Hello, I am a new member of this forum and I am looking to buy a 2009 Prius to replace a 2009 Mazda 3 2.3 L hatch. I know very little about these cars, but I am trying to find out more. Is Electronic Stability Control standard on these cars? What does Toyota call their stability control? Mazda calls it DSC. We do over 90% of our driving in the city in heavy traffic. The Mazda 3 just doesn't get enough mpg's for my $. Are there any problems inherent with the 2009 Prius that I should be aware of? What about the acceleration issues? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again...
You should be looking for a Prius with VSC. This is not a standard feature. When you make the car IG-ON so that the instrument panel warning lights appear, you'll see one light with the VSC label, which shows the car has that feature. (From IG-OFF, press the POWER button 2x without depressing the brake pedal, to get to IG-ON.) 2009 is the last 2G model year, and there are no inherent problems. The acceleration issue is primarily due to driver error. Good luck with your car buying decision.
http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...andard-optional-equipment-some-countries.html should help. BTW, to set your mileage expectations, Best & worst cars review, fuel-efficient vehicles and ConsumerReports.org - Most fuel-efficient cars might help. Offhand (w/o checking), I don't know which engine was in the Mazda 3s they tested.
What about real world MPG's. We do all of our driving in the city in fairly heavy traffic with lots of lights and stop signs. What kind of MPG's could we expect in these kind of conditions?
40 at a minimum. It is hard to get less. It is possible to do much better but there is a learning curve.
I suggest that you rent a Prius for a few days and see whether the mpg and the car's other features meet your needs.
Depends on the driver, route, conditions and trip lengths. How long will the trips be in time and distance? Is the terrain hilly at all? It's not hard to get mid to upper 30s if the drives are short city drives in cold weather w/hills. I'm living that now. If one has ~5 minute city drives or less, it could get as low as 25. The first 5 minutes or so will virtually always yield crappy mileage. Agreed.
