2010 Owner Satisfaction

I too was being humurous, hence the point of adding the gas bladder issue to my sarcastic post in the other thread I alluded to.

I agreed with that as well.

I apologize for riding your butt, but your fear Mongering thread "a Perfect storm of doubt" just struck me as a hostile post.

"For nearly 8 months I’ve been part of, lurked and observed within Prius Chat"
"A small darkening of the sky."
"Storm Clouds."
"Yep, it’s a Storm."
"Batten down the hatches!"
"The Perfect Storm or "It’s not going to let us out".
"I find myself at looking at VW Jetta Sportswagen TDI Diesel and taking stock around the neighborhood of which stations sell diesel and which do not. Some days it seems unburdening to imagine myself with an ICE Honda Fit.
Analytical patience can be a virtue, but also a curse. At the very least it seems my patience is going to cost me $400 dollars more if I do end up with a 2010 Prius as the economy along with the realization that "The Hybrid For Everyone" is becoming "The Hybrid For Nobody""


I despise fear mongering, and I'm sorry to sound accusatory, but that's how your post came off. And the result is that we get MSM pointing to posts like yours as some sort of "proof" of a problem that all of us actual Prius drivers understand and do not see as a safety issue, but as a quirk of regenerative braking. And then the trolls and Prius haters have to come chime in on an issue they know nothing about.

If you had concerns, why not research it and ask specific questions? Why the doom and gloom theatrics?

 

I've defended that thread enough. If you have a spare hour or two to kill read the whole thing. I think I defend it well.

Just for the record "The Hybrid For Everyone" is becoming "The Hybrid For Nobody"" was actually a shot at Honda's "The Hybrid for Everyone" campaign not a shot at The Untouchable, Unquestionable Prius. (just kidding)

 

Yes, I think within IT, I defended it well. Not that I should even have to defend it, or conversely have my nice person handed to me, just because I initiate a thread about some doubts about The Prius. But in anycase Yes, I'm not unhappy with the thread, from most reasonable people I got good feedback and ideas and opinions.

But for FOR SURE this thread isn't suppose to be about MY thread. So let's end the hijacking shall we?

 

Count me in among the "Great, some things could be better, etc..." crowd. I think Bob's poll is useful. As TEM (or was it someone else? doesn't matter...) correctly pointed out, the total and final verdict won't be in for quite a while. But, as Bob said, the general nature of a forum like this brings out the complaints, and a casual observer *could* be mislead into thinking we all hate our cars. I think most of us probably knew we were taking a slight gamble getting in on the first year of a redesign, and, yes, there are some complaints (for me the biggest are the rattles (esp. when cold) and the lack of storage space in the cabin. But it is a *huge* improvement over the gen II in many areas--for me, the lumbar support and all-around better seating being crucial. Also, having, uh, 'tested' the safety systems, I'm glad it has a knee airbag. I can't think of others in this price range that do. There is no perfect car, but I can only have one, and for me this is the best choice.
Happy new year,
Tim

 

I note that I dearly loved the Mazda 5 when it was released. I lived in Europe for a while and fell in love with the whole micro minivan style and idea...that said when it was first released it did not have many of the features it has not such as rear seat/passenger armrests and rear seat air conditioning. These features were added by Mazda for the mid cycle freshening because of posts like this one...
So here goes...
Can I have slightly higher and better padded door armrests?
Can the steering wheel telescope just a bit more?
How about that rear seat air option?
Switch the mute button with the CD eject button on the sterio.
Would like a power seat option for the drivers side.

That's about it.

 

Great car no problems here.

 

I know this is a bit off topic, but...

I'm not sure if you (and many others that do this) realize that there is no real "information" given when you say doing such and such lowers mpg by .2 or .3, etc. (I'm assuming you mean the current displayed value and not an overall tankful value). In order for this to have any meaning one needs to know how many miles you have gone since the last trip reset that you are reporting about.

For example, if you have gone 10 miles and you do something that lowers mpg from 50.5 to 50.3, it is pretty much a non-event. If you have gone 1000 miles and you get the same drop it is a big deal. And, IMO, if anyone reports any delta mpg number for a trip that is more than a tankful it is pretty much meaningless due to the granularity of only 0.1 mpg increments. (You don't really know when you start out if you are at xx.100 or xx.199...assuming the displayed value is truncated and not rounded...or xx.050 vs xx.149 if rounded).

On topic: Great car. Sure I can name a dozen nit-picking things I'd like to be better. For for the price and what it delivers -- very good (certainly not perfect).

3PriusMike

 

Ouch Bob, of all the slings and arrows lately maybe that one hurts the most. Get over myself? I did say "Are you talking about me? Hey I just had "Doubts".- Just kidding. " ....and sincerely I was just kidding....

Really after you've been on the planet 40 years or more if you aren't over yourself, you never will be. I don't really know, but I think I've been over myself and pretty humble since sometime in the Mid Eighties.

Anyway- New Year! New Beginings! Have a great 2010!

