First ever Prius, so what colour and interior would you recommend?

[JustinCider]

Hi all.

Well I'm about to order my first ever Prius, it's a company vehicle and what first got my attention was the low tax, but I had one for 5 days as a demo and after a 347 mile stress free trip one day I was hooked! My driving style is very fuel consumption conscious so the fact I got 70 mpg average over the 5 days also really appealed to me. I'm going to order an Excel with 15" alloys, a couple of questions though if I may ask your advice...

1. I was thinking Hypersonic Red. Good choice, or does it look odd with the smaller alloys?

2. Black leather or grey leather? 

3. I'm going to order the tyre repair kit instead of the space saver as I don't want to lose the load space, but is there any other little things like that I need to remember?

Thanks in advance for any advice kindly given.

[MichaelM]

I chose Hypersonic Red and grey leather for my Excel and after nearly eighteen months, I still really like it.  The red sparkles when the sun is shining but I admit it is bit of a pricey extra.

Having a pale interior to my car rather than drab black is very important to me and the grey leather does lighten things up.  By the way, I soon got used to the rather unusual white plastic centre console.

When I opted for the 15" wheels, it automatically meant that I got the spacesaver spare.  It is tucked away below what is already a fairly large boot area.

I don't know if you can swap the spacesaver for a tyre repair kit and anyway you will not gain very much useful space.

 

[JustinCider]

Thanks Michael for the reply. I've seen a red one in a showroom and it did look really nice. How light in colour is the grey leather? I read someone describe it as almost white? I've 12 yo & 9 yo kids and although my job isn't a messy one I will typically spend about 4 hours a day in the car so it will be a proper workhorse. So my only concern is the interior will get very grubby.

[PeteB]

I chose white exterior primarily because it doesn't work the a/c as hard - I was surprised to hear a few years ago of some research that even colours like metallic white, metallic silver and bright yellow are 60-80% as bad as black for absorbing heat - even on a cool day, touching a pure white car that's been parked in the sun and then touching another colour is quite surprising.

It's been a revelation too since I installed an after-market tyre monitoring system that also reports temperatures, and the matt black rubber can get 10°C hotter than shaded corners when parked even on a day when that sun's not that strong.

I absolutely hate all-black interiors.  After a day in a car that's like a coffin inside I just want to slash my wrists!   In the days when cars came with a choice of interior colour, I chose the interior first than looked to see what non metallic colours I could have with it (didn't worry about white paint in those days).

My Excel has done 21,000 miles now (in 16 months) and I sit in for quite long periods (alone, mostly though).  So far the leather has stood up well, with only the tiniest discoloration of the driver's seat base.  I'm sure a bit of elbow grease with some leather cleaner would tidy it up.  I a few years if it gets really grubby and a full valet doesn't fix it, I'll get a vehicle upholsterer to replace the ventilated leather with a smoother type that probably will stand up to wear much better.  A pale (non ventilated) leather interior in a Volvo I had some years ago was fine after almost 80,000 miles and minimal maintenance.

Personalty, I absolutely wouldn't be without a proper spare wheel (I'd really prefer full size, but space saver is better than none).  Of the dozen plus flat tyres I've had in recent years at least four definitely wouldn't have been fixable with gunge (especially one when there was no rubber left on the rim by the time I stopped!), and two or three others were questionable.

The Plug-in Prius doesn't have a spare (the main reason I didn't get one) and I did read of an owner who got a puncture very late one evening while just a few miles from home.  The gunge didn't work and he waited about 3 hours for the AA, who simply transported him and the car to his home by 2am.  He then needed two taxi rides the next day to take his wheel to a tyre shop in the nearest big town.  No thanks!

[Chris Dance]

With only 3 weeks to go before the new road tax changes on April the 1st this year we decided to purchase our 4th new Prius. The dealer could not promise to get a Prius Excel 4th edition in white and in leather by the April 1st deadline. In stock was a new business edition Prius, same safety spec etc as the Excel but cloth upholstery and silver. We had the Sat/Nav upgraded. We like the silver and the cloth upholstery shows no signs of wear etc. It came with 15 inch wheels and "skinny" spare wheel.

I did intend to buy the Plug In Prius. I had the charging point installed in our garage but when I found the Plug In had no spare wheel that idea was cancelled.

The Gen 4 Prius lacks the storage space of our other Prius cars but it has the best ride and turning circle of them all. I am told the Prius when fitted with 17 inch wheels does not have such a decent turning circle.

[JustinCider]

Thanks fellas for the replies. I'll be doing about 35k miles p.a. so my bum will be in contact with that grey leather a lot! How light is the grey? It does seem a good colour choice for the car - it looks like a space ship on the outside and the inside so the seating may as well carry on that theme too. 

Also, I read somewhere that the 15" wheels are steel with covers?? But the Toyota literature and website state that they are alloys and in some good close up images I found on a long term review on the Carmagazine website, they look like alloys to me.

[PeteB]

The trim is very pale, off-white or even cream.  Personally I love it, and it makes the white centre console and other trim look ok too. I've added a picture from Toyota's web site.

The 15" wheels ARE alloy, but they have plastic trims.  Personally, I like these too - an early attempt at using the (usually reliable) self parking put rapid full lock on and slammed a front wheel into a particularity vicious high kerb.  Replacing a £30 trim was much preferable to having an alloy refurbed!  Some people take the trims off, but for these reasons mine are staying firmly on.

