I'm looking at buying a hybrid too. The Honda gets really bad customer happiness/satisfaction reports from everything I've read, whereas the Prius seems to make people giddy with joy. (YMMV)
I like the Prius numbers a lot, but I'm just not sure I can live with something that small and that low to the ground in an area where everyone, and I mean everyone, drives a truck or a SUV. If I get hit by a truck in a prius, it's gonna kill me or Boy, more than likely, because I don't think you can get side air curtains on the prius. (I'm still trying to find out what safety features the prius has...they don't seem to mention it anywhere...or I've just missed it, I dunno.)
I'm kinda thinking about the Mercury hybrid SUV. It's still high enough that I can see around everyone, and it's greener than my current Mercury SUV. It's not a huge savings in gas mileage, but it's probably a huge savings in greenhouse gases and carbon footprint.
I dunno. I should prolly go drive the Prius and see if it feels as small as it looks. :)
Yes it does feel as small. I drove them both and liked the Civic a lot more. The Prius has some really bad blind spots in the back, plus this really annoying back-up beep sound.
Try looking at Edmunds.com It is a really good site and you can do side-by-side comparisons which is really nice.
Yeah, I've looked at edmunds, and I still couldn't find safety equipment for the prius. Info like airbags and passenger and rear passenger bags, etc. It may not have any of those things as an option.
I may end up with a diesel volvo or something instead, I dunno. The safety issues are really important to me, since Boy is in my car every day. A hybrid makes sense for me because most of my driving is less than 10 miles at a time, but the little ones just don't feel safe to me.
Yeah, I know what you mean. I asked the salesman about the front passenger air bags and he could really tell me much about it. I wanted to know if there was a way to turn it off, but he claimed to only be a toyota salesman for 7 months. Blah. I do believe that it has side air bags, but I am not completely sure.
As you probably saw by the above post, Honda is coming out with a diesel also. Apparently it has already been released in Europe but I couldn't really find out much about it. It is amazing to me that this technology has been around for some time and yet I can't find hardly anything about it!
I just got off the phone with a Toyota dealer, and you can order a package that has side airbags for front and back. Hooray! Also, purchasing a 2007 is good for a 3k tax credit. So, yay.
I've got an appointment to go test drive one next Tuesday.
I like the Prius numbers a lot, but I'm just not sure I can live with something that small and that low to the ground in an area where everyone, and I mean everyone, drives a truck or a SUV. If I get hit by a truck in a prius, it's gonna kill me or Boy, more than likely, because I don't think you can get side air curtains on the prius. (I'm still trying to find out what safety features the prius has...they don't seem to mention it anywhere...or I've just missed it, I dunno.)
I'm kinda thinking about the Mercury hybrid SUV. It's still high enough that I can see around everyone, and it's greener than my current Mercury SUV. It's not a huge savings in gas mileage, but it's probably a huge savings in greenhouse gases and carbon footprint.
I dunno. I should prolly go drive the Prius and see if it feels as small as it looks. :)
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Try looking at Edmunds.com It is a really good site and you can do side-by-side comparisons which is really nice.
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I may end up with a diesel volvo or something instead, I dunno. The safety issues are really important to me, since Boy is in my car every day. A hybrid makes sense for me because most of my driving is less than 10 miles at a time, but the little ones just don't feel safe to me.
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As you probably saw by the above post, Honda is coming out with a diesel also. Apparently it has already been released in Europe but I couldn't really find out much about it. It is amazing to me that this technology has been around for some time and yet I can't find hardly anything about it!
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I've got an appointment to go test drive one next Tuesday.
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