Hi all. I came to greenhybrid after seeing it referenced several time at another site. Learning a lot about the Prius, and about some of the peopel that drive them.

I took a new job back in May that has me on the road 500-600 miles a week. Making round trips two or three times a week from Sacramento to Berkeley, Oakland and at least once a week to Palo Alto quickly made it apparent that a super high efficiency car would be a good idea. And my observation of the HOV lane told me I would save some time over there.

So I decided that I would get around to looking at a hybrid. Was not in a hurry to go car shopping and figured it would best for me to wait a few months anyway - - not knowing about tax credits and HOV sticker limits.

Then (to borrow Emril's trademark) BAM! I was catapulted into car shopping when I got into an accident in interstate 80 that totaled my car. I needed a new car. I decided that since the HCH and Prius were the only new car choices that could get me in the diamond lane, those would be the two I would look at. Trusting mainly reputations of the two companies, my wife and I went out shopping without doing a lot of advance research.

We test drove an HCH on a Thursday night, a Prius on Friday, talked over which one would suit us better, and went out Saturday. Found a Barcelona Red #3 that had litterally just rolled off the truck in Roseville and was not presold or under a deposit. So before the other salesmen could call their potential customers, I had my guy write it up before the shrink wrap was removed. Total shopping time - less than 48 hours between "idea" and delivery.

It has been great. I finally got my HOV lane stickers, so not only have I saved nearly $200 on gas in the last 2 months, I have recovered at least 3 hours a week, depending on my trips, just by having fast lane access. That is time I can put back into productive time at work... or not .

I am not a Prius-ubber-alles cheerleader. If it was not for the super hightech high efficiency propulsion, the Prius would just be another economy car in my book. There is nothing particularly astoudning about the rest of the car. It is pretty roomy and the hatchback gives some versatility, but a lot of cars do that. However the technoiogy rocks. It can save copious amounts of gas, helps the environment and I can make the purchase pencil out economically - easily with the assistance of the US taxpayer. I'll take the tax credit, thanks. But I happily drive my other car in many cases.

I have had my Prius 63 days and it has just over 6,500 miles on it. I have filled it up about 20 times and have averaged over 50 mpg on the consumption screen when I went to reset at all but three fill ups. it's never been below 47 when i have pulled up to the pump. I think this was probably the best choice I could have made for the kind of driving I do. I needed something that would hold up to 30,000+ miles a year and not be ready for the scrapheap before the end of the decade. Toyota has a good rep for reliability, the Prius has developed a good rep too, so it's just a good deal IMO.

Anyway. Glad to be here, and hope you don't come to regret letting me in. HAHAHA.

 

Hi,

Welcome to the club!

I lost my '91 Camry a year ago in an accident and come the first week of October, it will be one year and 20,000 miles with our 03 Prius. Instead of the tax savings on a $27k car, I got a used $17k car and have been very happy. You're in for a treat.

Bob Wilson

 

Welcome to Greenhybrid.com!

It seems you got lucky getting the Prius "off the truck". Just for curiousity sake, was the HCH available as well or was there a wait on that?

Sounds like you made a great choice!

-C...

 

Both the HCH and Prius we test drove were available. However they were both white. Nothing against white... But I already have a white car and didn't want another one. Didn't want my driveway to look like an ambulance bay.

I liked the HCH. I think it was more comfortable, handled a bit better and the 06 body style is pretty sharp looking. The Prius just came out with a few more things in the plus column.

Though HCH was a bit more comfortable in front (for driving), its rear seat didn't have the head and leg room of the Prius. The most frequent passenger back there is my two year old, but I didn't want adults to feel any more shoehorned than needed.

The HCH rear seat cannot be folded down for added trunk cargo area. The batteries are stacked behind the seat, so the seat back is fixed. The Prius hatchback give the car some more versatility.

It seemed the HCH relies more on its ICE for accelleration as it only has 20HP worth of electric motor (based on what I read and what the sales people told me). The high efficiency ICE isn't torquey so accelleration in HCH was noticably poorer than the Prius. My test of this was getting onto the freeway in couple places (My wife did the same on her turn at the wheel). The HCH seemed to work much harder getting from 25 to 60 mph. 0 to 60 from a stoplight doesn't really interest me.

The HCH was comparably equipped (and even had a couple of little things that I think Prius should have) and sticker priced about $2K less. But the tax credit was half what the Prius offered, and.... Honda dealers were putting additional mark up on the HCH. Carmichael Honda added $2500! Maita Toyota and Roseville Toyota (where I got my red one) were not adding any mark up. They were getting full sticker, but not demanding extra. When Carmichael Honda followed up with me to see if I was still interested, I made it clear that the additional mark up was a significant factor, though not the only one, that helped me chose the Prius.