Love our Prius V
We were in the market for a fuel efficient car that we could afford and one that would fit our growing family. The Prius V is everything we wanted! It is a spacious wagon with rear seats that fold (1/3 and 2/3 fold down) -- which is great for hauling many or large items. The model we got was a five, which was more "luxury" and cost than we needed, but the leather seats are sooooo worth it for cleanliness and the heated seats have been just lovely in the cold weather. The moon roof lets light in, creating an even bigger and more open feeling inside. It has navigation which we really haven't used, bluetooth which is nice for music from our phone and the sound system is great. I think the seats are very comfortable, and the driver seat has an adjustable lower lumbar support that I really enjoy.
The fuel efficiency of the car is outstanding. So far we have averaged 40.6 mi/gallon�we don't do a lot of city driving (which would be even more efficient). We took the car from OH to MO and only used three tanks total for the round trip -- and the tank is only an 11 gallon tank!! We drive the car every day and fill up once every two weeks on average.
I only gave it 4 stars for performance just because upon rapid acceleration (like entering a highway from onramp) it does not have as much get up and go as my 6 cylinder truck. But that is to be expected, and it isn't so poky that it is frustrating or dangerous.
Driving a keyless car is a little weird at first (as is the gear shift in the Prius), but the car is smarter than me. It has yelled at me when I've tried to leave my keys in the car or leave the lights on. The back up camera is nice and unexpectedly something I now miss in my other vehicle.
After lots of research, we were down to the Prius V and a VW deisel Jetta Sportswagon. The Sportswagon actually had a bit better gas mileage but we knew we would pay more at the pump. I was also surprised once I started paying attention that all pumps didn't offer diesel�my grocery gas didn't and my fuel perks are a huge savings! We ultimately went with the Prius because of the longevity and dependability of Toyota. We traded in a 14 yr old Toyota when we bought the Prius! I heard too many negative stories about the dependability of the VW, and the increased cost when there was a problem.
- bird, 2012 Toyota Prius v
