Review: Before I bought the Prius my wife and I had owned five other Toyotas between the two of us. I purchased my first, a Camry, in 1988 and loved it. Just a great car, as were all the others Toyotas we had owned so I was pretty excited about the Prius.
I don’t know where to being there were so many things I hated about the Prius. First, I never got the gas mileage I expected, especially in the winter months. When it was cold it would only get about 37 miles per gallon. Eventually it would do better as it warmed up, but by then I had arrived at my destination.
The seats were crippling, the brakes were terrible and the dashboard squeaked constantly in cold weather until the car warmed up. The seats were okay for around town, but on a long drive the lack of lumbar support was crippling. Also, every time I closed the hatch the spoiler wobbled like it was going to fall off.
Not only was the mileage poor the engine was so underpowered it was hard to merge with traffic on the interstate. And if the lack of power wasn’t bad enough, the lack of visibility was even worse. In the winter the lower half of the rear window was completely useless as it was immediately covered in slush.
Overall it was just a terrible car which my wife refused to drive because she couldn’t see out of it. Next time I’ll buy a Camry Hybrid.
Reviewer: JimR
Summary: Only bad Toyota I’ve ever owned
Rating: 2
Reliability: 4