Picked up a 2021 L Eco yesterday (Thoughts)

Good Luck!

 

Same. We live in downtown Seattle, don’t drive much, and when we do, the roads are congested. Our condo building doesn’t have EV chargers yet. With the pandemic, mass transit got dicey, and Zipcar and Gig (the latter which introduced us to the Prius) were becoming too inconvenient. Very hard to justify a luxury or sporty vehicle for the type of driving we do.

Ended up leasing a Prius. Actually sort of like it. I wish it had a 360 birds eye camera, and a height adjustable passenger seat (which few non-luxury Asian makes have for some reason), which is slightly problematic for my height challenged spouse. The Prius is car as appliance, and for what we realistically use a vehicle for, is just fine.

 

Im 25 and just lost my 2014 Honda Civic in a hit and run. I ended up getting the 21 l eco and have felt a lot of the same feeling. So far my main complaints are the insane steering ratio it takes two good turns to park it feels like. I’m also not a fan of the lane keep system or more so can’t figure out how to keep it from trying to kill me. I really wish they replaced that button on the wheel with a boost or kers the car goes from launch but the engine can’t do anything exciting on its own. It’s not a fun driving experience but it is comfortable and the eco game is fun in the city

 

I haven’t noticed the steering wheel ratio... I do love the turning radius. This is the 2nd car we’ve owned with active lane assistance, and I still don’t like it. I don’t mind the chirp if I cross the white lines without signaling, but don’t like being pushed into the center of the lane. Always turn it off.

 

Yeah while I was waiting on my car I drove my moms 2020 Kia Soul with lane assistant and it was kinda dumb but it at least kept the car in the center. This Prius lane watch literally swerves from line to line nearly crashed me the instant I turned it on first time. I’ve messed some more in the settings and got it to just beep with no steering and that’s way better. I do have a question though in my civic it had a dynamic line on the backup camera and I’ve seen videos of Toyota’s doing the same thing is the L eco camera not able to do that or am I missing a setting to turn it on somewhere? Right now it’s just a static box that doesn’t help much

 

I believe that for whatever reason US Priuses don’t have dynamic lines, although I think the models in Australia and other places do. Which is weird.

 

Huh... that’s interesting I wonder if it’s possible to have it enabled in the software somehow

 

The move I’ve driven it the more I get used to it but I definitely feel that .18 difference at low speeds

 

Good luck! I now have ,2500 miles on my 2020 LE and am averaging 60.1 mpg. My 2019 Ioniq, driven the same way gets 52 mpg.

 

Calculated or display?

 

Welcome EconoModder to the prius ownership life. I think a lot of us feel the same way you do...wishing we had some awesome beast of a car, except when hitting the pump! The prius is a good solid car, but not an exciting one. The tech, while decent, is not super awesome like from other manufacturers but of course we can pump gas and just drive across country if we shall ever want. It gets awesome MPG even while in a hurry and floor it occasionally to "live a little" LOL. Coming from a 5 speed stick, it actually has decent acceleration when needing to...go. I think a lot of us made the decision to buy the car being a decent, reliable, efficient ride. Sure the priis cost a premium up front but hopefully most of us just enjoy trouble free miles and reliability. Coming from a car with much larger wheels, I am happy to have my 15" wheels back when swapping the tires. $400 out the door new Michelins on sale! Most of us put on a lot more miles than the average folks so we have to decide on a vehicle that fits our needs and saves us money in the long run! Lowering emissions and saving the planet doesn't hurt too!

 

Completely understand. I'm in the same boat. This was a business and financial decision. It does well enough in a straight line, but has gross limitations in the cornering.

The car payment is better than my truck was, already, so the fuel savings this 2019 has given me are the quality-of-life improvements that I use to make life better. I've bought a floor lamp and a smart-trainer with that money.

I've got 20k miles on the 2019, averaging about 41.5 MPG