Another thoughtful and thought provoking video. Considering I have a bias for my Prime, subjectively I'm sad for owners of even fully-loaded RAV4 hybrids. My view is the EV isn't a cost savings but rather the performance boost you covered in your video. The smoothness of the EV makes me very happy, if only for ~40 miles per charge. If a RAV4 hybrid owner is happy with their non-Prime then awesome because I'm quite content with my Prime and wouldn't want to own "just" a hybrid.
5 Reasons to Choose RAV4 Hybrid Over Prime
In this video I compare the RAV4 Hybrid to it's big brother the RAV4 Prime which costs about 8K more. I provide 5 reasons you should consider the Hybrid over the prime in this RAV4 Face-Off.
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I agree -- for the money, the Hybrid is the better value. Unless you very rarely drive long distances. In which case, you probably should buy a full BEV and rent a ICE car for those rare trips anyhow. I got my prime before the tax incentive went away. The prime and hybrid are pretty neck and neck cost wise with the $7500 figured in. Once that was gone, the Prime is overpriced.
I should have sold mine to carvana, but at the time, I had already sold my prior vehicle and you couldn't just walk in and buy a hybrid either. Would have netted almost $20k
I should have sold mine to carvana, but at the time, I had already sold my prior vehicle and you couldn't just walk in and buy a hybrid either. Would have netted almost $20k
You hit the nail on the head for sure.Another thoughtful and thought provoking video. Considering I have a bias for my Prime, subjectively I'm sad for owners of even fully-loaded RAV4 hybrids. My view is the EV isn't a cost savings but rather the performance boost you covered in your video. The smoothness of the EV makes me very happy, if only for ~40 miles per charge. If a RAV4 hybrid owner is happy with their non-Prime then awesome because I'm quite content with my Prime and wouldn't want to own "just" a hybrid.
Yep. When I bought mine.. It didn't make sense to buy the hybrid (basically the same net price). I use my prime as a tow vehicle, so the Hybrid wouldn't be an option for me with my 2,000lb trailer. But, I also love the EV mode and the performance. It would be very hard for me to give that up !!I agree -- for the money, the Hybrid is the better value. Unless you very rarely drive long distances. In which case, you probably should buy a full BEV and rent a ICE car for those rare trips anyhow. I got my prime before the tax incentive went away. The prime and hybrid are pretty neck and neck cost wise with the $7500 figured in. Once that was gone, the Prime is overpriced.
I should have sold mine to carvana, but at the time, I had already sold my prior vehicle and you couldn't just walk in and buy a hybrid either. Would have netted almost $20k
Good objective video. In your 5 reasons to still buy the prime, don't forget the one that I never see mentioned... gas price insurance. If gas goes to 7.00 a gallon again, that prime premium could quickly pay for itself depending on use case.
Yeah, I'm not getting rid of my Prime either. The extra towing capacity. I installed hitch and wiring, and would rather not repeat that job. I already drive one BEV, which means that I have charging infrastucture already in place. And, at my families farm in western KS, we are getting a Ford lightning, so I will be able to charge there too.Yep. When I bought mine.. It didn't make sense to buy the hybrid (basically the same net price). I use my prime as a tow vehicle, so the Hybrid wouldn't be an option for me with my 2,000lb trailer. But, I also love the EV mode and the performance. It would be very hard for me to give that up !!
But the $7000 or so premium to drive a Prime today is hard to objectively make work with a calculator for someone contemplating buying today.
Not all car purchasing decisions are made with a calculator or spreadsheet. Plenty of people buy BMW sedans despite a Honda Civic or Accord being a choice that's much easier to justify with a calculator.Yeah, I'm not getting rid of my Prime either. The extra towing capacity. I installed hitch and wiring, and would rather not repeat that job. I already drive one BEV, which means that I have charging infrastucture already in place. And, at my families farm in western KS, we are getting a Ford lightning, so I will be able to charge there too.
But the $7000 or so premium to drive a Prime today is hard to objectively make work with a calculator for someone contemplating buying today.
