Faults:

Nothing whatsoever.

General Comments:

My wife got this car because she spends about three hours a day in traffic, mostly stationary! Therefore, it made sense to have a car that shuts down when you are not moving. Unlike petrol and diesel cars that have stop/start, with a Prius, the electric motors are always ready to go. This means you don't get caught out if there is a sudden gap in the traffic and you need to take off fast.

It looks great inside and out, (ours is dark blue) and the only downside is lack of digital radio. I had thought if you were making a cutting edge car, that this would be a given, but no. Our doesn't have GPS either.

The only other slight downer is that the petrol engine sounds a bit agricultural, but other than that, it is what you would expect from Toyota in terms of ultra high quality, reliability etc. There are plenty of cubby holes inside for your phone etc.

As you would expect, the fuel economy is amazing. When I fill my Chrysler the computer tells me I have about 480km until empty. In the Prius it is around 980km. Because of this, if I get after hours call outs for work I always take the Prius, and it is a joy to drive at night with its all digital display and the petrol engine chiming in and out as the drive demands.

The CVT makes it a bit of an odd one to get used to as it is always making the most of torque v acceleration. The Prius has cruise control and oddly enough, is awesome to drive on highways as the computer takes over and wrings every Newton Metre out of the motor(s). Also, I recently had five people in it for a forty five minute trip to the city, and it can easily cope with the extra weight. I can honestly say I didn't notice any drop in performance at all.

I'm used to big, fat, six cylinder cars, but I am finding the Prius to be quite addictive.