Hello!

[valmiki]

Hello everyone, hope to be an owner of a Prius in 2012 and thought I'd sign up and say hi!

I'm hoping to buy either an 18 month to 2 year old Prius III, or depending on the pricing (!) plump for one of the new Prius Plug-ins if/when they become available. What's everyone's opinions, do you think the new Plug-Ins will be priced similarly to a T-Spirit once the £5k grant is taken into account, or would they be more expensive again? I've seen the USA prices but it's hard to judge how much they'll be over here...

If it's a second-hand one, I'm looking for a white, T-Spirit with hopefully the Tech pack, and leather would be a bonus! Browsing through Autotrader and the Toyota website, it looks like ones with the Tech pack are very few and far between? A quick question if you folks don't mind, do all Prius' come with DRLs or are these only with the Tech pack?

Plus, if anyone is selling one in the new year, please drop me a line ;)

Thanks

Valmiki

[Grumpy Cabbie]

A second hand 2009 t3 Prius can be had for about £11,000 if you don't mind 70,000+ miles on it.

The plug in is way over priced in my mind. I wanted one, but Toyota UK want to charge £31,000 - £5,000 Government grant, so £26,000 for a car that will do just 15 miles on EV only. There are no other benefits to owning the plug in over a 'normal' Prius. I'm not saying you shouldn't get one if you have your heart set on it as it is a nice car - just I personally can't justify £6,000 extra for a car that does 15 miles. The t-Spirit traditional Prius is better value for the same money and a second hand one would be nice and good value for money.

p.s. None of the UK Prius come with DRL's. The only hybrid in the UK that does is the Auris HSD. It is now law that all new models have them so next years Prius update and the Prius PHEV will likely have them.

Hope this helps.

[valmiki]

Hello Grumpy, after spending so much time lurking and reading your posts I'm happy to finally be able to say hello!

I wouldn't be satisfied with a T3, I'm one for all the gadgets - and a top-spec Prius with all the trimmings via a broker is about £26k, so if the new plug-in is about the same price I'd be tempted, though I do take your point about the expense, I'm hoping that the 'standard' Prius will drop in price and the new one will fit the current price 'profile' after taking the £5k off, but who knows...

It's also new tech, so the head (rather than the heart) would suggest going for a III for now and see how the Plug-in gets on.

I've been searching high and low, but it's difficult to find second-hand Prius IIIs that have the tech pack, etc. Maybe they're just more of a rarity since most of the ones I've seen tend to be ex-finance/lease?

Re: the DRLs - I honestly thought that higher-spec Prius IIIs came with them! Don't see that many Prius's around here (well that's my excuse!) I don't know why I thought they did, maybe the dipped lights look like they have them? Sounds daft but I have tried to find photos of the Prius III in the dark, lol.

Anyway, my mind is made up, I'll be getting one in the next few months

thanks again

valmiki

[Grumpy Cabbie]

You're not mixing DRL's with LED's are you?

[valmiki]

Hmmmm...I could have 'dreamt' the whole thing, a la Bobby in Dallas lol, but I was sure that I saw a Prius with DRLs! I'm obviously wrong after what you said, so I was thinking maybe the headlights when on look like they have DRLs, if that makes any sense ? Having said that I'd love to buy a second-hand one with the tech pack (which is the LED front lamps IIRC)

[johalareewi]

Any news yet on the trim level of the PHEV? If it was a T-Spirit then with the £5000 discount, it would seem to be a good alternative to the normal T-Spirit. When I asked my dealer, they didn't have any info on the PHEV trim and options.

[valmiki]

Have a look at the Toyota USA site, they list only two variants, and I'm kinda hoping that over here the PHV T-Spirit will match the higher variant over there. I'm optimistic that the pricing will reflect current T-Spirit prices AFTER the £5k grant, and then as that money runs out, will in turn be a £5k premium. But then again who knows...