Toyota Prius Review
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| Performance: |
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| Comments |
Favorite feature: |
The outstanding mileage! |
Least favorite feature: |
The divided rear window and the small rear wiper blade |
Advice to buyer: |
Once you buy one Prius you'll want one for your spouse too! |
Detailed review: |
Over the course of the last twenty-five years I have owned several cars; my first being a Toyota Corolla liftback (1980) which I loved. This car is by far the best car I have owned inclusive of that one! It provides a very comfortable ride, gets excellent mileage and has been a real work-horse as well. The roomy interior seats five comfortably, the ride is smooth and quiet, the car makes great use of available space and the controls are for the most part very well laid out in a logical and ergonomic manner. Of the hybrids I tested, only the the Honda Accord had more 'pep' and all the Honda models were partial hybrids at that. Hands down, Toyota has done it yet again leading the field with Hybrid technology!
I now have over 8000 miles on this car since I purchased it in April 2005 and have taken it on numerous long trips and it perfomed wonderfully, at times exceeding my expectations, I even purchased a roof rack and hauled a 16' canoe on top with a load of gear in back and some passangers and still averaged about 37 mpg over the course of a ten-hour roundtrip distance camping trip. On an eight-hour trip to downstate New York I averaged 56 mpg and 47 mpg on the return trip (up hill). I have no doubt, once I master the best driving technique I will improve on those figures substantially.
Hopefully American automotive makers will quickly catch on and either start producing reasonable fuel-cell cars or make giant leaps in hybrid technology. Either way, they have a long way to catch-up to Toyota which seems to be leading the pack in quality hybrids cars & customer service. |
Also considered: |
2005 Honda Accord
2005 Honda Civic
2005 Ford Escape Hybrid
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Vehicle purchased: |
2005 Toyota Prius
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| About This Reviewer... |
Name: |
Bruce McCausland |
Location: |
Buffalo, New York |
Other vehicles owned: |
2001 Saturn SW2
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Review submitted: |
September 13, 2005 |
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