I'm told the wheel trims are part of the reason the Gen 4 with 15" wheels achieves it 0.24 drag factor (in the world top five best for production cars, alongside the all-electric Tesla Model S).  Another reason is that although the overall diameter of wheel and tyre is about the same for both sizes, the 15" are slightly narrower again helping to reduce drag.

I've driven a demonstrator on 17" twice and can't really tell any difference in road-holding in the tame driving I do - I think you'd have to enjoy quite extreme cornering to need the supposed extra grip of the wider low profile option.

[PeteB]

21 minutes ago, JustinCider said:

... it looks like a space ship on the outside and the inside ...

I refer to mine as "the Enterprise" (especially when the screens power up) and amuse friends by stating it seems wrong to have to open a door and climb in when you ought to be able to beam aboard!

[PeteB]

3 hours ago, Chris Dance said:

...Gen 4 Prius lacks the storage space of our other Prius cars but it has the best ride and turning circle of them all. I am told the Prius when fitted with 17 inch wheels does not have such a decent turning circle.

I'm afraid I'd take issue with that - my Gen 1 original (much smaller) Prius (on 14" wheels) would do U turns in roads my 15" Gen 4 (though still very good) won't, and had the most comfortable seats of any Prius since, plus suspension that's was as good, or better than a Gen 4 on 15" wheels.  That made it very comfortable to ride in.  I think the Gen 1 turning circle was about 30 feet.

I think you're right that cars on 17" would be worse.  I've not seen any quoted turning circle figures that confirm this for the Prius, but when the 2012 Yaris shape was launched, by Toyota's own figures the models with 16" wheels needed a whole 6 feet more to turn around that those with 15" wheels!

[Chris Dance]

I never owned a Prius Gen1. Our first Prius was a Gen 2 in Aztec Gold really good reliable car.

I would have preferred leather upholstery but I am not too disappointed with the standard "cloth" on the business edition Gen 4.

[JustinCider]

Thanks to your replies, I'm now decided on the Cool Grey interior. However, I now have a new dilemma! My company just sent me the options list for the car, and listed is a colour I've never heard of before - Spirited Aqua. It's a pearlescent light blue and I can only find an image of it on a Prius plug in?! It does look very, very nice! As nice as the Hypersonic Red? I'm not sure yet, I'll think I'll ask the OH for her opinion.

The list came from Lex Fleet who supply our vehicles, perhaps they've made a mistake and that colour isn't an option on the Prius Hybrid, anyone know?

[MichaelM]

1 hour ago, JustinCider said:

Thanks to your replies, I'm now decided on the Cool Grey interior. However, I now have a new dilemma! My company just sent me the options list for the car, and listed is a colour I've never heard of before - Spirited Aqua. It's a pearlescent light blue and I can only find an image of it on a Prius plug in?! It does look very, very nice! As nice as the Hypersonic Red? I'm not sure yet, I'll think I'll ask the OH for her opinion.

The list came from Lex Fleet who supply our vehicles, perhaps they've made a mistake and that colour isn't an option on the Prius Hybrid, anyone know?

Spirited Aqua is one of the colours for the Plug-in Prius and unless things have changed very recently , it is not available on the non Plug-in Hybrids.

You mentioned that you spend several hours a day driving.  For anyone clocking up high miles, I cannot think of a better car at the price than a Prius .  You get excellent fuel consumption together with a superb driving environment.

[PeteB]

11 minutes ago, MichaelM said:

... I cannot think of a better car at the price than a Prius .  You get excellent fuel consumption together with a superb driving environment.

I can't think of a better car at any price!

Yes, the auto headlights that come on at the wrong time in shade and try to persuade people to pull (or step) into my path is very, very annoying, the lack of interior storage is very, very, very annoying (I curse Toyota daily), and I hate the lack of a false floor in the boot, but in almost very other respect it's the best car I've ever driven.

I wanted an EV or PHEV, even considered spending £75k on a Tesla, but even with a claimed range of 300 miles (probably won't quite achieve it), without more superchargers on the east side of the UK, it won't work for me on one or two days a month.  Plus unbelievably, there's no rear wiper!  And no HUD!

I do like being able to pump just over £40 worth of petrol into the tank of my Prius (if it's right empty) in just a couple of minutes and then doing over 600 miles before needing to fill again (I generally get about 100 extra miles compared to my previous Gen 3 Prius, with a slightly smaller tank too).

[JustinCider]

My last few cars - company and private/opt out - have been BMW's - I'm a big BMW fan as I love how they drive but I really don't want to pay the tax any more for something that isn't mine and is effectively a tool for doing my job. 

When my car list arrived I based my choices on the tax bill, which ruled the 3 Series out and most of the others. The two I finally decided to test drive was a Skoda Superb SE Technology Greenline, and the Prius Business Edition Plus. I really liked the Skoda, very big and roomy, nice looking, good levels of kit - I thought this was going to be the one. I then got the Prius demonstrator and discovered, a little to my surprise to be honest that I really enjoyed it. Fantastic levels of equipment - love the HUD! - very comfortable, easy to drive; and so unusual for most cars, it has a personality! It doesn't look like anything else inside or out, and I really like that. It's also got a raison d'etre; it's not just another car trying to live up to some fantasy image created by the marketing dept. These days I also like driving as frugally as possible - owning opt outs where it's your own money being spent and a Drive to Survive driving course taught me that, so again the Prius and me are probably a perfect match!

[kithmo]

Looks like you're getting a Prius Prime plug-in Justin 

[Kevin Hart]

I think grey leather would not look good with Hypersonic Red. You better get black leather. And I think Hypersonic red would look great on your car.