Never thought I’d buy another Toyota, as I’ve never driven one that didn’t kill my back. But after test driving the 2011 with power lumbar support, I think I’m sold on it. Our driving is almost exclusively in town and for short distances, so a tank of gas will likely last me several months. It has a nice ride, handles well, and has enough power to make highway driving less of a nightmare than I thought it would be. So goodbye Saturn Vue: you were a good vehicle, but you’re getting all dusty, so that’s that.
A friend of mine sold me his 2005 Prius in 2008. Love it.
It’s more comfortable than the Cherokee, and has about the same cargo room. (Not as high, though.) The transmission lever is way cool. The stereo is much better than the Jeep’s. I love the navigation unit and all it does. I like the ride and the handling. Roomie says its ride is a little harsh – and she drives a 2000 Tacoma – but I prefer it. When I had a 911SC I had Bilstein sport shocks put in it that didn’t soften anything until you hit about 70. I like it that way. The Prius is the quietest car I’ve been in.
On the downside, it’s useless in snow. One Winter I could pull straight out of the driveway, and then pull straight back in. It wouldn’t go in the snow. (I was able to drive it in the little snow we got this year, and I’ll get chains for it eventually.) So that’s why I still have the Jeep.
On the other hand, I’ve been keeping a spreadsheet since a month after I bought it. I’m averaging 47.3 mpg over that time. (I mostly drive on the freeway.)
Sounds nice. I wish I could get a Prius. Best wishes with it.
Be aware of the cost of new tires and pray the headlights don’t fail. Other than that, you should love the around town service it provides. Post your avg mpg when you’ve had it awhile.
Hey, that’s what warranties are for.
I bought my Prius last May and I like it so far. I have nearly 15,000 miles on it already. With gas back to around $3.00 a gallon I really like it a lot. Next year they’re expanding the line of Prius to 5 body types and I think that is great.
This is so true. I’ve gotten stuck where a regular sedan wouldn’t have flinched.
As for the tires, I had to replace mine at 30K miles, the OEMs don’t last too long. But After 5000 miles on the new tires (about $450), my MPGs were back to normal.
By the way, I’m not sure if the newer model still does the backup beep, but you can hack it easily to have it not do that.
Also, whenever I get my oil changed, they never seem to remember to undo the maintenance light which is an easy “hack” too.
Congrats on the buy!
Are there instructions on how to turn off the backup beep? It’s really annoying.
You can disable the reverse beep (google disable reverse beep prius) in pre-2010 cars. It doesn’t work on the 2010 cars, and I assume the same goes for the 2011s. But according to this page your dealer can change it to a single beep when you switch to reverse.
I thought about disabling mine, but I decided it was useful.
I love my Prius. It’s about 2 years old. I get 46 MPG all the time and fill up about twice a month for about $25.00 on average, so about $600.00/yr in gas. I think that mileage is better than most motorcycles.
I used to fill up about every week and spent about $40.00. More than $1800.00/yr in gas.
I took advantage of one of the ‘cash for clunkers’ programs and got a $3500.00 credit for an old car with a blue book value of $300.00.
I have not had a single problem with the car.
When the car was still very new (2 months?) it got swamped in a flash flood. The dealer cleaned it all up and it’s run like a top every since.
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.;13485314
On the downside, it’s useless in snow. One Winter I could pull straight out of the driveway, and then pull straight back in. It wouldn’t go in the snow. (I was able to drive it in the little snow we got this year, and I’ll get chains for it eventually.) So that’s why I still have the Jeep.
On the other hand, I’ve been keeping a spreadsheet since a month after I bought it. I’m averaging 47.3 mpg over that time. (I mostly drive on the freeway.)[/QUOTE]
Can’t you get snow tires for it? I see plenty of Priuses on my commute and we’ve had a very snowy winter. But come to think of it, I haven’t seen that many out in the really bad stuff (but usually when it is really bad I’m not paying attention to the other car makes & models).
The OEM runflats on the Mini Coopers only last about 20K miles before they’re worn down. I had dedicated snows on my old MINI and that thing went through the snow like nobody’s business, although clearance was a problem. My new MINI has all seasons and they are marginal in the snow.
Congrats on the Prius!
I loved ours.
It had two disadvantages though. One, it can’t pull anything. So no hangers with cargo.
More annoying is a design error, that when you’ve failed to lock all doors properly, the light in the doors underneath stay on. This is easy to happen when you close it with the automatic key and don’t pay attention if the lights signal that it has been closed off properly. You can’t see those door lights burning, but they do, and they can empty your battery if you don’t use the car for a couple days. That’s the lights in the door, shining down on the ground.
Well, it’s a done deal: I now have a shiny blue Prius IV sitting in the driveway. They are going to de-program the reverse beep for me. I really like the proximity thingy for locking and unlocking the car. Good dealership, painless process, decent sales dude.
I can’t remember, what are the extras in the IV? Mine was the II. (Also shiny Blue).
So congrats and good luck. I think you’ll like it. Also has lots of geek appeal.
Congrats. Mine is just over a year old, and I’ve gone from getting gas every week to every other week = and less per fill up. I can get from the Bay Area to LA on one tank, which is pretty awesome. Now that gas is $3.45 gallon here, I like it even more.
Is this the beep that sounds inside the car and not outside when you back up? Why?!!
I’d have to go to the side-by-side on Edmunds, but let’s see: It has a JBL sound system with a five or six CD changer, iPod connection port in the center console, heated seats and exterior mirror defrost, auto-dim rear view mirror, leather, steering wheel controls for sound and other things, including Blue Tooth. I’m sure I’m missing something.
Yay, got the backup beeping muted.