# 2019 Honda Insight?



## TouchMe (Aug 21, 2019)

so what do you all think about the 2019 Insight.. its only around 23K brand new.... still too new to buy used, but at 23K seems like a solid buy... 50MPG


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## Dekero (Sep 24, 2019)

TouchMe said:


> so what do you all think about the 2019 Insight.. its only around 23K brand new.... still too new to buy used, but at 23K seems like a solid buy... 50MPG


They ride like an old buck horse... I don't care if I get 100 mpg if the ride is shyt... the ride is shyt.... Hell no.


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## UpNorth (Sep 15, 2019)

I was working at a Honda dealer when the new version came out 2009. It's a great car, dependable, very affordable maintenance. The vehicle is designed to be exactly what it is.


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## waldowainthrop (Oct 25, 2019)

Dekero said:


> They ride like an old buck horse... I don't care if I get 100 mpg if the ride is shyt... the ride is shyt.... Hell no.


I haven't driven one but how could the 2019 Insight be that bad as a cousin of the Civic?

Old Honda Insights are not related to the current generation Insight. The 2009 Honda Insight was a Prius clone. The new one is pretty much a Honda Civic with different drivetrain options.

More importantly: _why _are you talking about getting a new car for rideshare? It doesn't matter how cheap it is, because there isn't a new car on the market that makes sense for UberX rates. For $23k you can get a used XL or other premium platform car. For $3-10k you can get any other used car that will do UberX just as well as an Insight.


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## UpNorth (Sep 15, 2019)

You need a little history lesson on the insight. It was never design to be cousin to the civic. The civic was always a great seller. The 1st generation was ahead of its time, people weren't interested in that type of car beside it being ugly. When Honda produce the new version Toyota had cornered the market and Toyota has always been a big seller. For the cost differences between the Insight and Civic which has better eye appeal more options Civic still dominated over the Insight. Also Honda produces more engines than any other car manufacturers. Boat engines, motorcycle, lawnmower, generators, even jets. There a solid builder and top brands of all they manufacturer.


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## jazzapt (May 16, 2016)

Dekero said:


> They ride like an old buck horse... I don't care if I get 100 mpg if the ride is shyt... the ride is shyt.... Hell no.


You might thinking of the previous generation Insight, with the IMA motor, that was discontinued in 2014. The 2019 is a completely different car altogether. It is built off the current Civic platform (which also shares it's platform with the current Accord, which many critics believe is the best Accord ever). However the Insight is built to appear more upscale than the Civic (especially in the interior).

And it shares the same Hybrid 3-motor architecture as the current Accord hybrid, which is miles ahead of the old IMA. I haven't driven the current Insight, but we have an Accord Hybrid and it is a blast to drive (for a Hybrid). If the current Insight rides anything like the Accord hybrid, its a solid option.


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## waldowainthrop (Oct 25, 2019)

UpNorth said:


> You need a little history lesson on the insight. It was never design to be cousin to the civic. The civic was always a great seller. The 1st generation was ahead of its time, people weren't interested in that type of car beside it being ugly. When Honda produce the new version Toyota had cornered the market and Toyota has always been a big seller. For the cost differences between the Insight and Civic which has better eye appeal more options Civic still dominated over the Insight. Also Honda produces more engines than any other car manufacturers. Boat engines, motorcycle, lawnmower, generators, even jets. There a solid builder and top brands of all they manufacturer.


I don't need a history lesson on the Insight. ?

The current gen is a direct relative of the 10th gen Honda Civic. Same platform, even similar market and class, and it is a conventional sedan.

I always wanted a first gen Honda Insight when I was young but got a Civic instead. It was ugly but also beautiful in its simplicity. The first Insight was way ahead of its time compared to the first gen and even second gen Prius.


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## jazzapt (May 16, 2016)

waldowainthrop said:


> The 2009 Honda Insight was a Prius clone.


This may not be ENTIRELY true. Yes it did resemble a Prius, but it wasn't trying to copy it. It was basically trying to be a 4-door version of the original 2-seater Insight. There are those that believe when Toyota redesigned the Prius for the 2nd generation, they used the original Insight's hatchback design as inspiration (remember the Prius used to be a sedan).

If this is true, Honda did not copy the look from Toyota, Toyota just beat them to the punch.


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## waldowainthrop (Oct 25, 2019)

jazzapt said:


> This may not be ENTIRELY true. Yes it did resemble a Prius, but it wasn't trying to copy it. It was basically trying to be a 4-door version of the original 2-seater Insight. There are those that believe when Toyota redesigned the Prius for the 2nd generation, they used the original Insight's hatchback design as inspiration (remember the Prius used to be a sedan).
> 
> If this is true, Honda did not copy the look from Toyota, Toyota just beat them to the punch.


