<p>If you own one of those cars, what do you like/dislike about your hybrid? What are your bigges pet peeves? What do you rave about?</p>
<p>H wants to buy a hybrid to fill the third bay in the garage. We test-drove both of the abovementioned cars today, and as far as the handling goes, they felt pretty much the same to me. I really like the Toyota’s navigation system, but the Civic has a more conventional “feel” to it vs. Prius’ funky gear shift knob/keyless ignition.</p>
<p>We usually keep our cars for at least 7 years, and we are not fooling ourselves that we will easily recoup the extra 4-5K in hybrid cost with our gas savings.</p>
<p>I have owned Priuses since 2000 (we bought our first one sight-unseen online before there were any models to look at). We currently own two 2004 Prius hybrids, purchased Oct. and Dec. 2003. We love them to pieces and have almost no gripes about them.</p>
<p>They are roomy cars, surprisingly: my H is 6’9" tall, and my sons are 6’6" and 6’4" (and I am 5’4") and we all fit comfortably in the Prius. (Tall-torso’d folks may feel a slight lack of headroom in the rear seat.) I get 46-50 MPG on mine, H gets 39 in his (he has a heavy foot and refuses to adapt to the different “style” that bring better mileage on these cars). I love the fact that there is almost no polluting exhaust coming out the tailpipe. The trunk is remarkably large, the car is peppy, it has a miniscule turning radius, and once you get used to the utter silence at traffic lights you’ll wonder why other cars are so noisy (since the electric engine is paramount, assisted by the gas engine as needed, at lights the engines are just <em>off</em>). It took almost no time at all to get used to the unusual gear shift, and I’ve gotten spoiled by that keyless ignition, I think ALL cars should have it! I cannot imagine ever purchasing a gasoline-only engine car again (assuming I have that choice).</p>
<p>Gripes? As I said, not many. The view out the rear window is odd and slightly abbreviated, making it a little tricky to back up. If you don’t keep the tire pressure up at the top of the range, your mileage will drop quickly. The gas gauge isn’t quite linear, and drops off quickly in the last quarter tank (but as long as you know that, you can compensate).</p>
<p>I fully recommend the Prius. It is a roomy, peppy, responsive, comfortable, economical, reliable vehicle. And I say that from the perspective of someone who’s been driving them for seven years now.</p>
<p>We’ve owned our Toyota Camry Hybrid for about 1.5yr. We need the extra rear seating space and the Prius didn’t do it for us. I second all of above poster’s positives. Just as peppy as our previous Audi! Our negative: the dealer told us we’d be getting better city mileage vs. highway - so not true! We average about 37mpg in town, closer to 50 on Highway. Unfortunately most of our driving is in town so it’s not as good as we thought it would be - but still sooo much better than before.</p>
<p>We’ve had a Civic Hybrid for about a year and a half. We absolutely love it. My Six foot husband and son are comfortable in it. Our mileage, like woody’s, is better on highway than in town. We surmise that’s because, though it turns off when stopping, it comes on immediately on starting, unlike the Prius. conversely, being a somewhat smaller/lighter car, it does as good/better on the highway. We get high mid40s to high 50s in the highway, depending on time of year and weather (much better mileage in the summer). We get high-30s to mid 40s around town (same dependings, also, very short trips get lower mileage, so we really try to avoid them.) Overall, we’ve averaged mid-40s. </p>
<p>We test drove both. I prefered the Civic because I didn’t like the bells and whistles the Prius came with (did not want to pay for a nav system with an annoying screen I would have turned off–it was not standard but we couldn’t find one without it.) Also, I liked the handling of the Civic, and the price (especially the price!)</p>
<p>If you want people to know you’re driving a hybrid, the Prius stands out as one; no one’s going to notice the little “hybrid” label on your Civic. This doesn’t bother me, but I know I have read articles about Prius owners who like the specialness, and feel like they belong to a club when they see others in them.</p>
<p>Drawbacks? Definitely rear vision; I came to this from a minivan, and the back window is definitely not easy to see out of. I back very, very carefully. Otherwise, I have no complaints.</p>
<p>“We usually keep our cars for at least 7 years, and we are not fooling ourselves that we will easily recoup the extra 4-5K in hybrid cost with our gas savings.”</p>
<p>Depend on what you compare to. Before my 08’ Prius, I drove a Acura MDX. With 50 mpg vs. 18, I can easily recoup the $4K hybrid system in less than 3 years. Of course, it will take >>6 years if compared to a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris.</p>
<p>With kids all grown no longer needing a big car, I was looking for a fun car to replace my MDX. Driving a Prius is fun and that is why I picked the Prius over a TL or a BMW.</p>
<p>Woody, your dealer might be thinking about a Prius, which does get higher mpg in city than higheay(48/45 vs. 33/34 for a Camry).</p>
<p>I’ve had a Prius for about two years. The mileage is great. And yes, it’s better on the highway than in town, though it’s supposed to be the opposite. One person I know, however, knows exactly how to drive his Prius to get the best mileage and so it’s possible to get better mileage in town if you do what you’re supposed to do, but I don’t recall any manual telling me what that is.</p>
<p>The blind spots (to the right and left in front) are scary. The heating/air-conditioning system has a mind of its own; if it’s 50 out and you want it 60, and you want the window open a crack, you have to crank up the temperature way past 70. </p>
<p>Backing up is indeed scary as well, not only because you can hardly see out of the rear window but because the car is silent and hence doesn’t alert anyone.</p>
