I've been a lurker on this site for a few weeks, about as long as I have owned a silver 2004 Prius, option package #9 (BC). This is a great site, helpful people, useful information, no ads and not a lot of chatter. Decided it was only fair to share my own impressions of the new Prius.
I've owned many vehicles over the years, from Porsches to Camrys. This is my first Prius, which I came to a little reluctantly, but finally concluded that since I talk green, I'd better behave green.
I'm very glad I made this decision; I couldn't be happier with the vehicle! It is a truly remarkable car. Here follow some comments after 3 weeks and 600 miles:
Fit and finish are superb, I have found no flaws. Only downside is the inevitable "new car paranoia- where can I park this thing and avoid door dings etc.) One minor annoyance is a small rattle somewhere in the center console (maybe the CD changer?) which I can't yet track down. It's only noticeable when things are very quiet, but the Prius is often a very quiet car.
Performance: acceleration is certainly adequate, and I haven't really pushed it yet, followiing the "be gentle" guidelines for its early llife. Handling is nimble, suspension is tight.
Driver visibility: could be better. The low coefficient of drag requires a highly sloped windshield. The front roof posts are also steeply sloped and fairly thick, creating a blind spot. When cornering and in other situations you have to move your head around to make sure there's nothing in the blind spot. Visibility to the rear is also somewhat compromised. Finally, the low hood and rear visibility makes it very hard (for me at least) to know where the edges of the car are. I'm 5'10" so I'm not sitting low, but I can't see the front or the fenders. This makes parking a bit of a guessing game.
So far gas mileage is a little puzzling and not as good as advertised. On a highway trip I got around 53 mpg (mixed freeway and 60 mph highway. Surprisingly my city performance is worse, rather than better as Toyota claims. City average is around 42. I'm not a leadfoot, and in fact have been trying to drive it very gently for maximum mileage. The problem may be that I am driving in near worst case conditions: most of my city driving is short trips, and I live ~400 hundred feet above town, so although I mostly coast down the ICE has to start initially to warm up; that uses fuel. Then returning uphill uses a lot of gas. I notice that when driving around town on the flats mpgs begin to creep up, but when I go back up the hill they get worse. Be nice to see input from others on their gas mileage. At 1000 miles or so I will talk with the dealer and see if they think this is normal. Since I bought the car more for the lack of emissions than the gas mileage if it doesn't get better I won't be devastated, but it's a little disappointing.
Surprise nice feature: the keyless smart entry and start system! I probably wouldn't have gotten this if it hadn't been part of the package, as I am not a big fan of remotes, (especially if they are part of an alarm system. Had a bad experience with a Subaru when locked out with a dead remote and the in-car alarm set. Yes Virginia, you can hot wire a remote). But the Toyota engineers really did a job with this. Being able to walk up to your car with the remote in your pocket, touch the door handle and have the car unlock, get in, press power, and go without ever using a key is a delight. I wish I could get the lock on the door to my house to respond the same way! And if the battery in the remote dies you can still gain access to the car with a key, and start it- truly well thought out.
Enough for now.
I've owned many vehicles over the years, from Porsches to Camrys. This is my first Prius, which I came to a little reluctantly, but finally concluded that since I talk green, I'd better behave green.
I'm very glad I made this decision; I couldn't be happier with the vehicle! It is a truly remarkable car. Here follow some comments after 3 weeks and 600 miles:
Fit and finish are superb, I have found no flaws. Only downside is the inevitable "new car paranoia- where can I park this thing and avoid door dings etc.) One minor annoyance is a small rattle somewhere in the center console (maybe the CD changer?) which I can't yet track down. It's only noticeable when things are very quiet, but the Prius is often a very quiet car.
Performance: acceleration is certainly adequate, and I haven't really pushed it yet, followiing the "be gentle" guidelines for its early llife. Handling is nimble, suspension is tight.
Driver visibility: could be better. The low coefficient of drag requires a highly sloped windshield. The front roof posts are also steeply sloped and fairly thick, creating a blind spot. When cornering and in other situations you have to move your head around to make sure there's nothing in the blind spot. Visibility to the rear is also somewhat compromised. Finally, the low hood and rear visibility makes it very hard (for me at least) to know where the edges of the car are. I'm 5'10" so I'm not sitting low, but I can't see the front or the fenders. This makes parking a bit of a guessing game.
So far gas mileage is a little puzzling and not as good as advertised. On a highway trip I got around 53 mpg (mixed freeway and 60 mph highway. Surprisingly my city performance is worse, rather than better as Toyota claims. City average is around 42. I'm not a leadfoot, and in fact have been trying to drive it very gently for maximum mileage. The problem may be that I am driving in near worst case conditions: most of my city driving is short trips, and I live ~400 hundred feet above town, so although I mostly coast down the ICE has to start initially to warm up; that uses fuel. Then returning uphill uses a lot of gas. I notice that when driving around town on the flats mpgs begin to creep up, but when I go back up the hill they get worse. Be nice to see input from others on their gas mileage. At 1000 miles or so I will talk with the dealer and see if they think this is normal. Since I bought the car more for the lack of emissions than the gas mileage if it doesn't get better I won't be devastated, but it's a little disappointing.
Surprise nice feature: the keyless smart entry and start system! I probably wouldn't have gotten this if it hadn't been part of the package, as I am not a big fan of remotes, (especially if they are part of an alarm system. Had a bad experience with a Subaru when locked out with a dead remote and the in-car alarm set. Yes Virginia, you can hot wire a remote). But the Toyota engineers really did a job with this. Being able to walk up to your car with the remote in your pocket, touch the door handle and have the car unlock, get in, press power, and go without ever using a key is a delight. I wish I could get the lock on the door to my house to respond the same way! And if the battery in the remote dies you can still gain access to the car with a key, and start it- truly well thought out.
Enough for now.