Besides MPG

I was a little concerned about battery life too, but I was reassured after researching it. My choice was between the Civic hybrid and the Prius. I chose Prius because of the practicality of the hatchback, the better rear legroom for my tall teenagers, and what I believe is a superior hybrid system.

 

The smile on my environmentally-conscious daughter's face when she found out we were considering the most environmentally-friendly family car on the planet.

 

All the tech features sold me on it. I wasn't concerned with battery life necessarily. To have a car that can consistently get 50+ mpg and has all the tech features it has was a no brainer for me.

 

For me, it was principally the "Kermit" factor. Fuel efficiency was important, not for my wallet, but for the environment. The low emissions were a part of that. Then the "cool" factor of a car that could go on electricity, even if only for brief periods, and finally that it's a liftback. I'd have bought a new Civic several years earlier, except that the station wagon was no longer available. So as soon as I read about the 2004 Prius all it took was a good long test drive and I was sold.

Now the Prius is my gas-guzzler, that I only drive if I need to go farther than 40 miles. Otherwise I drive the Xebra, which is so green it makes the Prius look brown.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ May 25 2007, 10:02 PM) [snapback]450197[/snapback]</div>

This will probably sound corney to everyone, but I bought my car after seeing "An Inconvenient Truth". I could give a whip about all the money I save, that was just a great bonus. I have three kids, and thought they are grown, I wanted to know I was doing my part to make the air better for their future. I saw "Who Killed the Electric Car" the same week and it made me realize that alternative cars are quality drives.

Right now, we are leading, like pioneers and I wanted to be a part of the leading edge - though they have been around for a while now. I wanted to be part of the people who drive them and know and explain to the people who say, "where do you plug it in?" and all the other questions people have, with first-hand knowledge.

Aside from these things, it is the very first car I have ever loved for the quality of the ride and comfort.
It fits me perfectly. I would only change if they had a pickup.

 

Way back in January 2000, I made my decision. It was a no brainer. The engineering was clearly superior to the stuff we had to endure in the 20th. The fact that smog-related emissions were a priority beyond efficiency then sealed the deal.

Now over 7 years later, the wait to upgrade yet again is making its presense known... with no certainty when, but it will definitely happen at some point.

 

Fuel economy was the number one reason for me and it is for my wallet. Not making a lot of money, you look at areas where you can cut costs and gas savings was a good place to start. I bought one with only standard options, so the option pacakges had no impact on my wanting the car either. It's also nice to do my small part to help the environment.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(morpheusx @ May 25 2007, 10:22 PM) [snapback]450170[/snapback]</div>

What sold me, besides the great milage was the ability to go "green" and really feel that I am doing my part for the environment. A P-ZEV vehicle like the Prius is one big way to accomplish that.

Where I reside environmental issues including buying local, green spaces, recycling etc..are taken very seriously and driving a hybrid car is just a natural extension of that. It would be great if everyone bought a hybrid car!

Getting around 46-47 mpg. on average is great too.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(morpheusx @ May 25 2007, 10:22 PM) [snapback]450170[/snapback]</div>

What sold me was the simplicity of HSD and how electic and gas were engineered to synergize!

2000 Toyota Celica hatchback that got about 32 MPG stopped me from getting my Prius until 2006. It was a pretty efficient and green (used recycled plastic etc..) already.

 

For me the hybrid powerplant made me stop in to look at it. The body design sold me on the car. Very efficient use of space! The cool factor just backed that up.

 

Before going to the dealer it was the GPS and Bluetooth with the touch screen. Afterwards, it was the keyless entry system that I never knew existed until I took a test drive. It's sweet!

Oh, and the glove compartment is pretty kickin' too.

 

We wanted a Toyota and the looks got us first. We were looking at a Camry but after seeing the Prius and test driving it we were sold. We got option 6 and for the money what you get in the way of options for the price is really great. The options we got would cost thousands more on just about any other car. I did not believe the EPA sticker MPG figures so I was not disapointed that we are not getting those figures. The MPG we are getting is very close to the new EPA figures which is still great.

 

I had read a lot about the coming run up in gas prices. I was at the end of my lease on my IS300 and liked the idea of saving money on gas. I fell in love with the Prius due to all the great technology it has and the roominess of the car. Of all the cars I've ever owned, this one gets asked about the most. People are always stopping me to talk about it. I also plan to keep it for a long time and knowing Toyota reliability became a factor as well.

 

I would agree with Spidey, that it was not based on navigation,bluetooth. etc.. but the gas savings and the interest rate, along with our older jeep that was a 13 mpg vehicle that was not paid off yet due to an upside down trade of a v10 Dodge quad cab 4x4 dually 8 mpg vehicle 3/4 ton. first thought it looked funny but now as time goes by the looks and curves are great and very different. and I do like the color Barcelona red Metalic. Plus being cleaner to the enviroment was another factor. Plus it was time for a new vehicle but I was looking at the prius about 3 years prior to now. The car is great and everyone here knows that already otherwise you would be on a Ford or chevy, mazda or whatever site.
so the 53 average miles per gallon we get now is GREAT plus the thought of a phev conversion of it later is always on my mind.

 

I think many of the poster have already covered the great reasons for deciding to purchase the prius. We had looked at it for two years and decided to pull the trigger in March thanks to the tax rebate and interest incentive from TFS.
The one thing that impressed me the most on the vehicle was the interior space and the way it was put to use. On the outside it looks like a compact car (which is basically all I have driven to this point) but on the inside it has the room and dare I say comfort (really the seats are not that bad at all) of a camry or similar mid-size car.

 

The MPG is definitely the first thing we considered. We were driving a Sienna, 23mpg usually, carpooling with 5 people so it wasn't too bad - but 45mpg without really trying cuts our fuel bill in half, easily!

We like the reliability and the hatchback. I can still cart the things I need for my photogrpahy business (on-location sessions requiring equipment, etc) but it is also quite comfortable as a family vehicle. We've had great luck with Toyotas, so we'll stick with them.

98% customers satisfaction and seeing all those red dots in CR helped, too!

 

Lol, guess I'll be the dumb one to step up and say that the FE alone sold me. I didn't really know much about the car, other than it was a car and not an SUV. That old me right there. I knew that it could come with worse stuff than my Rodeo since the Rodeo was a base model. Didn't know about the tech features, handling, battery life, leg room, or even how it looked (this particular car I mean).

Handling on a car will always be better than an SUV, leg room wasn't gonna be a problem since my SUV had WAY more than even I needed, tech stuff was a bonus and not a necessity, looks didn't (and still don't) matter to me, and the battery life was something that I was willing to take a risk on (not much of a choice really, since none of the cars are THAT old anyways).

I was looking for something that got better than my 18 MPG, at best, city MPG, and the Prius was the winner since the Insight was impossible to find.

 

Besides the gas mileage, I liked the other features the car had: storage, design, comfort, for this size of a car. The technical aspects of the car caused concern for me. If I had read the Owners Manual, before purchase I probably wouldn't have bought it. Too late! The concern here was most maintenance would have to be done by the Toyota dealer. Which in the past wasn't necessary, I only when to a dealer as a last resort, like recall work.