Looking to buy a Prius - only a few concerns...

Bad: The Prius interior is a bit on the cheap side, there seem to be a number of complaints about rattles—especially in colder weather—and it doesn't handle or accelerate that well compared to most other cars. And if you're a tactile person when it comes to performance driving, the steering is numb as can be, the road might be down there somewhere and there's no way to balance the chassis with the throttle.

Good: The mileage is great, it's good in stop and go traffic and for waiting at the airport or train station for someone with the A/C or heat on but the ICE shut down, it's EXCELLENT for sleeping in overnight for the same reasons, has good interior room and I think attractive styling.

As far as lowering it or other performance mods, don't expect miracles. You'll go from fair to somewhat better than fair handling, but if you expect too much you may find that it feels like the car is fighting you every step of the way. And the drivetrain is what it is. The Prius seems a bit slow in comparison, especially at the price point of the more well optioned Prius models.

I'd rent one for a weekend and really drive it, see if the balance of what it offers is palatable to you.

I did the same calculations, and ended up with a Fit Sport with nav. It's HUGE inside with the rear seats down, much cheaper than the Prius, has a well built interior, and the smallness is something I really like; I've always enjoyed short-wheelbase one box cars. The engine is also, in typical Honda fashion, a jewel, and returns up to 40mpg which is acceptable to me. And it's a ton more fun to drive than the Prius, regardless of what you do to the suspension of the latter (although I have had a bit of suspension work done to my Fit).

 

Here's what I always tell prospective Prius buyers, especially those who are considering clubbing down from something like a German sports car:

Rent one for a weekend. Drive it around.
Hertz has a "Tree-Hugger" collection of Hybrids (they don't call it that) and IIRC you can select a G3 to fling around for a weekend. This will tell you (a) whether or not you'll like the car and (b) how the car will look and feel after a few months of use.

A ten-minute test drive in a nearly zero-mile car tells you almost nothing.

Your call.

Good Luck!

 

For what it's worth, as far as the power, it's not that big of deal. In fact, I'm really surprised how zippy the Prius is. My only car for the last 5 years was a 2006 Corvette. I kept the Vette, but I bought a 2011 Prius III. I got it for the carpool plates because my job moved a lot further than where I live and I can save a lot of time each day using the carpool lane.

Anyway, I'm really impressed with the Prius. I drive it normal and I get at least 45 mpg and got over 49 on my last tank. I went from paying $50 per week for gas to $13 per week. Big difference. I don't pay attention to the gas mileage, that can drive you crazy and make you drive way too slowly. I'm amazed at people when they assume that I'm going to crawl away from the stop lights and when I leave briskly they seem to act surprised.

Get the Prius, it's a great little car.

 

Downgraded from a 2002 Mercury Sable platinum edition to a 2010 Prius 3 last May.

The rear window is not great, but I've gotten used to it, only bother really is on highway. The wiper is not to good either... but again, not a big deal...

I had Leather seats and did not have an issue with the interior, and I have really not experienced the bumps and rattles as much as some people have complained.

One of my biggest concerns was the low clearance but the 17" wheels were definitely not what I would call tires and that definitely turned me off... As you obviously know the winter last year was pretty bad in Chicago, and I had no more problems than I had with my 2002 sable in heavy snow, in fact I was quite supprised. I was snowed in the day of the blizzard, but so were all my neighbors who had pickup trucks and SUV's. If you had no problems with the audi, I wouldn't expect any with the prius.

Pinto girl seems to really like her Honda Fit, that would be a significantly smaller car, but may be an option.

I do drive the car 95% of time in eco mode, but I have tried the power mode and it's got pretty impressive pickup. I have shown my son who has borrowed it to pickup some stuff (55" flat screen TV and some other larger items) and he definitely had no problem with the pickup...

You could look into the Lexus ct200h it might offer the Prius and definitely go the leather option with the heated seats (option 4).