Well if you want to go way back the 1G Insight was a spiritual successor to the Honda CRX (even copying the rear window) and Toyota definitely borrowed from the 1G Insight when designing the 2G Prius. The 2G Insight was extremely similar in design to the Prius while owing little to the 1G Insight, also lacking what made the 1G Insight so charming. By the time the 2G Insight came out the 2G Prius was a roaring success and the 1G Insight was a quirky failure.


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## Syn (Jun 30, 2017)

waldowainthrop said:


> I haven't driven one but how could the 2019 Insight be that bad as a cousin of the Civic?


Civic rides like a shit too.


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## jazzapt (May 16, 2016)

waldowainthrop said:


> Well if you want to go way back the 1G Insight was a spiritual successor to the Honda CRX (even copying the rear window) and Toyota definitely borrowed from the 1G Insight when designing the 2G Prius. The 2G Insight was extremely similar in design to the Prius while owing little to the 1G Insight, also lacking what made the 1G Insight so charming. By the time the 2G Insight came out the 2G Prius was a roaring success and the 1G Insight was a quirky failure.


I still believe they took a lot of their design cues from the 1st Gen Insight. I don't believe they set out to make a Prius clone. But that is what they ended up with. Plus the fact that they cheaped out on it to try and make it a "Hybrid for Everyone", it came across as trying to be a poor-man's Prius. Any with Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive being superior to IMA, it was destined for failure.

It does make me question the logic of selling the current model under the Insight badge though. I appears far superior to the 2nd gen Insight and looks much more like a Civic Hybrid. Why give in a name that reminds buyers of the 2nd gen failure.


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## UpNorth (Sep 15, 2019)

One thing we probably can agree on all the car manufacturers have had failures junk. What one person likes another dislikes that's why there are so many options


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## THE MAN! (Feb 13, 2015)

Too small

Look at a Nissan Versa 35 mpg avg

Decent cabin/truck space

Mid teens new


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## waldowainthrop (Oct 25, 2019)

Syn said:


> Civic rides like a shit too.


? Compared to wat!

I had a 2001 Civic and can somewhat agree, although other many economy cars of its time were worse. I think newer Civics are supposed to be among the better economy cars but I haven't test driven one.


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## UpNorth (Sep 15, 2019)

I own and drive one of the 1st Versa Hatchback 2007 bought in June 06 off the transport. Now 235,000 no repair work other than maintenance 32 city 35 hwy mpg. Love the car


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## Syn (Jun 30, 2017)

waldowainthrop said:


> ? Compared to wat!
> 
> I had a 2001 Civic and can somewhat agree, although other many economy cars of its time were worse. I think newer Civics are supposed to be among the better economy cars but I haven't test driven one.


I test drove one few months ago ... It has reliability factor working in its favor, but its definitely more unfordable and cheaply built inside than most of compact cars. I mean, test drive a VW Golf or Mazda 3 - they both will feel like a big premium cars compared to Civic.
I ended up buying a Toyota C-HR


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## waldowainthrop (Oct 25, 2019)

Syn said:


> I test drove one few months ago ... It has reliability factor working in its favor, but its definitely more unfordable and cheaply built inside than most of compact cars. I mean, test drive a VW Golf or Mazda 3 - they both will feel like a big premium cars compared to Civic.
> I ended up buying a Toyota C-HR


I own a VW Golf it is my benchmark. The Mazda 3 is incredible.


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## TouchMe (Aug 21, 2019)

how come everyone is so against buying new cars for uber

It's not THAT bad of a decision....
lets say you buy a brand new 2019 Honda Insight for 23K...payments are like $400 a month. You can make that in 2-3 days easily
plus if you are upgrading to a hybrid from a regular car you already saving like $200 a month in gas, so boom your new payment is like $200 a month

you feel me?


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## Dekero (Sep 24, 2019)

TouchMe said:


> how come everyone is so against buying new cars for uber
> 
> It's not THAT bad of a decision....
> lets say you buy a brand new 2019 Honda Insight for 23K...payments are like $400 a month. You can make that in 2-3 days easily
> ...


Nope don't feel ya....

Cuz that 23k dollar car will be worth 10k a year from now due to milage acrued at four to five times the rate of a normal driver... So your scenario doesn't factor in the loss which would equate your monthly payment to closer to $800-1200 a month within a year. And within 3 years it will be time to get another new car and you'll still owe 2 years worth of payments on a car that will not be worth anything near what you owe... But our advice be damned... Buy your new car and enjoy it. Just don't fool yourself into thinking your profiting from ridesharing in it.

