Anyone here drive a hybrid?

[GLC1968]

Car, not bike!

I'm thinking about trading in my car for one, and I was wondering what some owners thought of them?

Which one do you have?
What do you like about it?
What don't you like about it?
What car did you drive before you bought it?
How long have you had it?

I'm leaning towards a Toyota Prius because I really like having a hatchback (and my bike will fit in it!), but I'm open to suggestions.

[Thorn]

Love it. I have been driving Toyota Prius for a little over 3 years now. Prior to the Prius I drove a Honda Civic Hatchback.

Like about it?
Comfy. We looked at the Civic hybrid, but it was not a comfy car to drive (no different than the hatchback which is very uncomfortable after 4 hours). Also, the Civic's batteries got in the way so you lost having the trunk space into the back seat path.

Gas mileage, obviously. My commute is 25 miles one-way. About 1/2 is freeway and 1/2 city streets. In perfect weather (e.g., 55-65 degrees, no rain) I get around 62mpg (really). If it is outside that range, my mileage drops from running the A/C, wipers, etc. Sill, it is rare for me to fill up the tank with less than 55mpg on the tank even if we have a trip with the bikes on the back.

Don't like?
When DH drives it, my gas mileage always drops The fact that he only does short trips has absolutely nothing to do with it!

Gas mileage also drops when we throw a bike rack on the back, but that is to be expected. Toyota did a lot of wind tunnel testing with the Prius design and the rack totally screws up air flow. Still, we get 45mpg so I shouldn't complain.

Only room for one bike inside. I know, I want an impossible car. Room for two bikes inside, not an SUV and good mileage.

I've only had one "non-maintenance" issue and it was my own fault. I came home one night, closed the door, but it caught on the seatbelt. Two days later, I came out and the car wouldn't start--the door was ajar so the interior car door floor light was on. I learned that day that the Prius' has two battery sources: the big deck that drives the motor and a itty, bitty teensy little motorcycle battery in the trunk that starts it up. If you drain that battery, you have to trickle charge it. Oh, and if your trunk was locked when you drained your battery, you have to trickle charge through the fuse box. Sigh....the Prius is a really, really neat engineering design, but I think the startup battery design was farmed out to the summer intern.

Other
Our Civic hatchback still lives, but will need to be replaced in the next couple of years. If it were to die now, I'd probably replace it with another Prius. Rumor has it the Honda Fit will come out in a hybrid. I might look at it if it does. For me, I cannot justify a SUV for occasional weekend trips with the bikes, even if it is a hybrid.

[GLC1968]

Thanks, Thorn. That is really helpful information!

[indigoiis]

Which one do you have? Toyota Prius
What do you like about it? Mileage, quiet, ease of driving. Roomy.
What don't you like about it? Can't see stuff backing up. Worried about the battery thing... can't work on it yourself.
What car did you drive before you bought it? Suburu Legacy Wagon
How long have you had it? Three years.

The Prius is deceptively large on the inside. With the Prius, it's actually better to put your bike in the car than on the car. I miss the Suburu's all wheel drive, though, and when it's the least bit slick here, the Prius doesn't handle as well as a four wheel drive would.

The nice thing about the Prius is that there are ways of driving it (as with any car, really) that can get you even better than the stated mileage. With practice, you can get an average of 60 mpg. My average is about 51 but my husband can get it averaging 60.

[OakLeaf]

'07 Prius (touring model, with the larger wheels for better handling)

Likes:
*Large-ish cargo space (as big horizontally as the Subaru wagons, though not as deep)
*RF key means you never have to dig for your keys! Have the key in your purse or pocket, walk up to the car, put your hand in the latch and it opens, push the button and it starts. That is my favorite feature of any car I've ever owned.
*Surprisingly peppy. I don't drive hard (the car doesn't handle well enough for it, even if I wanted to), but IMO a car that can't get out of its own way on on-ramps or passing on two-lanes is unsafe, and a car that won't climb a hill while the A/C is running is just annoying. The Prius does both flawlessly.
*Despite my disappointment in the fuel mileage, it still beats the heck out of the 25 mpg our Subarus used to get.
*Very roomy passenger and driver space, both front and back seats
*Two-speed rear wiper
*Nicely thought out storage slot for the cargo compartment cover


