We were provided with a Toyota Prius for review purposes for this post. Drive a car for 5 hours to the beach you say? Sure that sounds great, but we’re packing enough for two small children (a stroller, pack n play) plus clothing for a one week vacation. The Toyota Prius didn’t look big enough to be comfortable and do this, but I’ve always wanted to drive one so here goes our #ToyotaRoadTrip to Hilton Head.
The interior of the 2014 Toyota Prius and the way it handled kept reminding me of a vehicle from Buck Rogers or Demolition Man. To the driver’s right there is an arc that looks like a piece of art over an area where you can put your phone, wallet and cubits for spare tribbles. The dash/front wind shield is massive and looks like one could simply swipe their hand across it to move cursors for the navigation.
Driving the Prius did take a small learning curve for us. Turn the key, give it a moment and then put it in reverse, drive or whatever you want to do. If you just slam it into reverse it’ll do nothing and since the car is so quiet it will just stay there.
At Hilton Head Island we drove all over the island and even took a road trip to Myrtle Beach from there. OK, it was more of a beaches of South Carolina #ToyotaRoadTrip. It was a good thing that we did to all of that driving because by the end of the week I was looking for excuses to drive somewhere.
If you haven’t been to Hilton Head there are lots for families and children to do there. There is nightly entertainment at Coligny Plaza, the Sea Pines Beach Club is awesome, they have a nice children’s museum and there are biking trails (and places to rent bikes) out the wazoo. When the sun goes down the Tiki Hut on the beach is nice and there are some good places to eat in Coligny Plaza and of course, the island staple, Wild Wings.
We like going to Hilton Head Island because it’s all within walking distance, very relaxed and quiet.
The entire week, except for the occasional yell of children was quiet. The Prius is so quiet and it drives like a large conveyor belt. That is actually a compliment. The Prius just glides. Its acceleration is not the same or as quick as other cars we’ve driven. The Prius just goes and when you get on the highway it goes faster. It’s smooth, effortless and a real joy to drive.
The trunk has 21’ square feet of storage, which in the end was plenty for all of our stuff. While in Myrtle Beach we did have to help my father clean out his garage. In that case we had to put down the back seats, which allowed for much more space and let us recycle dozens, upon dozens of catalogs and a couple donation trips to Goodwill.
I was totally surprised by the Toyota Prius. Granted one expects the gas mileage to be great-and it was. But as a bonus it only took $31 to fill up the vehicle. It’s a smooth ride with more space than expected. We’re not Captain Planet Robinson or anything, but we do want to save money. The Toyota Prius; with its gas mileage would allow us to do that, even if we weren’t driving it on vacation. It’s definitely a vehicle that will make the short list when we have to get another one. The 2014 Toyota Prius that we drove has a sticker price of $26,868.
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