Complaint and Used Listing to Sale Ratio of Prius vs another

Besides the stellar fuel economy, reliability so far and practicality, this 3rd gen has been ok at times and peculiarly awkward to just drive at other times. Consumer Reports guy uses the term 'ok' an awful lot in video review and he mentions the limited steering wheel adjustment range which I've shown the effect of a few posts down.

Consumer Reports Video Hub - Cars - Hybrids & Alternative Fuel - Toyota Prius review

anyhoo, I added up the craigslist SFBayArea Prius listings from 2012 back to 2006 and tallied 1,047 listings. Next added up total liftback new sales in US in same period as 1,003 (in thousands, so just over a million).

Prius 1,047 listings / 1,003k new sold = 1.043 ratio

Did same thing for Accord and found 1,471 listings / 2,309k sold = .637 ratio

GOOD CAR BAD CAR and Wiki used for sales, craigslist.org for listings.

Next, googled Prius complaints and found 5,091 complaints for 2012 to 2006 for 5.07 complaint ratio -

Toyota Prius Complaint Scoreboards Listed by model year

then 1,756 complaints for Accord for a 0.76 to 1 complaint ratio

Honda Accord Complaint Scoreboards Listed by model year

So, 50% higher used car listing ratio for Prius and 650% higher complaint ratio. Makes me all warm and fuzzy.

 

If I had the financial luxury of buying another car or new car every couple years, then I would do so. If you're looking for someone to blow sunshine up your hinder parts and only say good things about this Prius, I'm not your guy.

If no one ever said anything bad about Prius or pointed out things that seem to need improvement, how the heck is the car ever going to get better???

You said -

"Because if Stellar Fuel Economy, Reliability, and Practicality along with the "fun" of hypermiling or getting great gas mileage doesn't leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling?"

I say, why does it mostly have to be about these things? Why can't it also be a great car to be in and drive? Why does the $25k to $30k Prius come with a crap box, barely adjustable steering wheel that I have to adjust to because it doesn't adjust to me? And if you say, well, that's just you, there's nothing wrong with it, then you're incorrect as Consumer Reports, Edmunds and others have noted this since 2009. Did Toyota do ANY change of the steering wheel since 2010? NO. They think it's just fine as is despite the negative comments about it. Maybe they will improve it in the next generation, maybe not.

Perhaps you see Prius as more of an appliance, a transportation device to get from point A to B. It's a car, and people including myself like to feel darn good sitting in and driving their car after a long day. Plus the car rattles and the first 3 hour visit to dealership did not fix it.

 

My problem is that I know the Prius interior / ergonomic issues before buying the car, then figure it should be good enough for the long haul. Then I get some months in it, this case almost a year and half, then the things wrong to me start biting in.

I could totally drive this car with the seat slid all the way back and lowered all the way or close to it. But the steering wheel in it's best position (down and full scope) then looks like it belongs in another car. The wheel tilts and scope about 1 1/2 inches, that's it. ...

What a missed opportunity for Toyota. They could have spent a bit more on a higher quality steering column.

I think more people will buy this Prius and more importantly stick with it if Toyota will go the extra mile to iron out the details inside the car. Possible global warming, oil wars and pollution moves to the background when I sense the seat and controls are not designed as they ought to be.

Obviously it's time to plan what the next move is going to be since the parts I'm compalining about are not modifiable.

 

Changing topic. Going to post these photos in the 'suggestions for improvement' section, here also ..

This photo is of my seat slid 1 click forward from full back and adjusted almost all the way down, only 5 pumps up on height adjust. See that the seatback angle is very reasonable, no over-reclining or ghetto lean here:



Today I started driving with seat slid all the way back. This photo shows the top of steering wheel coming across my upper palm. My shoulder is against the seatback and arm is straight. Trouble is, I've heard that top of steering wheel is ideally supposed to be at base of palm / wrist area. IOW, the wheel is a bit too far away. Bit tough to steer through without bringing shoulder off seatback. I am not scooting forward to remedy because I can easily reach the pedals with legs; the seat is right where I want it to be. see below.



My right foot easily reaching gas pedal with seat slid fully back. Plenty of bend in knee.



This is how I hold the wheel much of the time and this is the best grip I can get on it. It's tough to reach.



Pic below shows the wheel fully scoped towards driver and tilted down, seat fully back and only 5 pumps up on height. Looking straight down, bottom front edge of the wheel does not overlap front edge of the seat. On top selling cars with great ergos, I've found steering wheel bottom does slightly overlap front edge of seat (of course full scope/tilt down, seat full back), meaning it's closer to driver, more easily within reach. I'd also like to see the wheel itself a few degrees more vertical.

Driving with seat full back made possible because I employ a 1 1/2 inch block of dense foam on the door armrest. I don't have a prayer of using the door armrest without pad or sliding the seat fully back without this 1 1/2 inch block of foam (see 2nd pic):



Wish I could just drop into this car and go, no hassle. But it is what it is. I'm not so confident Toyota will work it out due to things I've seen in Camry. Accord and Civic adjust up so well, Ford Fusion seemed very good too. Hopefully Toyota will come around since they build the best hybrids, but I don't have any control over them.

 

Of course there aren't exact measurements to follow in interior design, but I would imagine there are norms to get close to. I don't think a 25.25" measurement from brake pedal to steering wheel is only a subjective number, but I suppose you would be inclined to say I have no idea what I'm doing, right? How would you go about comparing seating and controls placement if something seems out of the norm? Or is this something and end user should pay no attention to and just take whatever comes from the manufacturer?

You say, just get another car. I have a 42" x 17" x 14" hardware case weighing over 60 lbs to go somewhere in a car, plus bass drum, and 3 to 4 other drums, cymbal case and couple other small items to transport. I'd like 40 mpg combined in a $25k car that seats a very tall driver very well. Any suggestions?