Hrmmm....

[sinjun]

Okay, so I got to sit inside a Prius today, and take it for a short spin around the block.

Impressions so far? It drives fairly smooth, and pretty quiet. Did not get it onto the highway though as yet. The hatchback feels very weird to me, I gotta admit. It seems like it's hard to see out the back window. Pressing a button to start the car though - very cool. The gear shift is tiny and feels strange too. Pressing a button to put the car in park is also nifty. I'm told the 2008 models around here are just about gone, and that the 2009 models will be available round about September. When I first got into the Prius, I thought that some of the dash board was way too far away, but once it was started up, it was okay. Need to find out whatever info I can about safety, maintenance and cost of ownership. The salesguy wasn't much help at all. (But he seemed to think I should just take his word for it, which go figure I'm not...)

The Yaris which I also looked at is too small. I don't like it nearly as much.

Comments

[courtly.livejournal.com]

It *IS* hard to see out the back. Not one of that car's happiest features, I will agree.

[courtly.livejournal.com]

I rented one for the weekend, a while back.

[damara.livejournal.com]

Really? Now there's an idea. I should try that too!

Any other observations you have?

[courtly.livejournal.com]

I didn't much care for the visibility in general. I found the posts in awkward places. It felt a bit like I was driving a tank.

I found I was very mindful of how much noise I was making, when. Perhaps I'm paranoid, but I worry very much that a cyclist would only notice me at low speeds if they shoulder-checked. There are times when there isn't anything but the crunch of tires on pavement. All you'd need is one cyclist swerving a little as they shoulder-checked to make everyone's day a lot less fun.

[damara.livejournal.com]

Very good points indeed.

Thanks.

[proudsky.livejournal.com]

As for cost of maintenance, that is of course going to change from dealer to dealer. Still, make sure you read your owner's manual and cross reference it with the 'recommended maintenance' the dealer is offering. Make sure you are not servicing your transmission fluid every 15,000 miles if it is a 100,000 mile fluid. Stuff like that.

Oil changes and tire rotations, those are the main ones.

If you want to find out these kinda things, bypass the sales and talk directly to the service department. See if they have a maintenance schedule with prices available.

Safety-wise, check out toyota.com and check out the specifications.

And if you can, by all means rent one and test it out for a few days! From what I understand, the design is about to change too so if the B and/or C pillars are not in a very good spot, that may change and offer less of a blind spot.

Good luck on the shopping :)

[damara.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tips. ;)

I am curious about the design change for sure...