Comments on E's review of Prius
Prius? or Civic? or 1992 Accord?
After spending more on a new distributor than Blue Book and more on Smog Check than my Registration for my 1992 Accord and still needing new tires, we went car shopping to check out the hybrids.
First up was the Prius. The fuel display was fun to watch (although a bit distracting) for us TechnoGeeks and the ride was decent and the thought of the fuel savings was very enticing. I wasn't sure if the lack of acceleration was simply my unfamiliarity with the car or that it just didn't have it, but really the major downfall was in the dashboard design/materials which almost caused us to sideswipe a car in a lane change. Imbedded in the vinyl/leather dash is metal/plastic side vents which at the time we were test driving, the light hitting (BOTH) vents reflected into the outside side mirrors rendering the mirrors TOTALLY useless!
The Civic was very comfortable and felt like an old friend (coming from an Accord lover). The Civic has have grown since 1992, so the size seemed quite comfortable. However, as part of that growth, the dash is raised (to accommodate the extra panels) so much so that I could not see the hood at all! (I'm 5'3" with very short legs/tall torso) I could see myself having problems judging distances both in tight parking and also in bumper to bumper traffic.
Given the extra carbon footprint to buy a new car versus not junking my old Love, I'm hanging on to my Baby for a bit longer.
E's keywords: prius civic carbon footprint
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Jenn A. says:
I picked the Honda Civic over the Honda Civic Hybrid in 2004 -- it boiled down to internal capacity. If I can't carry enough stuff inside my car -- why bother having it? In 2004 - the Civic Hybrid didn't let the back seats fold down - for no good reason. AND the trunk space was less.
Was that still the case when you looked at them?
E C. says:
Sorry, I didn't really check that, but Good idea for things to consider when picking my next car! Yes, I've done that with my old Accord. Also looked for the 60/40 option on some backseats so I could put part of the back seat down for skis but still seat a third person (3-person family).
Elli A. says:
At 5'10" I found the prius ergonomics near perfect. The mirrors work well for me, and the dash board is probably the best I have seen on an economy car (if you can call a car that cost $20K economy). The ides of the dash board is that your eyes have to travel less from driving position to checking the gauges, and where they put it is as high as possible without putting it on the window.
Too bad it works only for people in a certain height range, that really looks like a design flaw.
The only thing I did not like is the line going through the back window. It makes the car look good but when you look in the mirror its little annoying. I never heard any prius owner complain about it, so I guess it something you get used to.