. And yet, she reports gas mileage in the 60s and 70s. Not great for a plug-in maybe, but better than a regular hybrid.

When the Prius C came out, I thought that would be the vehicle for me. Now I'm thinking maybe I'd be an ideal candidate for a BEV. I don't have range anxiety with my short commute and we would still have access to a long-range vehicle. Here's hoping the prices come down, and yes, I do see some nice lease deals already.

Thanks and stay safe, especially those in the hurricane's path.
Bill

[phoebeisis]

PIP=
Give me a break-had to read 6-7 responses until I knew what a PIP was
CRT1 and Walter finally let me in on it.
Frankly can't see any reason to buy a Leaf when the Volt is being leased at give away prices
And ALL Prius are so good
Bet Toyota is holding fast on PIP prices for now.
Wait-let gasoline bottom- buy then.
Not sure what a Romney victory will do to gas prices
If traders think the economy will boom-up goes gas prices
If they think he will bomb Iran-up goes gas prices
On the BRIGHT SIDE- since he talks out of both sides of his mouth in respect to military adventures-another Middle East Ish war-who knows.
Other than TAX BREAKS for the wealthy- he doesn't have ANY hard and fast positions.
Trickle down-more like pee on.

[herm]

Originally Posted by ItsNotAboutTheMoney

PiP - Prius Three = Heated seats + Chargers + 4.4kwh Li-ion - 1.7kWh NiMh
32k - 25.5k = 6.5k

Its still overpriced.. how much can heated seats and a low power lithium charger cost OEM?.. batteries used to cost $1000/kWh (according to GM around 2009) including all the packaging and BMS.. and they are now below $700 in all probability.

Perhaps the pack is a lot bigger than 4.4kWh for long term durability. I'm sure Toyota will boost the range now that the C-Max is out.

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Originally Posted by herm

Its still overpriced.. how much can heated seats and a low power lithium charger cost OEM?.. batteries used to cost $1000/kWh (according to GM around 2009) including all the packaging and BMS.. and they are now below $700 in all probability.

Well, we can forgive them $3k extra to cover development and warranty costs on the low volume. Of course, the low volume could be deliberate because if they really priced in relation to cost it's quite possible they'd cannibalize a large chunk of liftback sales and their NiMH IP and manufacturing would suddenly be a lot less valuable.

Perhaps the pack is a lot bigger than 4.4kWh for long term durability. I'm sure Toyota will boost the range now that the C-Max is out.

It's 4.4kWh total with less than 3kWh usable: it's rated 290Wh/mi wall-to-wheel blending for 11 miles with 0.002 gallons of gas also used. 11*290 = 3190. Based on that it'd need 94% charging efficiency to be 3kWh usable.