2023 Toyota Prius - WOW!

[freebeard]

I still miss my 1959 Rambler American station wagon.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I used the shift lever extensively in the Gen III. Since the car would start the engine above 60 MPH, I'd shift to neutral just before crossing that threshold, thereby keeping the engine off. I'd also shift to neutral to coast.

I can get used to wherever the control is, but the lever was pretty intuitive and accessible.

I used the shifter on my Gen 2 a lot too - mostly going from drive to engine braking in the mountains after the tiny battery fully charged the car stopped regeneration. It was up on the dash and out of the way.

With a rotary knob shifter you would rotate one click counter-clockwise for neutral and then one click clockwise to go back into drive. Every rotary shifter I've used has been P-N-D-L, just like an old column shifter.

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I'm a big fan of the bridge style center console so that things can be stashed out of sight below, and other stuff can be placed above where it's easily accessible.

Wish this car was hideous so I could get it at discount at some point in the future.

For me the more storage the better. I don't keep a lot in my car but it is important to have a place for my wife to stash her purse if she doesn't want to take it with her.

[redpoint5]

I'm used to the rotary knob in the Ford Fusion and it's perfectly fine.

I probably only used L in the Prius plug-in twice or so. It kicks the engine on using that mode, so I'd only do it once the battery filled up, which only happened twice that I can remember. One was coming down from Crater Lake, and the other was coming down from Yosemite.

I don't think there's any way this new Prius is in my future though. Might go for kid #3, and as it is a 5-passenger vehicle is inadequate for a family of 4.

Toyota needs to hurry up and develop a plug-in Sienna.

[hayden55]

I agree a 60 mile plug in sienna would be nice. Although my parents made us stuff into a 4 door 90s sedan until we were full grown so I think a prius could work. So don't spoil those kids too much
A sienna hybrid gets 36/36 and tows 3500 though. Thats pretty impressive. With the insurance on a 3rd vehicle being some what expensive i think a sienna to replace a tow vehicle and a econo box would be a good idea.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by hayden55

I agree a 60 mile plug in sienna would be nice. Although my parents made us stuff into a 4 door 90s sedan until we were full grown so I think a prius could work. So don't spoil those kids too much
A sienna hybrid gets 36/36 and tows 3500 though. Thats pretty impressive. With the insurance on a 3rd vehicle being some what expensive i think a sienna to replace a tow vehicle and a econo box would be a good idea.

Believe me, I'm not considering kid comfort whatsoever in my vehicle choice. As I'm always saying, whoever is in the back seat is getting a free ride, and people that get free rides don't get to complain.

Problem is, even with just 2 kids and a 5 passenger car, you cannot give even 1 other couple a ride. In-laws come over, and they've got to drive separately everywhere we go.

I bet once I get a van my friends will be borrowing it all the time. They're just too useful.

[freebeard]

When I was driving the '56 Sunroof, I had two step-sons who rode in the luggage compartment behind the back seat (preferentially) untill it was all arms and legs hanging over the seatback.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Believe me, I'm not considering kid comfort whatsoever in my vehicle choice. As I'm always saying, whoever is in the back seat is getting a free ride, and people that get free rides don't get to complain.

Problem is, even with just 2 kids and a 5 passenger car, you cannot give even 1 other couple a ride. In-laws come over, and they've got to drive separately everywhere we go.

I bet once I get a van my friends will be borrowing it all the time. They're just too useful.

Vans are super useful.

However, I suspect you will find out that even with a minivan you may still end up driving 2 cars places.

This summer we had family in and had 4 adults / 2 teens to transport. I was hoping for a minivan but wasn't willing to pay $900 to reserve one when I can show up and take any car on the rental lot for $230 a week. This time no minivan. However by the time we loaded up 6 people / luggage / cooler for 3 nights in Bend there wouldn't have been enough room in a minivan anyway. I had both rear hatches filled - the rental Blazer and our TSX wagon.

It was a tight fit 4 years ago putting 6 people and cargo into a Dodge Caravan for a day trip to the beach

[JSH]

Originally Posted by hayden55

I agree a 60 mile plug in sienna would be nice. Although my parents made us stuff into a 4 door 90s sedan until we were full grown so I think a prius could work. So don't spoil those kids too much
A sienna hybrid gets 36/36 and tows 3500 though. Thats pretty impressive. With the insurance on a 3rd vehicle being some what expensive i think a sienna to replace a tow vehicle and a econo box would be a good idea.

Why such a giant battery / long EV range for a PHEV? Realistically you are looking at about a 35 kWh battery to get that kind of range in a van which is almost as big as the base Leaf.

I truly don't get the push for PHEVs with giant batteries. 20 - 30 miles covers the majority of trips and I can't see there being actual savings from paying thousands more up front for the big battery. It seems people just want to drive all their city driving on EV and only use the gas engine for long trips.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by JSH

Vans are super useful.

However, I suspect you will find out that even with a minivan you may still end up driving 2 cars places.

This summer we had family in and had 4 adults / 2 teens to transport. I was hoping for a minivan but wasn't willing to pay $900 to reserve one when I can show up and take any car on the rental lot for $230 a week. This time no minivan. However by the time we loaded up 6 people / luggage / cooler for 3 nights in Bend there wouldn't have been enough room in a minivan anyway. I had both rear hatches filled - the rental Blazer and our TSX wagon.

It was a tight fit 4 years ago putting 6 people and cargo into a Dodge Caravan for a day trip to the beach

I've considered this fact too, though it's only seat space I'm concerned about. I can always expand "stuff" carrying with a hitch mounted cargo box, or a trailer, or...

It's actually the 7 seat limitation I'm concerned about. If we go to a family of 5, that means there's only 2 seats left for others. Nearly all our friends have kids now, so it wouldn't fit 2 families.

Heck, even at our current family size, we wouldn't be able to fit my wife's parents plus mine into a 7-seater. Need 8...

Which has me thinking along the lines of 10 passenger vans. Nope, I draw the line there. For the infrequent times we would need the extra space, I'll just drive 2 vehicles instead and enjoy the much improved fuel efficiency of a minivan.

[hayden55]

Probably more like 25kW but yup. Larger batteries live longer. Allows you to cycle them less. Hey while the american tax payer and the rest of the world are absorbing the inflation on the dollar and the government has no plan to do anything about debt or inflation might as well cash in and use the tax subsidies to let everyone else pay for a bit of your vehicle. Its the last finale and it's only fair. lol