2007-01-11 06:47:30 · 3 answers · asked by kitti-kitti 5 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Buying & Selling
I beg to disagree with dan.harris9. I bought a 2004 model Prius in late 2003 and have been enjoying it ever since. I put an average of 20,000 miles/year on it, and other than regular service, no repair was ever necessary. The Prius has proven 100% reliable for me (it is the 12th car that I'm owning, so I do have a bit of experience).
The car is deliberately designed to be lightweight. Many people confuse this with "cheap". They tend to overlook that the Prius gets excellent crash-test ratings: Toyota keeps the material strong where it matters for safety, and light where it does not.
The car is very easy to navigate, great to park. I frequently drive my wife and both of my children (one still in an infant seat) around in the car. It can't compete with our mini-van for space, but it does provide sufficient space to take the family grocery shopping. And, because of it's easy handling, my wife would much rather drive the Prius than the minivan. It also can't compete with my Porsche as a race car, but that should be obvious. However, the Prius is perfectly sufficient to do highway driving in the US. I've driven it at 80 mph for longer periods, and even at that speed it is responsive and still has reserves for further acceleration.
I am regularly getting fuel consumption above 50mpg. My personal record is one tankload where I achieved 58.6mpg (with lots of city driving). Far as I know, this consumption is still unbeaten on the market.
One watchout: many of the newer hybrids (e.g. the Ford Escape) are not really designed to be fuel efficient. The hybrid engine there is rather designed to provide extra acceleration (the electrical engine tops torque at much lower reps than the gas engine).
2007-01-11 07:04:21 · answer #1 · answered by SecurityFreak 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't buy a hybrid! They are really expensive for the amount of gas they save. I have a diesel jetta that gets 48 mpg. It is a really nice car! It has no extra expenses or problems as compared to a regular gasoline powered car and I think the power is just fine. Also, it has over 140,000 miles on it and there is no expensive battery to replace! Or take a look at one of the smaller Toyota/ Honda cars. They are thousands of dollars less than a hybrid and only get a few mpg less!
2007-01-11 14:56:23 · answer #2 · answered by en tu cabeza 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
DEFINATELY NOT the toyota prius, its expensive, bad quality build and is much less efficient than a normal diesel car
2007-01-11 14:52:32 · answer #3 · answered by dan.harris9 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