Yeah, the fuel economy is great. The quiet ride and electronics are great too. But my absolute FAVORITE thing is when traffic turns to stop and go, I have zero anxiety. With my stickshift Accord, it just drove me nuts. With any automatic, it was a lot better, but I was still kind of ragey thinking of burning gas, brakes, torque converter just to sit there. (and largely because people are bad drivers, merging onto 60 mph highway at 40 mph, etc.) But with a Prius? I don't care. I just dial up a podcast, mp3 or pop a CD in and enjoy the quiet time. God knows when I get home I have more work to do. What's YOUR favorite thing about your Prius?
Hard to choose. Yesterday was one of the first times I've been out in the car with the kids in the back as it was starting to get dark. Suddenly my 4 year old daughter shouts "Daddy! The car's gone blue! That's SO AWESOME!". She was referring to the button illumination, specifically her door window button I guess. I love the colour too. Starting off in complete silence (no artificial sound here in the UK), with the windows down, never gets old too.
I had 4 grandchildren in the car last week - one was at the side back in a car-seat, the other 2 in the back had an argument "BUT I WANT TO SIT IN THE MIDDLE SEAT". Which was odd - kids usually want the window seat. Turns out they wanted to watch the centre screen - which I had on radio - but asked me to turn it to ECO so they could watch the battery!!! Their 8 seater has a DVD player - Grandad only has an Energy Monitor, but it was better than nothing
My four main favorites and why I bought a Prius: Reliability. Very low maintenance. MPG. Very low pollution. Not having the engine running all the time / hybrid technology. Other stuff: Very unique styling. "Starship." When parked I can run the cold AC for long periods. The nice bright LED headlights and daytime running lights. Cool looking "lightning bolt" taillights. Room. I'm 6'-4" and I actually fit comfortably in the car. Good navigation system. Nice sounding radio. Ease of operation.
Obviously, I like the MPG performance most of all. But close second is the opportunity to drive a video game of "how many miles per gallon can I get on this trip".
First of all I was impressed by the looks, both outside and interior. Then the idea of the fantastic tech blew my mind. The test drive on a glorious sunny day was fab. The agony of the three month wait was purgatory. The tantalising info on Prius Chat was captivating. (Ya think?)!!! Halved my petrol bills. A few minor niggles, but I'm still enthralled.
For me, I was already familiar with the Prius family. My son bought a new 2005 and later replaced it with a new 2015 Prius v. I drove his cars occasionally but, once I learned to deal with the annoying popups, it has become more of a joy to drive than expected. Sorry to mention a negative, but I really think Toyota should be cited for excess driver distraction and forced to update the software to reduce the needless popups.
Someone mentioned that it's going from a 7" (?) to a huge screen. Just wait to see what they can pop-up on that. Personally, I don't really like the big screens - they look hideous in some cases. - YIKES
....and it fits right in at Disneyland. My display screen is only 7". No pop-ups. I've never seen a pop-up. Not really a distraction because its very easy to turn all that stuff off. And I no longer get excited about MPG, like Kevin. I've climbed the great mountain top once, and once is enough. Now it's just another car. And I just drive it. In PWR mode, baby!!
The popups occur in the MID beside the speedometer, not the larger MFD. Popups in the driver's field of view should be only for warning & critical issues, not just information.It is not normally critical that I know the DRCC sees a car in front. That could be shown by an icon instead. Here is the larger MFD on some trim levels.
I'm new here, but I'm reserving power mode for when I want to be impressed. I'd rather floor it in Normal Mode when needed. Economy Mode, I ignore. It just seems to make the throttle less sensitive; need to push it further to get a result. Kind of like having a slow-moving mouse cursor on my computer.
My problem with the driving modes is it changes the acceleration of the radar cruise control. I usually run in Normal mode but sometimes switch to PWR to speed up cruise response.
The great thing about PWR mode is that I've never had to floor it. I just barely press the pedal in my Prius and it jumps out like a jackrabbit. Some people can get the same gas mileage in all three driving modes. At least I have. It just comes down to which "pedal feel" you prefer. (Your mileage will vary)
Great responses all, but I asked for your favorite thing. Singular. Please pare it down, go back and bold your single favorite thing, if you wouldn't mind.
My favorite single thing is the smoothness of the transmission. That power split device really is amazing in simplicity and performance.
You CANNOT be serious. Ok, ok, since you're so picky.... Every time I see my car, and drive my car, I feel like I'm at Disneyland!