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

We are ahead of the curve with the regular service on our long-term Prius. Just as the odometer turned 49,055 miles the maintenance light told us it was time to see the dealer for its 50k-mile service.

It turns out this is one of the minor intervals on the schedule. It consists of routine visual safety inspections, engine oil and filter change and a tire rotation. Our appointment at Toyota of Santa Monica was quick and cost us $92.36 when all was said and done. That is right on par with the price we found on Edmunds Maintenance Guide.

Mike Schmidt, Vehicle Testing Assistant

It's not often the Prius has an opportunity to run a race track. But as a Long Beach resident, I couldn't resist giving the Toyota hybrid a chance to take on a section of the 2.02-mile Long Beach Grand Prix course on my way home this week.

Construction has been underway since early February or so, and race weekend officially starts tomorrow.

The mighty Prius and I were running the course in reverse, so the view through the windshield is around the bend in the front straight along Shoreline Drive, near the pits and the start/finish line.

At 32 mph, the Prius was in its sweet spot.

Kelly Toepke, Manager of Vehicle Testing at 48,153 miles

I took a quick spin in our eldest long-termer, a 2004 Toyota Prius, which is now at 47,470 miles. I still think it makes a very practical city car, although I'd be unlikely to buy one as my only car because of its near total disregard for driver enjoyment. That said, our long-termer is holding up quite well. It's rattle-free and the only terminal wear is the threadbare armrest on the driver door.

Another thing that struck is me is how modern the car still feels on the inside. Four years into the model cycle, a lot of cars already feel dated, but the Prius' cabin electronics are still as high-quality and user-friendly as any you'll find in '07 model year cars. I particularly like the audio system interface.

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We've been working our way through a full tank of gas in the Toyota Prius since the fuel gauge was recalibrated last week. The dealer told us the only way to verify that the gauge was now working correctly was to drain it and fill up.

After driving it down to one bar on the gauge, we added 6.271 gallons to the tank and ta-da, the gauge illuminated all the way to full.

Problem solved.

Kelly Toepke, Manager of Vehicle Testing at 47,301 miles

This weekend I was tasked with running the Prius til it was bone dry, but found it was a lot harder than I thought considering I wasn't going anywhere too far, just in and around town. The request to pack miles on the Prius was due to its odd inability to be sated -- the fuel gauge always displays that it's 3/4 full. So I drove to and from Long Beach, always took the long leisurely way round on my errands and floored it whenever the opportunity presented itself. What did I get for my efforts? 113.4 miles added to the odo and one bar taken off the fuel gauge. Woo. Being wasteful is hard work in the Prius, especially since it's not really a fun car to drive in the first place. If it were, the miles would be easier to accumulate and not the chore it was for the sake of this little experiment.

I know, fun is not the point of the Prius, but damn. However, for those who are practical and who just want something economical to get around town, it's perfect for ya. It's quiet, comfortable and in some cities you actually get free metered parking.

Production Editor Caroline Pardilla at 46,924 miles

The last two times we topped off the Toyota Prius' fuel tank the gauge hasn't shown more than three-quarters full, so yesterday I took the Prius to the Toyota dealer when I picked up the RAV4.

The service writer said they'd recalibrate the gauge and we'd see what happened then. I went to pick it up today, and still, the gauge only shows three-quarters, even after I added 2.8 gallons of gas after leaving the dealership.

After flipping through the fuel log, I realized we haven't let the tank drain since early November, instead we've been topping off a couple of gallons here and there. After talking to the dealer again, we've decided to run it down to empty before we refuel to see if the gauge will read accurately after that exercise.

Kelly Toepke, Manager of Vehicle Testing at 46,806 miles

We're approaching 46k miles in our '04 Prius, which means the warranty umbrella is becoming smaller and smaller. Its small enough now that it no longer covers our recent electrical rebellion from the NAV/radio screen.

It took the dealer a few hours to diagnose the malfunction as an electrical short and recommend replacing the entire display screen. As one might expect, this lightens the wallet substantially: $96.88 for labor, $460 for parts, 1 arm and 1 leg. A total of $604.83 after taxes.

Our service advisor blamed it on the sun. In the past we've experienced a glare across the NAV screen during daylight driving, so this explanation seemed to make sense. That was until our inner skeptic saw a display at the cashier's counter advertising nothing other than covers for Prius display screens - - now available in the parts department. Coincidence? Conspiracy aside, it just might be worth the $39.99 investment.

With its snub-nose, hatchback styling, the Prius offers more than a roomy, extremely space-efficient cabin, it also makes for easy parking.  While parallel parking, its a snap to back the Prius into place thanks to the additional glass window on the hatchback that allows you to easily judge how close you're getting to the car behind.  That handy window isn't an innovation, however (remember the Honda CRX?).  And the Prius' Pug-like nose allows you to usually back in and pull out in one shot, whereas a vehicle with more hood typically requires a couple of back-and-forth jockeying moves before it's clear of the car in front.

In other news, the climate/audio interface (aka the nav. screen) is still on the fritz.  During this past weekend in the Prius, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.  We're still waiting for the part to come in at Santa Monica Toyota which should be sometime this week.

John DiPietro, Automotive Editor @ 45,786

 

The weekend after Thanksgiving is usually the weekend during which radio stations begin playing Christmas carols. But there were no carols to be heard over the last few days, at least not within the cabin of the Toyota Prius.

Our Managing Editor Donna DeRosa had reported earlier that she'd experienced problems with the car's navigation and audio systems; she'd thought that maybe the issue was somehow linked to her new high-tech cell phone. During my time in the Prius, I experienced problems as well, with nary a fancy-schmancy cell phone in sight. The radio would intermittently cut out, making it impossible for me to tune in to the joyous music of the holiday season. That I didn't miss so much, but it would have been nice to get some KCRW every now and then.

Our Prius has been rock-solid in terms of reliability over the past couple of years, so this glitch is very much out of character. We've scheduled a visit to the dealer to investigate the problem.

Warren Clarke, Content Editor