I've never had a Venza, so I can't say much about it. I have two Prius and here's what I've found:
1. You can fit four full-sized adults in comfort or put a bicycle or two in the cargo area without removing the front wheels.
2. The lifetime average on my 2004 Prius is 57 mpg using regular gas according to the logbook I keep. (I don't have the numbers on the 2001 because my wife doesn't keep track.)
3. Both the 2001 and 2004 have been trouble-free and very reliable. The 2001 has 80,000 miles and the 2004 has 115,000 miles.
4. The Prius comes with vehicle stability control. This is a system that prevents doughnuts in slippery conditions if you are going anything like a reasonable speed for conditions. Note: This really works, the back end just does not swing out on ice covered streets.
5. The Prius comes with brake-override. This is a system that disengages acceleration when the brake pedal is pressed firmly (Non-hybrid Toyota's don't have this feature yet).
6. Brake assist. This is a system that compensates for people's tendency to press quickly but not hard enough on the brake pedal in an emergency situation. Brake-assist adds additional braking force when it detects an emergency stop. This and #4 and #5 can also be found on Mercedes, some BMWs, Porsche, and Corvettes--none of which are in the Prius' price range.
7. On the 2010 optionally you can get radar pre-collision, radar cruise control, lane keep, and self-parking.
8. The Prius is fun-to-drive. I still have a smile on my face when I start the morning commute.
9. The Prius is not expensive to maintain. The 2004 has cost 12 cents per mile for fuel, dealer maintenance, and tires. You could reduce this considerably if you are into DIY. The Prius is a pretty easy car to DIY.
10. Toyota has replaced many of the mechanical systems with more reliable electronic systems in the Prius. So you won't find any alternators, starter motors, belts (2004-2009 have one belt that runs the engine water pump--this is gone in the 2010), clutches or fluid couplings (the automatic transmission equivalent of a clutch). The automatic transmission, with it's hundreds of parts has been replace by a simple planetary gear system similar to a differential.
11. The air conditioner is a variable speed, electric scroll compressor. This allows it to run only as much and as hard as necessary so energy is saved. It also eliminates the power drag on the engine because the engine doesn't directly power the a/c.
As for the FUD floating around about the environment and the Prius--that's just FUD. The Sudbury nickel mine currently wins awards from Environment Canada and others. The detractors had to go back to the 1960s to find environmentally damaging reports, cleanup began in the late 1970s. In any event the amount of nickel that goes into all NiMH batteries (not just hybrid batteries) is only about 1% of the mine's output--the rest goes to tableware, automotive chrome, coins, etc.--so even if all hybrid production was stopped, the practical difference in mine output would be zero. In addition, batteries are always recyclable. NiMH batteries are virtually 100% recyclable. They are also rebuildable so companies like Re-Involt take good cells from failed batteries and make good batteries out of them (mostly only two or three cells fail). Note that the market for rebuilt batteries is from the older 2001-2003 models (my 2001 is still on the original battery so while there have been failures, there haven't been all that many). The 2004+ models have so few failures that you can probably count them on one hand.
The Prius is made in a zero-landfill factory (so are most Toyotas).
The plastics used in the Prius are almost all bio-plastics rather than petroleum based.
The Prius is designed for recycling. An example is the wiring harness, which is designed to be removed with one pull so that the copper can easily be recycled. The repair manual has sections on how to recycle every part of the Prius.
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