How did you first find out about the Prius?

If I remember it was an article I read about it and the great gas mileage it got. Then a couple of years ago I went out of curiosity to the dealer and ask if I could drive one. I was amazed at how high tech and nice it drove. I finally broke down this year and bought one

 

I had read about the Prius over the years, but got one as a rental vehicle while my Dodge Caravan was being repaired in early 2009. Bought one when I could get a good deal in March.

 

December 1997. Electric Vehicle Symposium 14 in Orlando, FL.

I wasn't with Toyota at the time. I couldn't fully wrap my head around this new product, but I knew it was the future.

Who knew I'd be here 12 years later?

Doug Coleman
Prius Product Manager
Toyota Motor Sales, USA

 

my friend bought one and it got me interested, I drove it and saw the accel wasnt as bad as they say and then got one 6 months later when I got my first job

 

I knew someone who bought a first generation prius new, back when people thought he was buying an experiment. At the time, didn't think it was the right choice for me, but did think it was a cool car. Recently looked at the 2010 and I'm so impressed. Will purchase one soon, after the initial frenzy calms down and I figure out exactly what I want.

 

Me-

Gen 1, just in passing - little to no interest.

Gen 2, hmm, not bad. A bit 'frumpy' even though Larry David has one. Well other "stars" too and perhaps that put me off. A bit utilitarian and an uppity image. Not wanting to make a statement and gas was cheap.

Gen 3. Late last year. I believe saw spy shots in car mags. Hmm, now this looks nice. Real nice and sporty looking. Read everything I could then joined Pchat in April. My V is in now and will pick up Saturday.

See what a bad influence you folks are?

 

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" really did a lot for Prius awareness--all of a sudden it was hip to drive a Prius.

Wonder if Larry David got an endorsement fee for it?

 

Make yourselves comfortable. [life story mode on]

he year was 2005, when I first began hearing stories of EPA City 60 MPG, EPA Hwy 48 MPG (guessing at the actual numbers). How intriguing, a car with City EPA highter the Hwy EPA? Imposible! How can this be?

Now I get laid off from my job of 20 years and the handy 2 mile commute I had arranged. A half mile of my 2 mile commute was actually the driveway of the corporation. What to do? After about six months of Wth, you think, I better do something, hence the job with a 40 mile commute, and we are the proud owners of 2 Dodge Grand Caravans (Gas is cheap, no commute, lots of room).

Now my Grand Caravan is giving me a nice 22 MPG and at 80 miles a day with gas at an astronomical $1.999 or whatever, this is sarting to cost me $8 to $10 per day just for gas to get to work, and I would actually rather buy a movie ticket with $8 to $10. I need to go out and get me one of them economy cars.

But all these cars I am looking at are so small, or boring, or old, and you still only get around 30 MPG. What to do? I have been hearing more about these hybrids, and have some wird concepts like the Prius has a little electric motor positioned at each wheel.

I am at a honda dealer, and I say the word "hybrid". Well, Honda has two, there is the 2004 Civic here, and then there are these 2005 Accords we just came out with. Lets drive them and see what you think. OK, this thingy is inicating the gas engine and then the electric motor is on. Sometimes the gas motor dies but hey, it starts right up again. Where's the Zuh, zuh, zuh, zuh of the starter motor cranking? Oh well, this Civic is kind of small and boring, but hey, I have always admired Accords. Almost everyone has one, my sister has an 84 and Mom and Dad got an 87, and the paster has one too, although his daughter whants an explanation as to how all of Jesus' 12 diciples all got in there at once.

The Civic will get 41 MPG and the Accord will get 37 MPG. Well, I better go check out a Prius, becuase I hear they get 60 MPG. Off to Toytota, just down the street.

Toyota Salesman: "Hello, What can I do to sell you a car TODAY?"

Me - "I am not ready today, but I want to test drive one of those Priuses."

Salesman - "Oh, those are really hard to get. We only have one here to demonstrate. It is over here."

Salesman and me (approaching white blob of a car). Me thinking "Hum, that is a very perculiar shape for a car. I have never seen anything like that."

Salesman opens blob door "Get in, and I will show you how different this car is." Me thinking "Yeah, I'll say, what kind of interior is this?"

Incidently, no offense to the "most popular car color", but I have never been a real white car fan due to all the HVAC, Comcast and so on white vans. They seem kind of institutional.

Now the salesman is describing all these weird looking controls and saying the car has no key. He pushes this "Power" button, but nothing is happening. Hardly any time goes by until the saleman boldly proclaims "The car is broken. You will have to come back later."

Me - "Later? Uh I mean Later Dude!"

I am out of there and back to Honda dealership before you can say "A car looses 30 percent of it's value the second you drive it off the showroom floor."

Well, I think the Accord is better, becuase everyone has one, and that Civic kind of looks blob-ish like that white Prius, and I want leather seats. But hey, a regular non hybrid Accord with leather seats will get 31 MPG according to EPA, doing the math, I think I should just settle for 31 MPG as I completely forget my previous thinking that 30 was kind of low.

Now I get this nice new Almond colored Accord V6 with leather, and it is really fun to drive. There is some power here. And when I see a Prius on the road, I have made up my own new name Prius of Sh-t, because it looks weird and boring compared to my Accord.

