Thanks PriusChat for my accidental purchase!

We are being told the Prius does “not age well†according to Consumer Affairs! I guess that is why people stood in line for them last year paying sticker price and Prius sales charts since then look like a stock brokers dream! As someone in another PC thread stated, this is simply more misinformation in my opinion.

I’m just coming up on my first year of Prius ownership at 11K miles. It is a pure accident I ever bought a Prius!

Last year I was in need of a commute car and looked at some of the Ford products which I have always liked. I was told about Prius but the horror stories I was being told in the media made me refuse to even consider it. Nothing unusual really, just the old “batteries need replacement every couple years - $12,000â€, “They die on the freeway for no reasonâ€, “massive recall problemsâ€, “golf cart technologyâ€, “unsafe in crash testsâ€, “poor reviews by Consumer Reportsâ€, “over pricedâ€, blah, blah…blah! In all fairness, I did later read the Prius did not do well in the crash tests when side air bags were not installed buy did very well with the side bags.

A number of our company workers on the west coast had been driving them for a while, They bought them for various reasons. A few more common examples were:

1) fuel economy - paying a dollar or more a gallon than we were in Colorado
2) Big Toyota Fans – Toyota reliability
3) Supports of “Green†tech products
4) Ability to drive in car pool lanes
5) Tax credit(s) for some buyer’s

But they ALL loved their cars! I could not find one complaint among all of them! They strongly recommended I drive one! I though NO car could be that good, no way! These same people were the ones who told me about PriusChat! “If you don’t believe usâ€, they said, “look at the PriusChat group and learn all you can from these real owners.†Well the rest is history. I did read PriusChat, drove a 2005 demo Prius one year ago, and then pulled out my checkbook and on the spot ordered my 2006 Prius. This is also my first Toyota ever. If my first year of ownership is representative of what I can expect from Toyota, it will not be my last!

In retrospect I can say I have never seen SO MUCH misinformation out there about a car as I did on the Prius before looking at the car myself and doing a little personal research! PriusChat was and IS an accurate and helpful source to learn about the Prius.

A big “Thank you†to the PriusChat community for helping me see the real Prius over the thunderous misinformation being pumped out by numerous sources!