Buy a 2010 Prius - Objective Decision??! Help!

IMHO I understand fully your concerns and what you feel at the moment. As long the money is in your pocket you have the power to choose and do anything you like with it.

Once you made the commitment to buy the car then there is no turning back, well you can turn back but you will lose a bit of money there.

I think in my few post here I have made huge complaints about this car and also have a few bad experience with Toyota during the recall process because I had a few instances where safty was in question during breaking. But all that was fixed during the recall for me but some people still experience it after the recall.

There is no doubt that I do love the car but I do have my regrets. After spending over 27,000 on this car and more after accessories there are a few things that I have a problem with.

One problem for me is the Radio, bad or weak reception and when I turn my HID lights on I get no reception sometimes. I tried to remedy that buy installing DAB radio ($600) but that didn't work either so I am going for the LED light upgrade ($1,350) soon.

The other problem is the cheapness of the car. Some of you might not know but in their defense that since they want to make a lighter car so they have omitted a lot of things in the car. One example, the rear bumper on the Prius Gen2 has thick foam filled up the bumper but in Prius Gen 3 it is hollow and completely empty. The body work in the Gen 2 are harder and stronger than the Gen 3 but this cut back are all in the name to make it lighter and therefore more economical but I don't buy all of that. It just makes the car cheaper to build so they make more money out of it.

The cheapness of the car also then relates to another problem which is now widely known, the Rattling. Personally there are so many rattles it is criminal on a new car. Of course whilst I installed my DAB radio I had the rattling problem fixed by putting a lot of foam and rubber cement any place I can think of. But I only was able to do that because my bro works for Toyota as a senior mechanic so I can do all the things I want with the car, but how many people here have that kind of resource at their disposal?

If it weren't for my brother I wouldn't have solved a lot of the problems I've encountered but saying that I do love this car. Why? Because it is very economical (not so for you since you had the gen2 but for me I came from Acura RL so huge difference), it is much better looking then gen2.

Personally, IMHO I wouldn't have bought this car if it weren't for my brother, I would have gone for the UK Honda Accord Tourer Diesel Automatic without a question of a doubt. For me the petrol or gas price between the two is about 40 pounds ($60) per month which doesn't hurt as much so wouldn't have made any difference to me but I would have gotten a much more powerful and better build car. The accord looks so awsome too and I don't care for green.

 

I would also appreciate an objective decision, because I'm seeing it all as a hoax and am ready to buy.

 

I would not hesitate to purchase a 2010 Prius right now. You may be able to get the best deal that you will see for a while.

If by chance, Toyota does have any problems beyond the SSC-AOB brake "feel" flash upgrade, you can rest assured that they will resolve any problem in record time, much like the brake recall.

I would advise my best friend to by a Prius today, which by the way, I did today.

 

Actually I am sad thinking about it. Anyway, I am about to buy a house so I don't want to part exchange it for the Accord.

If you have the money I think you should go for something you love. I bought the prius purely for economic reasons which made me love the car but as a car enthuist I really don't care for this car.

The more I think about the Prius the cheaper I think it is. Since you have a Gen2 you should really check out the difference in material. You can feel it when you go into different cars. Again I am a bit shallow, because at the time of buying I had Gen2 and 3 together and the Gen 2 felt much better built but I still went for the Gen3 because of the looks and because it is new model.