My Prius Review: I HATE THIS THING!

OK. Now I can calmly read your opinion and not get all bent out of shape.

Don't agree, but you aren't the first person to say the ride should be more comfortable. The funny thing is that Toyota seems to get criticized more for its soft ride than about anything else (fuzzy road feel is right up there, too, I believe).

 

You know, it's not good for you to suppress your true feelings. Go ahead, tell us what you REALLY think.

:banplease:

 

That's your scale though. Don't pretend to be the end all reviewer of cars.

For example:

-Accords (yawn), Civics (yawn maybe the Si), Altimas (meh), Malibus (rental?), Camry (boat) have either ugly interiors or ugly exteriors. The 4-cylinder version of those cars are boring and handle like crap. So would they rate 3 through 6 on my scale? probably not.

-Mustang and Camaros are ok, not great unless you are talking about an 03 Cobra or an SS Camaro with the LS1. The brand new ones are getting better but I haven't driven them yet.

Bottom line, you might rate something a 4 where its closer to a 0 on mine. Likewise, my 2010 Prius might rate a 6 on my scale where it might rate low on yours.

Your Vette rates high on mine regardless. Z06 even better.

 

My 2010 does not have the accelaration of the 4 cyl Accord/Camry but it is not too far off. As far as handling, I have not taken the Prius nor any of those cars into a road course or autox to speak with facts, but I have driven those cars before and can honestly say that my car rides and turns just as well. Mind you I own the new 2010 Prius and not the one your wife owns. I had no interest in the Gen II whatsoever.

I agree that Honda has better suspension setups but that is only on certain cars: S2000 (excellent setup), Integra Type R (best in class back in the day), Civic Si (arguable), NSX.

Also, I'd like to qualify myself as pretty good driver. I have owned alot of sport compacts and have a lot of track time (Road Course, Autox, Quarter Mile) under my belt. Being a reputable driver among my circle of friends, I've had the luxury of test driving a lot of very nice cars ranging in high hp or road course prepped.

Again, I think you are choosing to rationalize your scale unto other's.

 

The criteria of your practicality scale are equally subjective. Each user will have his own idea of what is practical. People towing boats or trailers will want a truck. People with big families want room for seven or eight. For me, I find the Prius very practical. I can haul 10 foot pipe inside, travel with four adults and climbing gear, and drive through mountain passes while still getting 50 mpg. My criteria are different than yours, even though yours will seem obvious and sensible to you.

What this reminds me of is a neighbor I knew years ago. She was fresh out of collage and very naive. We were talking about accents, and how people from various regions of the country had differing accents when they talked. She looked at me and stated, being completely serious and sincere: "Isn't it funny that we don't have accents?" I could only laugh.

Tom

 

All the other stuff is behind me, now. I got the rant out (along with my little point about not lumping all Prius drivers into the same numb-skull, numb-butt camp).

This I find interesting, though. If your scale is one of practicality ("cost of ownership and basic functionality"), then I'd argue placing the 'Vette in the position of scoring 10 just doesn't make sense to me. Neither does the Prius scoring a 0, but we've established you and I don't see eye-to-eye on that car.

I know your review was subjective (as would be mine!), so I was surprised to hear about the practicality scale.

I would think that the big scorers on your scale would be the same ones on the Consumer Reports list. See this Autoblog.com article: Toyota Prius earns Best Value ranking from Consumer Reports, American brands fail to make the grade. (Yes, the Prius was ranked first -- the 2009 Touring model -- though I only grabbed the article because it was a review of the Consumer Reports issue on Best and Worst Cars for 2009.)

 

Sounds like you need to buy a new Prius

 

Funny, I liked Digital_Griffin's review. I personally don't share any of his peeves, but I bet most motoring journalists would nod their head in agreement.

My only question: why doesn't OP leave the Prius to his wife ?

 

Because he's a troll and a whiner. That's my opinion so, by definition, it is indisputably accurate.

 

Curious what has to happen for a car to gain mass acceptance. Well into the 2nd million prius now...

