One month in, pros & cons

I've had my '07 for about a month now after finally retiring my '94 Explorer. There's most definitely been a period of adjustment, but I have to say that so far the pros are far outweighing the cons (actually, only one con is specific to the car). Here's how it's breaking down for me so far:

Pros:
1) Obviously, the car's incredible gas mileage. My last vehicle was a Ford Explorer and I've cut my gas expenses by almost 2/3. I'm averaging approx 51mpg so far and the average is improving as I adjust to the car. That's a nice chunk of change back into my pocket and I couldn't be happier. This alone pretty much outweighs all of the cons I've noticed.

2) The ergonomics. The more I use the car the more I'm coming to appreciate the thought that went into the design of the car's dash and the placement of the controls. Having almost all of the most frequently used controls located on the steering wheel is fantastic.

3) Sounds like a minor thing, but this car has the best AC I've ever had, and during the heat wave we've been experiencing that counts for a lot.

Cons:
1) The nav system. I'm still climbing the learning curve but I'm having a hard time doing the simplest things with it. Pretty clunky interface.

2) Dealing with other drivers. Coming from years of driving an SUV it's shocking to see how many SUV drivers treat the drivers of smaller cars so shabbily. Too many people use their cars as weapons and it's just plain crazy. Not necessarily a Prius specific issue, although I do think the cars are targets for some aggressive drivers.

3) Parts. Within a week of buying the car someone attempted to steal the hub cabs. They were unsuccessful but succeeded in cracking one and scratching the hell out of the others. Maybe if these plastic POS's didn't cost so much to replace they wouldn't be a target for thieves. Then again I had the same problem with the sideview mirrors on my Explorer, so this isn't really a Prius or Toyota specific problem.

That's pretty much it so far. One month in and I'm as happy as I was the day I bought it!

 

Good idea. I'll probably just go ahead and remove the rings before someone else does it for me. There's a whole row of... ahem.... "Auto Parts Stores" a few blocks from my office and I'd rather not have to go buy my own trim rings back.

 

LOL, that might be true. I guess it's a matter of perception. I basically didn't care if someone tailgated me or did some other stupid thing when I was driving my Explorer because it was pretty obvious who'd be getting the worse end of the deal if there was a collision. Only problem I ever had was with the idiots that would cut me off and have to stand on their brakes because they assumed that I was the one who was going slow, not the person in front of me. Explorers don't exactly stop on a dime!

 

It really is a matter of how smaller cars are perceived. Here's a little scenario from this morning's commute:

Every day I pass a choke point where the highway divides with the left lane exiting and the center and right lanes continuing on. This left lane exit frequently backs up and traps some of the "fast lane" drivers. This morning I was riding in the center lane with good following distance between myself and an SUV, who in turn was using good following distance between himself and the car in front of him. HOWEVER, neither of us had sufficient space for an additional vehicle to pull in. The left lane was basically at a standstill. As we approached a van started pulling out of the left lane, noticed the SUV approaching and pulled back in since there obviously wasn't enough room between cars. But, once the SUV passed the van pulled out directly in front of me as if I wasn't even there. I should point out that this van didn't exactly have good acceleration. Good thing the pavement was dry.

I didn't realize that the Prius comes with an automatic cloaking device.