My Prius Review: I HATE THIS THING!

My first Prius driving impression was of a marshmallow with a hinge in the middle. Yes, those Integrities are absolute crap, but so are most stock tires. Something decent, like Goodyear Triple Treds, make a huge difference in most performance aspects. There are many, many tire threads here that attest to the improvements to be had with good quality rubber.

There are quite a number of chassis bits available, from several different manufacturers, designed to improve the handling. Both BT and Tom's make braces for front and rear, and TRD offers a suspension kit. People who have installed all of the extras, like Presto, report the handling to be utterly transformed, and the modified Prius as one of the best handling cars they've ever had. (OK, so he probably doesn't have any prancing horses in the stable.)

Still, there are well-known problems and well-reviewed solutions. If you are serious about improving the car, maybe you should try some of them.

 

NSX -one name explains it all: Ayrton Senna.

I'm not knocking the hustle, but if you drive like you describe, why do you even own a Corvette?

 

I wouldn't call this one a troll, yet. This opening post was less offensive than the one by "Mr Incredible" who started off with a salvo directly against Prius owners. The funny similarity was that Mr Incredible was also ticked that his wife had a Prius, but knew better than to vent on her, so he insulted all Prius owners instead. I admit that my responses have been somewhat colored by the amusing disingenuous nature of the Mr Incredible thread.

 

First off... I agree with others have said. This is primarily a troll post as evidenced by the numerous replies. If it is indeed his wife's car, perhaps she should be posting here to tell us how she (or he?) likes it.

Secondly, for someone to dis the Prius and have the audacity to drive a POS Sebring Conv,. OMG... probably one of the most horrible riding cars. Cowl shake doesn't even begin to describe how unscrewed this car really is.

Lastly, it took this putz over 100,000 miles and four years to find us? Like others have said, we better stop feeding the troll.

 

First thing for the OP ... please do not post Hwy MPG figures (i.e. 26 MPG for C6). I don't like just the Hwy figures for conventional cars, only city/hwy counts to me.

Secondly, I will very much agree with you on the seats (for those who don't fit them). They might be lifted from an echo and smack of similarity to a Yaris hatchback, shame. I ride on a modified used Pri seat and several accessories that work pretty well..... dodged that bullet given my naivete in new car buying.

Thirdly, I did notice some buffeting on the San Mateo bridge with my 250lb nephow, 210 lb bro in law, 170 sister and me, 185 lbs last Sunday. The climb up the steep freeway grade past College of San Mateo gave somewhat more engine whine than I'm a fan of. I could have slowed to 50 mph though.

Fourthly, the base model stock Prius is fairly soft on tight twisty roads, so best to keep speeds down.

Fifthly, I'm no zombie driving this car. I find it fairly engaging. I love when it slips into all battery at speed and wish it would stay there for good.

Sixthly, I think this 2009 is well built. The doors close solidly, the interior to me is nice and classy. I was in a late model Chevy Impala rental with faux plastic wood grain on the dash - yucko pooey pop. Cheeeesy.

Lastly, I like my Prius and at this point intend to keep it for a long time. I don't have nearly the experience you do since I only have 6,600 miles on mine. But, if it remains reliable, I would be happy to keep it for 100k miles.

 

From where I’m standing, you’re the one who made it personal with your “only two kinds of drivers†tripe. For one thing, you left out my own former category: 4X4 junkie. Not to get personal, but I’ve always considered sports cars to be useless, overpriced toys for children who never managed to let go of their childhood go-kart fixation, the only utility of which was to move quickly on the infinitesimal fraction of the Earth’s surface that someone actually went to the bother of paving. My thrill was always in going somewhere that wasn’t paved, because those places always have prettier streams with bigger fish in them. For me, the adventure began where yours came to an abrupt, bumpy conclusion. So would it really matter if you reached that point a little bit faster? Fie on your tiny, zippy cars. They were little more than speed bumps to my old truck.

Now I’m waiting for my 2010 Prius, after having rented a 2008 Prius to test it, and I honestly have no idea what your gripe is. I found the 2008 Prius to be a car with very well-balanced attributes that happened to get amazing mileage. Not amazingly fast, but fast enough. Not hair-raisingly maneuverable, but maneuverable enough for Highway 1, which was the proving ground of my rental. So no, I can’t outrun you, but then I never really got off on that in the first place. But with a rated top speed of 115 MPH or so I can still go more than fast enough to get pulled over with room to spare. That’s enough for me. And while I can’t go offroad anymore, I’m a military officer in my early thirties who is far too busy to manage more than one or two trips of that nature per year anyway. And for those, I’ll budget a day or two extra into my leave request, drive to the end of the road and then hike the rest of the way. I have a theory that the extra effort will make the trout taste better and make the campfire seem just a little bit warmer.

The other reason I’m putting aside my membership card to the Right Honorable Brotherhood of 4X4 Junkies is that I’m now painfully aware of the geopolitical ramifications of the oil trade and the environmental ramifications of our oil consumption and I frankly consider it morally reprehensible to buy a Jeep that gets 15 MPG as an everyday vehicle. Maybe you should take a trip to the Middle East yourself, and you might come to see things my way. At the very least, getting shot at will be a new kind of thrill that will put the thrill of driving into proper perspective, and might give you a deeper appreciation to what goes into securing your supply of cheap gasoline. If you think the thrill of driving fast is the most important thing in the age of peak oil, then you're missing the big picture in an epic way.

 

I'm with some of the other posters here. He's a troll esp. from his slanting of information/figures.

