I drove a new Prius for the first time!

My aunt and uncle bought a brand new Toyota Prius a few months ago and I had the opportunity to drive it for a long distance trip a few weeks ago too!

Heres what I thought.

Surprisingly comfortable for a small car!
I am a big person (6 foot 3 inch's and 250 pounds) and I liked the feel of the seats even after 11 hours on the road.
However for me there was no head room except for the added clearance given from the sun roof recess. Its a tight fit as well. Granted its comfortable but very tight quarters. Especially with four people and luggage as well.
Most people over about 5 foot 8 inches tall will find it a bit of a nuisance to get in and out of though. You have to bend down rather far to keep from hitting your head when getting in and the low ground and head clearance plus tight quarters makes it somewhat harder for older or taller people with limited flexibility, strength or of larger builds to get in and out of.

Its got surprisingly good low speed power and rides like a large full sized luxury car with a pleasantly sporty feel. It has a fairly heavy feel road wise. But it does still seem to get pushed around by wind like any smaller vehicle does though.
Unfortunately at higher road speeds it really has to wind up that little engine to get any power out of it. The fuel economy meter nearly touches zero at that point.

The toys and gadgets are well thought out and reasonably user friendly. It has a rather basic but well designed interior as well. The main touch screen control system is a bit of a challenge to use and navigate while driving though. The buttons and menus seem a bit out of order and small.

My aunt and uncle say it does in fact have outstanding in town fuel economy. (30 -32 on average as they have noted)
However its actual as driven mileage at highway and interstate speeds quickly drops off. After 10 hours at interstate speeds the actual fuel mileage was around 34 MPG.
Sorry but my 1994 Mercury Grand Marquis pulls a consistent 28 -32 on the same trip even loaded down with four people and luggage.

Sorry but for the price and what I do I wouldn't buy one.
But if I was a city person who needed to drive a reasonable distance everyday in stop and go traffic I would definitely recommend it!

Sounds like the kind of car I need, what's the sticker price?

I choose to live in an apartment close to work, and drive cheap fuel-inefficient pieces of crap

Speaking of which, my 1997 Lincoln whose engine went bust on me just got a 'new' (aka pulled from junker with 100k miles on it) engine and I get it back this weekend. Only cost me $1300 and if I get another year out of the car I will be happy. The old engine went with 140k on it.

I'm forced to live 20 miles away from my work, the last 2 being through the dead center of a moderately sized metropolitan area. Unless you'd rather have me leave my wife and stepson I think I'll chose a slightly different car than you might =)

Sounds like the kind of car I need, what's the sticker price?

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They got it through the C4C program. Plus because the person who had originally ordered it from the dealership couldn't pay for it they got a fair amount more taken off in a 'buy it on the spot' deal.
Still I think it set them back around $30K or so.

Thats too rich for my blood to only save a few hundred a year at best on in town driving costs!

That's just silly...
You can buy solid cars for 12-14 now, that alone even over the life of the vehicle offsets the purchase price.

My thoughts exactly. Its an expensive Eco friendly bragging point by my numbers.

I too will take the low cost, well used, but well maintained big honkin luxury boats that get surprisingly fair mileage in comparison first!

Factor in the cost of the annual insurance savings alone between a new Eco car with full coverage VS a solid old beater with basic liability and its really a no brainer!

I thought it was Toyota who made the Prius (not Honda)

We currently have a brand new VW Golf GT TDI Sport which will cruise at 80mph all day and return 55-60mpg per gallon of heavy stuff. 140Bhp is pretty nice as well as enough torque to pull a house down lol.

Oops. My misprint!
Reading one web page on vehicles VS my marginal typing is a bad bad thing for me.

I fixed it.

I wonder how long the Toyota Prius battery lasts and how much it costs to replace it (thousands of dollars?).

There are a few stinking smoking VW diesel cars in Canada. Their engine clatters very loudly. I can't breath like driving behind a school bus or a dump truck.

tcmtech said:

However its actual as driven mileage at highway and interstate speeds quickly drops off. After 10 hours at interstate speeds the actual fuel mileage was around 34 MPG.

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This is typical of gas/electric hybrids. They only really make sense in stop and go driving where the regenerative braking can recover otherwise wasted energy. For fuel economy, the much cheaper Yaris would be just as good on the highway when you factor in the purchase price differential.
Like AudioGuru mentions, the battery won't be cheap to replace. And what is the environmental impact of replacing the large NiMh battery?

The Ford Escape hybrid's battery is somewhere around $2500US. Hybrid vehicles are nothing more than personal statement vehicles... no more, no less. Yes they have their green features, but the person who buys them actually is trying to make a statement about themself.... not that's it's wrong or right.... just the cold fact behind buying that kind of vehicle.

I would like to buy one of those SMART cars or that dinky Nano car from India. Why? To make a statement of irony. A tiny 2-person vehicle made cheaply while squeezing maximum fuel economy and small footprint versus my jacked-up, ¾-ton Dodge truck w/8.0L gas hog motor and snowplow. The great dane and the chihuahua!

Did you say 8 Liter engine? Holy cow!!! I thought my 5.7 was big.

Mikebits said:

Did you say 8 Liter engine? Holy cow!!! I thought my 5.7 was big.

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Your 5.7 is 3.5 times the size of my 1.6 engine lmao

Yup 8.0 liters = 488 cu. in. On a good day with the wind pushing at the rear I get 14mpg highway but it will pull out a 23foot box truck stuck in mud and snow!
GM has a 8.1L V8 motor that's a piece of garbage and Ford has a V10 but less displacement and lower torque output.

my bmw 318is 1.8 litre gets roughly 25+ mpg at 80mph on freeway.. the little 4 cylinder has some pep too.

Why would they put a dinky little 1.8L in a BMW?

Ford has a V10 but less displacement and lower torque output.

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I got me one of them. Its 6.8L of fuel burning uselessness! All RPM's and no torque with low fuel efficiency all the way from bottom to top.
But I know it cant help it. The crappy cam profile, restricted intake and exhaust system, plus the piss poor emissions compliant computer programing make it that way.

Now the old Ford 460's when built right were efficient torque monsters! Emissions be dammed but they could put out more power on far less fuel while doing the same job!

Chevy's 454 and Dodges 440 where right up there too when properly built! (maybe even slightly better in some applications as well. And I am a Ford guy!)

Seriously, if they're gonna make an engine that big why don't they just toss a four banger in there on the side for cruising speed on the highway unloaded =\

For some of us what we do for a living and where we live dictates what we drive.
I would love to turn my 1985 Mazda B2600 extended cab into an all electric pickup some day just for super cheap local driving though!

But for the mean time when I am putting on 30K+ a year and 10K+ of it is pulling a heavy trailer small clown car engines just dont cut it!