UK Prius Report - first 20,000 miles

As I was driving home from work yesterday my car ticked over 20,000 miles on the odometer, so I thought it was time for a report on how I have found the first 20,000 miles in my Prius. Hopefully this might be especially useful for any UK based members.

For information, this is my second Prius. My first was a 2007 Gen II T-Spirit (the top spec that was available at that time in the UK), which I bought nearly new and put 200,000 largely trouble-free miles on before trading in last year. My current car is an Gen IV Excel. Which is the current 'top spec' model.

Over my first 20,000 miles the car has been in for one Toyota recall, and I needed a tyre repaired after a nail became embedded in it (my local Toyota garage kindly did this free of charge) but besides that I have had no mechanical problems with the car whatsoever.

My overall thoughts are very positive. I really appreciate all the safety kit. Car reviewers seem to make too little of in my view, but I think it is excellent. I am used to having a rear view camera from my Gen II, but the BSM is just a routinely brilliant piece of technology, and I like knowing that I have the emergency braking if I ever need it. (I haven't so far, but the pre-braking warning sound has alerted me once to stopping traffic when I was distracted, and helped me to stop the car safely.) I find the LDA a gimmick, and have turned it off.

Moreover, the MPG has consistently been excellent. I don't attempt to drive especially frugally, but my daily commute typically returns about 65mpg. This is a 60 mile roundtrip over a mixture of narrow country roads at national speed limit (60mph maximum but typically lower due to the actual roads in question) dual carriageways (70mph) and town driving. I also really appreciate the improved handling, the car feels far more connected to the road than my Gen II. Frankly, I drive a car to get to places not to play at being a racing driver, but I do not miss the skittishness of the Gen II, especially when the traction control came on over bumps. The car is definitely plenty quick enough for normal, sensible use. I also like how much better the gearbox handles acceleration. The tremendous drone that was associated with the most modest acceleration in my Gen II just isn't an issue anymore. This feels in contrary to some reviews I have read which seem to mention it still. My instinct is that this is just lazy journalists rolling out a well used trope.

I like the stereo (although I wish it had Apple CarPlay) and the satnav is much improved (you can finally enter a full UK postcode.) I find the seats very comfortable and like the electronic lumbar support.

The storage in the car is generally good, but it is down on my Gen II. I miss the split storage in the boot and the split glovebox. The rear seats are suitable to take two adults in comfort and three for shortage journeys.
The automatic lights and wipers are perfectly fine, but the automatic high beam is too slow to be useful. I also get flashed by drivers who think I have my high beams on when I do not on quite a regular basis. I think this is quite a common feature of LED lighting though, and isn't specific to the Prius.

I know the design is divisive, but the longer I've had the car the more I've grown to like it. I think the car looks much more impressive in real life than in photos, and looks better in darker colours or (oddly) white. My car is in the Galaxy Black (which has cool specs of purple sparkle on a sunny day, of which we have nearly as many as two each year in the UK.) It is a nightmare to keep clean though. Additionally, everyone I've taken in the car has been complementary, even people who I don't know well and are certainly not saying so out of broader politeness.

Overall, I am very happy with the car and would, retrospectively, make the same purchase again.

 

You're right, gimmick probably isn't quite the right word, but annoyance is. On a motorway (the UK's largest roads which always have a least 3 lanes in each direction) I agree that being reminded you are stepping out of your lane could be useful. However, lots of the roads I drive on every day are narrow and although there is a centre line marked, obstacles, which are typically parked cars, mean it is impossible to drive down the roads without crossing over the centre line frequently. I've tried to attach a picture that might give you a sense of what I mean.