Hey lets confirm that 31 MPG at the pump. WHAT! I am only getting 25 MPG, and that is if I try to drive saintly. My Grand Caravan was getting 22 MPG. I guess that was a mistake. I accidently bought the modern day equivalent of a muscle car. What will I do. I have a 40 mile commute, and recent news has highlighted how gas stations don't have enough 2s for their sings. Gas is going up toward $2.30 but you need to multiply the pump price by 2 because no pump can display over $1.999. I better go take another look at that Civic. Hey, they just came out with a brand new one for 2006, and it is kind of cool. The dash looks like it is from Tomorrow Land. I make another "deal". Oh, and this car is White. (Not Blizzard Pearl, we'er talking institutional white, but there was another guy test driving it at the same time as me, and my sales guy is getting me the upper hand.

Now I am driving this 2006 Civic Hybrid, but hey, it is only getting 39 MPG. That is not even 40. And the engine never turns off unless you come to a coplete stop. Just going down the metering ramp alone, it starts 20 times. Oh, this is a down hill ramp. I will just shut the Civic off, put it in neutral and use brake only to creep ahead. But the whole ramp is not down hill. About 6 cars from the front of the metering line, I need to turn the Civic back on again and then it is engine start and stop the rest of the way home. Oh, and these brakes are really grabby.

Now I move to another new job that is only 30 miles from work, but one of the guys has this really weird looking Prius G1. I have never seen anything like this, but he cannot stop talking about it. He asks me, what kind of mileage do you get with your Civic Hybrid?

Me - 38 MPG.

Prius G1 friend - "What's the point?"

Now I am driving my white Civic back and forth to work.
"Hey, there goes grey Pprius, a silver Prius, a gold color Prius. I am sure starting to see alot of different colors besides the white."

Hey, is that a blue Prius, a Maroon Prius! Those actually look kind of cool. Then I found Priuschat, and found out that Prius of Sh-t was not a correct pronunciation. Few weeks later, I am at a different Toyota dealer and they have 50 Prius to choose from. They have several demonstators that are not broken, and I get to drive tow. One is called a Touring Edition. Before you know it, I am deciding between cloth and leather, Silver Pine Mica, Blue, Salsa Red? Such a hard choice. OK, we'll take the green one and we have never looked back. People ask me what I think of my Prius, and I say it is the best car I have ever owned.

[life story mode off]

Now I have never looked back, and


.But it isand my parents got one in

 

Prius Chat newbie here; can I chime in?

My initial exposure to Gen III was courtesy of YouTube. I'd watched the unveiling during the Detroit Auto Show and was blown away. The passing interest I had for hybrids suddenly morphed into this urgent need to gather information, and lots of it. I think I must have looked at every single video relating to the new model that I could find on YT! Honest to goodness, I was staying up late at night watching these vids, reading comments, following every step leading up to the launch of the car. Didn't hurt that I was in the market for a new car as well! And, given my desire to be less of a nuisance to Mother Earth by embracing 'the green philosophy' as a must-do (as opposed to a hip fashion statement), it just seemed natural that the Prius would be a good fit for me.

I love Hondas and was also excited about the new Insight. Still, I found myself coming back to learn more about the Prius time after time. I love everything about the car: the exterior styling, the interior aesthetics, the technology (though I can't afford the upper level trim I'm afraid), everything! The car is just incredible. I'd be extremely pleased to own package II, as it offers all the essentials I'd want on a daily basis (throw in the iPod integration kit and I'm good to go). It's a given that excellent fuel efficiency and reduced emissions really sweeten the deal.

 

You're right about the iPod connection being an accessory. Thx for the welcome!

 

I don't remember how or where I first heard about the Prius. When I started to do research, I came upon John's Stuff - Toyota Prius and more. This intro video convinced me that it would be my future car. I spent a lot of time learning about Prius and involved in heated hybrid debates on edmunds forum.

The new Iconic model was introduced in Sept 2003 and a refreshed model in 2006. With the $3,150 tax credit and HOV lane benefits pushed me to replace my 5 years old 76k miles 30 MPG Celica hatchback.

 

A friend at work bought a Gen I Prius and was showing it off. I loved the digital instrument panel and liked the idea of a high efficiency car. I had an Eagle Talon at the time and was getting around 20 MPG. The Prius was rated at around 60 MPG (they have since changed the EPA rating system).

However, I needed a hatchback to be able to carry all of the stuff I normally haul around. (I am a member of a model railroad club and I carry a lot of boxes of trains and accessories to train shows where we set up our layout. I don't think I can get nearly as much stuff into a regular car, and I have no use for an SUV.)

Two years later, he told me that he was getting ready to buy another Prius because his son had totalled the 2002 model. He said they had just announced the 2004 Prius and it was a hatchback. I looked up the information on the Toyota web site and was eagerly waiting to see one. A couple of weeks later he told me that the local dealer had one for demonstrations. I went over and took a test drive. The following day I took my wife for a test drive, and we ordered one. It took six months to get the car. The gas mileage isn't quite what was advertised, but it was twice what I was getting on my old car, so I was happy.

I don't remember where I first heard about the Gen III Prius. I do remember looking at the information on the Toyota web site and decided that I had to have one. I ordered one (Prius V with ATP in Blue Ribbon Metalic) soon after Toyota announced the pricing. My local dealer just received a Prius IV with Navigation in Blue Ribbon Metalic and my wife and I plan to test drive it tomorrow. I get to see the new car and see how it drives and my wife gets to see how the color she picked looks. Hopefully, some day soon, my car will show up.