Is Prius comfortable for a long trip?

My only complaint is that the armrest for the drivers right arm (passengers left) has too little padding. I find that when I'm steering with my right arm, my arm tends to be supported by my elbow which is resting on the armrest. It feels like there is no padding at all, and I'm just resting my elbow on a stiff piece of plastic or something..... other than that is much more comfortable than a lot of cars.

 

I've taken several long trips (3+ hours) in the Prius since 10/04 when I picked it up. It is very comfortable, I just need to stretch my legs more often as I get stiff from sitting in one position for too many hours. 6' 0" 235lbs 33" inseam

 

I regularly make the 3 1/2 to 4 hour trip up 95 to northern NJ and find the Prius does well. I am ready to get out of the car when I get to my parent's house but I think that I would feel the same after sitting that long in any vehicle. We did a trip to Indianapolis (from the Baltimore area) in our '02 and were quite comfortable. The NAV system does take a lot of the worries out of driving. I like that I can get up to my parents and back without getting more gas. I think that it is just a matter of your own comfort zone. When I was younger I could last a lot longer in the car--now I need to stop more often. Trips that I used to be able to do straight through now need an overnight stop. I am 5'11" and find that the '04 is quite comfortable for me to drive.

 

I just finished the "Great Prius Road Trip" from Tulsa, OK to Victorville, CA, then north all the way to Anchorage, AK. Most of my driving days were 12-15 hours long. Not once did I get out of the car feeling sore, though the steering wheel being a little higher would have helped my shoulders.

I'm 5"-6 and apparently my legs are a little too long for maximum comfortability.

 

Everything is relative. I love my '02 Prius, but do not consider it the most desireable to drive for many hours. If it was my only vehicle, then I guess I would - but I have a choice. On long highway trips I much prefer my big 7 series BMW. Much more comfortable and smoother. Plus on the highway it will do 28 mpg so I can go 600 miles in it without fueling also.

In town or for an hour trip the Prius is great - great gas mileage and fun to drive. Each are better at different things.

 

8) Boxster...WRX...Prius?

How much gas do you think you will use going from Anchorage to the Seward and back?

Ben

 

My longest trip so far was 700 miles in a day. Car was very comfortable but the seats just seem to fit me perfectly. Way better than my last car a Mercedes 190D.

Only cars I'd like better for comfort on long trips would be French, like Peugeot or Citroen.

 

I initially had problems with my 50 mile commute up and down 95 near DC with a sore throttle-leg. I placed a small cushion between my thigh and the console and - presto - no more problem.

My wife and I just took a long trip down in to SW Virginia (the Prii handled the mountains perfectly!) and then on to Annapolis, MD. So comfy, but not as my Honda Accord. Don't get me wrong! It was plenty fine for the two of us on the 900 miles we drove in one week - I'm just saying that the Honda edged the Prii out - barely.

I WISH I had the Bluetooth in my Prii, but didn't have the option when I found mine at the dealer. I really wanted black, and I got what I got. I'll try the Tom Tom mentioned by Dr. Evan.

My friend at work has the NAV and was surprised when he got his new phone (BT ready) and sat in the Prii. The car picked it right up! He loves it.

 

8) When we "adopted Ernestine" (our Prius), we drove just under 300 miles back home on Texas Interstates. Being unfamiliar with the Prius, we still managed ±48 MPG and were comfortable all the way. Later, thanks to PriusChat and other Prius forums, we discovered the importance of tire inflation and found that the tires were not only underinflated, but varied from tire to tire. I like the Cruise Control (usually keeps set speed within 1 MPH) and at that time had not mastered the intracacies of the NAV system.

We find the Prius easily as comfortable as our Camry.

The name "Ernestine" came from Lili Tomlin's telephone operator character, since the voice commands sometimes result in totally unrelated, even innane, responses.

 

I just made the drive from Bakersfield to Phoenix (500 miles) and I didn't have any problems being comfortable. Myself, I am 5'11 and about 210 and I was probably as comfortable as I would be in my truck. Having the Nav is definitely nice, the Bluetooth is cool if you have a compatible phone. Package 6 8)

 

We have had our 05 Prius for about 3months. In that time I have come to the following conclusions:
It is not comfortable for trips longer than 3 hours.
It gets good mpg, but not as advertised.
Our Garmin GPS is far better than the Prius nav
and costs less than $500.
It's a great car for chasing around town.
It handled very poor on the highway until I
replaced the OEM tires with better ones.
It has some neat features, but is overpriced
for what you get, unless long range comfort
isn't important to you.