Yep, I don't know where he's getting his claimed mpg figures from. Old (pre-08 model year EPA highway numbers)? On fueleconomy.gov, I see a "28 mpg" (old method) for an 07 C6. Per the revised EPA method, it's 16/26, 19 mpg combined vs. the Prius' 48/45, 46 mpg combined.

CR got 35/50, 44 overall w/the Prius per Most fuel-efficient cars. In an 05 Corvette w/6MT, they got 14/31, 21 overall. In an 08 Sebring convertible w/3.5L V6, they got 12/30, 19 overall. An 07 Sebring non-converible w/2.4L 4 got 15/35, 23 overall.

Per Best and worst in new car owner satisfaction: Car owner, auto shopping (might need a subscription to see this).

The 810 lb. max cargo weight of the Prius isn't atypical compared to any other hatchback or sedan. I posted about this at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/20812-810-pounds-maximum-weight.html but unfortunately my other post w/more details is gone. I wish I had the time to dig up the CR charts that had all the numbers in one place.

Some notable (low max payloads weights from How to pack a car for a safe road trip amd Pulling your weight as well some I looked up:
Honda Element (4WD) 675 lbs.
Nissan Murano: 860 lbs.
Lexus RX: 910 lbs.
07 Chrysler Sebring non-convertible: 825 lbs.
08 Chrysler Sebring convertible: 715 lbs.
08 and 09 Chevy Malibus: 915 lbs.
08 Honda Accords: 850 lbs.
09 Mazda 6: 850 lbs.

The quirk of the ICE remaining running to provide heat and then shutting off the instant you shut off the heater is emulated by the NAH. I know, I've done it w/my mom's NAH.

 

TS wy dont sell the car...

i drive the prius not for A to B but because every time i get inside the prius i love it and its a experience no normal car can compare to.

 

I think your (OP's) main point is:
The more you hate it, the more you're driving it.
Deep in your heart you just love this Grade-D car.
Now we know your Prius-affection, the Nile is not just a river.

A 4-year-old only Prius with 110+k on its belt is definitely ABOVE average.
It certainly served your driving-needs well. How many miles you've your other 2 "driver's" cars combined?

 

The Prius is bad in comparison to *what*

I've had plenty of Ford Focus, Chevy Cavalier/Cobalt, and - bunny help me - Dodge Neon's as rentals. They all sucked FAR worse than a Prius, the Focus a bit less so. With those cars, once you fry the auto transaxle (Not if, but WHEN), the Prius looks even better.

Due to a major change at work (I can now work at home 4 days a week) and other transportation needs (Property shuffling so the most I will every drive is 34 miles one way), I now drive about 60 miles every 2 weeks

That's cheap enough even in an FJ, so my 2004 Prius with almost 160,000 miles on it, I sold. No more need for a daily commuter car, which is what my Prius was

Quite frankly, I can't think of a better commuter car than a Prius. It will take you from point A to point B, with fuel economy that nothing else can come close to matching, especially the size. Yes, in theory a Jetta tdi comes close, but there is no way in hell I'd put up with a diesel engine during our winters

I'm not a boy racer, never was, so could give one s*** if a car is fast enough to enter warp speed. I want something that - first and foremost - comforts and coddles me. Does any economy car, or even midsize car, come close?

I suppose if I was dumb enough to buy a pricey car, it would have to be a Lexus LS 460L. Had a chance to sit in one a few months ago, those front and rear seats are *beyond* comfortable. That car allows you to pretend the road doesn't even exist, let the airbag suspension soak everything up

On second thought, I'd probably just order it with the Executive rear seating package, and let somebody else worry about driving it.

Dreaming aside, there are cars more expensive than the Prius, that suck much worse

 

Well, if it's any help here, I drive *my* Prius for the experience.
.
_H*

 

On the Prius, I love stealth mode. Good for sneakin' up on MFs!

We have the Touring model. With the stock Turanza tires, there was not much fahrvergnügen going on, but after swapping to UHP summer tires, the whole car seemed transformed. We recently went camping in Yosemite, and it was a blast taking the curves at the speed limit -- glad there were no bears crossing the road! And it's a piece of cake now to get the Prius up to 45mph on a 360-degree freeway onramp near where I work (with absolutely no tire squeal), where other cars, including "performance" luxury cars have difficulty maintaining 35mph. Being able to have loads of fun taking corners/curves combined with practicality, reliability/low maintenance, fuel efficiency, and almost nil pollution makes me love our Prius even more.

 

In my case, the original tires lasted about 40K miles. I replaced them with Michelin Hydroedge, and with 48K miles, they are showing very little wear. I anticipte this set of tires will achieve 80K (I think that is the rated wear).

 

It seems difficult to give your review any credibility if you hated it so much and yet kept the car for so long. I can not even really understand what would possess someone to do something they dislike for such an extended period of time, and then put up a post like you did.

I really do not think Toyota, or anyone else on this forum will give your post a second thought, except to flame you for being such a dummy.

Now, sell you Prius, and go away. Pittiful, just pittiful.

 

I drove a 'vette once (rental car while my Metro was in the shop). Total P.O.S. I had to go to the gas station TWICE in ONE WEEK! I'm sure the car is great in places where it's legal to drive 120 MPH, but where I lived wasn't one of them so I had to constantly look at the speedometer to make sure I wasn't going too fast. One eye on the speedometer, the other on the gas meter - never again! Sure, some people might like a 'vette, but some people love Kevin Federline, too, and I'm not one of them.

 

At least the OP didn't bash the sound system...