Prius Pros and Cons, anyone???

Have 80,000 miles on our 2010, and liked it so much we bought a second 2010 for the SO. No problems so far, great in snow, can carry a 9.5 ft kayak inside with the hatch closed, we camp in it using the auto heat control to keep it warm in winter and cool in summer. Amazing vehicle, - LMPG is 57. Minimum maintenance - no tranny to go bad, no timing belt to replace every 90 Kmi, no valve adjustments required, oil change every 10Kmi and add gas as needed and thats it. Every 100Kmi needs fluid changes and spark plugs and its good for another 100 Kmi. In Carb state 10 years - 150,000 warranty on hybrid system. CU top rates it as the best all round car for the last 2 years running

 

Pros: Great on gas, easy to use, versatile cargo space, very reliable so far,

Cons: Expensive purchase price, Midsize interior room but still as narrow as a Corolla, smallish driver's seat, especially for tall drivers, adequate power but by no means quick, secure but odd turning / handling characteristics, odd interior design / hard scratchable plastic everywhere, No USB port in Two and Three w/o nav in 2010/11,

 

Yeah...more on the winter please, from someone that actually drives in winters.

I'm a huge fanboy of technology and being cheap and green so I love my prius. That said, this thing should be banned in the northeast. It is absolutely the worst winter car ever. I'm not talking about losing MPG, im talking about life safety. Those that take it out on the road after a winter storm end up in ditches. I bought the best rated Winter tires (michelin x-ice 3's) and it is still like driving a death trap. The snow tires did indeed help with traction and heavy snow on completely flat surfaces, but hills and turns, forget about it. The only good thing, is instead of sliding down the hill like i did with my stock tires, this will now get up a hill 20 minutes later with a 50+ line of cars behind me beeping. While you purists will discredit or remove a post like this, you need to know that i want to love my prius and keep it forever and am the first to rule out ranting, ignorance, etc and then move to thinking 'what technical solution can solve the problem _he_ has'. This is not the case. That being said, I am 40 years old, have driven everything from SUV's to small coupes in the northeast and will never buy another prius again -- it is just too dangerous for northeast winters. I live in a small city (albany) and commute about 10 miles out of the city. Commuting up and down even the smallest hill in the snow is a problem. Worse i am a manly man and can't swap it out with my wife's honking SUV on those winter days, because she has to work too and i'd rather be the one to take it to the ditch. So when reading these pro's and con's realize they are probally from some hipster in SF taking his car from his gentrified mission loft over to the finance district and back maybe stopping at a thrift shop in between. Albany winters are nothing compared to Oswego, Buffalo or other areas in the northeast and i expect better handling with a vehicle than the prius delivers. I am not a douchebag and consider it a lesson learned, but there should be a class action lawsuit for selling this thing here.

So for optimistic people researching to buy a prius that still have a higher risk level than me who want this thing in the northeast, be prepared to:

- Buy the best winter tires possible
- Drive like a little old lady and still be a trainwreck when you see that light turning red or a bend in the road
- Avoid winter storms like the plague if possible, telecommute, take your wifes car whatever
- Ignore the whining about the low mpg in the winter its really still better than anything ive ever driven
- The other pros listed about regarding winter are true, it always starts etc, no cranking.
- Map out hills and avoid them

Listen, if there is no snow on the ground, the car is a dream. But we are talking about life safety issues here when driving in the snow and people need to understand the risk.

 

Another pro is that they're not stolen very much (car thieves have ethics).

 

unix,
Must be the Prius hate upstate NY Given that we just had two major snowstorms, here is my observations. BTW, I'm running 4 studded winterforce snow tires. First off, when it is snowing, the wiperblades ice up. I run with the defroster button on and the cabin temp set to HI and they still ice up when we stop at a light. And don't put them in intermittent mode. When we start moving, they slowly thaw out and start cleaning the windshield again. I've owned GM cars before this and when you put them in intermittent mode, the blades stop over the defroster vents which helps prevent them from freezing. No so with the Prius.
The prius with the 4 snow tires does good on flat and small hills. Big long hills are its weakness. It starts off good,
but as you go up the hill, it starts to slow down which causes the car to change to a lower gearing which makes
it go slower etc. The end result is you are stuck on a hill with the traction light on. I got spoiled with my previous
cars which were standards and didn't have this problem. I'd like to note that I'm talking about driving on
unplowed roads with 4 or 5 inches of snow on them. If the roads are plowed, the prius does fine (at least with my
snow tires). I don't think that it was ground clearance that killed my hill climb. Because when I was backing down
the hill, the only impressions in the snow was from the snowtires. There was no marks in the snow from the frame.
Not to hijack this thread, but if anyone has a suggestion for the wiperblade icing problem, I'd like to hear about it. I'm running stock Prius wiper blades that were changed a few months ago.

