[LowRider]

Yesterday, we bought a RAV4 Prime.

It's really time. My pickup, that we drive back and forth between Upstate and Long Island hit 100,000 a little while ago. I want to go with an EV but no EV available right now is right for me, too big, not enough range, bad value. The Silverado is probably 2 years away and it's really too big and heavy for my use. With the small bed I don't think it's practical for workers, so I really don't know who it make sense for.

The Rav hits the nail pretty much on the head for now. We'll rarely use gas either Upstate or on L I and for the drive up and down we will cut gas consumption by more than half. It's just about the size I like, and I'll still have my pickup for if I have to haul something. Also, I can charge it overnight from a 120 v outlet

This is my wife's car, even though I'll be the one driving most of the time, so she picked the color; Navy Blue Metallic.

We got a pretty good deal by today's standards, but we did have to leave the first dealer where we test drove and did all the work for the sale. When we were at the second dealer the first salesman texted my wife saying that they would meet what we wanted. We still payed a little over sticker but we got twice what Carvana offered on trade. We should have it in 2 weeks!

 

[fhteagle]

Lucky you on finding one, sucks you had to overpay to get it. R4P was on the short list of options that led to a recent purchase of a Model Y instead. Unfortunately, we have very few dealers within 300 miles of where we live, and all of them were playing the "it's rare, prepare to pay way over MSRP" psychology tactics from the first phone call. No thanks.

Toyota really needs to fix the supply of the RAV4 Prime. Until then, the dealers are double-leveraged into gouging.

 

[LowRider]

I think they have it fixed. We went to 2 dealers and both of them showed us that they had a number of them coming in over the next month.

 

[Fordskeptic]

Yesterday, we bought a RAV4 Prime.

It's really time. My pickup, that we drive back and forth between Upstate and Long Island hit 100,000 a little while ago. I want to go with an EV but no EV available right now is right for me, too big, not enough range, bad value. The Silverado is probably 2 years away and it's really too big and heavy for my use. With the small bed I don't think it's practical for workers, so I really don't know who it make sense for.

The Rav hits the nail pretty much on the head for now. We'll rarely use gas either Upstate or on L I and for the drive up and down we will cut gas consumption by more than half. It's just about the size I like, and I'll still have my pickup for if I have to haul something. Also, I can charge it overnight from a 120 v outlet

This is my wife's car, even though I'll be the one driving most of the time, so she picked the color; Navy Blue Metallic.

We got a pretty good deal by today's standards, but we did have to leave the first dealer where we test drove and did all the work for the sale. When we were at the second dealer the first salesman texted my wife saying that they would meet what we wanted. We still payed a little over sticker but we got twice what Carvana offered on trade. We should have it in 2 weeks!

I am happy for you.

 

[HawaiiEV]

Good choice, we have had the wife’s Prime now for two years and it’s the best decision we could have made. Now that I have the Y too, I can honestly say the Prime is a better vehicle, probably the best EV you can buy today. I’m looking forward to the Silverado myself, as I miss my truck dearly. I sure hope GM finds a way to make an awesome EV truck and that I will be able to afford it.

 

[LowRider]

HawaiiEV, I curious why do you like the RAV4 better than the Y? It can't be just range, since you live on an island. Unless you're on the Big Island how far can you go? And your gas price is through the stratosphere, not that mine in NY is cheap, so why the love for the Prime?

I think you've said that you're in the solar industry. Am I correct? Do you have solar?Can you charge and keep the house going without an electric bill?

Our daughter lives in Wahiawa on Oahu. She and her husband are thinking seriously about solar. Do you have any advice about who it the best to use and how to go about it?

You can see from my post above that I'm falling out of love with the Silverado. I'm not turning in my reservation because I could fall back in love with is once it becomes available. But right now I think of it as just a giant car with a small bed to make suburban yuppies feel like working men. The fact that they are going to have 3 levels of Work Truck just reinforces that feeling for me.

