The 2005 Toyota Prius is an a fantastic vehicle. Overall, it is one of the best cars my family has ever owned. It is the third Prius we've owned, having owned a 2001 and 2007 model previously. Performance has been excellent, no complaints. As is the case with anything by Toyota, quality is very high, and it is clear that the designers and engineers take a great deal of pride in their work.

The 05 Prius gets excellent gas mileage, as one would expect from such a car. This is the hatchback model, which was initially a drawback because it allows anyone to see into the trunk, however, when transporting long or over-sized cargo (file cabinet, for instance), the seats fold down allowing plenty of room. The only real drawback to the car is the quality of the interior fabric. It looks nice until it gets dirty at which point it is very difficult to shampoo, the center console material is especially delicate and does not stand up to scrubbing, and it seems that the material never really gets clean. Mechanically the car is great, it currently has over 230k miles and is still the original battery. The only major repair was to the Hybrid Cooling System, which was a little expensive. Overall, it has not been too expensive to maintain, which adds to the value!