 

This explains much - I would bet that what you are experiencing is "buyer's remorse" (in advance), which is creating fear in your mind about spending so much money for something which (in your mind) has so many unknowns. I know the feeling, I always get it but with the Prius it was pretty mild - I knew what I was getting for the money and I'm not sweating the small stuff. Perfection would be nice, but that's not reality. And since they've already sold something like 100,000, I'm not exactly a beta-tester...

As I see it, you have two options:
1) sit back and wait 3-4 years until all the kinks have been worked out in this generation. They probably will, and the majority will be for the better but odds are a few things will change for the worse in the meantime - for instance, if oil & gas prices spike again, you can bet prices will instantaeously go well above MSRP (the S stands for "suggested").
2) you can man up and accept the fact that life is imperfect. If the major points address what you want most, you may have to sacrifice a little and take some risks regarding the minor details. (that happens pretty often in this thing we call "life")

 

Here's the flip side:

You can use all those "doubts" when negotiating price with the dealer. They will quickly explain away anything you mention, but you can make them believe that those things are enough of a concern to you that you might walk away - and they do NOT want you to walk away. And if they can't come up with a price you're comfortable with, then you have every right to leave. Paying MSRP doesn't mean you'll get a perfect car...

 

I replied GREAT, have had mine for almost 3 months now, averaging no less than 44 mpg in the Oregon winter. I do not like the rear visibility, but have put a Broadway convex mirror on and it helps a lot. My biggest gripe is the dash rattling. I have put a temporary shim on sides of RH speaker grille, and that helped some; also between the front windshield vents and the ducting underneath just to see if it helped. It has, so now believe some foam pads between these areas would eliminate 95% of the rattle. I think the different plastics expand and contract at different rates and vibration and HVAC causes them to rub against each other. If I could only figure out how to get the speaker grille and nearby panels off!
Thanks!

 

I live in Oregon, so I'm always paying attention to what NW owners say about gas mileage. So thanks, I might know what to expect next winter.

You don't have to answer, but I'd also be curious as to what dealer you purchased? And whether you were happy with the experience?

Probably another reason I have waited so long to purchase is while I enjoy researching an auto purchase, I hate, absolutely hate, salesmen and the "dealership" experience. So if I could get a line on a Oregon dealership that people felt comfortable with I'd appreciate it.

 

My wife and I have purchased last 4 toyotas/scions from Richard Derrick at Kendall Toyota in Eugene. Recommended him highly.

 

****
And you can say Jim Cox recommended him, thanks, Jim
**********

 

Well, been driving my blue Prius III for a month now, and so far I would have to say it is a great car! Not perfect, no car is or ever will be, so I can't give it that rating. I've only experienced an occasional rattle/vibration from the glove compartment area at certain RPM's when the temps are bitter cold. No braking issues. The quality level is fine for a car in this price range... at least to me, coming from a Corolla and Dodge's and Ford's before that. People coming from Mercedes, BMW or Lexus might feel differently! The interior does use hard, lightweight eco plastics for efficiency. A padded dash might be nice for future models. The sunglasses holder does suck, but I guess it's not a reason to get rid of it! I thing the MPG is great so far compared to what I'm used too! Starting with a cold ICE I get around 40 MPG on hilly 8 mile town commute in under 30F temps. Lower grill blocked, OEM 15" tires 42F 40R. If I've driven earlier so the cars a little warmer I get over 50 on the same commute, so an EBH is probably something on my mod list! Those tires ain't too bad in the snow we've had so far, I'll have to see what Jan and Feb dishes out before I think about getting snow decks for next year. And I think the car is damn pretty, too!:rockon:

 

I am also in my first month of ownership.
The pri replaces a Matrix which was itself a great reliable automobile.
So far the only beef would be the poor FM reception, but no brake, no rattles, no major annoyances so far.
Just before the buy my wife and I sat down and debated the other top contenders: FFH,and TDI, went obviously for the pri and I really like this car.

 

Overall, after 4 months and 11K miles I am pretty happy with the car.

Good (compared to my '05 Prius):
1. handling and drivability
2. driving position
3. power
4. exterior styling

Bad:
1. rattles
2. customizable features I can't customize myself
3. consumption display that lies to me
4. interior styling

Mileage seems a bit worse than the 05 but I think that's because we are using E10 now. I voted "Better Than Any Current Alternatives", if it were not for the rattles and other quality control issues (missing bolts) I would have marked it 1 or 2 higher. I recommend it with reservations.

 

The obvious strengths of the Prius for me are the great gas mileage and the very cool engineering.

The car does suffer from a number of minor glitches -- some seem to affect only a few vehicles; a few (like braking over bumps) are tied to design.

I view the glitches to be much less important than the strengths and I'm very happy with my 2010 Prius.

I do think glitch reports are valuable in PC. They sometimes wake us up, providing lively discussion. And often, glitch reports provide the opportunity for more experienced and knowledgeable members to educate the rest of us.