Thoughts on the Toyota Prius

[Anonymous]

Poor visibility and if you are tall it's worst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a 2009 Gen 2 Prius. We take it for oil change/maintenance roughly every 6000 miles. Otherwise, we have had no maintenance costs for the Prius. Approaching 60K and we have no other expenses although we are likely to be needing new tires in about 10K miles. Otherwise, not much other cost.

Love that we get 50 mpg and that I can go about 400 miles between fill-ups and my fill-ups are usually about 8-9 gallons. Saves a bundle on gas. Although it cost us about $3K more than a comparable non-hybrid, we've about made that up with the gas savings. I'd say we've used about 1200 gallons of gas for those 60K miles instead of about 2000 gallons. 800 gallons of gas at an average of $3.50/gal is about $2800. At this point, we expect to have the car another 5-7 years and all of the gas savings now is just money in our pocket.

For us, the green effects are worth it. Not only does it save on gas, but the emissions are significantly less too, so it's environmentally good in more than one way. We also found that the hatchback gave us much more storage room than other comparable mid-size car trunks. And with the ability to fold down the rear seat, I've been able to do some good hauling around without needing the big SUV.

+1 to all of this! And now they have some bigger models, which I think might be nice for a family. LOVE our prius and this is our experience exactly. We don't go to the dealer for maintenance though, we go to a long-time trusted mechanic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Batteries use a ton of rare earth metals, and mining those is the opposite of environmentally friendly.

Sigh. First of all, the batteries can be and are recycled.

Second, the rare earth metals mined in the US increasingly come from old mine waste piles - gold mines specifically. While these piles have been a source of pollution from the 1850s, they are now being repurposed and cleaned up.

Finally, the othe rare earth mines are far away in Africa; the Chinese will work those mines whether you buy a Prius or not.

PP: I can only guess you are trying to assuage your guilt for driving an Escalade.

Nah, I don't drive an Escalade, and I don't care that you drive a Prius. But don't delude yourself into thinking that you are so environmentally virtuous.

[Anonymous]

I have a 2004 Prius which has had no maintenance other than oil changes, etc. Nothing major.

I do agree with a PP that the interior hasn't held up great, but I don't know if that's Toyota's fault or because we have kids and the car is 10 years old.

[Anonymous]

I like my Prius. I have a 2007. The thing I HATE, is that you cannot touch anything in that car. It dents really easily. Unlike any car I've ever had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Poor visibility and if you are tall it's worst.

Blind spots are an issue, totally wrong about tall people. My husband's family are all 6;5+ and had lots of leg & head room. MY FIL had more room in our Prius than in his extended cab pickup truck.

Mine is 5+ years, just over 100K miles, nothing more than regular maintenance upkeep visits. No repairs.

[Anonymous]

I've seen 2 references in this thread to "trunk space" and "loss of space" and wanted to point out that the hybrid batteries are not in the trunk and don't take any space away from the interior of the car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Poor visibility

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Father had a 2006 Prius with no major issues (ie low maintenance costs). Passed it to my sister in 2011 and it's going strong after all these years.

Lol. All these years? It's 8 years old. That's nothing for a Toyota.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've seen 2 references in this thread to "trunk space" and "loss of space" and wanted to point out that the hybrid batteries are not in the trunk and don't take any space away from the interior of the car.

There is tons of space. I have to purchase inventory for my business and the Prius can hold, with room to spare, 10 36-packs of soft drinks, 60 10-count boxes of Capri Suns, a commerical box of paper towels, 36 rolls of toilet paper, box of 50 potato chips, 4 boxes of Ring Pops, 2 boxes of Cheez-its, 4 36-cases of water, 2 boxes of animal crackers, 1 case of Gatorade....and several other random items. I've been doing this about 3 times a month of 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Like OP, i have an older BMW (i mean really old) and have been looking at the Prius because i agree the maintenance costs are outrageous. But 2 things that no one has mentioned:
- in DC hybrids (rather cars over 40MPG in city driving) don't incur sales tax. That is usually a couple of thousand dollars saved.
- Prius IMHO are ugly. BMWs are beautiful and drive so nice.

So I can't pull the trigger on replacing it. I thought i would wait to see the new Camry hybrid. I agree the toyota interiors are so cheap.

[Anonymous]

Very bad visibility when changing lanes and parking. It's just horrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very bad visibility when changing lanes and parking. It's just horrible.

Oh please. Not that bad at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor visibility and if you are tall it's worst.

Blind spots are an issue, totally wrong about tall people. My husband's family are all 6;5+ and had lots of leg & head room. MY FIL had more room in our Prius than in his extended cab pickup truck.

Mine is 5+ years, just over 100K miles, nothing more than regular maintenance upkeep visits. No repairs.

Tall family here too. Prius headroom and legroom are much better than what I've seen in comparable vehicles. Even back seat is comfortable for a 6'2"er.

[Anonymous]

Tall family, driver is 6'2" and kids in back are tall. Works fine for us - the Prius V that is. The regular Prius is awful for tall folks who have to sit in the back.

Love the hybrid and will definitely look at the Fords when we need to replace our second car. The Prius does have a cheap plastic look. Otherwise we couldn't be happier - does have 1 blind spot but so does every car that's not an SUV or minivan.