Greetings - new Prius V owner - from 2012 CR-V

Hi all, I'm a new owner of a Prius V five.

I had owned a Honda CR-V for 12 years and didn't have many complaints about it. When it came time to buy a new car I naturally went to a 2012 CR-V. Unfortunately, after owning it for 5 months, a box truck rear-ended me and as I was turning at the time I flipped 2.5 times and the car was totaled. I wasn't hurt much so I guess that's a plus for Honda. The cop that came to the scene said it was the first time he had seen the airbags deploy correctly for a side impact. (technically a rear-impact but I rolled on the side)

Anyway, with the time waiting for insurance to pay out and the fact that the Honda dealers in town didn't have the configuration I wanted... I had the unique opportunity to go car shopping having "test driven" a CR-V for 5 months. I had done research in the past of other mini-SUVs but none had appealed to me. I'd say the CR-V is top of the line in it's class. However, I drive about 40 miles a day in Atlanta stop and go traffic and shelling out $40+ a week was getting tiring. I decided to look into the hybrids.

Having come from an SUV I was delighted to find the Prius V offered comparable cargo space, although less than the CR-V. I also had to get used to driving lower and not being able to see over cars in front. It is a hard tradeoff, but the money saved on gas makes it totally worth it.

The only things I find lacking in my Prius V is dual climate control. My wife constantly used that to keep her side of the car warmer whereas I had the AC blowing cold. Also, the rear view camera is pretty lousy quality compared to the CR-V's. I miss the bug-eye view to see sideways for incoming traffic. Also, when you start up and go into reverse, the damn black audio bar comes down from the top, obscuring the view to where you can only see the pavement in front of the bumper. Finally, the CR-V had really nice cupholders. >.>;

Yeah, they are nit-picks but that's about it...

The audio/nav system in the Toyota is much better than the CR-V. I'm still getting used to entunes, but the touch screen is way more responsive and the voice controls are far superior to what Honda has to offer.

I also looked into the Ford C-Max. I test drove it and loved everything about it... except the cargo space and the fact that it is a Ford. Honestly every little feature of that car is really neat and better than the Prius V... but ultimately it came down to cargo space (I have a 11 month old son) and build quality. I've owned 2 Fords in the past (hand me downs) and I can't say I'm much of a fan. Conversely, everyone I talk to says that the best car they've ever owned is a Toyota.

In the end it was a choice between going back to the CR-V and the Prius V. The gas mileage (and probably keyless/fobless entry... so cool!) was the deciding factor. As of typing this I'm averaging 47.1 mpg and I'm still on the first tank of dealer gas. I've gone about 380 miles. Thanks to this forum I was sure to ask for the backup beeping to be changed to 1 beep before I took delivery!