Toyota Prius?

[XmisterIS]

My mum needs a new car, and I am thinking of recommending the Toyota Prius to her (she will be the guinea pig - if its any good I'll get one myself!).

does anyone here have one?

if so,

Can you get it in manual? (I hate automatics with a passion!).

What is it like to drive?

Does it really give 75mpg?

Does it really do 0-60 in 9.9 sec? - Which is a just about passable 0-60 time - anything over 10 seconds and I'm not interested!

How big is it? My mother is NOT a good driver, she currently drives a Nissan Micra - and she has trouble manoeuvring THAT! I have had to park it for her before because she got so flustered trying to park it herself! I am not joking ...

 

[arranandy]

She'd be better off with a small diesel like a VW Polo, Vauxhall Corsa or Ford Fiesta. All of them are lot cheaper and far more economical than a Prius

 

[fossyant]

My fil has one and is about to get a new one. Visibility isn't brilliant, fuel......about 50 combined. Our yaris is as economical. The new one has a 1.8. TBH new diesels will be better

 

[Trembler49]

Prius is above all a truly ugly car and should not be allowed on the roads.

Apart from that it is slow and does not do the fuel consumption claimed. Not that I am biased or anything.

 

[BrumJim]

I've not driven one myself, but would be interested to know what it is like in the real world. My thoughts are that it would be worthwhile in a heavy urban environment with a lot of stop-start motoring and creeping up to lights, i.e. commuting across town. Electric traction and no engine whilst going nowhere would be beneficial here. However otherwise, a diesel will be more efficient.

They do appear to be quite big - more of a family car than a shopping car. I hear that the Honda hybrid is a good car too (Civic?), probably better than the Prius, but not as available second-hand, as they are a newer design.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

i've had one. don't get the top of the range one. the ac is far too complicated. the view thru the rear window is dreadful, it's split into two horizontally. it also has 'self parking' technology, what a load of crock, biggest gimmick going. for an automatic and size of the car very good mpg especially round town as your on the battery more. however i got rid of mine after 6 months, just didn't get on with it at all.

 

[iGaz]

The only people that buy a Prius, are people that know very little about how more fuel efficient the modern diesel is, or Hollywood stars that have a V8 muscle car and feel guilty!!

I'd never part with my cash for one of those!!

 

[MajorMantra]

Are you asking about the latest Prius? Because most of the opinions you get will be about the MkII.

For what it's worth, I've driven the MkII (my Dad has one) and these were my impressions:

-bouncy ride - the suspension was harsh
-good acceleration from stopped and at low speeds, relatively poor acceleration at motorway speeds
-it is big as others have said and the blindspot seems on the large side
-sneaking up on people in electric mode is fun
-it's automatic only which I don't much like either. It is very easy to drive though
-real mpg is of the order of 50-60 (I think - this is from memory) with mixed urban and rural driving

Some of this has no doubt improved with the latest version. It is pretty much the same shape and size as the old one though as far as I know, so the comments about that probably stand.

Matthew

 

[Night Train]

Go for a small diesel as they are more economical overall and easier to drive.

The Prius is only worth thinking about if you can get a plug in one and have somewhere to plug it in to charge and only drive in such a way that the petrol engine doesn't fire up. Only then will you be running it off your electricity supply.
The ones that don't plug in have to get their electricity by running the engine as a generator while it is also working to drive the car.
The saying that you don't get something for nothing applies to the Prius.

If you want the electric car thing then do what I am doing an convert your own.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

they also regenerate from the brakes

 

[Night Train]

they also regenerate from the brakes

True, but if you want economy you tend to not use the brakes very much at all. Besides regen is only effective in some road conditions and if the driving was mainly local in town then it won't make a lot of difference. Fast hilly roads would be better but even then the engine has to drag itself and a load of batteries up the hill first.

Very careful driving with a Prius can give fuel consumption in the high 60's mpg but I can get that from my diesel estate car too.

The old Honda Insight was a true 150mpg car and a lot better overall.

 

[domd1979]

They do appear to be quite big - more of a family car than a shopping car. I hear that the Honda hybrid is a good car too (Civic?), probably better than the Prius, but not as available second-hand, as they are a newer design.

We have a hybrid Civic for a pool car at work. Pleasant enough to drive. As far as I can tell it doesn't have an electric-only mode like the Prius - the only time the engine stops is at a stand still (and even then only if you hold it on the foot brake as the sodding thing starts up if you hold it on the hand brake). The electric motor seems to kick in when accelerating or if the engine is under load like going up hill. Don't think the fuel consumuption is much different to a small-ish diesel. At the moment I've got a Volvo C30 1.6 diesel and averaging 60mpg out of it, 68-70mpg on the motorway, a version with auto engine stop has just been introduced and that returns even better consumption.

 

[marinyork]

I wish some of the many other PHEVs coming out would be out that bit sooner and then people could stop waffling on exclusively about the prius and just see it (and the PHEV version of that coming out) as one among many choices.

 

[marinyork]

More than that, it needs to be seen as a step towards a solution rather than the solution itself.

I already see like that and it gets its Kudos. But I still think people bang on about it too much, it's not like we had a thread going on about phevs in P&L. I can't help feeling suspicious that the new prius and prius phev might have been brought out at the time just before the rush of other vehicles. I do hope the new one is a big improvement.

 

[marinyork]

Actually one thing I've always wondered, do people actually drive them on electric mode where there's there is a big benefit - central business districts?