Yes, I sold my Chev. Volt at 30,000 miles, because I was worried it would not last and it did have some issues along the way. Bought a 2017 Prius Prime from Hollywood Toyota and had it shipped via the Auto Shipping Group. Few Primes were available in my region and most of the available ones were more expensive versions. I wanted the "Plus" base model. And, buying from Calif. and shipping it here saved money...Here in Colorado it is possible to get $4500 tax credit from IRS if you have that much tax, plus $5000 rebate (no tax needed) from the State of Colorado, so that brings the base model down close to $20K before taxes, registration etc. Have only had the Prime about 3 weeks now. It is the Blue Magnetism color. I have never had a car that so many people think is really cool looking--that blue is close to a teal color but quite metallic looking. Relative to the Volt, the Prime has less cargo space with the rear seats folded down, but it is still very usable around town--I have not tried to put a mountain bike in it yet. I did not like that it came with Toyo tires, I would have preferred Michelin. It has tire goop, but oddly also has a jack and tire iron, no donut or full spare. The ground clearance is about like on the Volt. The battery is rated at 25 miles of electrical range, but as many people report I have consistently been getting 31-32 miles, although that is likely to go down as winter approaches. The one surprise is that when the electrical range is used up, I have often been getting over 60 mpg. On one recent 290 mile trip that included about half on gravel roads at 30 mph, including 2000 feet of elevation gain, and half on state highways I got 67 mpg, based on a fillup measurement, but that was close to the 66 mpg registered on a screen on the car. I like the smaller screen on the Plus model, but I am not a fan of screens in any case. I use my cell phone and google maps to navigate, not the Toyota maps that are available on their screen. Those maps do not zoom and continue to show detail very well. The car to me is noisy and slightly bumpy on the road as it transmits all the road irregularities, something the Volt did not do, but I have gotten used to it. The technology on the Plus base model is useful and works well. I was surprised to find adaptive cruise control included, as I did not think that came with the Plus. Forward collision warning and Lane Departure are nice and the Lane Departure buzzer is not obtrusive. Automatic bright-dim headlights work generally OK. The Volt could always beat a muscle wagon off the line, but the Prime not so much. In Eco mode, it tries to discourage you from accelerating quickly, but in normal mode it does have a little zip off the line, just not enough to squeel the tires. I do not like getting a 0-100 grade on how fast I slow down or speed up, so just avoid that screen. Most people think there are too many details on the screens, but after a while you do figure them all out and there is interesting information. The Prime has much more comfortable second-row seats than did the Volt. Headroom is fine for me at 6 ft. 3" in both front and rear seats. We live 10 miles from town, so put a lot of miles on in a year. We have solar panels sufficient for the house and car, a superinsulated passive solar house (only 1300 sq. ft.) and it is all net 0 except for 1 cord of firewood per year for evening fires. So far, we have driven about 1900 miles at 153 miles per gallon so about 12 gal. of gas. But, I see several people on Prius Chat who have 200+ mpg. The car will go about 650 miles on a full tank of gas assuming you start with 25 miles of electric range. I think the car is a real gem, yes I wish it had more cargo space and ground clearance and a better ride, but these are minor matters. It is a remarkable achievement to combine very high gas mpg and enough electrical range for many commutes with useful technology in a functional car that is likely to last a long time. I am happy to answer any questions...
