Redundancy - Need A Car - Any Good For A Family?

[bells0]

Hello all!!

Shall be out of work for the first time in 15 years at the end of the month, and as always had a co. car, am now needing to sort my own car.

Other half has a car, so not desperate, but do need to sort something soonish. Thinking i will have £7500 max to spend, and really want as many toys as poss [got a Qashqai now that comes loaded!].

The Prius makes sense to me with uncertain cashflow ahead. Ideally i'd love an Accord estate, but the parts and running costs would be huge compared to the Prius.

We have a 17 month old wee man, and will be adding to him in the next year.

So, questions.................

1) Is the Prius ok as a family car? + i'm into downhill mountain biking so need to either plonk it in the back or have a bike rack!

2) T4 V T spirit - there any major differences?

3) Are the standard cloth seats any good - they look awful in pics!

4) Why are cars with leather so rare?!

5) Any major changes between 2005 and 2008?

Is there anything major i need to check when looking physically? - hoping i can barter on a 2007 TS with mid mileage for my budget if i have no part ex??

Any help much0 appreciated

[afl1606]

I changed from a company Accord Estate to a privately owned Gen 2 Prius at the start of this year. I had the option of buying the Accord but, even though it was a great car, decided against it due to the high ownership costs. The Prius is MUCH cheaper to run, which is probably the most important issue for you at the moment? I reckoned I'll save at least £1k pa taking everything into account.

The Prius is probably bigger in the cab than the Accord, but the boot is obviously a lot smaller/shallower. You'd have no problem getting 2 kids in, but I don't think you'd get the bike in too, so you'll need a rack.

Main differences between the T4 and T-Spirit are (I think) sat nav and a reversing camera. The grey velour seats in mine seem fine so far, leather seats were a £1k option new - nice to have but a bit too expensive for most buyers. Dunno about changes between 2005 & 2008, but I think I've read about a couple of improvements on previous posts.

I've not missed the Accord so far, although I went for the T-Spirit partly because it had nearly all of the same toys. We may miss the bigger boot when we go to France in a couple of months though...

[bells0]

Thanks for your response - the bike only goes with me when i have 'me' time - so the only problem is messing about with removing the kiddies seat if i stick it in the car.

The shape of the roof doesn't seem to lend itself to a rack??

[afl1606]

Yep, you can get racks (some on e-bay now!). There's loads of leg-room in the cab, so you might be able to fit the bike between the front and back seats if you're on your own and you take the front wheel off. Never tried it myself though!

[Grumpy Cabbie]

You'll be fine with a Prius and yes the fuel economy is fantastic. Leather is rare as. The T-Spirit is the model with ALL the toys so great if you can afford one and/or you're a gadget man.

I understand you can get leather fitted as an option. My dealers can arrange it for about £1,000 but the seats need to be sent away. Maybe your Toyota dealer know of somewhere where you can get leather fitted after market? The cloth seats wear well, but you can't beat leather :)

[Opifex]

I had been sitting on leather for over 20 years so was a bit worried when we got the Prius with cloth seats but it has worked out fine. Warmer in winter and cooler in summer. We don't have any kids putting sticky fingers on them so I can't say how they will wear in your case.

[Ancient Nerd]

I had a Thule Roof Rack for my Gen II, and with a change of bits, it now fits the Gen III. It works fine, but the bars are fairly close together which is a problem carrying long objects, but I can't see any problem with a bike carrier.

I agree that the Gen II seat fabric is about as uninspired as you could possibly wish for. My old 2008 Gen II is still in the family. It has now done just short of 120,000 miles and there is no noticeable difference in the condition of any of the seats. Also, we've had the occasional bit of chocolate etc. that got squashed into the seat. It has always come out easily with a bit of upholstery cleaner (and once or twice screenwash) leaving no trace behind. So in my view very hard wearing - however, it hasn't been tested by children!

[ph47mf]

1) The Prius is a very good family car (albeit for a small family). I have a small kid too and we travel around without too much problems. It can easily accommodate 4 adults (with the child seat in place, 3 is a squeeze at the back) and her stuff like pushchair and small bike.

2) I believe the major differences are rear view camera

3) I have standard cloth seats and I believe a lot of others have too. They are not as comfortable as leather nor as good to look at but they are definitely more durable. The biggest problem with leather is the side bolster section tends to wear a lot quicker than other parts of the seat due to getting in and out of the car. The cloth can completely eliminate this problem and it’s actually quite comfortable. However if you fork out extra for leather, you will no doubt recoup it when it comes to selling on.

4) I have no idea.

5) The earlier 2005 models have not-so-good sat navs and if we’re on about T-spirit, only late 2006 models get rear view camera. Mechanically I don’t think there is any difference.

With £7500 as budget, where maintenance costs and fuel economy takes priority, the Prius as a package can be hard to beat. Don’t forget this is a 5 door, petrol, family size hatchback with automatic transmission and power (torque) like a 2.0 Litre diesel that can do over 50 mpg in town!

The Prius makes sense to me with uncertain cashflow ahead. Ideally i'd love an Accord estate, but the parts and running costs would be huge compared to the Prius.

[timberwolf]

5) Any major changes between 2005 and 2008?

a) Traction Control (Skid ECU) was improved for 2006-onwards.

B) Multi-function Display - was lower res and not as reliable as the 2006-onwards unit.

c) The amount of original manufacturers Hybrid warranty. If we guess that each hybrid component has at least a 2k cost, I'd be looking for one with a longer warranty.

[timberwolf]

5) Any major changes between 2005 and 2008?

a. Traction Control (Skid ECU) was improved for 2006-onwards.

b. Multi-function Display - was lower res and not as reliable as the 2006-onwards unit.

c. The amount of original manufacturers Hybrid warranty. If we guess that each hybrid component has at least a 2k cost, I'd be looking for one with a longer warranty.

[wass]

The gen 2 t spirit will suit your familly needs as well as your own requirements. I was redundant for 6 months some 5 years ago and one thing I did find to be a minor but still significant consideration at that time was the car I was driving to interviews had to be presentable and relatively conservative which is also something that the prius is. As it happens, I was driving a big Volvo at the time which was newer and larger than some of the directors cars parked outside the places which were interviewing me. I found that I got on much better if i parked around the corner!

[bells0]

Well, i've put down a deposit today on an unseen car [apart from pics]!!

Really wanted a T Spirit and for my budget not a lot were anywhere near home. So thanks to the internet i stumbled across the following:

July 2007

T Spirit

51k miles

FSH

Leather

Light blue metallic

1 owner, 12 month mot and 12 weeks warranty

We agreed on £7450 [large chain dealership, car is based at a Ford garage in Newcastle].

Pretty happy with the price, from my exhausted searching, i think i've got it for a good price.

Just hope once i get up to Newcastle, it's as described and looks in the pics they sent me. Not a massive fan of the light blue colour [the dark grey metallic would have been my choice], but can live with it.

Just need to work out when i can get up there now. Finish work this coming Friday. 23 months 0% balance transfer, thank you!! [just in case i need to go into my redundancy cash].

Thanks for all the tips - can't wait to get behind the wheel, if Larry David drives a Prius, it's good enough for me!

[GreenJuice]

Congratulations and welcome to our world!

[sjrainsford]

Shame, my dark grey one is up for sale.

You've got that at a great price though according to the guide prices. The blue looks nicer in the flesh plus it's an easy to keep clean colour so to speak.

You'll love it! We love ours and will miss it.