<p>Love my Prius. I am on my second one. Got one in '03 and then traded it in for an '05 to get the hatchback because we have horses. The back holds a ton of stuff. I have no complaints at all. I guess I am one of the ones who knows how to drive it and I can easily get near 60 mpg in the city, except in winter when the car doesn’t have time to warm up, and I get mid to upper 50s highway. Again, numbers go down in winter. I thought I didn’t want the navigation system but now I can’t imagine not having it - I love it. I also love all the controls on the steering wheel and I use Bluetooth and the voice commands a lot. The Honda probably has all that too though. It takes about a minute to get used to the ignition. It handles well in bad weather. Because you can start off with no assist from the gas engine, I can roll off from spots that many cars built for bad weather driving cannot. Even though the gas mileage suffers in winter because of the cold engine, the car’s interior heats up faster than any car I have ever driven. I have 60k miles on my '05 with no complaints.</p>
That’s me! I love the look of the Prius - I feel like I’m driving a shuttlecraft.</p>
<p>I tend to get between 44-48 mpg usually. And recouping the money for a Prius does depend on what you would have bought otherwise; we only spend 2-3,000 more than we would have on a conventional car. (We got a “middle” model - it has stability control, but no navigation or Bluetooth. That makes it cheaper.) And with gas topping $3/gallon with no end in sight, we may recoup it faster than we thought!</p>
<p>My h doesn’t like its pickup, but I have no problem with it.</p>
<p>The only thing I don’t like is the “split” rear windshield; I find it difficult to wash the vertical piece under the handhold you use to open the trunk.</p>
<p>And it does take some getting used to at stops, before you realize that no, you haven’t stalled out. I did freak out some people when I pulled out silently from the garage; they were surprised to turn around and find me there already!</p>
<p>I love my Prius and will replace it with another one when necessary - although we tend to keep cars for a long time, too.</p>
<p>We’re thinking of replacing my van when our budget recovers. I didn’t know that the Prius presented rear view problems for backing up. Could some sort of camera be installed on the rear with a tiny screen by the mirror? I have a bad back and it hurts like heck to twist around when I need to back out of a parking space. Also, how about some sort of beeper signal for backing up? Is that an option?</p>
<p>The Prius has the backup beeper. I don’t notice any problems with the rear view - maybe I have had Priuses long enough that I have gotten used to it, but our second car is a Mazda and I don’t notice any difference when I go back and forth.</p>
<p>I also don’t have any problems with backing up. The mirrors adjust well enough to take care of blind spots.</p>
<p>You can get a Prius with a backup camera that will show you exactly what’s behind you. It shows on the same display as the navigation and the fuel economy displays. It costs more, of course, but a friend has it and she loves it.</p>
<p>Our Prius (2003) has been very satisfactory.</p>
<p>High Points: fuel economy, great acceleration; decent trunk space; fabulous tight turning radius, which makes it incredibly easy to park & make Uturns</p>
<p>Low Points: tires wear out quickly, particularly the tires Toyota supplies as original; interior finish on the 2003 model was very cheap – like a Corolla; and the road noise if you travel on a grooved highway is distinctly unpleasant.</p>
<p>The I don’t know why they did that comment: This car seems to have been designed for geeks. Even though I (sort of) qualify, I still don’t understand why the display continually reverts to the engine status display rather soon after you’ve pushed the button for the radio. I don’t especially care if the battery is feeding power/delivering power, but I am annoyed that every time I want to change a radio station I have to first press another key to get the **** radio display to come up again. As someone who flips radio stations every time ads come on, this is just annoying. (I’d guess that that radio display stays up about a minute at a time.)</p>
<p>arabrab - you can change the display to stay where you want - at least on the '05 you can and I thought I could on my '03 but I might be wrong. I was addicted to the MPG display when I first got mine and would compete with myself to drive to get the best mileage. My daughter needs to learn how to do that. She ruins my mileage.</p>
<p>I admit to a certain perverse delight in a compact sedan that has such poor rearward visibility that they use the same sort of camera system found in 45-foot motorhomes so that you can back up without hitting something.</p>
<p>Well, I don’t know that anyone needs a camera. Backing carefully works for me. Have managed not to hit anything. ANd saved a lot of gas/money/emissions while doing so</p>
<p>You and me both, garland. I take great delight in knowing that while I’m stuck in traffic, I’m not using any gas. No polluting or running out of gas for me!</p>
<p>It’s a common misconception that hybrids necessarily produce less air pollution than other gas engines. According to the EPA, there are 14 models that emit less pollution than the Prius, and they are all made by Honda and Volkswagen. There are 13 models that have the same air pollution ranking as the Prius, including models from Honda, Ford, Mazda, and Toyota. Only one of the vehicles with lower emissions than the Prius is a hybrid, and one is CNG.</p>
<p>We once looked at one, and it turned out the cost of the replacement battery wiped out any potential savings. The cost of the replacement battery is in the thousands, not hundreds.</p>
<p>We drove cross country in my D’s Prius and I can barely complain about anything. The space inside is amazing…the back seat feels more roomy than many larger cars. We used a total of 57 gallons of gas to drive from California to Pennsylvania.</p>
<p>The only thing I would change if I were designing a new one is the view out the back window. It is difficult to see out of, and my D did back into another car when she first got it.</p>
<p>Now is it’s first real winter, so we will see, but according to reviews I have read online it handles well in winter driving conditions.</p>