Greetings!

I've had my '05 Prius for almost a year. I've put 15,000 miles on it and I still love it. It's just been a great car, and far more interesting that I would have imagined.

Some car rental agencies are starting to rent out Prii - I know of one here in San Diego. You might do a little research to see if you can rent one in your area. In my opinion, you might save yourself a lot of time and money by renting one for a week, sort of an extended test drive. If you have serious concerns about the car, this would be a good safe way to do an extended evaluation with no risk.

As for your specific points:

a) The Prius offers a surprising amount of cargo space when you fold the rear seats down. I play in a band, and I'm able to cart all my keyboard gear, amps, speakers, etc in the back of the Prius with no problem.

b) Yeah, the view out the back is restricted and takes a lot of getting used to.

c) I would not worry about the Prius mechanically. Keep in mind - the Toyota Hybrid has been available in Japan since '99 and the US since '01, so it's not that new anymore. The Prius has one of the best service records in the Toyota lineup. They did have an engine software recall awhile back, but mechanically there is actually less wear and tear on the Prius drivetrain than there is on a normal car.

The Prius has one of the highest customer satisfactions ratings of any new car, and actually, I've never talked to anyone who didn't grow to love their Prius. How else do you think we got so smug? ;)

Having said that, like every car, the Prius has its annoyances. The two most common complaints are the rear visibility and, if you're tall, front seat comfort. This is why I suggested renting one, to see if these were things you could live with. You might also read the forums at www.priuschat.com to see what other Prius drivers have to say about their cars.

But I've been really happy with mine.

We love love love our Prius!

When you fold down the back seats, it has lots of space.

The rear view is not restricted in my opinion, but it is broken up into 2 separate windows which might make it seem that way at first. I feel that the car has excellent visibility out all windows.

We've found it to be a very reliable car. I can't believe that everybody isn't buying them instead of old school comparable models. I've always hated cars but I like this one, mainly because it puts out way way less pollution.

Renting one for a day or two is a great idea to check it out in action.

Good luck!