Tuesday, November 23, 2010

We are very close to buying a Prius. We drove a nice 2008 just now.

But the acceleration is, well, not so much.

If you drive a Prius: do you have any problems merging on to the freeway / passing cars / going up hills? Please let me know!

Labels: hive mind

5:02 PM

12 Comments:

We are very happy with ours. Power is no problem, so I wonder if there was something wrong with the one you test drove. What we like best? Mileage. We get forty-eight on average and we drive this car like we would any car. Next would be the overall practicality of the thing- seating, cargo space, parking. Would do it again for sure.

By  Unknown, at 5:57 PM  

Love my '09 Prius. Peppy enough for merging on the freeway, getting out into traffic from a stop, and passing.

It's not a "performance" car by any stretch - you'll definitely hear the gas engine WORKING when you put the accelerator to the floor - but I don't suffer any lack of confidence driving it every day.

And the 46mpg isn't bad either....

By  1926 Spanish Mediterannean, at 6:00 PM  

I have a 2004 and am just about to cross 100,000 miles some time in the next few months. Love it. I drove a performance car prior to it, so the lack of pick-up does take a little getting used to, but it's just like getting used to any other car.

The only problem I've had was a battery cell went out, which cost me a couple hundred bucks to replace, but which came with another several-year-long warranty. I really have no complaints. It has been and continues to be an excellent car.

By  Anonymous, at 6:12 PM  

Another of the hive, chiming in with good experiences. We've had ours since '04, and haven't run into any acceleration issues (and can say in no legally incriminating way that it can break 100mph easily).

Borrowing a friend's sports car definitely made me realize that it's never going to give me that break-the-sound-barrier feeling that some cars can, but I've never felt too slow, even when driving a full load of moving boxes through LA freeways.

By  alice, at 6:44 PM  

I own a 2007 and love it.

By  David, at 10:16 PM  

They're surprisingly difficult to make out in.

By  DMc, at 2:52 AM  

Just make sure you aren't related to anyone who followed that whole "runaway Toyota" issue in the news. You will never hear the end of it.

By  Unknown, at 3:19 AM  

@Denis: "In a cigar it's taste, in a wine it's age, and in a Ferrari it's impossible."

By  Alex Epstein, at 10:42 AM  

Denis is right, Honey. Let's get a VW bus with flower-power stickers.

By  Lisa Hunter, at 1:59 PM  

My only problem with the Prius is that they seem only to come in one flavor and if you get caught driving one around here (rural America where you get looks if you get caught in anything other than a truck and two looks if you're caught without an NRA sticker and or American flag bumpersticker) you immediately get tagged as some kind of tree-hugger. Literally. They'll tattoo it on your forehead. Make the Prius look like it gets lousy mileage and it will get more mileage and you'll be able to visit more American towns hassle free.

My advice is to buy the Prius but like a pair of new shoes, bang it up a bit. Make it look like it was a re-gift or charity.

The current trend of cars looking more and more like insects also disturbs me so put something in or on the car that identifies you as human.

Anyway, my Honda 2004 without the addons ftw (requires elbow grease to roll your windows down and a sense of humor to go up a big hill on a windy day).

Ephraim Rodriguez

By  Ephraim Rodriguez, at 8:17 AM  

Acceleration, highway driving, and mileage are all excellent. But I do find the steering at low speeds--parking, parallel parking, 6-point turns--oddly frustrating, unwieldy in some way I don't have the technical understanding to communicate clearly. I used to be an excellent parker but Even after two years with the car, I still find myself getting out of the car only to realize I'm over a foot away from the curb, and at a sloppy-looking angle to boot.

I also think the sightlines are a bit wonky. There's a bit of a blind spot created by the frame of the car--the band between the windshield and the front doors--that obscures pedestrians at crosswalks exactly as I'm pulled up at a stop. Twice now I've had to slam my brakes as some pedestrian emerges from the blindspot directly into my car's path. I guess every car has slightly different sightlines/blindspots, but I blame the Prius for these embarrassing near-misses 'cause it's easier than blaming myself.

All told I still like the car a lot.

By  Bobo, at 12:33 AM  

Bobo's comment about the blind spot is the only negative I've experienced as well. It's because there are side curtain air bags mounted in the frame.

The car does not accelerate like a sports car, but it accelerates no worse than any other 4-cylinder economy car. However, it's not an economy class car; it's a mid-size car. It has plenty of room inside. I've taken four adults on long trips with mine.

One other thing. I love the car's sleek lines. And the truth is, if the car wasn't known for its economy, it could pass itself off as a performance sedan, like a Maxima or something.

By  David, at 1:13 PM  

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