Considering Buying A Prius

I'm sure glad I got my G3 in January .... MSRP was $23,760, and I bought the car for just under $21K after discounts and rebates.

No way I'd pay even $25K for a Prius, and I sure as hell wouldn't pay $35K. A Prius at $30K+ has to be one of the worst buys on the market. Buy a Garmin GPS for $100 if you need nav ....

I'd buy TWO new model Elantras or TWO 2012 Focuses for $35K .... or one of each way before I'd spend $30K+ on a Prius. As great of a car as it is, and I love mine, it's STILL a $20K econobox (or ecobox if you prefer). If you're the type of person who has to have every option in the book .... go for it ! Just realize that if you don't pay cash (or have a sizeable down payment), you're going to be upside down on that car for practically it's entire life.

REV

 

Classic II owner jealousy!! Pathetic. Sour grapes anyone? Not everyone is as financially limited as you. And yeah, my car is paid for.

BTW, $35k Prius has more than just NAVI...but you already knew that, right?!

And what makes you think the Prius is an econobox??

And the ONLY Focus that i would buy would run me about $27k. But, yeah, 2012 Focus are great cars!!

Revhigh is just pissed that he got caught with his pants down while boasting his audio credentials!

 

Lol !! Buyers remorse is a bummer, eh Thai ? Spent $15K too much on exactly the same car. Financially limited ?? Not likely ... common sense limited .... yup ....

Let's compare stereos, Mr. Levinson .... any time ....

Rev

 

Uhh...it's been over a year...ok....

Same car? That's is laughable. Need to do more research my boy.

Yeah, for you (as you have stated clearly in the past), "analyzing" a stereo system like an audiophile involves a quick testdrive and using FM radio! After anyone reading that crap in your post, your audio credibility just drop like Osama's body after a double tap!! :rockon:

 

See: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii-2010-prius-main-forum/93495-prius-econobox.html

Post your facts to back up what you said....

 

Buyer's remorse lasts a LOOOOONG time when it's of that magnitude ... LOL !

 

Thanks for the reply.

Basically I have a 97 honda CR-V right now that is close to falling apart so I've been wanting to get a new car for a while. I'm moving to NH for the summer and need a car there so my thought was well I'll sell my CR-V before I leave, then buy in NH where there's no sales tax, and drive it back to CA in september.

Unfortunately I can't think of a way that I can wait to buy a car...I can't drive my CR-V from CA to NH (not safe enough - at least not without putting a few $K into the car to repair things).

So I'm sort of stuck with buying a car (And it'll be in about a month - the 31st of May or the 1/2 of June is when I arrive in NH).

I looked at some other econoboxes - like the Elantra and the Kia Soul. Need to test drive the Honda Fit as well. The Soul I liked (its similar to my CR-V) but the exterior styling is very cartoony and not something I think I'd be happy with. The Elantra I like the styling of but I actually really did not like the drive - it was very delayed in its response and sits extremely low.

But the Prius makes sense on so many levels - its not a huge car but has decent cargo capacity, it gets great gas milage, i love the styling. Money isn't a major concern of mine - I'll be buying for cash flat out, but it'll eat at me that im buying at the top of demand, grrrr.

 

May i suggest...2012 Ford Focus?? It is really a class leader IMO. I think that it comes in hatchback or something like that.

Kia Soul has a nice shape, but i hear that it is very noisy on the highway, on par with your old CRV! (BTW, i had a 1997 CRV too!)

Honda Fit is too small, jittery, and noisy IMO...and has had inconsistent crash testing scores.

The other way is to buy the Prius used...there are a few Prius for sale on Ebay last time i checked.

 

I have to agree with you on this one.

 

So this is interesting. I went and test drove the 2011 Prius and 2012 Focus hatchback today - so I could have them right next to each other in my mind.

Thoughts on Prius:
I actually LOVED the way the prius drove. I'm not an aggressive driver, I'm a point A to B driver, but the prius was very responsive - no delay from pedal to wheel turn, and the ergonomics were great. Great space all around, etc. The ONE thing I absolutely DETESTED was the trim fabric. With the fabric interior the choice of fabric on the center armrest and on the doors was the worst fabric I've ever felt anywhere. It was the same stuff that used to be on the roofs of cars and in children's pajamas. It makes my skin crawl just touching it, yech! Not sure what to do there because the leather, the salesman said, was $2k more, yikes! I usually prefer fabric, but I was appalled at the choice of trim fabric. I also did notice the door-side armrest being too low and hard (but the leather pads they sell around here supposedly fix that.

Thoughts on Focus:
MUCH better internal materials - this was a fabric model as well but everything felt high quality. The dash layout is a bit busy for my taste (there's a freaking dialpad on it) but the technology is capable. The two internal dash lcd's (non nav model) looked useful though I didnt have time to figure them out). As for driving - while it felt like the focus had more power than the prius it also had an element I really dislike - there's a short delay between pedal depression and response. The prius felt peppier.

One other very significant thing is the location of dash meters - I LOVE the prius's eyebrow layout that means when I'm wearing my glasses I don't have to move my head to look at them. On the Focus (and all other cars) - I have to physically tilt my head down because the gauges normally lie right where the bottom rim of my glasses fall in my field of view (meaning i can't read them normally).

I happen to like the external styling of the prius more, plus the fuel of the focus is 28/38 as opposed to prius's 49/51 - that's a significant difference.

Also - the prius felt MUCH more spacious. The passenger seemed very cramped in the focus, and the rear seats dont have nearly the same amount of space.

 

A Gen III Prius can carry just about as much cargo as the RAV4 can Pics of our rental car last week As you can see it was a heavy load mostly glassware. Made the car look like a low-rider :rockon:






Mike