Toyota Prius

[jasonl]

My dad just bought a 2005 Prius that was a program car. I drove it to work today just to try it out. What a wonderful car! Almost everything in it is automatic as it comes. It has an automatic AC that switches fan speed, vent or recirc, floor vents vs dash vents. A true set it and forget it system. The gas engine is very quiet and starts and runs only to charge the battery or assist in driving.

My two complaints, the headlights aren't automatic, the stereo could stand to have more bass.

As far as the ride, it's good. Smooth, quiet, wonderful. You can tell it's a Toyota.

 

[bobbyderegis]

Jason, the Prius is like an epidemic at church. Everyone is getting one, and everyone loves them. I drove in a friend's Prius recently and it was roomy and comfortable and smooth and quiet. Just the opposite of my VW Golf! And great on gas. We are just about $3 gal. in Boston. Yikes! Go Prius.
Bobby in Boston

 

[maytagbear]

In my college town...

The Toyota Prius might as well be relabeled the "Toyota Ubiquitous", for you see them everywhere.

In my church's parking lot, there are I think about 4 now, and more to come. I really like this second generation much better. I'm also looking forward to the rumoured Camry hybrid.

Several friends of mine have the Prius, and I like to ride in them. Very comfortable, very quiet. In the summer, the air is louder than the propulsion.

The reason they have electric windows is simple. The electric window mechanisim weighed less than the crank system.

Jaquie loves to play with the display of hers, some days she has it set on Espanol, some days en Francais. Makes her sweet husband Willi nuts.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[jasonl]

I like it on the default energy consumption screen. It's really fun to creep through the neighborhood on battery power.

In the summertime (like today) the AC was very loud until it reached the setpoint. Not to mention the ROCK AND ROLL coming from the JBL system. I couldn't hear the propulsion at all.

 

[Cybrvanr]

The "stealth" mode of the Prius when it's on electic power reminds me of my old Honda Civic. The car didn't have power steering or brakes...too small to even need 'em. The car had sort of a stealth mode because you could push the clutch in, turn the motor off, coast, and still have full control over it.

That was a great feature when sneaking over to my girlfriend's house in the evening. Her house was located on a downhill slope. I would enter stealth mode at the top of the hill, stop at her house, pick her up, then coast down the hill before popping the clutch and firing the motor back up. Her parents would never even knew I stopped by to pick her up...they'd never hear me, even with their windows open!

I believe the Camry Hybrid is going to be built right here in the USA. Prius's are still built in Japan as far as I know. I wish they would increase the battery capacity of the Prius enough so that you could charge it off of an outlet at the house, and then drive it on short trips without ever buring gasoline. Still, a cool car for a electronic gadget freak like myself. Amazing how much space they've engineered into them. I've even heard rumors that New York is planning to use them for Taxicabs!

Do you have a TDI golf Bobby? Those get amazing highway mileage. The prius is most efficient for in-town driving, while the TDI VW's are efficient for highway driving.

 

[knitwits1975]

Toyota Priuses and Volkswagen Jetta TDIs are really hot sellers here. In addition, The Daimler-Chrysler GEM cars are also hot for those who do a lot of in town non-highway driving. I want a Prius but want to wait a little longer to get one. My reason for this is that although these are exceptionally good cars for fuel economy, no one had really exclaimed any success stories regarding longevity, or reliability. We are already in an automotive world (for lack of a better term) where a car or truck can stall out because of a miniscule sensor or computer problem. How much more problematic are the computer brains of the new generation of cars looking to be. Another issue I have is that these vehicles have special parts including battery packs, and motors. How often do these items need replacement. While I so desire a vehicle that will not require a second mortgage to keep fueled up, I also do not desire a vehicle that will be a reason for my mechanic to be able to purchase a Mercedes, if you know what I mean. And anything like "after 75,000 miles you just trade it in" is not acceptible. What I am saying is that I would like to hear of any testimonials from anyone who has been driving and loving a hybrid for any length of time or who knows such a person. I have enough saved up I could probably buy one, depending on the hidden costs. Now the question to myself is, do I want to do that and let my 1997 Mercury Sable (which has hardly given me a stitch of trouble but only gets 23.5 MPG) go. Any input on this subject will be greatly appreaciated.

 

[knitwits1975]

One more thing, I stand 6'8" tall, would a person of my size be able do drive one of these cars without doing the pretzel?

 

[bobbyderegis]

Cybrvanr, I have a 2000 BOL VW Golf, but I get close to 40 mpg. Not to shabby. And at $14K new, it was a lot for a little $, compared to other manufacturers. Knitwits, I didn't drive the Prius, but the passenger legroom was plenty, and I'm 6'1". I think you might be OK, but at 6'8", there ain't a lot of wiggle room!
Bobby in Boston

 

[Designgeek]

I've read somewhere that in the 2008 model year they're going to have a next-generation Prius that gets 94 mpg.

Now if my present vehicle can hold out until then, and the new Prius is a hatchback or otherwise has decent cargo capacity...

The GEMs are cool but they lack one feature that is an absolute must in the San Francisco Bay Area: Solid door to keep out casual thieves and vandals.

