please, help an italian potential buyer...

Your English isn't so terrible.

But you posted at 2:30 in the morning. Not many people are awake.

As to your questions:

1- is it confortable for my size?When I've tried it, I found it should be better if I could lift up a little more the steering wheel...

I can't convert your size but we have some tall guys on the forum and most find the car comfortable enough. The steering wheel is adjustable up and down. Did the salesman adjust it for you?

2- what about the luggage?Me and my wife are considering to have a baby Smile Is this car ok for a long trip with a baby and many MANY bags?(you know, in Italy when we move to holiday's place, we tend to bring half home with us Razz )

The cargo area holds a lot of luggage. And the back seat is very roomy. Plenty of room for when the baby gets bigger. Plenty of room for a carseat when he's still small. And because the Prius is a four door, easy for you to get to the baby. Other have taken long trips and find no problem with the car for passengers or luggage.

3-concerning the baggage...is it possible to put load bars and a roof box (or bicycle carriers) in the roof?

Yes. There are racks for bicycles and skis available. In fact, I think they are more available in Europe than they are in the U.S.

4-what about the battery?In italy toyo gives 8 years guarantee for battery pack.
What about if something in eletric engine (or battery) breaks out guarantee limit?

You mean, what if it breaks after 8 years? That is very unlikely. There are people who have been driving a Prius for 5 years with no problems. There is a taxicab driver who has put 250,000 miles on his car and it has not needed a new battery or a new engine.

>How much (approximately) must I pay for
change all battery package?

No one knows. But 8 years from now it will probably be cheaper and better than what is in the car now.

>Anyone here have to change his battery pack or something related eletric engine?

No one has had to change the battery or engine. The car is built very well. You will probably sell the car and buy a new car before the battery or engine needs to be replaced.

 

Buon giorno, Matteo!

Your 185 cm height translates into 6 foot, 1 inch or 6'1" (72.8 inches at 2.54 cm per inch, and 12 inches to the foot in the units of measurement that only the US and Liberia use...). I'm 6' and am quite comfortable in my Prius. There's a tilt adjustment on the steering wheel - just reach under it to find the release (don't do it while driving!).

I have three kids (age 20, 16, 8) and sometimes they and my wife all go together in my Prius - a bit tight in back but not bad. More commonly it's only 3 or 4 of us going together anywhere and then the kids prefer the Prius to our minivan because they've decided the Prius is more cool.

Thule makes a rack kit for the roof; I have one (parts 400XT Aero foot pack; LB50 load bars; 2142 fit kit). I have both a bike rack and a ski box (Yakima Rocketbox), and we've taken ski trips with four people and a ski box with no problem (the extra storage compartment hidden under the back deck will fit a pair of ski boots!). Any extra fuel use due to the weight and wind resistance added was small enough that it was hard to detect against the change in driving patterns (long highway versus daily around-town stuff). I don't use the bike rack very often (I bike 3 miles/5 km on the road to a single track mountain bike trail - better and quicker than loading bike, driving, unloading bike). I don't leave the rack on the roof as a matter of routine; it's easy enough to pop on and off when necessary.

By the way, the Prius does OK in snow. I've driven up some hills in 6 cm before the roads were cleared. The tires that come with the US model are not the best in the snow but some people have reported happier results using snow tires.

I don't think I've ever seen a post on this web site of a electric motor or battery pack repair, so the system seems pretty reliable thus far. There's a taxi service in Vancouver that has put a huge number of miles on some Prii: Prius taxi info

So, go for it! It's a great car and should do well on Italian roads (I've been to Trieste for work and Arabba for skiing each March the last few years).

 

For those who say they can not convert . . .
http://www.onlineconversion.com/length_common.htm
http://www.onlineconversion.com/
. . . and you thought it was going to be a religious thing. :wink:

Hi Matteo,

Your command of the English language is much much better than most of our Italian . . . and in some cases, better than our English too.

I too am 6.0695538 :jester: feet tall and find the Prius quite comfortable to drive.

Having driven in Italy, I can confirm that a car like the Prius would be great for Italian roads . . . with the possible exception of some of the traffic circles in Naples. :crazyeyes:

Back in the late 1970's some friends and I hired a local elderly gentleman to give us a ride from Naples to Pompeii. On the trip back to Naples, he turned the motor off and coasted down the mountain. With a smile and a laugh he said “my car is petrol and gravity powered.†If he were alive today, I’m sure he would appreciate the Prius.

A Prius will hold much more than one would think . . . especially if you fold down one or both of the back seats. Is it Italian Holiday sized???? I don’t know. But for a party of two, it is a good size for American drive-in campground camping . . . tent, sleeping bags, pillows, ice chest, cooking stove, lawn chairs, toys, bags, etc.

 

There are very minor differences between the 04, 05 and 06. There will be come color changes with the 06. The red and green colors will be replaced with other red and green colors. In the U.S. there will be a tax credit which will save money if you wait to buy after Jan 1, 2006. That is why some people cannot decide. The main difference between an 04 and and 05 is that the rear wiper was optional in the 04 and standard with the 05.

 

I think it’s bull . . . but . . . I don’t have an Italian version of the Prius Owner’s Manual . . . and if I did . . .

The only problem I have heard about concerning battery life in that short of period has to do with the Smart Key System (SKS) draining the 12 volt battery, not the large traction battery.

There is notinglike that in my U.S. version of the manual. Maybe you should go back to that Italian newsgroup and ask for confirmation . . . either a link to Toyota, or a quote from the book with a page reference. I think you will be hit with dead silence. You could also go talk to your local Toyota dealer.

 

Hello Matio,

I am in Muenchen. We recently did a trip from Muenchen to Ancona, boat to Patras, onto Athens, another boat to Crete doing a return via Patras to Venice.

Our car was full to the roof. In the car we had amoungst other things an oven, hob, microwave, rotorvator, lamps, full dining set, 4 chairs a table, TV, petrol generator, clothes for 2 people for 3 weeks, a large toolkit full with power tools, a kitchen extractor, blankets, sheets, double air bed, a large Spanish roof tile, 25 meter power cable on a reel, tripod, cameras, 25KG bbq coal, 2 dustbins (Clean!), Alabaster lamp, Venician glass object, my wife. So I dont think you will have a problem with 1 child and a few bags!!!

For the trip we needed 1 tank of petrol.

I will post a picture of the loaded car on www.our-crete.info tonight.

Its FUD (Fear Uncertainty Doubt).

Its perfectly reasonable to leave a car unused for extended periods of time, for example due to holidays etc. Thus such a clause (if it exists at all) would be illegal and therefore invalid under EU law. If Toyota did try to enforce such a clause then I am sure there would be a large number of cars returned to them as "unfit for the purpose" and the EU would probably give them a very heavy fine. I also doubt the car would have received its EU certification either.

Back in December 2004 I left the car at Muenchen airport for 3 1/2 weeks. when I came back it was covered in snow. I got in the car, pressed start and it started at once without problems, except it was bloody cold in the car! The only precaution I took was to switch off SKS, but that autodisables anyway after 10 or 14 days.

 

Hi mmtt...

Some potential U.S. Prius buyers are considering delaying their purchase until after January 1, 2006. The upcoming U.S. government's subsidies for purchase of a fuel-efficient and ecologically "clean" cars offer substantially greater reductions in federal taxes after January 1st. As an example, my tax reduction on my 2004 Prius was approximately $500, while a purchaser of a new 2006 delivered after January 1st, will save about $2,000.