2004 Toyota Prius: Easy Shifter
An older friend of a friend is in the market for a car. She's got arthritis in her hands, and wants a car that won't be too manually demanding. I recommended the Toyota Prius. Here's why:
It's all about the Prius's dash-mounted shifter...
Of course, other cars offer column shifters, but few are as easy to use as the nifty little nub you'll find in the Prius. There's nothing to grip, no buttons to press. A gentle nudge is all it takes to get you from "park" to "drive."
Our 2004 Toyota Prius is no high priest of performance, but I still enjoy my time spent with it, because of little touches like this.
Warren Clarke, Automotive Content Editor @ 50,275 miles
- Permalink | Comments (2)
- Posted by: Warren Clarke September 5, 2007, 2:38 PM
- Categories: 2004 Toyota Prius
My wife drives 72 miles round trip to work in a used 04 Prius and will always get 48 miles to the gallon or better. This summer we drove from SF to Bend Oregon and from Klamath falls to Bend the Prius averaged 54 MPG. It also held two small dogs our grand daughter, my wife and me + our stuff. Believe it or not it was not crowded and we made the trip in one day averaging about 71 mph. The car now has 90k and the only thing I can gripe about it's a tire eater. must rotate!
Actually, you could gripe that it's boring, slow, and has a marshmallow instead of a brake pedal and dead steering.