I traded my 2010 Insight for a 2010 Prius!

Greetings everyone!

I just became a Prius owner Dec 17th and I really love this car.

I owned my Honda Insight since May 2009 and it was working well for me until last summer. The Honda started having some decreased performance and mpg because of the IMA battery recalibrating frequently. The Insight doesn’t do well when you use the a/c a lot. On warm days it was ok, but extremely hot ones like this past summer it was unbearable. (A/c shuts off during auto-stop) And I was getting worried about the longevity of the car as I approached the end of my 36k miles Honda warranty. I have always chosen cars with reliability high on my list. I drive 22k miles/year and need dependable transportation.

One weekend in August I went to test-drive a 2010 Prius and while I was there the salesman had me drive a Camry hybrid also. Both were really nice cars, but fully loaded and more than I would ever spend. I also looked at a Volkswagen Jetta TDI. That too was a nice looking car, very comfortable and great gas mileage. I just couldn’t ignore all the horror stories of endless repairs and breakdowns though.

My passing thoughts about my next car were unexpectedly interrupted. On Labor Day weekend I had a terrible bicycle accident. I missed a lot of work, required surgery and got a temporary handicap placard for my car. After the incident I decided that my Insight was just too small and uncomfortable. I also realized then that friends and family who were elderly or had physical handicaps had difficulty getting in the car.

By December when all the drama of my accident had died down I started researching car prices. I noticed that new Priuses were piling up at dealerships and when I started seeing the available prices come down, I jumped. Mid-December when some of the Toyota incentives started kicking in that was the clincher. Right now Priuses are relatively dirt cheap, this is a good time to buy!

I got a 2010 Classic Silver Metallic Prius II with gray interior w/ carpet mats. I would really have liked to get leather and NAV, but the cost would have been so much more. I added my own Alpine NAV and I will have leather installed at an aftermarket shop later.

I’ve added a few other goodies too:

• Tint
• Vent visors
• Rear cargo mat (rubber)
• Rear bumper appliqué
• Mudguards

The Prius is much more comfortable to me, noticeably quieter, and smoother riding. The back seat is cavernous compared to the Insight. The car is much heavier and it feels heavier.

The most amazing thing about this car to me is the excellent fuel economy despite being a larger, heavier vehicle.

For comparison, here are my mileage numbers from Fuelly:

2010 Insight: 49.5 mpg (33,458 miles tracked)
2010 Prius: 50.1 mpg (1,959 miles tracked)

On exterior looks, I think the front of the Insight is better looking. The Prius front hood and windshield are nice though, and the headlights are cute. The side profiles are almost the same. I don’t like the back of either car that much. I especially don’t like the Prius rear lights – they’re too big and would look better red. That’s just my opinion, but in time I’ll get used to them.

On the interior, I think the Prius has it all over the Insight. The Prius has a much more cohesive, sleek appearance. But the Insight has a few things right: placement of the displays should be in front of the driver. I thought I couldn’t get used to the Prius center-dash MID, but it is easy to get used to. I did like the Honda wheel better (round versus oval) and its steering wheel buttons were more ergonomic. But the “Tracer touch Display” is a very nice feature too. I do wish the Prius telescoping wheel would pull out more! The only thing that I think mars the interior look of the Prius a bit is that the glove compartments look cheap and flimsy. I sure hope they don’t rattle in a few months from now. My Insight dash did not rattle. One other thing unique to the Prius is the “floating bridge”. At first I didn’t like it, but now I see the beauty of it. The climate control buttons are nice and convenient and I have extra storage space underneath. But the most important thing – I love the 2 cup holders! They’re very convenient.

One member from the Insight forum commented that if I got 49.5 mpg regularly from that car, I should be able to get 58 or 59 mpg from the Prius. Well we shall see. So far my Prius is being driven in the worst time of year and I’m averaging over 50. I can’t wait to see what I do when spring gets here! Hopefully my Insight driving experience can help me be an efficient Prius driver too.