Introduction

You will find good and bad on PC concerning the Prius -- that is a good thing. No one seems to hold back if they have likes, dislikes, or problems with their Prius.

The original equipment manufacturer (OEM) tires is an ongoing discussion and you will quickly note why particular regions or drivers have no problems with OEM tires or why they prefer to quickly change them out. Personally, I live in northern Viginia and have no problems with the OEM tires.

Your post will probably lead many curious and helpful PCers to the consumeraffairs.com website to see what it says about Prii if they aren't already familiar with it. I am not familiar with what it says and will go to the site to do my own research before giving you uninformed opinions. If PCers think the site has a bias then they will quickly point that out to you since a good many organizations seem to have an anti-Prius agendas that just confuse people that don't own one already.

I'm sure your concern will be clearer after visiting consumeraffairs.com, but could you be more specific with your unintended acceleration and stalling questions?

 

Better tires are known to fix any traction problems.

I haven't heard anything about unintended acceleration or stalling.

I've had my Prius for 1 year and have not had ANY problems.

Get it. You won't regret it!

 

If it wasn't for comments like that, I'd probably forget some of those rare events dealt with long ago. Thanks?

Makes you wonder how long that info not relevant to new Prius will float around still.

.

 

Michele, you can easily search Priuschat by googling the topic with "priuschat.com" added afterwords so it specifically searches the PC website. Here is one thread on unintentional acceleration: http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-main-forum/39407-uncontrolled-acceleration.html

I am on my lunch break so I looked at the website you mentioned. Of particular interest was the first article that came up after just searching for "Prius." The first four concerns listed in the article are covered very well (and I might say debunked) in many threads to include one call "Prius Myths..." My personal opinion is that the author had an anti-prius bias or just didn't do their research. Some of the other articles seemed more objective. The toxic waste from batteries topic is interesting to me because many of the PC members are tree-huggers (the nicest and most objective tree-huggers you could ever want to meet) and they would be denouncing the Prius if they found any truth to the toxic waste claim. I am not a tree-hugger (more like a bush or beer-hugger) and the research done by the PC members more than satisfied my curiousity.

This particular article mentioned insurance being more expensive for the Prius. My own experience would debunk that claim. When I first bought my Prius and traded in my older Ford Focus that was completely paid off I worried a little bit that my insurance would go up drastically. I needn't have worried. My insurance premiums remained about the same. I am insured through USAA and they liked the Prius. A side note, I didn't get the Lo-Jac theft-retrieval system from the dealer and drove away wondering if my new Prius would get stolen from the unattended commuter lot the next day. It was another unnecessary concern as I later found out. Look up the statistics for auto thefts or there is a thread or two on this site and you will see that the Prius has one of the lowest theft rates of any car in the country. The insurance companies seem to like that for some reason.

I'll tackle one more of the concerns mentioned in the article before my lunch nreak ends -- reliability of the two engines. I am an engineer/statistician and believe in the same law used in the article, "two engines means more things that can go wrong." While the article's author is correct that more components equals higher complexity, he/she doesn't take into account an important piece of reliability theory -- combined rates of failure for multiple components. Both components of toyota's HSD, the electric motor and the Atkinson-cycle internal combustion engine, are extremely reliable with lower-than-normal rates of failure. Other threads on PC go into the details so I won't go into them in this post. Feel free to look up the statistics on PC or other objective websites.

 

The article Michele looked at referenced a first generation Prius. The article mentions a 2001 Prius owner from TX and her complaints were back in 2003.

 

Michele, my lunch break is over. Good luck with your research.

I consider myself to be an informed Prius buyer and I am stupendously happy with my Prius. If I had to buy another car it would be a Prius. I just wish Toyota or Honda would make a Prius minivan.

 

Consumer affairs is a web site that is sponsored (owned) by lawyers.
Consumer Reports has given the Prius excellent ratings.
Please, do poke about the sites more, and check out more sites.
Nothing really beats a test drive, though

 

I don't know about sudden acceleration. My wife keeps saying "drive the speed limit"! Which I say, "I am a hypermiller now no time for speeding"!
Two weeks ago I was driving like all the others not driving a Prius, fast to stop signs,idle...idle, now fast to the next light...idle..idle....come on move I got places to go! I had to get to the gas pumps to fill up before the prices would go up cause I only got 18mpg! Now I cruise and enjoy the benefits of getting great gas mileage in a car that morphs from the outside to the inside! I love my Prius!

 

Help Buyer Against Bias

Michele, I think your original thread title "Introduction" sounded to many folks like a friendly hello instead of a serious question. I am hoping a different post title will get the normal people energized to help you. I did a lot of posting towards your question and I don't want to dominate the discussion more than I already have. Having said that, please feel free to ask me about my personal experience with the Prius if you like.

If it makes you feel any better, the Honda Civic Hybrid was a close contender for being my next car. You already have a good experience with Honda products. Two years ago I got excited that Honda introduced their Accord Hybrid but was quickly disappointed to find that the hybrid technology was used to raise horsepower instead of MPG. I think the Prius is the "ACCORD" of hybrid vehicles but you probably won't go wrong with a Civic. Just make sure you look intelligently into the concerns you have read about and I think you will be pleasantly surprised with what you find about the Prius.

 

I have zero experience with Prii except my own Super White 2008 Touring, and a couple that I test drove. I say, "Just go buy one - you'll love it!" My wife who has been a 10 year + minivan driver immediately fell in love with mine and wants her own. You'll not regret it.

 

I used to own 2006 Compact car.


But I traded it for this 2007 Midsized car to correct my mistake when the abouve Compact car only had 12,000 mile on the odometer.


It always floors me that Honda Civic Hybrid advertises best feul economy in it's class. The reason they can say this is because it is the ONLY car in it's class. Toyota could say the same about Prius, but it has two other cars in it's class, Camry Hybrid and Accord Hybrid, compared here in detail
cars.com: New Hybrid Vehicles | Faceoff: Comparing Hybrid

Civic Hybrid Internal Comustion Engine, passenger room and cargo room is smaller but feul consumption is higher. I never averaged over 42 MPG.

Before anyone buys a Honda Civic, I ask that you make sure you can live with the little trunk which is reduced by 4 or 5 inches from Gas Only Civic trunk and the rear seat does not fold down. Only reason I can think of to buy Civic Hybrid is styling preference and a willingness to give up the room and buy more feul to get that styling.

BTW, after I traded in my 2006 Civic Hybrid, I really did recieve a recall notice bacause the battery packs were catching on fire, and it was from HONDA, not ConsumerAffairs.bogus.com

 

I really get PO'd when I see a website that relies on people's typing in an incorrect URL and then passing itself off as a reputable and impartial source of information. The site you mention will publish anything people submit without investigating it's validity. If you want the real scoop try www.ConsumerReports.org.