If you have the most fuel efficient car in America and are selling them as fast as you can make them, maybe that's a niche that Yota will have to bear.

 

In fact, like SageBrush, I also agree with the OP on his assessments of Prius (I also own a 2005, also wife's car now). I used to own a BMW 540i (0-60mph in 5.7secs). I can understand OP's perspectives on '05 Prius.
However, instead of B/B+ he gave to fuel economy and reliability, I would give Prius A+/A+ correspondingly. After all, there are very very few cars (the size of Prius) can achieve 40-45mpg w/o any special trainings or techniques (to achieve 50mpg+). My 2005 has been problem-free since new (can't give it anything less than A+).

Like someone mentioned, Prius is not a sports car or even a sporty car. Comparing it to one is meaningless. In my book, overall evaluation of Prius is probably a solid "B". I would give Cs to handling, which averages out the As from fuel economy and reliability.
Interior? Maybe a B-.

 

That seems to say it all. You love Corvettes and your wife must love Prii. Some people prefer white and some prefer black. :cheer2: Some are Republican and some Democrat. It's what makes the world a neat place to live. I'm glad you have your toy and I'm glad I have mine.
Please let us know what your wife gets when she trades HER Prius.

 

I'll bet he's a republican

 

Practicality is subjective because it is still a measure of how the vehicle performs at tasks that the specific owner finds important. And again the priority rankings will differ.

One of the practical aspects of the Prius is being able to park it in diminutive spaces. For some with small garages this could be a huge feature for a car having this much interior space.

The hatch makes it far more utilitarian than a sedan. Having a usable rear seat might not matter to some, but typically does matter to parents.

Too late, it already has, despite your subjective judgements. Our Prius replaced an Accord. Yours replaced a Camry. So even by your own measure the above is incorrect.

The Accord was always too front heavy in feel for my tastes. I did upgrade the shocks/struts and that helped, but I didn't purchase it for its sporty ride as I had another vehicle for that. Removed some of the air flow restriction to uncork the 4 cylinder VTEC and fortuitously/unexpectedly this smoothed out its prior very notchy throttle response.

Prius and Accord interior (that it replaced) were pretty much comparable. I never was happy about the Accord trunk opening, so the Prius hatch was a huge improvement. Main selling point of the Accord is that it was about $4K cheaper than the V6 Camry at the time (not on paper, but due to availability/demand), plus the Camry ride had too little feedback. The Camry at that time was very underpowered in its 4 cyl. variant.

 

Hi d-g,

Let's see.

If I had not put in the BT Tech plate in my car I would be really disappointed in its highway windy day handling.

If I had not pumped up the tires to 42/40, I would have been replacing my Hydroedge tires by now, but hey, they got another 20 K miles on them at least at 40K miles. And that is just fine with me.

If I had short trips to work and back I would be real disappointed by the mileage.

If I had to run the defroster all the time, I would be disappointed in the car not shutting off.

Hmm....If I ran stop signs and got tee-boned by a car, I would be real disappointed in the modern road network too.

 

Please don't feed the obvious troll.

... Brad

 

that was a funny rant, did the guy really compare the four door prius to a 2 door sports coupe and a 2 door sports car?

the prius is meant to be a car for adult drivers, you should never drive a car you don't enjoy, so if its your wifes car I could care less how you feel about it, all the matters is whether your wife enjoys it.

I got a new job that pays double my last job, and is a much more secure federal position, so whereas the prius was a great year round car for me these past few years, I can actually upgrade to 2 cars, a 2008 red miata grand touring for the summer (I can't stand the new silly smiling face on new mazdas), and a 2008 mazda blue cx-7 awd grand touring for the winter. I love how both those radioactive cars are made in Hiroshima, which is the coolest place to put a factory in Japan.

both cars are $30K new, funny the one year old miata drops to $18K whereas the one year old cx-7 only drops to $23K. I guess impractical 'summer' cars depreciate faster then practical year-round vehicles.