2007 Touring edition worth it??

My '07 Barcelona Red Touring came in on Monday, and I love it so far. It's been about ten years since I drove an actual "car"--my last two vehicles were Jeep Wranglers, and before that it was pickup trucks.

What strikes me the most is how solid and stable the handling is. My Jeep, with its short wheelbase, always felt like it was yawing back and forth slightly as I drove, and felt a bit unstable particularly going around corners. But the Prius feels very stable and controlled. And compared to my Jeep it's so QUIET. I can actually hear the stereo at highway speeds.

Instead of the Toyota NAV system, I opted for a portable Garmin nuvi 350 GPS mounted on and wired into the center console. I had to use a ground loop isolator to eliminate a whining sound from the speakers; now it sounds really nice.

Over the last three days, I've been getting over 50mpg, even at 70 mph on the highway. Just normal trips to work, to school, and running errands. I read on here that mileage on a brand-new Prius is usually not as good as it will get to be after the car is broken in, but it's been good so far.

I'm pretty much happy with the car as it is. I like the larger tires, and the look of the wheel covers more than the dark gray of the alloy wheels. A friend of mine has a Silver Pine Mica standard model which I think looks really sharp, but ordering that color would have added to the wait. But I'm just as happy with the Barcelona Red now that I see it in person; it's a good color. I'm glad I went for the Touring; it was worth it in my opinion.

This forum has been a great source of information for me--by the time the car got here I knew a lot about it just from reading here. So thanks to everyone for all the great info!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bryanmsi @ Oct 23 2006, 10:18 PM) [snapback]337211[/snapback]</div>

Bryanmsi, nice to hear all those good points from another Touring owner.

That is true. My dealer at Richmond, CA also told me the same story that Toyota is phasing out the Touring edition when I picked up my car a month ago. Not sure the real reason.