I recently traded in my Outback for a 2005 Prius. This is primarily my wife's wheels, except a couple times a month when I need to get my salt water fix in my sea kayak! My Insight is not heavy enough to safely carry an 18', 65 pound sea kayak on the roof, but we figured the Prius would do it. The big questions were what would be the FE penalty and how would it handle.

I just completed the first test run - 375mile round trip through Seattle stop and go traffic up to Deception Pass. The Prius surpassed my expectations by a wide margin! I averaged 48+ mpg for the trip. I kept the speed to 60mph or less and the stop and go traffic brought the mileage up from what I would estimate at 45mpg if there wasn't any traffic. I was prepared to be pretty happy if I got FE in the low 40's, so this is a real bonus.

The handling was great - no real issues at all. Based on this experience, the Prius will work great for two people/ 2 kayaks, which was my ultimate goal.

The rack is a Thule and I'm using foam cradles to carry the kayak upside down and backwards to reduce windage. I'll post pictures in a day or so.