'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.