Just out of curiousity (car recs)

[hrj]

So, just out of curiosity, if I decided not to go through all the stupid hassle** that is evidently necessary to obtain the Prius of my dreams, what would people recommend that I buy? It has to have the following characteristics:

* Good fuel efficiency (duh!) - I may not commute, but I do like my occasional road trip.
* Cargo space sufficient to transport my SCA camping gear or (on separate occasions) a large folk harp. This means no sedans and preferably something in the wagon family. (I squeezed things into a Camry hatchback when I had to, but it was way too tight.)
* Reliable; good maintenance and service from the dealer.
* Must come in at least one non-boring color (and models in that color must actually be available for purchase).
* Ideally, should have navigation system and hands-free phone set-up.

** I put in my official request at the Toyota.com web site to have a Prius built to my specs. They forward this to your designated local dealership. The dealership sent e-mail #1 saying they'd follow up shortly with a quote. They sent e-mail #2 with no quote, but a suggestion that if I specified a second and third choice of color it would speed things up. I responded noting that if I were willing to accept a second or third choice of color I would already own a new Prius, and would they please give me a quote for the car I actually want to buy, please.

Comments

[xrian.livejournal.com]

It may not be big enough for your purposes or particularly cute, but just for the record, my 2000 Honda Civic DX hatchback is *still* getting 36+ miles per gallon. It was 40 when it was new. And Honda has just this year surpassed Toyota in Consumers Union's reliability index.

I seem to recall that 40 mpg didn't seem especially outstanding to me at the time, but these days I keep seeing models "boasting" about 25-28 (which causes me to scratch my head in puzzlement). And then of course there are the hybrid SUV's that get an "amazing" 21 mpg....

[xrian.livejournal.com]

BTW, re-reading: it's not that 28 mpg isn't decent mileage per gallon by today's standards -- the head scratching is because some people seem to think it's *spectacular.* I guess if you're comparing it with 16...