Please reassure me that I'm going to love my new Prius...

In all probability your rear view mirrors are showing some of your own car...wrong. Get the blind spots covered on both sides and someone can no longer sneak up on you.

 

To eliminate blindspots, adjust your side mirrors like this:

How To: Adjust Your Mirrors to Avoid Blind Spots - Feature - Car and Driver

and How to Set Rear‐View Mirrors to Eliminate Blind Spots: 6 Steps

I also, use stick on convex mirrors with this setup, so I can see the sides of my car in relation to stall markings on the ground when reversing into parking stalls.

 

Yep, I've got lots of experience adjusting mirrors to blind spots! Happily, I never thought the mirrors were supposed to look at the sides of the car... But the thing is, even with best mirror set up:
a) Doesn't work well on freeway stretches or merges that are curvy or hilly. Over-the-shoulder glances must be relied on more heavily here.
b) On busy 6-lane freeways at night, you always see many sets of headlights behind and around you. You need to judge position and velocity/acceleration accurately, and whether the car hovering in your corner has decided to let you into the lane vs. prevent you from getting in front of him/her. Admittedly I haven't driven with many convex mirrors, but the smallness of the image combined with their distortion of distance hasn't so far impressed me in terms of their usefulness on the right side.
c) Prius impedes your rear-view mirror from being used reliably at night. This is because cars in the rear-view mirror "disappear" when their headlights are obscured by the horizontal bar. This one point throws all the mirror adjustment guidelines out the window. If the rear view mirror doesn't show the cars behind you, it doesn't matter whether you've got your three mirrors pointed correctly or not.

It seems to me like A) and B) could be dealt with if it weren't for C). Rendering the rear-view mirror somewhat useless at night just seems like something a car shouldn't do.

 

I think almost all cars have the same issue, you just don't notice it because there isn't a lower window. If someone gets really close, you're not going to see their headlights. However, most headlights still glow around the bar, especially if your lower window is filthy like mine.

 

This is one reason (aside from price) I went with a Prius C. No horizontal bar.

All the best from Luna's Lass!!
...? via my Samsung Galaxy S2...

 

Heh, that's an interesting thought. When I tested the Prius I thought I needed to clean the window - perhaps I just needed to let it dirty more! A car hygiene schedule like that would suit me much better... Interesting thought about tailgaters' headlights disappearing in the rear view with other cars too - never noticed it, but will pay attention to this now; maybe it does happen. I just thought it was alarming when renting the Prius and I glanced in the rear view and did a double take because I realized that a shadow that hadn't registered in my consciousness as a car actually was one. Perhaps you get more attuned to spotting the shadows as you drive it more.

 

Yeah, that definitely seems like an advantage. I'm interested in the liftback because it has more trunk and cargo space, but if I didn't need that I'd probably be going for the C.

I'm not too familiar with the C and V, but it sounds like they have better visibility than the liftback - or at least, more conventional visibility. Was wondering if they'd modify the liftback in that direction in Gen IV - but doesn't look like much change so far, at least in the rear.

 

I ended up holding off on my purchase for a bit. Now I've got a choice between going for the Prius or a 2013 closeout Mazda3 hatch I just spotted at a good price. At my paltry 9K miles of driving per year, Mazda3 will save me some dough. My main issue though is the difference in hatch/cargo space. This will be my long awaited first hatchback, so trying not to underbuy nor overspend. Obviously Prius measures bigger than Mazda3, except in terms of height. Can anyone who's owned both cars share some comparison in real-world living and stuff hauling? Is the Prius really much more useful that way?

 

went to HD this morning....

4 10' 4x4
2 8' 2x6
3 8' 2x4

gonna make a new arbor...

my old HHR woudl have done this with ease, I still would have had to have the tailgate open...

 

Just press the "Power" mode button and go for it!!!

 

Whats the verdict? Are you loving it, liking it, hating it, still deciding?

I love both of ours! The C and Gen III, I mean I love the Gen III more but thats because that one is mine

 

I'm (the cargo worrier, not the OP) still deciding for now!