As you can tell, I'm not as impressed as some claim to be. Maybe I expected more from it. It's a so-so car, but would never be our only car.


Doug

 

We calculate “comfort†on any trip, long or short, as being anything that does not add to our aches and pains. Wife and I both pushing 75, she with severe osteoporosis and I with cracked tail bone, and we find this to be the most comfortable car we have had since turning 70. I am 6' 1" and my wife is 5' 8". At this age we also both enjoy the ease in getting in and out of our Prius. Our longest trip was 360 miles and we give it an A++ for comfort..

 

It sure is a good thing each of has a different idea of what "comfort" is or we would all have the same car. I admit that we are spoiled when it comes to comfortable cars. For the past 30 years, price and fuel economy have not been a consideration when buying a vehicle. we bought what ever felt good at the time. The only small cars we had were for towing behind our motorhome, so we aren't too acustomed to midsized or compact cars.
Maybe we'll adjust to the Prius and get used to the things we don't like about it. Many people are very happy with what the Prius has to offer. If I get used to the way it rides and like it, I will be one of those bragging all of its attributes and overlook the not so good things.


Doug

 

We just completed 1500 miles - NYC to Montreal to Quebec and back - last week and found our 04 Prius extremely comfortable. I did add a lumbar support someone on Prius Chat recommended from Magellan Travel - I don't know if I really needed it but it didn't hurt. My wife without the extra lumbar support had no complaints about the seats either.

The Prius nav package was unavailable when we got our car so I just bought a Tom Tom Go 700 with Bluetooth which worked very well and came in very handy... especially finding our way through the small streets of Quebec to our hotel in the old city.

 

I just got through with a Santa Clara to Santa Ana round trip last weekend (approx 350+ miles each way). I rented an 05 Prius from Toyota 101 for the trip & have the following comments:

I was concerned with the vehicle being too noisy and bumpy on the highway based on various test drives over the last year, but was quite satisfied with the noise level on most of the highway surfaces on this trip. I would likely get different tires, as some have suggested to smooth out the bumps a bit more, but not as bad as I had anticipated with the stock tires.

Having read similar post about this I tried my best to have a light hand on the steering wheel for adjustments, but it still was squirmy. Especially above 65mph I was consistently making steering wheel adjustments as it squirmed around in the lane nearly the whole way. As I approached 80 to 85 it was a bit scarier than anything I've driven recently as far as feeling I was in complete control. I never swerved out of my lane, but it definitely moved around on the pavement & was quite a bit more bothered by wind gusts from trucks, etc than many other cars I've driven. However, in total, I was able to adjust OK to all the movement & felt it did a pretty good job of the trip. I was remarkably fresh feeling considering all the steering wheel jockying by the end of the trip.

Going over the Grapevine, it was fairly easy to maintain the speed limit (and above), even though the little gas engine at times sounded like it was really hitting high rpm's. And sitting on the freeway for hours on I5 in SO CA with the HELL traffic was great to not be burning much fuel.

My wife complained about the hard arm rest with almost no padding & the JBL stereo was a bit boomy & indistinct on the bottom end as well as harsh at the top end, wearing us out on certain CD's. Again, not expecting anything great in this department, I could live with it but would likely replace the speakers.

Other than that I like the vehicle, could probably live with the highway maladies & I'm considering picking one up within the next few weeks. Not a car that gets me "real" excited (in a true auto enthusiast's way), but I love the technology & the mileage.

BTW, driving with some knowledge of how to get decent mileage from this vehicle, yet also letting go on the highway, staying around 70-85, I received 48 mpg on the way down & 43 on the way back. Not too shabby.

 

You will find that changing to a better grade tire will help with the squirrely handling on the highway. Ours runs pretty straight now. You're right about the wind affecting it more than any car we have had. I'm going to see about getting some custom seats to improve the comfort on longer trips. Maybe if I spend enough modifying the car, it will become one that we will enjoy more.

Doug

 

I think the squirmy action of the car you mention might have more to do with following big trucks or wind conditions. In Canada I was driving at 80 MPH or better for hours at time (some of it even during rainstorms) and found the car to be very stable. It did squirm when I came up behind a truck and drove in its slipstream. When I just passed it by I was back to smooth driving.

I have the complete OEM package of tires and have only added a bike rack on top of the car which would not have helped with stability, if anything it should have made it worse.

In the end I was quite surprised and happy with the stability of the Prius at high speeds since my last car, a 1989 Volvo, would have been all over the road at 80 MPH.