Good luck.


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## waldowainthrop (Oct 25, 2019)

TouchMe said:


> how come everyone is so against buying new cars for uber
> 
> It's not THAT bad of a decision....
> lets say you buy a brand new 2019 Honda Insight for 23K...payments are like $400 a month. You can make that in 2-3 days easily
> ...


You are missing costs for:

- insurance (often more expensive on a new car and definitely more expensive if you want coverage for business use)
- depreciation or saving for your next car
- increased maintenance and repair schedule
- surprise repair bills
- increased risk of needing to use your insurance and pay deductibles since you are driving all of the time
- tax, registration and dealer fees which will make your $23,000 car cost ~$26,500

You will put more miles on your car in one year than your warranty will cover
If you only own your car for three years, you could have 2 years left on your financing (you will owe more on your car than it is worth, aka "underwater" on your car loan). This means you will have a car with possibly 100,000-175,000 rideshare miles that may be near the end of its useful life and worth next to nothing.

I'm not sure your math is right with Insight vs. Honda Civic (equivalent conventional engine car) at $200 saved per month, but it does depend how many miles per month you drive.

New cars are temporarily attractive until they become used cars. New cars only really make sense if you drive them less than 20,000 miles per year and use them for lighter or personal use. I have a new car purchased at $26,000 4 months ago and you couldn't pay me $20,000 in hard cash to drive it for rideshare. It is a beautiful car that would get destroyed by rideshare.

Only drive a car for rideshare that you can afford to replace. Your car payments are the least of your costs, which is hard to believe now but it will become obvious when your new car is no longer new. A car that is purchased 2-10 years used can cost under $10,000 per year to run (including all of the costs above and financed purchase price), which is an amount that is possible to profit from with rideshare. $30-50,000 annual income minus $10,000 per year in expenses is getting towards middle class wages although you won't get rich doing it and still need to figure out healthcare and other costs of living since Uber covers none of that.

Many people here drive $4,000-10,000 rideshare cars for a reason. In short: people are against new cars because if you drive them enough to make the payments on them and more, you will end up losing way more money at these rates than you possibly could save for a similar car in the future. We're looking out for you with this advice.

By the way, I have talked to ex-rideshare drivers who drove "too new" cars like Honda Accords and Toyota Priuses and had to quit doing it because of the unexpected costs and inability to profit. Don't become a statistic.


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## lyft_rat (Jul 1, 2019)

TouchMe said:


> how come everyone is so against buying new cars for uber
> 
> It's not THAT bad of a decision....
> lets say you buy a brand new 2019 Honda Insight for 23K...payments are like $400 a month. You can make that in 2-3 days easily
> ...


Let me tell it to ya this way. If someone GAVE you a car for full-time Uber, you could work your ass off for a very low wage. Compare that to buying the car, now you are the same low wage earner, plus out $23k.


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## RideshareUSA (Feb 7, 2019)

TouchMe said:


> so what do you all think about the 2019 Insight.. its only around 23K brand new.... still too new to buy used, but at 23K seems like a solid buy... 50MPG


Great car, as long as you don't kill it by driving rideshare.
Still wanna' drive for U/L? Then shop for the best car available under $3000.


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## 2starDriver (Mar 22, 2019)

You can score accord hybrid for 23k. Bigger, roomier slightly less mpg


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## Aerodrifting (Aug 13, 2017)

I paid 18K after tax and all fees for my last car, it qualifies for lux and black, had 49k miles on it with every service record. Leather memory heated seats and all other goodies.

It gets 20 something in the city and 38 on the freeway, takes regular gas, zero repairs except oil changes and other routines. Girls love it and it's super low profile too. 

I will never consider paying 20k for a peasant's car.


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## waldowainthrop (Oct 25, 2019)

Aerodrifting said:


> I paid 18K after tax and all fees for my last car, it qualifies for lux and black, had 49k miles on it with every service record. Leather memory heated seats and all other goodies.
> 
> It gets 20 something in the city and 38 on the freeway, takes regular gas, zero repairs except oil changes and other routines. Girls love it and it's super low profile too.
> 
> I will never consider paying 20k for a peasant's car.


Nice. Which car?