 

I sold my 11 Prius 2 and bought a new Avalon hybrid. I think had I bought a Prius 4, I would still be driving it. The interior and the ride and the seats in the 2 made it more of an appliance than a car. Don't get me wrong I didn't hate the car and I bought another Toyota Hybrid, just one a bit bigger, more comfortable, more quiet and one with a real trunk.

 

I am honestly surprised by some of the negatives about snow driving. I'm on my 4th Vermont winter with mine. I drive tons of hills, including a lot of dirt roads (which are just snow and ice covered all winter). In fact, for New Years Eve I wound up taking the back way to a friends house which put me on very hilly, curvy, Vermont backcountry dirt roads for a couple of miles. This was during the week+ of single digit temps and heavy snow so this was basically packed snow and ice the whole way, no sand or salt. Obviously you need to pay attention to momentum and such but at no point was I in danger of sliding off the road, or not getting up the next hill. The traction control blinked at me a few times but never cut power.

I know the Gen2's have a rep for very intrusive traction control, but the Gen3 seems to have a good balance.

I won't discount your experience, because it's yours and it's every bit as valid as mine, but my experience has not been like that. For me, the Prius has done very well with 4 good snow tires each winter. The only trouble I've had has related to ground clearance.

 

I agree that the clearance under a Prius is not much.

Otherwise I could not ask for a better winter vehicle. I drive a lot on dirt roads and partly paved roads that have packed ice in the winter. I smaller bit of my winter driving is on paved city streets with slush. I love the handling of the Prius gen-3 along with it's power.

My Dw drives this as her daily commuter. She drives more on the interstate and in the city than I do.

Today I was showing her the changes it makes when you alternate between 'ECO' and 'PWR'. When you must turn in an intersection with piles of slush, the 'ECO' mode does not want to power through piles of slush, so you end up sliding diagonal a bit about half-way through the turn. But if you switch to 'PWR' mode before you turn and steadily apply power, the Prius will keep the tires gripping and even pushing through slush up over the bumper, you can make a tight radius turn [on ice while pushing through slush].

This past 3 weeks we have had a good deal of snow and a couple ice storms, with temps holding between 5F and -25F. In past winters we have driven a lot more across frozen rivers / lakes. But for some reason this past few weeks [I think the state is dumping a lot more salt on the roads] we are seeing more slush build-up on the pavement. My Dw wants me to talk leasing programs with Toyota tomorrow, to see about us getting a second Prius.

This all stems from how magnificent it is in winter. We will soon be a two Prius family.

 

I have had my 2010 Prius III since June 2009, that's 4 winters now. I have never had the problem of being slower than anyone else on a hill as a matter of fact, I get away from stoplights quicker without flooring it because of the instant torque of the electric motor. I'm alway in ECO mode which gives me much more control. The only winter problems I've ever had were decreased fuel efficiency (I grill block and it helps but with this car that 20% loss seems huge) and the fact that the lower air intake is so low that it can act as a "snowplow" because the car is so low.
Minus 16 and dropping in Green Bay right now.

 

I have no problem on packed snow or ice (the studded snow tires take care of that). It is +4" unplowed long steep hills that do me in. Actually dirt roads are better than paved roads, because you can get better traction on the rougher surface. Before I got to the big hill, I had driven up 2 smaller steep hills with no problems. In fact, I was impressed with how well it was doing. But on the last hill, the car was slowing down a lot and the traction light was coming on. I wonder if I could have made it up if I had started at the hill at a higher speed or given it more gas as I was climbing the hill. But I was worried the higher speed would cause me to go off the road, or if gassing the engine would do some engine/transmission damage. This is the first automatic car I've ever owned and my manual winter driving techniques may require some adjustments for getting the most out of the Prius.

 

+4" unplowed long steep hills will do most any car in unless it's awd AND has 4 snow tires.

 

I live in SoCal and we don't have winters here so I can't give you any feedback about how it handles in snow, etc. but I can list the pros and cons of the car. I just got a 2014 Hatchback 3 two months ago and so far I *LOVE* the car. I don't see why I would choose a different car when it comes time to replace it. Will definitely buy another Prius!

Pros:
-Lots of tech to play with. From drivetrain to fuel economy to the inside electronics, et's fun to play with
-My average is 430 miles per full tank of gas. I also have an 03 Corolla which only gives me 200 miles per full tank on the same driving routine (lots of hills and traffic). That's about $100 saved per month!
-This thing is quiet! I can enjoy my music more.
-Did I mention it's just plain FUN to drive? It's miles ahead of the Corolla in terms of drive quality and experience. In fact it feels like a luxury car (to me)
-I can put more in the hatchback compared to a trunk, plus it's easier to access
-Playing the Prius game to maximize your MPG even further can be fun. Pulse n glide, coasting, etc.
-No Smog check! (at least in CA)
-It's a heavy car so it feels more stable than my Corolla
-No starter motor to wear out, no belts, less moving parts than a conventional car = less stuff to wear out and break

Cons:
-A little pricier than a comparable car

I think that's pretty much it. If you'll be driving it a lot then you will get more ROI.