 

[HawaiiEV]

I agree with all your sentiments. Unfortunately I’m prepared to be disappointed with the Silverado, but I loved the midgate and usability of my Escalade and I’m hoping somehow I can achieve the same with the Silverado with electric and improved technology. I personally used the hell out of the EXT as a truck and I fit the full-size better. I do believe the Silverado EV is being marketed towards urban non traditional truck buyers, the result will be expensive. We do charge on our own solar. I know nothing about solar on Oahu, all I can recommend is stay away from the big sales companies and look for a business who is more interested in engineering solar and actually knowledgeable, it will be less expensive too.

I am on the big island and while the range of the Y is adequate, it’s not enough yet to be fully comfortable without a super charger on island. There are a lot of things I like about the Y better, and many that are far worse on the Prime, but on a whole the prime is a superior machine, it feels like a Lexus. The Y has superior electric range, performance, handling, stereo and app, almost everything else is better on the Prime. The Prime is better built, smoother and more comfortable, I prefer the cameras and lane keeping, I prefer the physical controls, the prime is better looking and has far better paint even though Toyota paints not supposed to be great these days. Our dealership experience with Toyota is great, my experience with Tesla buying especially from the big island was terrible. They are directly comparable in price and though the styling of the prime is a little much for me, it fits the wife better, I would have preferred a car more similar to the prime then the Y. Somehow the prime was a more exciting car to get, the Y has been a snooze fest. By no means is the Tesla a bad car, especially for the price I paid, it lives in extremes though and can be very polarizing, no doubt Tesla builds the best full BEV now. I would never keep the Tesla long term, it’s going to break, I plan to keep the Prime indefinitely, we have a 10 year warranty but I’m not worried about anything other then the heat pump and sun roof.

 

[LowRider]

Thanks for the info. I think I'm really going to like the Prime and I'll still have my Nissan for when I have to haul something.

We used to come over to Hawaii all the time. We were on Hawaiian Airlines Miles and Hilton Honors and we would get such great deals that we just had to go. We mostly went to Oahu but we also went to the Kauai and the Big Island. We are now older but we used to race triathlons. My wife qualified for and raced Kona, I never did. She was great, I was pretty good.

Neither one of us wants to fly anymore. The airlines and the passengers just took all the ''aloha'' out of flying. Maybe it will get better and we'll come back but for now ''I love NY''!

 

[HawaiiEV]

Amen to that, we hate when we have to fly anywhere. I especially love upstate, I lived in Lake Placid for a few years and it was gorgeous. The prime is great and it’s going to retain its value, you will be happy.

 

[LowRider]

I forgot to say in my posts above; at both Toyota dealers we say the new Toyota EV. This thing is so cool, it's like sex on wheels. For some reason , it's not getting much attention but this is the nicest of all the EV's out right now.

If you go see one, you'll be trading in for one. It's that nice!

 

[EV_Steve]

Congratulations on our RAV4 Prime! Honestly, I'm losing my enthusiasm for the Silverado EV. I suspect that a $40,000 version is now a pipe dream and that GM will pull an "F-150 Lightning" on pricing for the base WT model. My original hope was to order a WT with the mid-gate, a key feature for me. The way it looks, I will probably need to speed $65K to $70K minimum to upgrade to a trim package that offers this feature. That's way out of my ballpark. I have little use for a crew cab pickup with a 6' or shorter usable box length.

 

[Thad]

I’ve had a Rav 4 plugin prime for 3 years now . I’ve had absolutely no problems with it .
Even though I live pretty much way out in the country, I’m witting 20 miles of 3 small cities . So I can drive back and forth for pretty much all my needs on electricity. And I have solar panels that charge it up. So at most I put gas in it every other month if that.

 

[LowRider]

We got the car today;

I’m really happy with it after 21miles. Right now it’s out in the driveway charging.
Feelsgreat to drive!