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## LADryver (Jun 6, 2017)

A 2019 Honda Insight is in relation to the Honda Clarity line and is closer to an Altima in size (or maybe a Maxima) as opposed to the Civic. Both models have hybrids but Clarity is a plug in. Unless you sit in and handle a car you really should not call it a peasant's car. I have a 2013 Insight (in the Civic chassis) and I do not drive it in rideshare. But it is a wonderful car, able to function as either manual or automatic transmission, jumps up in torque beautifully, has eight spark plugs and the mileage is all about how I drive it. I have seen trips with 65mpg. It has it's own technology because Honda created their own transmission and an integrated motor assist system supported by both the hybrid battery and the transmission. I think the favorite emerges in 2019 in the Honda Clarity, with close runner up the Insight. Both have paddle shifters. 

I have had a Prius. There is a lot to be said of it but one must be truly determined to summon up torque in it. However I did a 450 mile personal round trip once with 67 mpg. You can't fight the numbers sometimes.


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## ddelro219 (Aug 11, 2016)

The original insight was Honda’s rushed product just to brag about being the first to have a mass produced hybrid car. Toyota sat watching and then delivered the prius, a more well thought out product that actually delivered more than just bragging rights. 

Now Honda has struggled to shed the bad rep of the insight name. If they just called the 2019 insight what it really is, it’d sell as well as what it really is, a civic hybrid. But the insight name is doing more harm than good. And it’ll take a bit for people to understand the new insight isn’t what it used to be


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## waldowainthrop (Oct 25, 2019)

Prius gen 1 predates the Insight gen 1 by two years. It arrived later on the American market but beat Honda to the mass market in Japan. The second Prius was the really successful one.


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## LADryver (Jun 6, 2017)

Children behave. Honda had a hybrid before the idea became acceptable to Toyota. Then the Prius was a rush to become a contender in the fuel economy super stakes. As it happened, each had separate but ground-breaking concepts, for cars and forging the hybrid technologies. Honda's hybrid car was rejected as a fit for the most known transmission company and decided to invent their own. Honda transmissions in their cars are theirs. For the Insight after they made the first gen fully manual stick shift, they followed it with an automatic transmission switchable to fully manual, but without a clutch and without a stick. Instead, mounted to the steering wheel are two paddle shifters. What a great invention. Total control of car performance literally at your finger tips. Honda also developed "Integrated Motor Assist". This is different from Toyota's handover between gas and EV, which is a Hallmark feature of the Prius. The Prius having 109 hp therabouts between gas and EV, is limited. You have to punch it to get into lower gear for torque assistance in a hill. Not so with Honda. Integrated Motor Assist automatically engages the transmission with the EV and gas to exponentially increase torque enough, considering there are eight spark plugs in their four cylinders, that you forget what it; d that you are driving and are a torque spinning rival. The car gets from point A to B with vim and vigor, and if you are really nice to it, impressive fuel statistics. Toyota always had the market share above Honda because early Honda cars were laughable toys. They grew up and started playing with the big kids. Honda did not begin to earn it's reputation; ntil the 1982 Accord and Civic. Those cars were so popular that they sold above sticker price. Toyota has been resting on many of their laurels. Today Honda and Toyota both have impressive lineups of hybrids and Honda has full EV with Clarity. 

Just look at them in the showroom, or in the auto show going on in L.A. this week. Be impressed by them both.


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## waldowainthrop (Oct 25, 2019)

Prius predates Insight. Look it up on Wikipedia.


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## LADryver (Jun 6, 2017)

waldowainthrop said:


> Prius predates Insight. Look it up on Wikipedia.


*"The Beginning*
The first hybrid car was built in the year 1899 by engineer Ferdinand Porsche. Called the System Lohner-Porsche Mixte, it used a gasoline engine to supply power to an electric motor that drove the car's front wheels." https://m.carsdirect.com/green-cars/a-brief-history-of-hybrid-cars

Honda has two predecessor models with high fuel economy prior to the Insight. But to continue this is like making a childish contest. Just compare whAt exists now.


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## Bbonez (Aug 10, 2018)

TouchMe said:


> how come everyone is so against buying new cars for uber
> 
> It's not THAT bad of a decision....
> lets say you buy a brand new 2019 Honda Insight for 23K...payments are like $400 a month. You can make that in 2-3 days easily
> ...


You are in California where the gas savings is real with a hybrid but you dont need to spend 23k+ taxes and fees to get good gas mileage. Try to find a 5-8 year old Prius with under 80k miles for about 10k. That car should have more miles left in her than most brand new cars.


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## 2starDriver (Mar 22, 2019)

Bbonez said:


> You are in California where the gas savings is real with a hybrid but you dont need to spend 23k+ taxes and fees to get good gas mileage. Try to find a 5-8 year old Prius with under 80k miles for about 10k. That car should have more miles left in her than most brand new cars.


