Since their really aren’t a lot of EV’s to choose from I’ve turned to writing about hybrid vehicles. Usually plug in hybrids, but, now I am going to talk about a pure hybrid. I know, there is no such thing as a pure hybrid.

I have been the owner of a Prius V for about a year now. My 84 year old mother needed a new car. Her 20 year old Toyota 4Runner had pretty much had been riddled by rust. Had it not been for the rust it probably would have been a great SUV for 20 more years. That’s if you don’t consider the 16 MPG a bad thing.

So we went out looking for a reliable car or SUV that would get good gas mileage and be as reliable as a Toyota with great cargo capacity. The Prius V fit that bill. It might be one of the most practical cars I have ever driven. Great gas milage (42 MPG average), holds 5 people comfortably or 2-3 people and a lot of camping gear and has that Toyota reliability.

My mother loved this car. Sadly within days of buying it she contracted a rare skin cancer and died barely 6 months later.

My mother had given the car to my sister. My sister had been driving the car while taking care of her during her last few months. She didn’t want the car and with less than 7k miles and little more than 6 months of purchase the dealers best offer was $21k. This was a $35k car new with the tax. It’s the top of the line Prius V. Today with about 22k miles on it and a year later the cars trade in value is more than it was within 6 months of purchase. Dealers figure if you want to sell a car early you must really hate it or are desperate for cash.

My mother had figured it would most likely be the last car she ever owned so she wanted everything on it. Mayor Daley of Chicago fame wanted to go out in a Cadillac Ambulance, my mother chose the top of the line Prius.

This is probably one of the most functional cars I have ever driven. Like I said earlier, 42 MPG average. My Mazda 6 gets 28 MPG average. It can carry 5 people very comfortably. As long as it’s not 122 degrees outside since it has no rear seat air vents.

So why do I hate this car? Why did my sister hate this car? Why would my wife rather drive our other cars first? It’s about as fun to drive a a Uhaul. The engine always sounds like it’s struggling unless it’s in pure electric mode. Something that is only at really low speeds. The CVT is very unsatisfying. I hate CVT’s.

A couple of things you might like. It has adaptive cruise control. When there isn’t a lot of traffic it works great. When there is a lot of other cars around you it wants to keep a distance that invites everybody to pull in front of you causing the person behind you to hate you. Whenever someone pulls in front of you it slows down to keep a safe distance. About 4 car lengths at 65 MPH. You can reduce that distance but it’s not a distance I trust I can stop it if the car doesn’t. There have been times I’ve put the brakes on because the car didn’t. And when it’s raining it doesn’t work at all.

Auto on and off high beams. Great until you want them on when you want them on. Then you have to hold the control switch manually.

Because I hate the practical Prius so much and don’t really want a Ford C-max or Fusion Plugin hybrid that like it’s siblings uses most of the trunk to house the batteries I have tested the Audi A3 e-tron and for giggles if the Porsche dealer lets me I’m going to test the Panamera Plugin. I know I would never buy the Panamera as I could use that kind of money to pay off my mortgage. And I have already posted why I would never buy a Chevy Volt.

Be on the lookout for a craigslist add for a 2015 Prius V.