10 Reasons Why I love My Prius
October 12, 2009
Pretty soon we’ll start seeing the fall new car promotions, and the ensuing news reports about the financial and environmental costs and benefits of buying a hybrid or not. The truth is, a lot of people buy cars for emotional reasons rather than rational ones. Anyone who buys a Mustang, a BMW, a Cadillac Escalade, or a Ford pickup truck could probably afford a hybrid, but they are choosing to make a different (neither right or wrong) statement about themselves. A few years ago I bit the bullet and bought a Prius. In fact, my husband and I traded in our fairly new Audi wagon and bought a new Prius and a new Honda pickup truck (two family cars for the price of one!). I love the truck when it comes to long car trips, snowstorms, antiquing, or going plant shopping. But when it comes to every day, I love my Prius most. Here’s why:
1. It’s zippy. Surprisingly so! All my cars before were performance vehicles like the Audi, or my favorite, a Peugeot Mi16. I was worried that the Prius wouldn’t feel fast enough in a pinch, and I’m happy to say I never feel shortchanged. I do live at the top of a pretty steep hill, so there are times when the car feels stretched. But 99 percent of the time it’s speedy.
2. It tells you what your mileage per gallon is. No guessing. I’ve been averaging 44.4 miles per gallon, and that’s pretty darn good.
3. It only costs $20 to fill up the tank. Sometimes, not even that. Even when gas was outrageously high I think I might have paid $21 once. And that tank lasts me two weeks—with a trip in and out of Manhattan included.
4. You don’t have to plug it in. People still ask me about that. I even wasn’t sure when I first went to look at it whether you needed to or not. But no, it’s just like a regular car…only better.
5. There is no need to stick the key in the ignition. I no longer have to dig around in my purse to find the key—as long as it’s IN the purse, I just push the “power” button and it all comes on.
6. It’s built for people my size. The one thing I hate about a lot of American cars (which I mostly drive when I rent a car) is that they are built for a giant, slouching, hulking man. I mean, no wonder people have so many back problems! In my Prius, I sit up straight and my legs reach the pedals with no pain.
7. The touch screen rocks. It’s got this screen that can do everything, from speed-dialing with Bluetooth to telling me what song is playing on my satellite radio, and from showing me how the engine and electric system are working to showing me how many miles per gallon I am getting every second.
8. It fits a family of four and lots of groceries. The only thing it doesn’t really work for is long family trips with lots of luggage. But truth be told, we don’t pack light. We could probably do it if we tried.
9. The rearview camera. There is this little camera that shows you (on the touch screen) what’s behind you, so you don’t have to yank your neck as much.
10. I don’t feel guilty about driving. Where I live, driving is required. There are no trains. I bought the Prius because I felt I should, but I was really surprised by how lightened I felt by my decision. I am using less gas to get to where I need to go.
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The prius is a great car to drive!
I have a 2008 Prius and I can honestly say I have never had less issues with a vehicle I’ve owned. I love this car. It is indeed zippy and it actually has more torque than many sports cars due to the dual gas and electric power sources. I also love the fact that it is 100% impossible to lock your keys in the car ! The door locks won’t even activate unless you have the key (what Toyota calls a “fab”) with you. Now that’s some smart engineering.
I average about 48-52 MPG but there have been times when I really concentrated on getting max fuel economy and have been able to get it as high as 71 MPG on the drive home. Of course, the tractor trailer drivers behind me don’t appreciate some of the coasting and other tricks but they need to lighten up and go slower anyway. There are some great fuel saving and maintenance tips for 2004-2009 Prius owners available in the online manual offered by John at http://john1701a.com/prius/documents/Prius_User-Guide_iconic.pdf
One day, last October, while filling it up at a Hess station near my home the driver pumping gas into his SUV at the next pump remarked “I thought you only needed to plug those things in”. I told him “No, they need gas like a regular car.” He asked when I filled it up last and, with a straight face, I told him “June !” LOL I like tweaking the SUVers when I can. :–)
My husband has a cute story about a Prius. He’s noticed that since the Prius tells you exactly how many miles per gallon you’re getting, and you’ll get more mileage if you drive slower, many Prius drivers tend to drive pretty slow. Now my husband is a very impatient driver. He was stuck behind a Prius on a one-lane road just creeping along. Well, as soon as he could, he zipped around the Prius and then pulled into the only gas station along the route home from work. As he’s filling the rather large tank of his large car, the Prius drives on by. He thought it would be the perfect commercial for the car!
