Toyota Prius 1.5 Hybrid T Spirit 5dr

Owned a 2009 model voor 4 years now. Comfortable suspension, very low maintanance costs, low depreciation, and very roomy inside. Fuel consumption is good. Average 1 liter on 19 kilomters. In the city even 1 on 25. It,s not fast and noisy when accelerating. Build quility is acceptable. The upholstry wears quickly. So search for a car with leather interior. Reliabilty is excellent. Great value for your money but no excitement in driving.

The only reason to buy a Prius is the economy - unfortunately, this is not as good as it is supposed to be. If you spend all your time driving in London central it might just be worth it, but if you need a car to use in the real world, it is no good. The speedo in the car I hired was set at a 9.9% over optimistic setting, meaning that the odometer and economy readings were also virually 10 % out. It returned a true economy of 45 mpg, which is worse than a lot of traditional petrol and diesel cars. If you add in the ecological damage done by the mining/transport/manufacture and disposal of the batteries in the car, I reckon it is probably one of the most poluuting cars currently manufactured. Added to which, it is not any fun to drive. If you live in Central London - buy a bike or use public transport - if you live anywhere else get something like a Toyota Aygo - 20% better economy, 50% better to drive, no ecology damaging battery power system - or get a Land Rover Defender - 20 % worse economy, 100% better to drive, will last 5 times as long and is therefore almost certainly less damaging to the world...

Quiet at a stop and when not accelerating at city speeds, automatic gearbox is smooth, petrol economy is a world-beater

Toyota Prius 1.5 Hybrid T Spirit is noisy when accelerating, constant attention from others - often negative because the car is not european (I live in europe), my brakes make chirps as there is a funny electric braking system that bypasses the normal brake pads so they become rusty, pedestrians don't hear the engine, wish it had proper distronic-plus cruise control down to zero kph (even the 2010 does not have this full capability). toyota dealers hit-and-miss, my steering needs constant adjustment as car does not go straight down the road, not futuristic enough for example there is no automatic hill-hold function when you take foot off the brake for more than a few seconds as the car tries to accelerate to "mimic" conventional cars.

This half electric car is a taste of the next generation of cars. Looking forward to future large fully-electric highway-capable cars.

Don't expect to get great economy if you drive the Toyota Prius like a 'normal' car - check out hypermiling techniques to find out how to get the best from the hybrid setup. I get 58 mpg on average.

The Toyota Prius is easy to drive, comfortable and economic, although there is no way it will do 55mpg around town as stopping and starting causes the fuel consumption to rise markedly.

I find that it performs well on all roads including motorways.

The rear view camera is extremely useful for parking where there low walls, bollards etc. which cannot be seen in your mirrors.

Worth having if you do an awful lot of town driving, and are forever entering the congestion zone. This is a car that is heavy on the practicality, but not on some of the other features shall we say! But saying that at first I didn't like it, but you know what it does grow on you in a positive way!

You won't pick up many women while driving a Toyota Prius. Unless, that is they wear sandals and knit their own yogurt.

After two years driving I love the gadgets in the Prius - satellite navigation, Bluetooth hands-free phone, and a very funky real time display showing how the hybrid engine is working - but the performance is lackluster and the thing just looks boring.

However, if you're a keen environmentalist or just, like me, want to save £8 per day on the London congestion charge (the Prius is exempt) then it's a fabulous buy. I get 50 mpg around London from the Prius and 60 is when on the open road driving between 40 and 60 mph. The fuel economy drops when on the motorway but it is still pretty good.

The technology does come with some downsides - pedestrians have a habit of wandering out in front of you because they can't hear the electric motor - but on the whole its very impressive.

So if you drive in the congestion charge area and want to save the planet then buy on. Just don't hope for too much excitement and don't expect to pull.