We bought this car because we were getting tired of our Mini and were looking for a good sedan. The mileage made this our top contender, so we got on the list. 3 weeks later, we had it and got a lot of money for our Mini in trade.

The mileage has been between 46-48 in mixed driving. The first 5 minutes (the car keeps track of a 30 minute history in 5 minute increments of consumption and electric regeneration) is always below 50, but after that it's not hard to average about 50. Once I got caught in bumper-to-bumper and was getting over 70. That's apparently the ideal situation for the hybrid.

Acceleration is fast, quiet and fun. I wasn't anticipating the car to feel this powerful. The power comes so quietly that it's sometimes surprising to see the rest of traffic so far behind when pulling away from a light without hearing the roar that would normally accompany such a dusting.

The rear leg room is astounding. I'm 6'0" and drive with the seat all the way back. With the driver's seat in that position, I have plenty of leg room behind the driver's seat to be comfortable riding all day. The rear-seat is too narrow for three adults to do more than drive to lunch, but that's the only complaint I have about roominess.

We got every gadget and they're all useful so far. The auto-dimming mirror is great. Homelink handles all our garage-door needs. The bluetooth system has integrated neatly with our phones and only has a slight delay (1-2 seconds) when initializing a call. That's a little annoying, but livable. The JBL sound system is awesome. There isn't an AUX input (iPod), which is annoying.

We opted for leather (installed at the port), which was a great choice. There are a lot of panels and the quality of leather is nice.

The rear-seats fold down to create a large storage area. There are compartments all over the place, including a hidden one under the trunk carpet.

The plastic steering wheel isn't as annoying as others, but still could have been leather in one of the packages. It also doesn't telescope which couldn't have been too hard to add since the steering has to be electric. There are a lot of turns to lock, which is more of an observation than anything else. I haven't had any problems with it going where I wanted or feeling annoyed with the effort or feedback of the steering.

The GPS is easy to use and has come in far more handy than I could have imagined, or than OnStar ever was in my last Saab.

We traded in a stick for this CVT, but it hasn't been much of a sacrifice. This car is fun to drive because of the pickup, the gadgets and the comfort. Also the displays can create a sense of challenge as you get near instant rewards for your driving style.

I can't think of a reason why anyone shouldn't buy this car.
Amount Paid (US$): 27000
Condition: New
Model Year: 2005
Model and Options: All Options + Leather