Hi all, I became a member on this forum in 2008 when I was dying to get a Prius but couldn't afford it. The stars aligned on March 16, 2011 and I got rid of my 2005 Ford Five Hundred SEL and purchased my 2011 Package II from Longo Toyota and got an incredible deal on it. I have never bought a non-domestic car in my life and this is my first new car, but I have dealt with salesmen of all types, including car salesmen and can say that Longo's guys were awesome. I am in my 3rd week of driving the car and just filled the 3rd tank of fuel, I am getting a combined HWY/CTY fuel economy rating of 54MPG and have about 800 miles on the car. I love it. The Five Hundred was a pretty good size car, and now with a growing family (2nd child due this summer) downsizing to a Prius will surely have its challenges but I believe we Americans drive too large cars to begin with... so we shall see what happens as a new chapter for us begins. Anyway, I look forward to contributing and learning at this forum. Hovik
Thanks spider, we often have my mother-in-law in town for long visits so there are actually 5 of us, my wife will have to sandwich herself between 2 car seats soon. I am going to be on a mission soon to try to find a stroller that'll fit in the luggage area and I think there won't be much room for anything else after that. Anyway we'll see. If you don't mind me asking, have you found the "buckle" (receptacle) portion of the seatbelt difficult to clip into when there is a child's car seat there? (assuming your kids still use them) My buckles seem to slip way down into the recessed area and they are very hard to clip into because the more you push the more they go in, seems to be the only poor design I can find on the car...
Your new Prius baby will sleep nicely through the night; unlessyou can't resist a light night spin. You'll have tons of fun. Enjoy the high MPGs, technology and low-emissions. IMO, you made a smart decision to trade the Ford, especially since they're not willing to step up to the high-mileage hybrid game.
Haha, thanks for the hint. I learned something already on this forum, albeit non-Prius related! You should see how I abuse commas to the brink of torture!
Ask away... that is what this site is about. We just have one in a booster seat at this point. It is a bit wide and is a tad difficult to buckle. As with a baby seat, we have had problems with just about every car. Best way is to grab the head with two fingers and with the thumb slide the clip into place. The fingers keep the head from slipping into the fold. Hope that helps...
We're on day 3 with our Prius, definitely noticed it was harder than our Subie to plug the seat belt buckle in around the booster seat, but not difficult. We'll get used to it and it will be 2nd nature soon.
I'm under the impression that Toyota offers free seat belt extenders. Check with your local dealer. I'm sure the extenders will fix the awkward buckling.
Twittel, Thanks! I stopped by Claremont Toyota on my way home from work and sure enough they ordered me 2 six-inch buckle extenders at no charge, they had about 5 other lengths available but the 6" was the shortest and should work best for me. They will be in later this week and I'll post a photo of them. Thanks again for the tip. H