Have you driven prius for Uber and lift? Legs get paralyzed after 3-4 hours. Not to mention road noise in cabin, impossible to hear radio when driving on bumpy freeway


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## charmer37 (Nov 18, 2016)

TouchMe said:


> how come everyone is so against buying new cars for uber
> 
> It's not THAT bad of a decision....
> lets say you buy a brand new 2019 Honda Insight for 23K...payments are like $400 a month. You can make that in 2-3 days easily
> ...


I wouldn't buy a brand new car for Uber or any of these app gigs, The rates for Uber x and a lot of other reasons is why I would find a low mileage used car for ride sharing or any hustle involving driving my personal car. If I was to ever do ride sharing again it would be on the Xl or luxury platforms, The hell with Uber x.


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## islanddriver (Apr 6, 2018)

I have a $4000. Mazda 6. So that leaves me $19000. To spend on gas at 25 miles per gal avg cost $2.50 per gallon . I can drive 190,000 Mile's. So what is better savings your Honda or my Mazda.


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## Dekero (Sep 24, 2019)

islanddriver said:


> I have a $4000. Mazda 6. So that leaves me $19000. To spend on gas at 25 miles per gal avg cost $2.50 per gallon . I can drive 190,000 Mile's. So what is better savings your Honda or my Mazda.


His Honda.... Cuz well.... It's a Mazda. Bahahah

Nah just fkin w ya... You doing it right! Have a good Thanksgiving!


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## 2starDriver (Mar 22, 2019)

islanddriver said:


> I have a $4000. Mazda 6. So that leaves me $19000. To spend on gas at 25 miles per gal avg cost $2.50 per gallon . I can drive 190,000 Mile's. So what is better savings your Honda or my Mazda.


 You livin in wyoming? Lol


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

jazzapt said:


> You might thinking of the previous generation Insight, with the IMA motor, that was discontinued in 2014. The 2019 is a completely different car altogether. It is built off the current Civic platform (which also shares it's platform with the current Accord, which many critics believe is the best Accord ever). However the Insight is built to appear more upscale than the Civic (especially in the interior).
> 
> And it shares the same Hybrid 3-motor architecture as the current Accord hybrid, which is miles ahead of the old IMA. I haven't driven the current Insight, but we have an Accord Hybrid and it is a blast to drive (for a Hybrid). If the current Insight rides anything like the Accord hybrid, its a solid option.
> 
> View attachment 376913


But Honda Transmission Reliability is
" Slipping" !



TouchMe said:


> how come everyone is so against buying new cars for uber
> 
> It's not THAT bad of a decision....
> lets say you buy a brand new 2019 Honda Insight for 23K...payments are like $400 a month. You can make that in 2-3 days easily
> ...


Buy the New Car !

Its Good for the " ECONOMY" !


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## LADryver (Jun 6, 2017)

I get so emotional about these cars. It isn't about the mileage which is of course a major factor, but I like features. A new car gives excitement. You do not have to keep it long. A high mileage car gets clipped just a little on the price, and a new car is really appreciated by riders too. I do not use my Insight for rideshare. I did not use the Prius either. But I am sure my preferred are the newer Honda Insight or Clarity cars. I have sat in them at the Auto Show last year. I will see the 2020 models this week. 

It is every bit worth it. Honda: I love those paddle shifters.


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## islanddriver (Apr 6, 2018)

???


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## Bbonez (Aug 10, 2018)

2starDriver said:


> Have you driven prius for Uber and lift?


About 50k miles working U/L since I bought the Prius last December. I can hear the XM radio just fine, I guess the roads are better 3 hours north and the uber rates are double. I've probably saved 800 gallons of fuel over the last 50k miles that's about $3200 in gas savings this year. But I would never buy a new car for RS unless it got 100+ MPG.


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## LADryver (Jun 6, 2017)

islanddriver said:


> ???


Paddle Shifters. What part of paddle shifters don't you understand?


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## 2starDriver (Mar 22, 2019)

Bbonez said:


> About 50k miles working U/L since I bought the Prius last December. I can hear the XM radio just fine, I guess the roads are better 3 hours north and the uber rates are double. I've probably saved 800 gallons of fuel over the last 50k miles that's about $3200 in gas savings this year. But I would never buy a new car for RS unless it got 100+ MPG.


Prius' driver seat position is not for everyone. I can easily get tired after couple hours of driving. I upgraded to 2013 camry hybrid Its very comfortable


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## islanddriver (Apr 6, 2018)

LADryver said:


> Paddle Shifters. What part of paddle shifters don't you understand?


That wasn't for you it was wyoming


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## LADryver (Jun 6, 2017)

islanddriver said:


> That wasn't for you it was wyoming


Well, so be it.


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