Regular Hybrid is the one to have IMO. It's a workhorse that does it all. No decision making about modes to use, no charging setup to deal with. Just put 11 gallons of gas in it every 2 weeks or so. However, Primes are now getting discounted so depending on which regular Hybrid trim you choose the deltas are smaller. Both models have had price creep.
I picked up a Prime 3 weeks ago and love it so far. I was going to get our 3rd hybrid but would have involved a wait while they had Primes (SE) on the lot being discounted 2k plus another 1k for NY state credit. After driving it for 3 weeks and charging it a few times to me the real difference is in performance. I thought the regular hybrid is plenty capable and very quick in the real world due to its responsiveness but the Prime is in another league. I can appreciate that and would be willing to pay the extra 5k but from a rational perspective I can't justify it. However, for someone like my wife, it's just easier to live with the regular hybrid as a commuter car, extra performance/charging inconvenience not needed/bypassed.
It remains to be seen what the true costs are once I get the electric bill but when looking at the app of kWh used to charge, there should be savings from charging.
I also have to live through a winter with a Prime. I think that's where it will come up short but we'll see.
I picked up a Prime 3 weeks ago and love it so far. I was going to get our 3rd hybrid but would have involved a wait while they had Primes (SE) on the lot being discounted 2k plus another 1k for NY state credit. After driving it for 3 weeks and charging it a few times to me the real difference is in performance. I thought the regular hybrid is plenty capable and very quick in the real world due to its responsiveness but the Prime is in another league. I can appreciate that and would be willing to pay the extra 5k but from a rational perspective I can't justify it. However, for someone like my wife, it's just easier to live with the regular hybrid as a commuter car, extra performance/charging inconvenience not needed/bypassed.
It remains to be seen what the true costs are once I get the electric bill but when looking at the app of kWh used to charge, there should be savings from charging.
I also have to live through a winter with a Prime. I think that's where it will come up short but we'll see.
Timing is everything.
When I bought my 2019, I got exactly what I was looking for with trim, options, interior, and exterior. The "inventory manager" ordered what I wanted from the dealerships upcoming allotment.
The Prime was not in production yet and when it became available, Nutmeg interior was off the table.
I'm quite pleased (in spite of the defects produced by TOYOTA) with my unit.
It is clearly a personal judgement, taste, and value. There are no right or wrong positions.
When I bought my 2019, I got exactly what I was looking for with trim, options, interior, and exterior. The "inventory manager" ordered what I wanted from the dealerships upcoming allotment.
The Prime was not in production yet and when it became available, Nutmeg interior was off the table.
I'm quite pleased (in spite of the defects produced by TOYOTA) with my unit.
It is clearly a personal judgement, taste, and value. There are no right or wrong positions.
My wife and I discussed this a lot. She was leaning towards the hybrid because of the lower cost, understanding that the higher cost of the Prime (without the 7.5K back) would not be recovered at expected gas prices. BUT, we were changing from a V6 RAV4, and both of us loved the performance - I knew I wanted the better handling and acceleration of the Prime and believed that she would be frustrated with the relatively slow hybrid. In the end, we went with the Prime, and love it. She also loves the fact that our normal daily driving is under 42 miles and most days we use zero gas - plus, we have a trip to the beach coming up in a few weeks and there are close to zero chargers where we'll be staying, which would be a problem with a true EV.
The Toyota app estimates for kWh use are low. Actual usage is about 1.5 times what the current version of the app shows.It remains to be seen what the true costs are once I get the electric bill but when looking at the app of kWh used to charge, there should be savings from charging.
They aren't actuals? Why can't it measure how many electrons went through a wire without the car moving? This is disappointing, no idea of how to capture charging cost.The Toyota app estimates for kWh use are low. Actual usage is about 1.5 times what the current version of the app shows.
