Well I did it, I went and test drove a 04 Prius to see what all the fuss was about, and I gotta say I really liked it. If you have been avoding it you owe it to yourself to go check one out if you can find one. Dealerships are selling them as quickly as they can get them in.
Myself and my grandfather had decided to go take a look at one. The closest dealership happened to have one with options package #9, loaded in silver. We went over there and they had it parked right up front under the cover of the building right where everyone could see. An older gentleman (this deslership is at the edge of Phoenix's huge retirement community) was already there with a salesman looking it over. We started looking it over and had another salesman come out and start telling us about it. I already knew more than he did for the most part.
Initial impressions: Build quality is very very good. The fabric on the seats and arm rests in the door panels is nice and soft. The seats are firm but comfortable. Getting in is easy, you just sit down, it's up much higher than the Insight, visability is better, espeically for backing up. The back seat has just as much room as the front it seems. 4 large adults could ride in it very comfortably for an extended period of time.
In the back there is a large storage area under the hatch back. It's probably only slightly larger sizewise over the back of the Insight, but much taller. Plus when you fold the rear seats down, wow you could put a lot of goodies in it. A small family could easily do a road trip in it.
Ok so the other guy had gotten back from his test drive. We had copies of our drivers licenses made and the key flob was handed to me. I was kind of suprised as the other guy that was test driving it was not allowed to drive it off the lot, apparently they trusted my backing abilities over his. I was already in the car, but to open the door it's neat. You keep the key flob in your pocket and walk up to the door, when you place your hand behind the handle it unlocks automatically before you pull the handle, very cool.
The drive: Foot on the brake I pressed the start button, hit the parking brake button and moved the toggle switch to reverse. The salesman was trying to explain it to me, but I was already moving by the time he was half way done. He goes 'ohh, you know how to do this." The car moves in electric only mode under low speeds. The engine didn't even fire until I had already went a quarter mile away from the dealership where I could get out on the main road. Under acceleration the engine finally decided to kick in. It was a short burst of acceleration and deceleration. The engine barely came on. We got on the freeway for about a mile, acceleration was very smooth. The only indication you have of where power is comming from is the screen, otherwise you'd never know.
It was beautiful, at freeway speeds road noise was nothing. Silence, we were able to carry on a converstion easily, it was very smooth, the car doesn't follow ruts in the road, and they have moved the speedometer from the middle of the dash to in front of you. You can read it without looking down more easily than the Insight. Of course i was somewhat distracted by the screen trying to see what kind of mileage it was getting. As soon as I got off of the freeway and was decelerating the engine had already shut off (I think) as I did a nice long regen. Also, the regen is variable, not all or nothing, however it does go pretty deep in it's capability, but you can't really tell when friction brakes come in to play.
I pulled over in to a neighborhood and let my grandpa have his turn. As we went back to the dealership. He was more interested in the performance than I was. Acceleration was actually very nice. When you get on it it kicks the engine and motor in together and it's actually quire torquey off the line. I believe same 0 to 60 as the Insight. I had also reset the mpg readout before we left, I got 47 mpg and was holding about 60+ mpg going 60 on the short stent of freeway so I think I could get some decent highway numbers as well. Overall including the brisk accelerations it had averaged 45.5 mpg. This mind you is on a brand new not broken in car on a very short trip. Honestly, I doubt the Insight would have gotten much better (possibly not as good) mileage on this short little ride.
Now other features. Even on the base model you get a lot of features. The ever so novel concept of cruise control is standard! You get the screen, which ehh I could live without, but I know it could be adapted for playing DVD movies. A 6 speaker CD stereo is standard, and you can get an upgraded one as well which actually is very nice. Navi is an option for those who want it, I'm presonally not sold though on that. HID headlights, optional but worth it, I'd get em, heck I've been wanting them in my Insight. The coolest feature by far was the smart entry and start though. And it comes with electric air conditioning too, all standard stuff. Side curtain air bags can also be had which is a nice saftey feature. Don't kid yourself people, the Insight is pretty bare compared.
Of course it is not without it's faults. Their hybrid system I'm sure would be a nightmare to work on if something broke, although their warranty is better than Honda's even. And I've never heard of a Prius having battery problems, especially heat related ones like Honda's. Of course it lacks the coolness and distinct look of the Insight.
If you've read this far thanks, I didn't write this for nothing. Anyways, I'm very very impressed with what Toyota has come up with. I mean throw leather in one and it's luxury far beyond all other hybrids. Considering the MSRP is the same as the civic hybrid there would be no question in my mind that hands down the Prius would be my choice between the two. The only issue would be availability at the moment. They today show that the car's been sold. Also they were asking $6000 over msrp! They are very proud of the car. It's probably worth msrp, but not that much. Really though, I'm gonna see how much I could possibly get one for with an option package more to my liking and plug the numbers and see what it comes out to. I think I may want one.
