Everything they claim it is

Last year my husband called me and said "I've ordered a Prius". I'm a tree hugger, but his motivation is to "stick it to" the oil companies. It took 5 months to arrive and then a. long. time. at the dealership to get the instructional speech and some pressure to apply a special protective coating to keep the exterior and interior perfect. (No thanks).

Six weeks later we are very happy. Physically the car has plenty of headroom and legroom, a spacious back compartment - especially with the back seats folded down- and a nifty back-up camera screen on the dash to compensate for not-so-great visibility through the back window.

We are not as sold on the extra firm seating and slightly bumpy ride - my husband needed an extra seat cushion with lumbar support to really be comfortable.

This car is like a big ole mood ring - when my husband is stressed out, he averages 44-45 mpg. When I'm driving and being mindful of using the "pulse" method on the accelerator - coasting down hills and letting off occasionally on the flat so the mpg rating zooms up to 100 mpg on the display, I get 50 mpg average.

As much information as there is out there, people still ask us about how often it has to be plugged in. Never. They wonder about the lack of power - honestly, the car is peppy and with plenty of pickup on the freeway.

If they would just put a Jag shell on this chassis, it would be the perfect car.