The app does not seem to get that information from the car. It appears that it just estimates power usage by battery % at beginning of charge and at end of charge. I have a Chargepoint charger that gives me the actual power usage per charge which includes heat losses. A full charge from 0 EV miles is about 14.6 kWh, but the app shows the charge as 9.66kWh. If you are charging with the Toyota supplied cord, heat losses seem to be a little higher, so the electricity used may be higher than 14.6 kWh for a full charge.They aren't actuals? Why can't it measure how many electrons went through a wire without the car moving? This is disappointing, no idea of how to capture charging cost.
The app is bad in many ways. We have a Juicebox charger with Level 2 charging. Looking back through the logs, I see the most we've used (according to the Juicebox) is 14.4 kWh. Most days, we're under 13 kWh, which is why the Prime works well for us.The app does not seem to get that information from the car. It appears that it just estimates power usage by battery % at beginning of charge and at end of charge. I have a Chargepoint charger that gives me the actual power usage per charge which includes heat losses. A full charge from 0 EV miles is about 14.6 kWh, but the app shows the charge as 9.66kWh. If you are charging with the Toyota supplied cord, heat losses seem to be a little higher, so the electricity used may be higher than 14.6 kWh for a full charge.
We alao came from a 4.3 V6 Rav4 and also discussed it a lot. But living in Washington state, we had no easy access to a Prime and they were in such short ajpp,y across the country until after we purchased our hybrid.My wife and I discussed this a lot. She was leaning towards the hybrid because of the lower cost, understanding that the higher cost of the Prime (without the 7.5K back) would not be recovered at expected gas prices. BUT, we were changing from a V6 RAV4, and both of us loved the performance - I knew I wanted the better handling and acceleration of the Prime and believed that she would be frustrated with the relatively slow hybrid. In the end, we went with the Prime, and love it. She also loves the fact that our normal daily driving is under 42 miles and most days we use zero gas - plus, we have a trip to the beach coming up in a few weeks and there are close to zero chargers where we'll be staying, which would be a problem with a true EV.
Fortunately, she's not the hot rod as her younger days. Being retired has calmed her need to be everywhere at once and she's very happy with the immediacy of oomph from the electric motors. One of her complaints with our 4.3 was that it took quite a bit of throttle to encourage the transmission to downshift, whereas our hybrid reacts much quicker. So even if it doesn't accelerate as fast, it gets going much sooner.
We do a lot of road tripping and our 4.3 was great at cruising up freeway mountain grades at high speeds. That's our primary concern and one we couldn't try on a test drive. Will we be able to go 80-85 MPH up a 6% grade that's ten miles long? Our 4.3 did that, and we hope our hybrid can after that first mile when the hybrid battery will have been run down.
With my previous car getting 27mpg I would go to the gas station every 4 days. With a Rav4 Hybrid I'd probably cut that down to once a week. With the Prime I can easily go two or three months without having to drive to the Costco gas station and sit in line for 10 or 15 minutes.Regular Hybrid is the one to have IMO. It's a workhorse that does it all. No decision making about modes to use, no charging setup to deal with. Just put 11 gallons of gas in it every 2 weeks or so. .......
That by itself is priceless. I still go about every two weeks and fill up (one or two gallons) because that's how often I go to Costco anyway but just knowing that I'm going because I want to and not because I have to is very liberating.
As long as your good with charging it how many times?? I am not.With my previous car getting 27mpg I would go to the gas station every 4 days. With a Rav4 Hybrid I'd probably cut that down to once a week. With the Prime I can easily go two or three months without having to drive to the Costco gas station and sit in line for 10 or 15 minutes.
That by itself is priceless. I still go about every two weeks and fill up (one or two gallons) because that's how often I go to Costco anyway but just knowing that I'm going because I want to and not because I have to is very liberating.
Takes me exactly zero effort to charge. I plug the charger in when I get home and it charges while I sleep. When I get to work I plug it in and it charges while I sit at my desk posting on this forum and doing IT stuff.As long as your good with charging it how many times?? I am not.
If I couldn't charge at home or at work I might feel differently but as it is, it literally takes me no more effort than connecting the charging cable to my car.
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