We are now a 2-Prius household!

The wife's 2005 Prius was approaching its 10th birthday and my mechanic had warned me that my 1990 Plymouth Voyager probably wouldn't pass another state inspection without some fairly expensive work. I've been looking at the Prius v since the 2012 model was first announced, so the only decision we had to make was whether to pick up a 2014 or wait for the 2015 to be introduced.

As my inspection date approached, Toyota finally released some photos of the European Prius Plus, and it confirmed my worst fears about the new model's styling. I'm generally not a fan of the "snarling trapezoid" that Toyota is using on all their new models, so the look of the '15 v was disappointing, but not surprising.

In late October, we picked up our 2014 v Five with ATP in Sea Glass Pearl with dark gray interior, driving about 100 miles to the nearest dealership that could provide the exact car we wanted at a price we were willing to pay. Our region was also offering 0% for 60 months plus $500 cash back, so that was a nice bonus.

Now, we've finally installed all the extra goodies we wanted, such as the black rear bumper protector, WeatherTech mats, mudguards, locking lug nuts, and paint-matched body side moldings with chrome inserts from Dawn Enterprises/Sportwing.

I've also replaced the OEM "meep-meep" horns with Fiamm 400/500 Hz "Detroit sound" horns and installed stainless fender washers beneath all the plastic pop-connectors on the undercarriage splash panels, as suggested by Rude person's.

So far, our favorite feature on this car is the dynamic radar cruise control, which works exactly as expected. The most disappointing feature is the JBL sound system, which is even weaker than the one on our old Prius. I'm pretty sure I'll be replacing the factory speakers and adding a subwoofer at some point.

Here are a few pictures of the new car:


Of course, the new v is now the wife's car and I've inherited the '05 just in time for its very first non-warranty, non-recall-related repair. At 130K miles, it sounds like the front passenger-side wheel bearing is starting to fail, but otherwise, the old Prius is still going strong and we hope to get another 10 years out of it!

-Harry

 

Thanks! This is easily the best-looking car we've ever owned.

That's just part 1 of the rule; part 2 says she gets to pick the color, too! Given my druthers, it would have been Blue Ribbon Metallic, but the Sea Glass Pearl is starting to grow on me.

Cars in the garage? What is this foreign concept of which you speak? The only way we could do that is if I parked all my woodworking tools, workbenches, and storage shelves out on the driveway!

-Harry