Thanks for the info. The dealer menitoned something similar and said they had a company that can do it for 1200 so I'm sure I can get it cheaper by myself. I'm also not sure how important leather is to be honsest.

I will get the nav system since I don't want another screen in the car. The large tv screen in the prius is plenty. I also like the integration it has with the steering wheel etc.

I also like the design of the prius. I want a hybrid that sticks out as a reminder to all SUV drivers that they are wasting resources :-). What can I say I like to rub it in

I agree with this. The prius gets great mileage out of the box but if you take the time to figure out how to drive it well it gets outstanding mileage. Case in point: this morning I took it out for another trip to and from work. To day the temp where in the low 30's and I averaged 56+ mpg even though it was using the engine more then yesterday. The difference?

I accelerated more but made sure that when I used the gas engine that I didn't use the battery at the same time and that the gas engine spent time charging the battery as much as possible. Doing this creates a little better acceleration then average and really improves the mileage. I'm sure I can do a lot better!

It reminde me of riding a motorcycle. You have to stay much more involved,

I must say that the prius is really growing on me.

So here are my end comments:

The car really grows on you. It is a slightly different experience then a normal car but mostly that is a positive thing. It felt so strange and old to go back to my normal car after the 24 hours test drive was over. My maxima is def. noiser, this suprised me as I didn't realize just how quiet the Prius is. The ride in the Prius is also more plush (bumpy) and the maxima stiffer and louder. The stereo in the prius works better then I initially thought. The prius is so quiet even at highway speeds that you don't need to crank the volume up as much as in the maxima. It's not loud but pleasant. It also felt strange dribing around in a car that didn't come shut down at each red light and that had also these clunky gear shifts. The maxima is faster but the prius has a lot of low end torque and is smoother to drive. My fiance loved the car seats but I think they are the weak point. I really wish they would provide a more adjustable seat in the car (and I would like to have memory seats so that two driver better can share). I will sign up for the Prius waiting list.

I think the Camry will really establish hybrids in America and that it over all will be an even better car but I've grown found of the Prius and like having a car that sticks out and rubs peoples guilty feelings for riding around alone in a SUV so this will be the car for me for now.

I'll keep you guys updated on when I can expect delivery :-)

I dont understand the "waiting list thing"? I was at a couple of Toyota dealerships this week and they had them on the lot unsold. Of course they told me they were not discounting them.

Follow-up in "Model Comparisons."

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

I got mine last month because someone ordered it and decided not to buy it...So it sits on the lot for sale. If you really want one i recommend just calling them everyday checking if they have any in. It took me a day to get one. I called Thursday and on Friday they called saying they had one. of course now i have a loan for 6 years but hey. 575 a month sucks

Hybrid Bob, how did you do this? How do you control use of gas engine vs battery? I am always looking for more techniques.
Thanks

2005 Salsa Red Prius w/Package #4

Take this with a grain of salt I only have 3-4 hours of Prius experience!
But, the car seemed to run better doing this experiment and my milage was a lot better on the same road in even colder temps(!) (though the car was warm when doing this new tehnicque).

I used the monitor screen where you see the engine and the battery. When accelerating I decided I would always use the ICE (this is a hybrid not an EV) but NOT use the battery. So looking at the screen I made sure that the arrow from the battery to the generator (note the direction, the other way is good) never came on.

Most of the time the ICE was driving both the wheel and charging the battery (arrow from generator to battery) but up hill all power went to the wheels (no charging of battery).

Note: The ICE can drive the wheels and the generator and then the generator would drive the wheels as well, but the generator would not draw from fhe battery.

As I said all I made sure what that the battery wasn't used when the ICE was running (and charged as much as possible). That way I had plenty of battery power when/where I could coast and maintain speed (and even gaining a couple of mph).

This worked well on 40mph roads. I didn't try it at highway speed where I used the cruise control there (the display is a lot busier there). It might work at highway speeds with some practice but I suspect the computer can figure it faster then I at highway speed.

Hope it makes sense. It gave me about average acceleration (more then enough to not bother poeple) and much improved gas mileage compared to the day before

/Robert

when people said the steering felt "numb" compared to a 06 HCH what did they mean? Meaning you can feel the road better? Why would you want to feel the road when the prius is suppose to be a easy to drive no effort vehicle... leave TSC and ESC to worry about those details for you. Ya sure the civic corners better but does it really matter when your travelling at fuel economy speeds anyway? I guess the design of both cars (hatch vs sedan) really differentiate how the two handles, better than the other!

When they did a cornering test on the edmunds prius vs civic video, the civic was only better than the prius by a marginal 4 mph faster when trying to avoid cones at more than 60 mph. But for the slower performer civic (1.5 seconds slower off the line than the 05 prius) really reflects toyota's torque comes useful at any moment given time. So that extra handing or over a second faster? Tough choices.

Oh and I still don't know today which car 06 hch or 06/05 priii is the quieter one espically during highway speeds at 60 mph. I assume the HCH has more road noise thanks to its tires, but the engine noise in the PRI can get loud too at high speeds, reports from some people.

As for hypermileage efforts, it seems the HCHII is beggining to show some interesting results as well since people just learned of the HCHII no fuel glide trick which is very similar to the Prius deadband state although easier to achieve in more situations in the HCHII. **** which car would be the superior one? I know the Prius is the hypermileage proven performer but how much better can the HCHII do?

lol I love this forum

i got around 20 km a liter when i drove a civic 5 spd using advanced hypermiler techniques
and now I drive a salvage nwh20 prius that gets almost to 25 km/l with 195,000 km to date.