First Impressions / review

Howdy all,
Just thought I'd add in my 2 cent's worth to the collective for any of you doing research on the purchase of this car.

First, a reference point, to let you know where I'm coming from.
The car that the Prius replaced was a 92 Honda Civic Si, bought new in 92. The civic served valiantly for 235,000 miles (30-35mpg) before dying a noble death in a T-bone accident (we got t-boned). By the grace of God, my wife, sitting in the passenger's seat, was unhurt, as was I (mostly). The other car in the stable is a 1993 Miata, very low miles. Other cars I have owned, in no particular order: 1993 Lexus SC300 5-spd, 2000 Audi TT (nice car), 1987 Merkur xr4ti, 1974 Mercedes-Benz 280 (a tempermental tank), 1987 Acura Legend, a 1990 Miata (which I regreted selling, thus the 93) and and a 1982 Lancia Zagato (wheee!). As you can see, a varied stable, and I tend to go for the unusual.

The purchase: First, we agonized on what to buy for a couple of weeks after our wreck. The Prius was high on our list, but we needed a car now, and the waiting lists were daunting. I called every dealer in Florida, and they varied from 2-3 months to 2 years. One local dealer had one available with a $5k markup, which I refused to pay. Small town dealers uniformly had shorter lists, sold at msrp, and seemed more honest, fyi. I drove a number of cars (RSX, Civic si, a pristine 1997 Mercedes S320, etc.). Long story short (or shorter, anyway), I got a call from a dealer I had visited. They had a Prius that just came in, and did I want to drive it? I raced to the dealer, drove it, was immediately impressed by it's quiet, smooth ride. Ridewise, I thought it equaled the Mercedes S320 I had just driven, and the Prius beat it in sheer quiet (and triple the mpg, too!). The salesman told me that the car was available (!), but with a $4k markup. Mind you, I needed a car now, and was running up $900/m in rental car fees. I negotiated, and eventually succumbed to the temptation of having one now for $2500 over msrp, something I'd swore to myself I'd never do. Oh well. buying a car is an emotional as well as rational decision, and my emotions won out. Looking back, though, no regrets. The car is that good.

The car: We got a #9 package, loaded to the gills with buttons and switches that I will never fully comprehend. The color was listed as "green"; this is a misnomer. The car looks more pewter/dark silver than anything else, maybe with a tinge of deep green in the right light. The color and paint quality is outstanding. As I said before, the car is eerily quiet. When my wife drives into our garage, I can't hear her at all, even from the other side of the door. She even startles the dogs! It is extremely comfortable. I have heard reviews that the seats were "thinly padded"; not true. The seats are comfortable and suportive and remind me of those in a Volvo (high praise).
The gadgets in it are tops. My wife wanted a car with at least stereo controls on the steering wheel. The Prius beats all cars I've seen by including every major system control on the wheel. The nav system (my first), is pretty neat, though not very intuitive. I'm getting the hang of it. Yesterday, rather than mapquest an address, we simply typed it in, and off we went. The car impressed me by guiding me onto a shortcut that I though it would miss for sure. My only quible is the voice command; it is, I think, largely useless so far. Example: to switch to radio, I have to press a button on the wheel, wait for a prompt, say "FM", have the computer misunderstand me two or three times as it performs unwanted functions, then it finally switches to FM, OR I can just hit the button right beside the voice button and switch immediately to FM. . . .not helpful. Kudos go out for the Smartkey feature, however. What a great feature, not available in any other car south of $50k. It is very spacious inside and the hatchback, combined with the folddown seats can swallow massive amounts of cargo. Five people are no problem. Not bad for a car the same length as the RSX.

Driving: it is a completely different driving experience from anything else you've ever driven. As I've said, it's quiet, moreso than the 1997 S-class I drove. It is not screamingly fast, but it is deceptively quick. Because it's so quiet, you're up to 50+ before you know it (city driving). However, it's not about speed. The car actually makes trying to save gas fun. I know that's been said before, but damn if it isn't true. When I drive, (less and less, it seems, as it is the wife's car!), I try to keep in in electric mode as long as possible. So far, over 140 miles of city driving, we have averaged 48.1 mpg, and this included my lead footed test drive. It handles nicely, not as tossable as the Miata or the Civic, but it's not tippy at all. The tires are a bit noisy, but that's only because there is no engine sound to drown the tire drone out. I'd like to try the car out with quieter tires, even if I have to give up an mpg or two.
The seating position, the great visibility, the quiet, smooth acceleration make for a most serene drive. I fact, if I had to use one word to describe the Prius it would be "serene." if I had to use two it would be "serene amazement".

Gripes: None really. I do have some wishes, though. I wish it had the EV button of the European and Japan cars for fully electric mode. This will be my first modification. Lookswise, the wheels seem smallish. if I can get same weight or lighter 16", I may upsize. Also, I wish one could access the nav system inputs while driving (the passenger, that is). Audio / video inputs would be nice too.

The Reaction: Friends uniformly love it. There are many misconceptions about hybrids. "Where do you plug it in?" "Is it solar?" "How often do you have to replace the batteries?" 95% of the people don't know how this car works. Honestly, Prius owners are the best advertisers for Toyota of this car. Toyota should be paying us.

The Verdict: Buy one. I cannot think of another car that comes close in value / wow factor / performance / and mileage. I cannot fathom paying the same amount of money on a Camry / Accord / whatever. Everybody will be driving hybrids in ten years. The manufacturers that don't invest in this technology will fail utterly. There is not downside other than cost, and that's not that much (10% of purchase price), and that's only going to come down. I am somewhat disappointed at the approach that Honda has taken with hybrids. I love Hondas, and I admire the simplicity of their IMA system, but I would love to see them build a parallel hybrid (one that can run on either electric or gas or both). Toyota's system, so far, is the winner in my book. If you think Toyota has problems keeping up with demand now (on a car that has gone largely unadvertised, relatively speaking), just wait until the word of mouth gets around. They better ramp up production to 200k+.

Whew. That was more than "longish"!

take care,
luis