Considering a Prius - a few questions

Yes, I am now. The older seats sat too upright and were too flat and stiff. All of which in totality made for an uncomfortable ride especially for a commuter car. The new one with power adjust and lumbar support are mandatory. They also come now in my four model with softex faux leather. Soft to the touch and easily cleanable. They even have heat option. Getting a prius as a rental with these options to try might be difficult as the 'one' was sold as a fleet car but had no options added. Good luck!

 

I rented one before I bought mine too.. I only had it a day.. did it help.. yes and no.. I rented a 5 without HUD.

Where it helped was I know the car would fit my purpose and what I needed to haul in it. Where it didn't help was the nuisances that you don't figure out till you drive it for weeks or even months. For me it was the road noise and engine sounds/note. It really puts you to sleep if you let it and annoying in general. I don't think I am being too critical in regards to road noise as there are a lot of thread on reducing it by adding insulation. NTL, good luck!

 

Ever heard of Toyota Rent a Car at many Toyota dealers?
Call them up.

 

I've added all kinds of sound-deadening insulation on mine, and it did help some. But at 80 mph on a concrete highway, the road noise is deafening.

 

I purchased a set of Michelin Primacies in the hopes of less road noise. Yes they helped, but once you hit 80 mph on concrete, road-roar takes over. Not too bad on asphalt highways though.

 

Read through Car Buying Guide for New and Used Vehicles | CarBuyingTips.com

You can start at the truecar price and work down, especially if you are at a dealer that isn't in their program. If you go too low they won't sell the car.

You can go back to MY 2010. The earlier Fours had leather seats. HUD is a later feature.

Dealers can't order cars. The Region orders from Toyota and distributes the cars to their dealers. The best a dealer can do is look for one in your configuration that isn't allocated or trade with another dealer if they don't have what you want. If the Region didn't order your combination then you will have to shop in a state located in a different region.

Rental car companies do want outrageous rates for the Prius. Renting through a dealer is cheaper by far and a portion of the renatal may be applied against the purchase.

Chips & scratches in the black plastic panels will really show. Scratches on the metal panels won't because the primer is white. White can get filthy fast but in the winter every color looks dirty.

The first trip my cars make is to get VentureShield film applied. There are a number of brands made by 3M. The film will save some nicks and scratches but no matter how much of the car you cover it will take a hit wherever the film isn't.

The white on a Solar is very attractive.

Happy hunting.

 

Unless you go with tan. In my area, it's still dirty, but most of the dirt is tan.

Which trim level? With or without power seats? It's a common complaint with the manual seat. I managed by putting a store-bought pad, and I eventually got used to it, but had I known, I might have sprung for the Prius 4. Most test-drives you get at the dealership tend to be with a Prius 4.

 

DON'T GET the Prius when it's hurting your back like that! If you do and your back hurts over time, the hybrid fascination will wear off pretty quickly and you'll end up hating the car anyway. Tough to say how much the power driver's seat willl help. The only difference is you can adjust tilt on seat bottom cushion and adjust the lumbar in and out.

Wonder what's making your back hurt, It seems the lower back area of the base Prius seat is awfully hollowed out or 'concave'. I'm 6'2", I can't even tolerate sitting in the seat unless I recline the seatback a couple notches too much, but then the steering is just too far away. (made small wedge cushion to compensate but it will need to be redone as the foam is less dense than the original seat foam, Yay, another trip to Bob's foam)
I've measured the drop from the front edge of the seat bottom cushion, and even with the seat fully lowered, the vertical drop is pretty far, like 12 inches. Toyota seems to think that lowering the driver's seat consists mostly of lowering the butt area, not the mid-thigh area of seat. Plus the butt area has flexible springs in seat frame while front of seat cushion is on a rigid metal pan (like most seats), so my mid-thighs really get slammed up in the base seat.
I have a pet name for the driver's seat: The Butt Sinker.

But, you are 5'7" and I know the TILT flattens out as the seat is raised up. I would think you are raising the seat up maybe halfway for driving, are you?

I was looking to move up from my Prius to a Camry Hybrid, but ruled out the new Camrys due to what is a short seat cushion ( my legs hang so far over the front edge of the seat bottom, there's not much leg support).

 

I hardly parallel park but isn't most of it just getting used to the car? The backup camera does help so now you're up to at least a Three-NAV on an older model year. The power seat pushes it up to a Four. However, if you aren't comfortable in the seat then that's not the right car for you. If you can find a way to make yourself comfortable, great. If you can't, walk away.

