prius T4

Best car I've owned!

We purchased a new Toyota Prius in 2005; it’s a fairly basic model with few special bells or whistles on it (we are not “petrol-heads!), and having owned it now for 10 years can honestly say it has been the best car we have ever owned. We have owned a variety of cars: 2 VW Beetles; a 123 Mercedes saloon; an Audi 60; a VW T4; a Volvo 360; a Volvo 440; Austin 1100; MG 1100, before which we ran a variety of old bangers from Ford Populars to Ford Prefects; an old Austin A35, a Morris 8 and a Rover 75, so we’ve been through the usual gamut of vehicles during our motoring lifetime. The most appealing aspect of this current saloon is that it is just so easy to drive as it’s fully automatic and the continuously variable transmission makes it impossible to stall. It responds instantly to the accelerator, there’s no more slipping the clutch on hill starts, no more manhandling the gear lever to get it into reverse and the hybrid power train delivers instant and rapid acceleration from traffic lights or road junctions without over revving the engine. It glides around effortlessly in town and is amazingly quiet to boot. During my daily commute to an adjacent city covering motorways and country roads as well 30mph urban areas it used to give around 50 to 55 mpg and only ever achieved the stated 65 mpg in the manufacturer’s blurb 3 times during the 10 years we have owned it. However, that’s pretty typical of most cars these days. It’s been extremely reliable and passed its MOT without any intervention by the garage for 10 years running. Most of the other cars we have owned had seats which used to cause me backache after long journeys – this one has never caused similar problems. We had one instance of being locked out of the vehicle which was due to low voltage in the 12 volt battery but that was after 6 years and the new battery instantly resolved the matter. All in all it’s a pleasure to drive; clearly a well-made car! We can’t wait to see what the forthcoming 4th generation plug-in hybrid Prius is going to be like!

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