I just came across this thread I started back in 2010 when I had just bought my new gen 3. Thought I would do a quick update 9 years on! We still have the car and have now covered 170,000 miles. It has been a fantastic workhorse and, although it exhibits a few scratches and scrapes, it is looking in pretty good fettle inside and out. The only breakdown has been when the inverter went a few years ago - expensive repair but other than that the car has been faultless.
There have been a few times when we thought we would sell it, including seriously considering trading in for a gen 4, but in the end we couldn't find a compelling reason to give it up and still very much enjoy using it. This is not to say, however, that we haven't experienced other vehicle technologies in the meantime.
Alongside the Prius, we had a Vauxhall Ampera company car for 3 years which we absolutely loved, covering 30k trouble-free miles. I then bought a new Nissan Leaf 30kWh which introduced a bit of range anxiety but gave that smug feeling of driving without tailpipe emissions, and was often able to charge it from our home solar. Used it much more than expected and after 30k miles and 3 years, sold it for only £2.5k less than I bought it.
We now have a Hyundai Kona 64kWh electric which is an amazing vehicle. Had to wait 7 months for delivery but it was worth it. The worst range we have achieved is 240 miles and that was after bombing down the motorway in winter weather with a strong headwind at 75mph. It has a huge number of safety features (some of which can be a bit intrusive), great android auto integration and is very comfortable. Quality is excellent too.
It is interesting though going back to the Prius after driving the Kona. Of course, the Prius is a bigger car, but what is quite striking is how far ahead of the game it was on comfort and equipment when it first came out. It still feels smooth and quiet at all speeds, the suspension soaks up our appalling roads, it returns 55mpg whatever the conditions, the bluetooth integration is excellent for phone and music (wish I had known instead of wasting money on the useless ipod integration), and having the sun roof is still a big plus.
It's a real shame Toyota has been so slow to the party on pure EVs as we would almost certainly have bought another Toyota if we could. However, the game has moved on and Toyota has been left behind, whatever it says about self-charging hybrids. If you want an ICE, there are few better cars than hybrid Toyotas. For everything else Tesla, Hyundai (and sister company Kia) are way ahead. That said, I don't think we will be selling our Prius for some time.