There are plenty of of 4's around if you are interesting in driving them, I could recommend a sales person I bought my car from.

Good luck...

 

Hey, I don't live too far from you. I just bought my Prius III with nav and solar roof in Fox Lake. I'll answer your questions:

1. I can't speak to the snow capability, but with my other cars, I always kept a spare set of wheels and dedicated snow tires. I get my stuff from The Tire Rack. I love those folks and their prices, knowledge and service are great.

2. Rear visibility does suck. But it has a wonderful way of blocking out the a-holes riding your nice person when there is no place for you to go and no way for you to go any faster (you're already 15 over the limit in a no passing zone and their bumper is brushing the back of your head)

3. I'm the wrong person to discuss tire size, as it's my opinion modern day tires are over-wheeled for the sake of some questionable fashion statement. From a performance standpoint, smaller wheels are lighter, which means less unsprung weight, which means better handling. Soooooo less bling equals better handling. Really.

4. Interior quality could be better. This is not an Audi interior for sure. The plastics are hard. And don't expect to drop close to $29 and get a leather covered wheel (so do it yourself), or automatic headlamps (they'll turn themselves off). That being said, you get an AMAZING car! This thing is so technologically advanced, it flat out blows everything else away (in my humble opinion). I wouldn't trade it for a Cayman. Really. It's like getting in the space shuttle and complaining about the seat material. I've owned and driven a lot of cool cars. This one wins. Hands down. The best.

It's the most fun I've ever had in a car.

Is that good enough to convince?

Get the solar roof and JBL with Nav. You won't regret the extra spend.

Good times.

:rockon:

 

Congrats! I just went from a 2001.5 (B5.5) Passat wagon with the 1.8T. Great car, but it had 162K on it, and needed attention every few months - to the tune of bigger and bigger bucks. Plus, the fuel efficiency wasn't great. We could eek out 31 on the highway...in perfect conditions...and about 25 in town.

We bought a used (63K miles) 2010 Prius V, and we really like it! Put it in power mode, and it will almost come close to the 1.8T, but not quite. Still "acceptable". Once you're up to speed, hit ECO and just cruise...enjoying 50+ mpg.

Have fun! Put up pics!

 

Best wishes on your new G3!
You'll find instead of thrilling performance you'll discover a different kind of thrill when you are driving the G3. Mine is forgetting which side of the car the gas cap is on. lol
If you start to miss your Audi, just press Power Mode and you'll get your cheap thrills there, and still get better mpg's than your old ride.

 

I don´t know why some people here say the Prius is a slow car .
You live in a country in which the highest speed you are allowed to go is about 85 mph .
As far as i know the Prius can go about 107 mph so that should really be fast enough !
The off the line performance of the Prius is 0-60 in 9.8 seconds which is admittedly not the fastest but far from slow and by the way,good passing power is much more important and Prius has that without any doubt .
Why bother having a car which f.e can go as fast as 140 mph if you are not allowed to go that speed anyway ?

 

I can't help you with the winter driving as I haven't driven one in the snow... prob. won't either, I'll take the 4x4 expy on those days.

Performance wise, the car is fine. It's not a race car, but the fun of driving it is the incredible mpg"s. I drove around the first 4 weeks like grandpa. The car makes you want to do that when you frst get it. I got an avg. of 53 MPG with best tank right at 60 MPG. Recently I've been running in power mode more often, and the Prius is fun to drive. Vaguge steering to me?? well I'm used to floating in big trucks, so it feels much more responsive then the truck. with power mode, runnig 80+ on the interstate, I'm right around 47 MPG. But I'm having fun with it. When I put my Yakima Bike rack and farring up there, I get about 42 MPG.

The car is decently comfortable. I'm going to cover the seats to protect them.

Overall... I love the car, and would make the purchase again.

Rearview takes getting used to, but now it doeasn't bother me at all. I have 5000 miles on it now. That's in five weeks of driving.