Still No Sightings in the Wild

Curious how many others besides me bought their Prime without a test drive. There were none in my area to test drive. I used Priuschat Prime customers for my decision to buy. I ordered out of CA and had it shipped to Utah. Got in it for the first time right off the car hauler and I am loving it every day I get in it to drive to work and back.

 

I have bought all of my Prii without a test drive...2 of them sight unseen in the flesh.

 

Pretty sure i already had the order in before I test drove. We had to have another car for a week so I rented the prime. I would have bought it regardless if I had test drove or not.

 

On reflection, it is simply sitting in the car that I think is important. Yes, similar cars are going to drive the same, but you can't tell how well the car will fit you from reviews and driving other models.

We had a Ranger, and liked that truck. At work, there is a Colorado. Similar to the Ranger, and it does drive the same. The foot wells are shallower though. I have to take care not to kick the bottom of the dash while driving it. A reviewer might have made a comment about it, but without knowing their size and seating preferences, I wouldn't be able to tell if the issue was because of the truck design or simply the way they sat in it.

Really, my opinion on this would likely go out the window if I was in a position to get a Tesla.

 

I don't have a history of fit and seating problems, so this has fallen quite a ways down my priority list. But it has been clear that some others do have such problems, so they would benefit much more from test drives.

 

I'm 6'4 and checking for head room is important. I don't have that much hair left, and I want to keep what I have, so rubbing on the head liner is a no no .

Also leg room, and angle of the legs. I need some bend in the legs.

Plus with the door shut, is there any room for my legs & the steering wheel. So checking the steering wheel tilt comes in.

But the drive is important, I need to find out if my seat is shoved so far back, that I cannot see the overhead signals when stopped on the stop line. - The prime is border line on this one, for me.

 

I've never bought a car without a test drive first. There are a lot of things one doesn't notice until you've stepped into the car (for instance, the really high, uncomfortable "deadpedal" in the Chevy Volt was one of the reasons I decided against the Volt). I test drove the Prime twice before buying it (though I live in SoCal, where you can find them on dealer lots).

I know I've said this before (and I know SoCal isn't the rest of the country) but Primes are starting to show up quite regularly now on the roads in SoCal. Just yesterday driving to work, I saw two different Primes -- both my same color! (though of course I couldn't tell which trims they were). They're still not as common as the regular Prius, but they're definitely out and about here. Makes me wonder why Toyota isn't putting them in every dealership in the country? (If they are, they why are people ordering from out of state?) Makes no sense. At least have one or two available!