Debating about Prius Persona

Blizzard Pearl looks incredible in any lighting. I think it will also hide chips and scuffs well. I had a white RX-7 years ago and it hid imperfections very well. Prius in Gray is darn nice looking too but I had my heart set on Blizzard Pearl from the get go and stuck to my decision at order time. I never got to drive a Blizzard Pearl as a rental and only seen a couple in real life. Most of them I seen in pictures I am so damn happy to have this color; very pretty. Classy looking

Mike

 

The multi day test drive will give you an excellent seat of the pants experience to determine if Prius has enough juice for your driving style. I can honestly say from experience that Prius drive excellent even on Mr Donuts at triple digit speeds in Michigan I have never had an issue with merging into traffic on city roads or Interstates in many different states. Mountain driving is a piece of cake. The car goes when you need it to. It is no race car but it is no turd when you plant that right foot down and keep it there. Driving like you stole it will still get you 43 mpg. I've run rentals 80+ mph down the Interstates multiple times and never once dipped below 40 mpg running for the whole tank. Try that in a SUV and you are gonna get raped at the pump

Mike

 

What year Sienna were you driving? I have only driven the current generation both with the V6 and the 4 cylinder motors. The 6 cylinder moves, the 4 cylinder works but has to use that tranny to keep it in the powerband. I am renting a Sienna toward the end of this month for a trip out east.

Mike

 

Another thing is a Mr Donut Prius will beat a Prius with the 17's down the quarter mile A Prius with 17's is still fine but could use a software tweak to turn up the wick a bit.

Mike

 

The old Sienna was a turd. The new on is just shy of 300hp and has a very well mannered 6 speed tranny. It also has a much tighter handling suspension than the old Sienna's. You should rent one of those too. You'd be impressed. Once my SUV gives it up, I am buying a Sienna to replace it.

Mike

 

I got onto a highway one day at a point where it was going up a long hill, on a ramp that also went up hill. I hadn't tackled this before and didn't know what would happen. I pressed the PWR button and hit it. I finished the ramp, looked at the speedo, and realized I was doing 91! Uphill the whole way in what seemed like no time. The car should do 85 on hills but you will lose mpg, but that doesn't seem like an issue to you if you want to roll 85 in the first place.

Good luck with your decision. Prius is a great car but you may find the cabin much noisier.

 

Sfcyclist,
Is there no place to put your bike at work? I store mine inside at work and most places will let you do that.

 

...

 

I hear ya. I've been there b4 (and I once caught someone trying to steal my bike off the rack while parked).

 

What about keeping the bike in the car at work folding the seats down as-needed (assuming you don't have to drop your child off at daycare/school on the way) and then using the hitch rack when you've got the family riding along? That would free you to consider a lot of different models that would otherwise not quite fit.