Myself and my grandfather had decided to go take a look at one. The closest dealership happened to have one with options package #9, loaded in silver. We went over there and they had it parked right up front under the cover of the building right where everyone could see. An older gentleman (this deslership is at the edge of Phoenix's huge retirement community) was already there with a salesman looking it over. We started looking it over and had another salesman come out and start telling us about it. I already knew more than he did for the most part.
Initial impressions: Build quality is very very good. The fabric on the seats and arm rests in the door panels is nice and soft. The seats are firm but comfortable. Getting in is easy, you just sit down, it's up much higher than the Insight, visability is better, espeically for backing up. The back seat has just as much room as the front it seems. 4 large adults could ride in it very comfortably for an extended period of time.
In the back there is a large storage area under the hatch back. It's probably only slightly larger sizewise over the back of the Insight, but much taller. Plus when you fold the rear seats down, wow you could put a lot of goodies in it. A small family could easily do a road trip in it.
Ok so the other guy had gotten back from his test drive. We had copies of our drivers licenses made and the key flob was handed to me. I was kind of suprised as the other guy that was test driving it was not allowed to drive it off the lot, apparently they trusted my backing abilities over his. I was already in the car, but to open the door it's neat. You keep the key flob in your pocket and walk up to the door, when you place your hand behind the handle it unlocks automatically before you pull the handle, very cool.
The drive: Foot on the brake I pressed the start button, hit the parking brake button and moved the toggle switch to reverse. The salesman was trying to explain it to me, but I was already moving by the time he was half way done. He goes 'ohh, you know how to do this." The car moves in electric only mode under low speeds. The engine didn't even fire until I had already went a quarter mile away from the dealership where I could get out on the main road. Under acceleration the engine finally decided to kick in. It was a short burst of acceleration and deceleration. The engine barely came on. We got on the freeway for about a mile, acceleration was very smooth. The only indication you have of where power is comming from is the screen, otherwise you'd never know.
It was beautiful, at freeway speeds road noise was nothing. Silence, we were able to carry on a converstion easily, it was very smooth, the car doesn't follow ruts in the road, and they have moved the speedometer from the middle of the dash to in front of you. You can read it without looking down more easily than the Insight. Of course i was somewhat distracted by the screen trying to see what kind of mileage it was getting. As soon as I got off of the freeway and was decelerating the engine had already shut off (I think) as I did a nice long regen. Also, the regen is variable, not all or nothing, however it does go pretty deep in it's capability, but you can't really tell when friction brakes come in to play.
I pulled over in to a neighborhood and let my grandpa have his turn. As we went back to the dealership. He was more interested in the performance than I was. Acceleration was actually very nice. When you get on it it kicks the engine and motor in together and it's actually quire torquey off the line. I believe same 0 to 60 as the Insight. I had also reset the mpg readout before we left, I got 47 mpg and was holding about 60+ mpg going 60 on the short stent of freeway so I think I could get some decent highway numbers as well. Overall including the brisk accelerations it had averaged 45.5 mpg. This mind you is on a brand new not broken in car on a very short trip. Honestly, I doubt the Insight would have gotten much better (possibly not as good) mileage on this short little ride.
Now other features. Even on the base model you get a lot of features. The ever so novel concept of cruise control is standard! You get the screen, which ehh I could live without, but I know it could be adapted for playing DVD movies. A 6 speaker CD stereo is standard, and you can get an upgraded one as well which actually is very nice. Navi is an option for those who want it, I'm presonally not sold though on that. HID headlights, optional but worth it, I'd get em, heck I've been wanting them in my Insight. The coolest feature by far was the smart entry and start though. And it comes with electric air conditioning too, all standard stuff. Side curtain air bags can also be had which is a nice saftey feature. Don't kid yourself people, the Insight is pretty bare compared.
Of course it is not without it's faults. Their hybrid system I'm sure would be a nightmare to work on if something broke, although their warranty is better than Honda's even. And I've never heard of a Prius having battery problems, especially heat related ones like Honda's. Of course it lacks the coolness and distinct look of the Insight.
If you've read this far thanks, I didn't write this for nothing. Anyways, I'm very very impressed with what Toyota has come up with. I mean throw leather in one and it's luxury far beyond all other hybrids. Considering the MSRP is the same as the civic hybrid there would be no question in my mind that hands down the Prius would be my choice between the two. The only issue would be availability at the moment. They today show that the car's been sold. Also they were asking $6000 over msrp! They are very proud of the car. It's probably worth msrp, but not that much. Really though, I'm gonna see how much I could possibly get one for with an option package more to my liking and plug the numbers and see what it comes out to. I think I may want one.
