2005 Prius

Okay, let's just start by setting a few facts on the table. I am not a car girl. What I mean is that, for all I know, my car could be powered by gerbils spinning in wheels. But…..I do know how to drive, and have been doing so for quite some years now, in a variety of small cars. When we bought our 2005 Prius, our prime motivators were a 1990 Honda Civic hatchback with 200,000 miles on it at death's door in our garage and a desire to replace it with something that would satisfy our desire to be more eco-friendly with our primary vehicle. We would have gone with another Honda, but at the time, they were not making a hybrid hatchback, and we need at least one vehicle that has a little cargo space. So even though we felt just a touch traitorous to our beloved Honda dealer, the new car cash went to Toyota for a shiny new slate grey Prius.

What'd we get? What'd we get?

We bought our car new and chose the mid-level trim package. At the time, there were three levels available, and this level gave us all of the things we felt were important, kept the price down a bit and left out some of the more luxurious features (like GPS) that we never would have figured out how to work anyway.

The features we specifically wanted were the anti-lock brakes, front and side airbags and Toyota's Vehicle Stability Control. Yes, I had no idea what Vehicle Stability Control meant either until we test drove the car. In January. The Vehicle Stability Control, described by Toyota: "automatically controls the throttle and brakes during emergency stops to reduce skidding action". In real words, it kicks in with the anti-lock brakes to keep the car from fishtailing or otherwise leaving its designated line while stopping in less than optimal conditions. Like Wisconsin. In January. We tested this feature on our own street during our test drive, our street which is rarely if ever plowed and is always hazardous when there's even a bit of snow on the ground. It worked, and continues to work, beautifully. Combined with the anti-lock brakes, we can stop quickly and stay in our lane with a minimum of cussing by the driver on all but the ugliest of glare ice. Under normal conditions, braking is a breeze.

Another interesting option that came with this car is something called a "Smart Key". It looks like any old control for car locks, but contains the key to the vehicle as well. As long as you have this key with you, somewhere, the locks automatically open when you approach and the car will start as long as the key is inside the vehicle – it does not need to be inserted into the ignition. This is what I think of as a "cool but ultimately useless" feature. It may save a couple of seconds here or there, but in reality it's one of those options that sounds great, but really only leads to me forgetting my key in the cup holder too often when I put the car in the garage. My husband disagrees completely, loving the convenience of not having to dig around for his keys.

The 2005 Prius also has a push button ignition. This makes no practical difference in how the car performs, looks or anything else. It's just funky.

The Pod Factor

I fully and completely admit it – the Prius is a funny looking car. Funny looking in a good way, though – it's quite a cute little beast. With its rounded roof and high rear end, it's really very pod-like. But with pod shape comes good aerodynamics, and certainly a recognizable silhouette on the road. Unfortunately, it also leads to a couple of handling challenges. The Prius has a short front end, unlike the standard dimensions of the Honda Civics we've been driving for years. It's far more like a mini van in that aspect and it took us a good long while to get used to being unable to see the front end of the car when trying to park. The Prius also doesn't have quite as neat a turning radius as our Civics, another thing that isn't a big deal, but does take some getting used to if you're accustomed to driving a more standard shaped compact car. The biggest issue I have with the exterior design is the rear window. It's a divided window, with the upper half having a significantly greater slope than the lower (due to the blunt back end). As a result, visibility suffers. I've grown used to what is essentially a narrow blind spot between the upper and lower halves, but I still don't like it. I would prefer a more clear view out the rear window. The rear wiper also only covers the upper portion, and while that wiper itself is something we've never had before, it would be nice if it actually wiped the entire window. There is also a small blind spot on either side, typical, but a nuisance.

Inside the pod is another story entirely. I love it! The Prius is actually considered a mid-sized car because of the amount of interior room. It's a bit longer than our remaining Civic, and is much taller. That seems an odd word to use for a car, but it really is tall. The amount of head and leg room is impressive in both front and back seats – my 6 foot 4 inch tall brother-in-law can ride in the front without a problem, and I've been perfectly comfortable in the back for an extended drive. There are shoulder/seatbelts for five, and for once, you can actually fit five people into them. I would not expect five large adults to be comfortable, but if you can get a skinny kid to sit in the middle in the back, you're golden. Since the Prius is a hatchback, it also has admirable cargo space. That high roof comes in handy when you fold the back seats down and cram the back full of furniture (really, we've done that!). The heat and A/C work well, the CD player functions more than adequately for our needs and the lights, wipers, cruise control and all that good stuff are present and accounted for without problem. The Prius also has lovely cup holders. Just thought I'd mention that.

I Hate You, Touch Panel

The 2005 Prius has a funky, futuristic touch panel to control the interior works. Climate and Audio as well as monitoring of gas mileage are all right there, at the touch of a finger. And I hate it. Yes, hate it. Hate it so much that I'm knocking half a star off my rating just because of it. It looks great, but functionally, it blows. You have to take your eyes off the road for what I consider too long a time to mess with the confusing plethora of options on the screen. It's been two years now and we still leave most of the fiddling to the passenger. You can control the heat/air and some of the audio functions from the steering wheel, which is fortunate, since oftentimes when I'm driving, the passengers are all in the back seat, making touch panel fiddling highly impractical.

The Mileage Lowdown

Okay, this is the biggie for the Prius. We bought this car (and wanted it badly enough that we waited the length of time it takes to gestate a full term baby to get it) specifically because it's a hybrid, and reputedly gets excellent gas mileage as a result. We were told 61 mpg city, 51 mpg highway. The reality has been somewhat different. Now just a little background on the hybrid. The Prius is not an electric car. The hybrid engine uses a battery and gas engine in combination (so no, you can't let it run out of gas and make it to the next station on the battery alone). The battery is recharged every time you step on the brake. So in theory, the car gets better mileage in the city as you use the brake, charge the battery and use more battery power to drive. In practice, the car really prefers something in between city and highway driving.