 

[jasonl]

Prius vs. TDI

Well, I can say that I have access to both. I own a TDI Bug and my dad owns the Prius but he's letting me use it. I can say from looking at the status screen, the prius gets about 50mpg hwy with the cruise on. That's comparable to my Bug which gets about the same with cruise. Really, the comparison is on ride quality and comfort. I still think the Bug wins for comfort. It's extrememly comfortable for long trips, but the Prius has a smoother ride.

 

[jaxsunst]

In '04 when I bought my car (Malibu LT-V6), I looked at the Civic Hybrid (At the time there was a 6-9 month wait for a Prius). I really liked it, except for two things. You can't get it with a sunroof (a requirement for me), and I was told that the battery for the electric motor has to be changed every 80K miles. With my commute, that is 2.5 years. I was scared away when they wouldn't tell me how much the cost of that would be.

 

[Cybrvanr]

So far, the first generation Prius has exceeded expectations when it comes to reliability. This is something that is I guess expected of Toyota, since their reliability and build quality has always been above par. So far, I have not heard of anybody needing to replace their batteries. I imagine if they were a hot replacement item, they would also be sold at some of the third-party auto parts shops like Advanced Auto, Pep boys, etc. So far, I don't know of anybody who carries them outside of the dealer.

 

[jasonl]

Those batteries aren't user replaceable. The mechanics at Toyota have to wear thick rubber gloves so they don't get shocked by the batteries. So I'm guessing it's a very high voltage being used. I don't think I would want to mess with that either.

 

[gizmo]

I am considering a Peugeot 307 HDi Touring (station wagon). It uses a very sophisticated diesel engine, gets 4.3 litres per 100 km country, 6.3 city. That is a bit better than Prius in country driving, bit worse than Prius in city. Car is about $7000 cheaper than Prius. The Pug is very impressive but the seats are too soft, the driving position is strange and the wipers are still set for left hand drive, leaving a blind spot near the driver in RHD vehicles. Ride and handling are fabulous on winding country roads, slow speed ride in town is a bit harsh/jiggly.

I am also thinking about a VW Caddy Life, which is new version of the VW Caddy van due to be released here in a month. The Caddy is a small van based on the Golf. The Caddy Life is a station wagon version with seats in the rear, though it is still very van-like, something I am not too keen on. The Caddy has the VW 1.9 litre TDI engine, which is noisier and not as economical as the Peugeot. I have driven a Caddy van and I love how it drives but it was really noisy inside, lots of diesel clatter. I hope the Caddy Life has more sound insulation or I will buy the Peugeot.

Here is a pic of the Peugeot:

Chris.

http://www.peugeot.com.au/PEUGEOT/AU/me.get?site.sectionshow&FFFF1041

 

[gizmo]

Here is some stuff on the Peugeot HDi Diesel:

http://peugeot.com.au/peugeot/au/clientdocs/asp/Minisites/307Minisite/html/indexTouringHDi.htm

 

[gizmo]

and here is the VW Caddy - I have linked to the VW South Africa website as the AU website doesn't have the caddy wagon yet, only the van.

http://www.volkswagen.co.za/models/model_detail.jsp?model_id=3587

 

[gizmo]

Here's something I didn't know: just found that the original Mk 1 Golf (Rabbit in US) is STILL in production in South Africa, called the CitiGolf.
Here it is:

http://www.volkswagen.co.za/models/model_detail.jsp?modelName=citiGolf

 

[jaxsunst]

I love Peugeot's. My roommate in college had an '84 with over 200K miles on it. I used to love to drive it.

 

[brisnat81]

Is the Prius as Environmentally as it sounds

Hi Guys,

Our Quarterly motoring club magazine has arrived, and they have a long article discussing rising fuel prices, hybrids, hydrogen, LPG and CNG.

What they basically did in the article was rate the cost of a variety of cars per KM over the life of the car. This included the cost of manufacturing, fuel, servicing, maintenance and then disposal.

The figures they came up with were suprising.

Cars like a Toyota Yaris or a Honda Jazz and Golf TDI were rated at about $2.20 per km for the life the car.

A Larger car like a Passat, Falcon and Commodore were rated at about $2.90 per km

Where it go screwy and I could beleive it, was that at Range Rover was rated at about $3.50 per km (11mpg)

AND, the Prius was rated at $3.80 per km

What the point of the article was, was that car companies need to keep exploring the hydrogen option, as once you take into account the environmental as well as the manufacturing cost of 2 - 4 sets of batteries in a Hybrid its actually worse for the environment over the same time frame as driving a Large SUV.

I was gobsmacked.

Then I realized that what they meant was:

It takes just as much energy/resources/pollution to manufacture/maintain the batteries/generators etc in a hybrid as it does to drive an big SUV. IE the extra environmental cost in the manufacturing/maintainance is the same as the environmental cost of using the fuel.

In short, they're suggesting that Hybrids are a stop gap measure but over the lifecycle of the car are no better for the environment than an SUV. Bring on Hydrogen I say