Do I love my Prius, or do I hate it?

sounds like you need a change in venue...you could do like I and others do and purchase a second car to tide you over with your german thrills or just replace the prius with sometime more your style...either way those HOV decals in Cali are long gone so unless u purchase a used car with them already on, you won't be getting them ever

 

Danix here's what doesn't make sense to me: Without the yellow stickers you are stuck in traffic, so you want a nicer car that's fun to drive w/ manual transmission? Don't you know manual shifting is a pain in traffic? Better handling...for traffic? Oppositely your Prius is getting great mileage in traffic, w/o the yellow stickers. There's the bright spot. Ok, so you shifted hours, 12-8 (Im assuming that's PM) to avoid the traffic. Hello?!? It's non carpool hours -- You can go in the carpool lane again! I don't understand your complaints other than that you don't like how it drives.

Do your mods. Selling the car for something else is the thing that's not wise. Or buy a 2nd used car that you want to drive for the side. But I bet you'll never use it.

 

Keep the Prius, buy a motorcycle. You'll still get 45mpg, have gearshifting and handling fun, and it won't cost you nearly as much as a car.

 

bye

 

Danix, there's something I noticed about you. In the 2 posts you wrote you never once mentioned mpg or mileage. That tells me you don't care about paying for gas. Personally I think that's kinda sad but I'm not here to preach, I'm here to give advice. So my verdict is the Prius isn't the car for you.

Yeah a lot of people in CA bought the Prius for the yellow carpool stickers, but pretty much everyone also did it to save money on gas. So you're certainly a rare breed. You knew those stickers were going to expire someday right?

 

If the stickers don't work for you any longer (I don't live in CA) and you travel in the same company (lanes) in your Prius as everyone else, then the benefit you're getting is the good gas mileage. We have two Priuses (?) in our family - neither are mine! I drove the BMW 530i 5sp (27mpg) and now the Lexus IS250 auto/fake paddles (30mpg) in my 40 mile per day commute (trafic is OK). My wife and daughter love the Prius but I love the BMW/Lexus. To each his-or-her own!

 

Oh well, too soon for the Model S.

The ideal solution is finding somebody with whom you can carpool.

Some people (including you and my wife) don't like driving the Prius. Since you'll be driving off peak and predominantly a highway driver you should do OK for mileage in a compact. Go and test drive them and when you find one, sell your Prius to somebody who'll be happy with an efficient appliance.

 

a) Get one of those inflatable passenger dummies and drive in the HOV lane...

b) Buy anything but an EV and be stuck in traffic anyways so the only things you should care about are comfort and mpg. Not handling or speed.

c) Buy an EV like the Tesla and drive in the carpool lane with tons of miles to spare on a charge.

d) Just live with your Prius as it will do the best out of any currently available vehicle for your commute especially in traffic.

e) Some states (like mine) count aftermarket PHEV conversions as HOV lane applicable. Of course there is only 1 HOV lane I know of for the nearest 300 miles, but that's beside the point. So get a Hymotion kit or something similar and drive in the HOV lane again.

f) Depending on how much your time is worth, and how lucky you feel just drive in the lane anyways. If you get paid $100/hr and the fine is $100 then you save no money getting a ticket, versus loosing $100 sitting in traffic, or saving $100 driving and not getting caught.

 

HOV Violations are $425 In Cali (IIRC)

 

If you can get a 335d... why not? Should be a great car imo. I have the Eibach and it does make a significant difference, but still isn't as good as an Audi A4 (we have one so I know). There are still issues like steering and chassis flexibility that need to be resolved before it can compete.

 

+1

and even if you made it handle like a bimmer, it wouldn't be as responsive as a bimmer....and at the end of the day its still a prius..

if you want fuel economy, buy a prius..if you are concerned with status and handling, buy a bmw or porsche....if you want both, then buy one of each

 

It's a shame that SoCal is so overcrowded. And the utter lack of public transportation makes it that much worse. And if the population and emigration to CA increases, hoo boy, even the HOV lanes will be full.

Danix, you seem to hate your Prius. If I were you, I would get another car. It's pretty clear cut with the Prius, either you're gaga about it or you just can't stand it.

Personally, I love my Prius mainly for the excellent MPG and Toyota reliability (before 2006 anyway). I've owned many, many cars the past 35 years and wish the Prius had been available in 1976.

I prefer driving a manual gearbox but as someone said earlier, it's a PITA when stuck in a traffic jam. The Prius "transmission" is so much easier to live with and I like using the cruise control whenever I can.

And be careful what you wish for, the European cars are not as reliable as Asian ones, and maybe even less reliable than the latest American ones. The new Cruize is a nice looking car and the new Focus is also sharp.

Choose wisely.

 

Regarding the status comment, BMW is not necessarily a status symbol. In fact, sometimes it's far from it when piss poor people buy one to look like they have status. 3 series does not impress me. Now if you own a 7 series, BMWs flagship, then come talk to me.

In many regards Prius might be a more powerful symbol than BMW, Mercedes (at least vs the 3 series and C-class). Prius shows you're not hurting for money enough to drive something different. That's also why BMW drivers hate Prius drivers, they think we are encroaching on their turf. :rockon:

 

lol so true.