Pre-Prius Days

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rxmxsh @ Mar 18 2007, 12:43 AM) [snapback]407783[/snapback]</div>

I don't know if "Give up" is the phrase. We gave away our '90 Taurus wagon and our '90 (or was it '91) Geometro. We now have practically the economy of the Geo (not quite as good as its best years, but it might be if we'd keep the speed down to 55 mph), and the space of the wagon. There's not much we could get in the wagon that we can't get in the Prius.

Dave M.

P.S. They each had over 200k miles on them.

 

My wife traded her 2005 Prius for a 2007.
I Still have my Lexus LS400 (98) but will be selling. Really do not make any long auto trips and the new Prius is more fun to drive.
Carl

 

My 1991 Camry and I had stopped talking to each other by the time I got my Prius. The transmission was going (I didn't feel safe driving it on the freeway after a couple of scary episodes), it had a perpetual oil leak and the odometer was shot. Still, for a first car it served me well!

 

We did a super deal for our son on our 2006 GMC Denali XL all loaded up with the goodies that got 14 MPG around town & about the same on a trip. He & his wife love the Denali !!
We are both retired & have been since 1988 & I feel that we can & will drive the Prius anywhere we'd like to go & never worry about the cost of fuel, as we are doing the best we can.
Later
Bill in FL

 

I gave up a '91 Camry for the Prius (well, I sold it to my brother-in-law). It had almost 235,000 miles on it, and it was still running great! I had planned to run it into the ground, but my mom and I just fell in love with the 2004 Prius when it came out. We had previously sold an '85 Honda Civic wagon (160,000+ miles), and my mom had really missed how high up the seats were and the hatchback capability. We got the best combination of both cars in the Prius, and I'm gonna keep this 'til it drops!

BTW I did a number of road trips in the Camry, and I would routinely get 30-34 mpg on those, depending on how I drove or how much the A/C was used. Much to my surprise, I immediately reformed my leadfoot ways when we got the Prius, and I now happily cruise along at 64 mph on the freeway.

 

1999 F-150 with 130K miles. It was time for something new and with a job that involved intermittent 30-mile (one way) commutes fuel economy was a chief consideration.

I hadn't paid the Prius much attention since I had read the press coverage on the Honda Insight and concluded it was a science project rather than a practical car, and that hybrids were for hemp-wearing tree-huggers determined to stretch every thimbleful of gasoline as far as it could possibly go, even if it meant tucking knees to chin and crawling along in the slow lane.

I cringed when the Prius came up at the top of the fuel-efficiency listing I searched, but have been pleasantly amazed at what a "real car" it actually is, while being insanely fuel-efficient at the same time.

It also helps that it can be adapted to power my house in a power failure.

 

I didn't give up anything. We added the Prius as a second car. Our other vehicle is a 4wd Ford Aerostar van with 185,000 miles. We used it for car pooling kids and sports equipment, and then kids to college. Now we use it for lumber and sails, and really bad winter weather.

Tom

 

Damn straight.

We gave up a 1996 GMC Safari van with like 90000 miles on it. My dad says he cried. The Prius is far superior.

 

I think I responded to a thread like this before...

Rootmobile v1.0 was a 1998 Dodge Stratus. Great car. Served me very well. But after 92,000 miles, I thought it would be better to do a planned upgrade than wait for the thing to die on the side of the road somewhere, especially since I'd already had to repair a blown head gasket on the thing.

The Prius gets double the mileage of the Stratus, which has me almost giddy. Can't wait for vacation so I can take it out on a trip that's longer than 45 minutes.

 

I "gave up" my 1992 Volvo 240 GL. It was an awesome car that had many problems after about 200,000 miles. It also made me feel like a giant. No cupholders, very little seat adjustment, and very close-together pedals. Also, the parking break stuck on occasion.

In short...best decision EVER!

 

'03 BMW 530i

 

Two weeks ago, traded in my Subaru Legacy GT, 250 Hp. I don't miss it, driving gently I got 19 MPG. My reasoning was why do I need so much horse power? I decided to right size my vehicle needs. The biggest selling point was having the engine stop at stop lights. That makes so much sense!

 

I'm getting over 3.5 times the mileage on my relatively short commute over my previous '94 Intrepid. The head gasket was starting to leak, I had to replace the entire instrument cluster, and it was already on its 2nd transmission. The cooling system was going to fail next.

A friend of mine had done the fly-to-California bit to get an '04 Prius and I liked it so much I bought an '05. No regrets. Among my circle of friends, we now total 4 Prii.

 

2003 Lexus GX470 SUV

 

I happily traded in an '01 VW Jetta with 83K miles for my new Prius. The Jetta had too many problems and with a 20 mile (one-way) mixed highway/city commute in the DC metro-area, the Prius was a no-brainer.

I'm extremely happy with my Magnetic Gray baby, and just had my first fill-up.

 

What did I give up? Nada, zip, niente, zero...... For me, the Prius was a huge step UP, not down. I've never paid this much for a car and would never have if my choices were limited to conventionally powered vehicles.

So, what did I give up? A 1991 Ford Escort Wagon which was a great little car; reliable and reasonably roomy. It was the first car I ever owned that had air conditioning. It was prone to heater coil failures, though, and I went through four of them in the five years I owned the car, and I never did completely get rid of the anti-freeze moisture under the passenger side carpeting. I averaged 24 mpg with that little wagon; about half of what I average with the Prius. I custom painted the Escort with a Puget Sound mural on one side and an Eastern Washington farm scene on the other. I sold the car to a retired Navy guy who, in spite of himself, admitted he liked the paint job. I've done custom paint murals on every car I've owned except the Prius. My friends keep asking me when I'm going to paint HUMU, but I don't want to interfere with the aesthetics of the car, which I think is the most beautiful car I've seen.
Power windows? Power mirrors? Automatic "transmission" ("automatic planetary gears???"), etc....... this is way above my previous consumer class level so I will need to consider eating less or going to fewer movies in order to stay in place.....

I applaud those who've given up gas guzzlers (e.g. Evan's '97 SUV) because they are helping to reverse the American appetite for overconsumption and big cars. Folks like me just traded across the board, swapping one reasonably good mileage car for another, about the same size, with much better mileage.

 

1990 Ford Probe LX with 196K miles on it. It had power seats and a system scanner which told you which bulb was out, which door was open and which fluid was low. I enjoyed driving it, but I can do more with the Prius and have more fun in the process.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(paulccullen @ Mar 18 2007, 12:30 PM) [snapback]407873[/snapback]</div>

I wave, too. I've found that some do, some don't. Keep on doing it!

 

"Give Up??" Depends on which Prius. For my first Prius {2004 Pkg 8 = traded in}, I gave up two cars - 1985 Jaguar XJ6 with 110K miles and problems {Sold outright} -AND- 1986 Toyota Station Wagon {given to our son}. I didn't "give up," just moved up to a better transportation solution.

For the current (SECOND} Prius {2007 Touring Edition Pkg 6}, I 'gave up' the first Prius. :lol: