I recently sold my Toyota Prius. It was a 2005, which was the second generation of Toyota’s seminal hybrid compact that kind of defined the market segment for a decade or more.
It served me well as a daily driver–which, in my world of working from a home office, driving press cars and…
If Toyota still made the Prius V, it would be at the top of my "next car" list.
Even cooler would be a Toyota Prius truck. Wait a minute ...
Someone (okay, it might have been Tim) once said that a vehicle should do at least one thing well: set lower lap times, safely get you to work, carry stuff, etc.
Guilty as Charged of becoming a Prius Fan-boy:
In reply to Colin Wood :
Seems like I saw a forum of Prius Live-A- Boards a few years ago. I could in our V if it came down to it. Nice central heat and air. 
I just bought a used PriusV as a commute car to keep the miles off my "nice" car.
What are some cars that might fit in the Circle Venn diagram as being both an economical daily driver and a race car?
In reply to rrrtiii :
That was goal with our Golf GTI project.
For a while, I only had one car for both commuting and autocross: my 1.6L Miata. My SE-R, Rabbit GTI and CRX also served the same roles, although I realize that was a while ago.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
I was pleasantly surprised at how normal the GTI drove on the highway. The suspension wasn't rough at all and road noise was minimal. And didn't it also return like 30+ mpg?
In reply to rrrtiii :
Mazda 2 and Honda Fit.
Ehh, I didn't really care for our 2009 Prius. It didn't do anything wrong, per se, but our Fusion is nicer in every aspect, just as reliable, and gets nearly the same MPG. There is a hybrid version of it if I was chasing mileage numbers.
I've actually looked at Priuses (and Volts, and Leafs) as city cars. As I've expanded my shop and business I've come to understand that do-everything tools do nothing particularly well, and I'd rather have separate tools that each perform their task exceptionally well than one tool that is mediocre.
But then when that extends to vehicles, it starts to get silly. Do I need a specific commuter vehicle? I already have an SUV. And three sports cars, and two motorcycles (plus two project bikes). And a truck. And a bicycle, because I only live a mile and a half from my warehouse and when I'm not carrying tools my commute on the Cannondale averages under 7 minutes each way.
Storage is becoming an issue. Neither of the Miatas has an engine in it at the moment. One of them is stored in my trailer (which I keep at work) and one of them is being stored in a friend's warehouse next to mine. One of the project bikes is outside of my home workshop and the other is disassembled inside the shop. The GX lives in the driveway with my wife's Mazda because the garage is full with the C7 and the bikes. The F100 is destined for curb parking.
Different tools for different jobs. A Prius sounds like it would be an excellent addition, but how? And where?
Saving gas for our stupid stuff.
Appleseed said:Saving gas for our stupid stuff.
Here's the TL;DR version. 
As much as I hated them 20 years ago I really enjoy having one in the driveway now. For the last 7 or so years the kids have had them, while starting a career a cheap reliable car is great. Now the kids have "real" cars with a payment but there is still a beat up prius in our driveway. For errands and driving below 60 they are great. I am not easy on the gas and the hybrid battery is rather tired but it still gets 40 MPG, so 200 miles costs less than a fast food lunch. But with 250K miles and a dash full of warning lights it could be time to move on soon. The ABS pump is death to one, not an easy DIY and the part costs about the same as the value of the car. In the end after 7 years we have gone thru 7 of them, sold or crashed but every one of them was running at the end. And every one of them was sold for within $500 of the purchase price, some below but most above. Good luck on that metric with your focus or leaf.
Toyota did an amazing job on these, a car that is cheap on gas and maintenance but will go 300K miles if given minimal care. So good mt daughter bought a RAV4 hybrid and as of last night a camry hybrid is in our garage. Hope they are as good as the old stuff.
When I was washing my '74 Cadillac Eldorado, I had a Toyota Prius driver honk his horn and give me a thumbs-up. That moment changed my perspective on Prius drivers, because the Caddy is the antithesis of the Prius, IMO.
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