I think I may have Prius envy.
I also have a 2008 Prius and as for it being roomy, I can relate a story from last August when I went tent camping at Ricketts Glen State Park here in PA and we got hit by a very severe thunderstorm on the second night. The tent was directly under 150 feet tall pine trees and on the top of a very tall hill so I had the recipe for disaster and decided to make the back of the Prius my sleeping bag’s parking spot for the rest of the night. It was quite spacious when you put the back seats down. Not quite a room at the Holiday Inn but better than being fried to a crisp by a lightning bolt. My parents also have a 2008 Prius. The Toyota dealer loves me because every time I am in for an oil change and go outside to look at what they have on the lot, I end up selling a Prius or two to people who are also out there and “just looking”. By the time a salesperson is free and comes outside, the customer usually knows exactly what they want and just wants to talk financing and trade in. I need to find out where my commission checks are. LOL
My husband and I have been happy Prius owners for a little over 3 years. We’re plotting trading our 2006 Prius in when the plug-in hybrids become available (we buy all our electricity from wind and plan to add solar to our house) so most of the time we’ll drive carbon emission free. We currently get 45-50 miles per gallon in the summer and 40-45 in the cold Wisconsin winters. I love all of the things the article writer loves about the car, too. I think it only took 4 or 5 tanks of gas to drive out to New York and back (about 2000 miles round trip) this summer. Other than the great mileage, my favorite thing is the keys or rather lack thereof. I love not ever having the key out of my purse. Now I just have to get that for my house : ) I drive my husband crazy “calling” every Prius I see as we are out and about together. It warms my heart to see others who’ve chosen the greater fuel efficiency road of driving a Prius.
I would like a Prius based on my Prius-owning friends’ good experiences - although I’m loyal to Hondas.
Nice “review” but I have to ask about your sentence, “And that tank lasts me two weeks—with a trip in and out of Manhattan included.” Why would you drive your own car in and out of Manhattan if you are working to care for the environment? Even driving your Prius to a train station in New Jersey and taking that transit is better than pushing one more car through a tunnel into downtown Manhattan.
To throw my two cents in and answer the previous poster, I think if you were to stand next to a Prius and then stand next to your average mass transit train, you will find that the Prius is infinitely more clean in it’s emissions. The Prius is a near zero emission vehicle and while I know more and more commuter buses are switching over to propane and other cleaner fuels, I doubt you will see many trains able to do the same. Even electric trains are dirtier when you factor in the coal that is burned to generate the electricity on most municipal electrical grids.
I looked into taking the train from Clinton, but it seems exceedingly long and difficult. Plus, I often have suitcases and bags of work and I need the flexibility of not being on a train schedule. Excuses, I know. But I’m doing the best I can.
Just bought a 2010 Prius IV with solar, and I’ve never liked any car more. It’s roomy inside, looks great outside, and has all the gadgets a tech geek would want. The Plug-in prius is coming probably 2012, and that would be even better as you would probably get 100+ MPG
It’s people like you, Maria, who are bringing down the American economy. By buying foreign anything (autos, goods, furniture, whatever) you are doing nothing but taking away jobs from people in America. Some foreign cars are made in america and canada, but where do you think the profits go? Back overseas to a foreign economy. It’s not just the auto workers you people put out of jobs, but everyone leading up to them including american parts manufacturers and dealerships. And with these people out of work, they are not going to be spending money are they, so there goes even more layoffs and losses to local business owners and the people who supply them. Its a chain reaction. You people are a waste to the North American populations and should go live in an Asian country. Dirtbags.