 

Yeah, here's a con .... front seatback flap completely covers the space between seat bottom and seatback ... the space seat covers use to attach.

Woohoo Toyota .... another example of making things inconvenient.

Prius feels like a luxury car??? Oh yeah, I read that all the time from professional reviewers .... they often say Prius feels like driving a Cadillac, BMW or Benz ....


Little pricier than what comparable car? What to compare it with? It's pricier than a Camry LE, Accord LX.

 

I agree with "Tideland Prius" . Another con is road noise; Prius needs better sound proofing!!

But over all; you can not go wrong by buying a Prius. It is the best mid-size car for the money in the long run!!

I got a Prius for my wife; LOVED it so much, I had to buy another Prius. I got the silver Prius and she has the gold Prius!!

 

I'm afraid you'll need to work on your reading comprehension. I said "it feels like a luxury car to me". I've never really owned a true luxury car, so I'm just comparing it to a Camry and Corolla, of which I've owned. The Prius feels much smoother than these two cars IMO.

Compared to a Corolla, which I also have.

 

Pros: Tons

Con: there are Nonhybrid hatchbacks for about 10,000 Dollars Less Cost and still get great MPG. Just off the top of y head:
Nissan Versa Note for $13,000
Mitsubishi mirage for 14,000
Ford fiesta for 15,000
Ford focus for 17,000

I am leaning to the Fiesta but in sedan format ($14,000) rather than spend 25,000 for a new Prius

 

Prius is the ultimate appliance for someone who puts a ton of miles on their car. If I didn't get HOV access and drove enough to actually pay for the "hybrid premium" in 5 years, I probably would have gone another way. Not that the Prius is a bad car, it's just an appliance. Reliable and practical.

 

I'm a New England snow skier. I'm a snow skier where ever I am... if it snows. The last couple of years, a friend of mine has been giving me rides to the slopes in his 2010 Prius. I drive it about half the time, since we usually do 35 to 100 miles one way, depending on the mountain we choose.

He does not run snow tires. His worn down Avids were a concern to me, especially last year. Snow came late, but once it came, we got to drive through a few storms.

If you buy a Prius, and are not a good Winter driver, your Prius will try to help you out. I grew up next to a lake that froze tight during the Winters of yesteryear and learned to drive on its smooth ice when I was a kid, well before I could legally get my driver's licence. No Traction Control, no ABS and no Dynamic Stability Control. I've lived and driven in the northern Rockies, Europe's Alps and have even managed not to screw up driving here during our "tough" Maine Winters.

The last couple of years that we had our 2005 Prius, we put 4 snow tires on it. General Altimax Arctics. It was an easy car to manage in the worst Winter conditions possible. My ski friend's thin treaded Avid all seasons were surprisingly good in the several snow events we drove through either on the way to ski last year or on the way back or both! Traction Control, Dynamic Stability Control and ABS brakes, make the thing hard to put wrong.

With any vehicle, whether it's FWD, AWD or RWD, you should always drive smoothly and not exceed the limits of whatever adhesion you might have on an icy road surface. Drive sensibly. If you live where ice is common, 4 studded snow tires are best, but those studs make a lot of noise. Modern rubber/silica compounds in new snow tires are formulated to do a great job on icy roads and are the next best thing if you can't take the stud racket. Just remember that once you have worn through half of a snow tire's tread, it performs more like a good all season. More wear than that really lowers a snow tire's ability to grip in snow, but is still a lot better than a Summer tire.

My friend put a new set of Conti PureContacts on his 2010 Prius a few weeks ago... so at least we'll have some decent tread for a little extra grip on our ski trips. My "Winter" car has 4 Blizzaks on it for the bigger and "badder" snow storms. One thing to please keep in mind. If storm conditions are really bad, don't drive in it, if possible. It's not worth trashing you car or getting tangled in an accident with another car or risking personal injury or worse. I see too many SUVs on their sides or tops and a lot of crunched metal after each storm. Most of that is not necessary. The worst part of a 12 hour snow storm only lasts 3-6 hours on average. Some last more, and some less. A little planning will keep most of us out of trouble.

A snow tire equipped Prius is fine in Winter and will get 45 to 50 mpg if driven sanely. Not many other cars can do that. I haven't found anything I can really complain about our Prius. Versatile and reliable as can be. Has just the right blend of tech and comfort. Rent one and spend some time driving it before you buy to make sure it's the car for you.