 

I just wish Toyota would put the instrumentation in front of the driver. Couldn't believe it, the first time I sat in in an Echo: "what the hell are the instruments doing over there in the middle of the dash??". But they seem to love doing that.

Regarding Prius seats, I'm a little perplexed by the reported problems: found the seats just fine. We drove up to Williams Lake once, around 700 kms, no complaints.

 

I thought the placement of the instrumentation panel, specifically the speedometer, would bother me, but it doesn't. In fact, I drove my grandson's 2014 Mustang a couple of weeks ago and had a very difficult time watching my speed with the steering wheel in the way. I had a similar problem with the speedometer in our '99 Montana and couldn't adjust the steering wheel the way I wanted to because then I couldn't see my speed at all.

I too am perplexed by the seat complaints. I didn't care for the seats in the 2010 we rented and drove 1,100 miles, but it was the seat cushion that just felt too thin, no problem with my poor lower back though. I don't "love" the power seats in the 2014 we have, but they are far from terrible for me and better than what we had in the Montana. I've yet to find any seat that compares to the ones we had in our '88 Grand Prix, though I'm sure they're out there, just haven't driven those cars. That said, I can see how some body styles would have problems with the placement of the front of the seat cushion. Admittedly, I do adjust the lumbar support quite often and the seatback angle somewhat on our trips, but that's because we now tend to drive in excess of 3 hrs at a stretch whereas 3 hrs was the upper limit in the Montana.

Still, it someone has a problem, then they certainly shouldn't buy a Prius.

 

Thank God for the center mounted instrumentation!

At 6'3", after adjusting the seat and the steering wheel, I usually do not see most of the instrument thru the steering wheel, sometimes resulting in driving with blinker on if stereo is also on. Also, keep in mind that the opening thru the steering wheel of the Prius is 2 3/4 inches high.

 

Do you live in or near Chicago? If you do, Continental Toyota in Hodgkins has different models of TOYOTAS for rent. You may want to check with them to see if they have a Prius in their rental fleet.

 

I could show you photographs of how the tilt of the Prius seat bottom cushion varies from about 11 degrees (up from horizontal) when seat raised fully up to near 19 degrees with seat fully lowered. Just put an angle meter on some stick, it easy to see how much the tilt varies. Boggles my mind why it does vary. If seat bottom tilt angle is 'wrong' (too much) for an individual, it can feel like the butt is sunk down in the seat,

Couple that with having to put the seatback awfully upright because the steering wheel telescope towards driver is scant and the two make for an UNCOMFORTABLE drive. Your seats fit you fine. Why be perplexed that some people made mistakes when evaluating the driver's seat when testing the car. Obviously it happens and if some giant customer comes in saying they want a tiny car, the salesperson doesn't give a hoot whether or not that customer ends up uncomfortable a month or so later, The salesperson only wants to make the sale.

ANOTHER FACTOR to consider is that just like a bed, a car seat's foam and the spring foundation will likely break in and flex more over time.

I think in general, the more adjustments a driver's seat has (10 way, 12 way, etc ....) the more likely the driver is going to find a comfortable DRIVING POSITION. But good controls (st. wheel, pedals) layout matters too.

Wanna see excellent seat and controls in a car? Sit in a VW GTI , If you can handle the aggresive side bolsters, that is some high quality seating, Keep in mind Recaro is a German company and I'm sure many German cars have seats patterned off Recaros.

To Shinytoys, watch the video above. What they are saying is EXACTLY what I experience in the Prius driver's seat: The butt area just sinks too far down. Watch the video!

 

Only you can tell if the power seat feels good enough to you: You can raise the seat of course and the front cushion edge lowers somewhat more than the manual seat. Would it help to sit up a little higher than you're used to being that you're 5'7"?
At 6'2", I've tried the Prius power seat several times. Even had a Four rental for a day. I wouldn't buy one, but that's me. I've said no go to the Camry also, but that's because the seat bottom cushion is small both in feel and by measurement compared to several other brands.

 

...fyi new version of Prius coming year end 2015. May be exciting but if you like current model jump on it, and I presume there will be lower prices Gen3 when Gen4 comes down the pike.

As far as new vs. used, none of the used cars I got have been as reliable as new cars. If I got used I would try for Toyota Certified and lower miles and 3 years or less. In Virginia used car is definite option due to our local car tax, so I would not rule it out for me either.