Dislikes:
*Disappointing fuel mileage compared to advertising. It all depends on where you live, I suppose, because we drive pretty conservatively. We live in the country and it's 15 miles of hills and 55 mph zones interrupted by stoplights to get to town. So far we've got about 46 mpg overall, but now that the temperature's turned cooler, fuel economy is dropping like a stone, as we were warned it would.
*Very poor visibility with huge pillars front and rear that are big enough to hide a large SUV. You really have to move your whole upper body around to make sure you've cleared all your blind spots before proceeding from a stop or changing lanes. (Visibility while backing up shouldn't be an issue once I get used to using that backup camera, but I still struggle to judge distances and positions in the display.)
*Cheaply built. Ours has 8,000 miles on it and it rattles like our Subarus never did after 70,000 miles. The cupholder rattled from brand new. I just read that QC has been a major issue for Toyota the last couple of years and Consumer Reports is no longer recommending new Toyota models until they can get some customer experience with them.
*Lack of comfort features like driver's seat height adjustment, heated seats (yes, those would draw a lot of amps, but probably fewer than the electric heater boosters that the Prius does have)
*Temperature and audio controls are all in a large, very bright LCD display in the center of the dash. A "simple" task like switching the vent to outside air without heating or cooling takes three very distracting steps and cannot be done with the steering wheel buttons.
*Very little ground clearance.
*Because of the aerodynamics as well as the light weight, it's a handful in even a moderate wind. I am *not* looking forward to that stretch of I-77 around the Virginia/West Virginia border, especially if it's icy.

I have some other minor gripes about the car, but those are the high spots. Bottom line is, if I had it to do over, I *might* get another Prius just on the basis of the fuel economy, but I would be much more realistic about everything I was giving up to get much less than advertised mileage.

I also drove Subarus before the Prius (a '98 Legacy and an '03 Outback). So I miss the AWD a lot, but since we're not in the snow in the wintertime any more, it isn't a requirement. (Touch wood, because if we have a muddy or rainy spring I doubt the Prius will be able to navigate our driveway.) But I'm realistic that *any* lightweight FWD car is going to have the same handling sacrifices, so I don't list that as a specific criticism of the Prius.

[Blueberry]

Our Civic hatchback still lives, but will need to be replaced in the next couple of years. If it were to die now, I'd probably replace it with another Prius. Rumor has it the Honda Fit will come out in a hybrid. I might look at it if it does. For me, I cannot justify a SUV for occasional weekend trips with the bikes, even if it is a hybrid.

Last I heard, they had decided not to make the Fit in a hybrid because of the already good gas mileage (doesn't make much sense to me but...)

However, there are rumblings that instead, they will make a totally re-designed hybrid of some form. Hopefully soon

GLC- Why are you thinking of trading the mini??

CA

[GLC1968]

Hey CA -

I think I'm trying to be more responsible! It's REALLY hard though...I love my MINI more than a person should love a car. It's just so painful to have to use super unleaded, and to know that there are so many options out there that are better for the environment (and my wallet).

Ugh, it's hard though!



Thanks to everyone for your inputs...they were very, very helpful. What I learned here combined with what I learned from another board I belong to and what I found out from some people at work helped me make my decision.

Yesterday afternoon, I traded in my MINI for a 2005 Toyota Prius. I admit that I cried when I cleaned out the MINI. But I do like the Prius...a lot. It's really cool to drive and I can't wait to do more research to learn about how it works. I am an EE afterall. So far, the only downfall (besides sentimental, which I'll get over) is that the Prius doesn't fit into the garage as well. We were spoiled by the tiny MINI!

I do like that it's a dark metallic red and it's pretty!

Thanks again for all the help!!