Our 2005 Prius automatically displays our gas mileage (cool!) in both real time and per tank (resetting each time we put gas in the car). What we've found is that our very best mileage comes on trips that involve some city and some highway driving and are at least twenty minutes in length, during any non-heat-using weather. In that optimal situation we get a little over 50 miles per gallon. We also get better mileage on the highway than we expected. Our last road trip (on both two and four lane highways with some stopping and starting) had us getting optimal trip mileage – close to 54 miles per gallon. The conditions it likes least are short trips of ten minutes or less in cold weather. In that situation, our mileage wavers at around 30 miles per gallon. In practice over the course of a year, my estimate is that we average about 40 mpg, simply because of the types of situations in which we are likely to drive. Understand that we're sort of eco-freaks and really don't drive the car as much as, well, normal people. It does not get driven to work every day – if it did, our average mileage would likely be much higher, since the trip to my husband's office is one that the Prius adores. He gets better mileage on his bicycle, though, so in terms of gas consumption we do come out on the positive side as a whole. My trips in the Prius are likely to be the sort it likes least – like going to the elementary school in a blizzard. We are sometimes a little disappointed in the mileage our Prius gets, but only because it's lower than the city estimate we got from the dealer. We knew it would be, but hope springs eternal….

Even though lower than promised, 50 mpg is nothing to sneeze at – it's fabulous mileage. The lower mileage of winter is simply a fact of life in a northern climate, but I understand why this is such a popular car in places like L.A. – stop and start highway and city driving in a warm climate is optimal. An added benefit for any city driver is that, when stuck in traffic or even at a stop light, the gas engine shuts off entirely, leaving the car idling silently, using no gas, creating no emissions and being an all-around good eco-citizen. One specification that we've found to be better than promised is the MPH you can reach before the gas engine kicks back in. Supposedly, it's only about three miles per hour before you stop running on battery alone, but we've made it to well over 15 miles per hour gliding silently, getting infinite miles per gallon for that brief time until the gas engine has to kick in to help out the battery. I do not suggest trying this in heavy traffic (or any traffic, really, and it doesn't work on a hill), as it will annoy other drivers greatly. But still, it's fun.

Actually, the car is extremely quiet, both inside and out, running on gas engine, battery or both. We refer to it as The Stealth Car. When it pulls out of the garage silently, it's a little creepy. I love it…

Move it along, Sister!

Every Prius has an automatic transmission. If that weren't the case, we certainly would have chosen to stick with our preferred manual. But the hybrid engine needs the automatic to work, so there you go. It drives exactly like any other automatic; you don't have to do anything special to make the hybrid engine do its thing, just step on the gas and go. As far as pick up goes, the 2005 Prius does fine. Yes, that is a bland, uninspired statement for a rather bland and uninspired aspect of the car. I don't have the confidence to try and slip into little narrow breaks in traffic from a full stop – the Prius simply doesn't have that kind of get-up-and-go (plus I'm kind of a big chicken). I would say it's fairly typical of the small, economy cars I've driven in the past. You do lose something in power when you gain in fuel economy, it appears. I don't mind, but I do pay attention when I'm driving, knowing that I will not be passing that semi truck on the two lane highway unless I can see clear for about a mile ahead. The transmission isn't always smooth as silk when changing gears, either, but I can say with absolute, 100% certainty that it's a smoother ride for my passengers than when I'm doing the shifting. Just because I like driving a manual doesn't mean I'm all that good at it. The only time I usually notice a little glitch in the gear shifting is when I try and step on it a little too hard from a stop. It tends to give a little lurch in protest at such rude treatment and then smoothes out quickly. Otherwise, it's smooth sailing in our Prius. Being up a little higher translates nicely into not feeling as though you're dragging your butt across every bump in the road. A nice change of pace, I must say.

What if I break it?

Now here's something to keep in mind if you're considering buying a Prius. It needs to be serviced by Toyota. That wonderful hybrid engine that gets me good mileage is also a pretty complex piece of machinery, one which our sales rep suggested we not even open the hood and look at lest we hurt ourselves. To their credit, Toyota did give us an excellent roadside assistance package with our car, and we opted to increase that coverage a bit as well. Yeah, it sounds like the extended warranty thing that you should never buy because it's a scam, but we took a peek in there when we got the car (on the lot, with the Toyota guy right there to make sure we didn't touch something) and it's scary. I might not know cars, but it looks like something out of Star Trek in there. So if you have a favorite mechanic that has always taken care of your cars at a good price in the past, be prepared to pay more for dealer service. Once again, though, this little inconvenience has been offset for us by another, larger advantage. In the two years we've owned our Prius it has needed a grand total of two service visits, both for regular maintenance. That's right, two. Like I said, we aren't high mileage drivers and that's part of the equation, but the Prius does need fewer scheduled maintenance visits than our Honda Civic.

Bottom Line on the Prius

So, is the Prius all it's cracked up to be? For the most part, yes. It gets great mileage and creates very low emissions. My entire family rides comfortably with room to spare and our service history so far has been impeccable. Despite some design issues with the touch panel and the rear window and a few very minor annoyances with the general handling, I'm very, very happy with this car. It has performed well in all weather conditions and satisfies my inner tree-hugger. I even enjoy being ensconced in the cute looking little pod-car shape. We paid about $24,000 for it, brand new – higher than some other small cars, but worth it to us for the ecological benefits. Overall, I would buy another one in a heartbeat. Four and a half stars, rounded up to five.