 

In my situation, it was moving around in the lane regardless of trucks being around or not. Almost as if there was an expansion joint in the lane & it couldn't decide which side it wanted to be on. That's the best I can describe it. I think many of you know what I mean. Again, I can live with it & if different tires help to lessen that I won't be too concerned. I still have every intention of getting a Prius within a few weeks time, assuming I can find a red one with the standard package.

Oh, and about the built-in GPS, I actually prefer my Magellan Road Mate 700 to the built-in GPS on the Prius. I bought the RoadMate 3 months ago, and think it does a great job. I even used it in Europe for 6 weeks in June & July and it worked flawlessly in all 7 countries I was in. I thought the Prius unit was OK, but didn't pick the most logical routes every time. I even compared by having both running at the same time & found the Road Mate to make the best decisions. It's nice that the Prius GPS says the names of the highway's but I can live without that feature. I bought my 700 for $799 out the door at a reputable online store and will not be gtting the Prius GPS when I buy one.

 

I am 6'5 and weigh about 300 pounds. I put 30000 miles
on my Prius in 14 months, including a round trip from LA
to Ohio at Christmas time and a one way from LA to
Ohio just recently. On the round trip at Christmas time
(and every trip before she died, actually) I had my 50lb
Husky mix with me. While I was driving her about I
would leave the back seat down permanently. On the
Christmas trip I traveled with the front seat down and
a makeshift bed on the passenger side, which I used
several times to take longish naps. I drive the car on
some pretty off the beaten path roads, almost off
road driving. I have two aftermarket GPS devices
along with the integrated GPS, that gives me a lot
of toys to play with. BT phone and Sirius satelite round
out the complement of add-on electronic gear. All in
all I am very comfortable on the road, the overall
quietness of the car offsets any tire noise. Sometimes
I get some aches and pains, but they generally disappear
after a day or two of driving. I've run out of gas twice,
mostly because of the Prius owner tendency to maximize
miles per tank, combined with being in some pretty
remote country when the gas got critical. In addition to
the long road trips I drive around CA quite a bit.

I am in CA now, renting a PT Cruiser. It is a fun car,
until you are buying gas at 2.75 at 20mpg on a 250
mile tank.

I love driving at night when all the displays are easy
to read, especially the Sirius display. I find the Sirius
display to be the one I refer to most often, and the
hardest to read. Sirius goes a long way to making
long trips enjoyable.

 

Have a 05 #6 pkg. Have taken it on a 500 mile trip across the state, going over the Cascade Mts. Held 70-72 all the way. Used cruise control most of the way. Have OEM Goodyear tires but using 40-38 lbs pressure f/r. Like RetiredProf, my wife and I are in our early 70's.

Observations (for what they are worth):
Neither of us were tired. We stopped several times to stretch our legs (as usual -- this is mostly due to age, not the car). Previous vehicles that we have driven on trips were Explorer (Prius was more confortable), F150 (very comfortable) and Ford Contour (hated it -- could only drive an hour before I was hurting, wife found it okay though. A tree fell on it, thankfully.

The road/tire noise was less than the Explorer or F150.

Tracking on the highway at speed was not a serious issue. I keep a light touch on the steering wheel anyway (maybe a carry over from my years as a navy pilot). There was some effect of heavy cross winds, but no worse than the Explorer. The truck is probably a little better when heavy but a little worse when the bed is empty. If I hadn't heard cross wind complaints here, I probably wouldn't have noticed.

Summary: It is as good or better than any of the 16 cars/trucks I have owned in the past. The bells and whistles served to keep me more alert and relieved travel boredom. We both found it to be a very good cross country vehicle and look forward to more travel with it.

Oh yeah. The gas mileage ain't bad either and is saure a tie breaker. We have had it 5 mo. and our lifetime mpg is 51.9 mpg (calculated not guage). For the 500 miles and back, total 1,000 miles, we averaged 52 mpg using the cruise control most of the time. The last tank, running around rural roads in town with a little interstate and city driving, finished off with 54.4 mpg on the MFD. Calculating what the Explorer drank, we are saving an average of $111.54 a month on gas.

Finally, I looked around at all the other possibilities with equivalent accessories to the #6 Prius and the Prius price compares quite well. We paid MSRP. We saved up for 5 yrs, making car payments to ourselves all that time, and bought it for cash so there was no interest either.

Love the car. Even love the Nav. It has come in handy several times, even if it nags me a bit.