Toyota Prius

rosie2

I am very tempted to buy one of these great-looking, zero-emission cars. I sat in one a few days ago and am taking a test drive next week. the only little drawback (in my opinion) is the automatic gearbox. Eventhough it looks a lot neater than other automatic gearboxes, in that the gear lever is right beside the steering wheel, I'm still a bit nervous about remembering to use only one foot etc. Any opinions or advice?



http://www.kpbj.com/images/automotiv...us_1704_LG.jpg

fletch

rosie2 wrote:

I am very tempted to buy one of these great-looking, zero-emission cars.[/url]

"Zero-emission cars".....don't they have a 1.5 engine aswell as the battery power?

Uuuh Patsy

rosie2 wrote:

I am very tempted to buy one of these great-looking, zero-emission cars. I sat in one a few days ago and am taking a test drive next week. the only little drawback (in my opinion) is the automatic gearbox. Eventhough it looks a lot neater than other automatic gearboxes, in that the gear lever is right beside the steering wheel, I'm still a bit nervous about remembering to use only one foot etc. Any opinions or advice?



http://www.kpbj.com/images/automotiv...us_1704_LG.jpg

I think I read on an earlier post somewhere that the batteries have to be replaced at 100,000km or something and they are'nt cheap. Might be an idea to check it out. Also, servicing wont be cheap either I would think. Not you back street garage job.

maidhc

fletch wrote:

"Zero-emission cars".....don't they have a 1.5 engine aswell as the battery power?

i suspect between the Corolla 1.4D4D and the Prius the Corolla is the more environmentally friendly. It isnt far behind on Co2 emissions, I presume it is fitted with a particulate filter, and for sustained driving it will return far better MPG.

On top of this it can run on 5% Biodiesel and it doesnt have a battery.

junkyard

I'd prefer to buy the Ford Focus FlexiFuel which runs on bio-ethanol and petrol. At least it would be re-saleable in a few years time and won't look as dated as the Prius does even now, plus you get 50% off the VRT.

bazz26

I think the electric engine in the Prius only runs up to about 70kph, the 1.5 petrol engine kicks in at any speed above that. The Prius will be good for constant urban driving but if you do any driving outside a city then it will probably have little or no benefit. Not sure what kind of regular servicing the electric motor needs but I'm sure only a Toyota dealer will be able to do this which may not be cheap.

The Corolla 1.4 D4-D makes more sense, the fact that the Prius has quirky styling that you either love or hate, high purchase price, available in automatic only and people's reluctance to switch to alternative technology will stand against it come resale time imo.

maidhc

junkyard wrote:

I'd prefer to buy the Ford Focus FlexiFuel which runs on bio-ethanol and petrol. At least it would be re-saleable in a few years time and won't look as dated as the Prius does even now, plus you get 50% off the VRT.

Is this on sale yet? What about the VRT rebate? Do we have to wait until the finance act is passed for this to happen?

junkyard

As far as I know it's available, not sure about the act or rebate. I was down collecting a couple of cars from the dealer and he was on about them but tbh I wasn't paying much attention. He gave me some leaflets which I'll check or alternatively check out Ford.ie.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

You could deal with the whole one foot thing by taping your left foot to the seat;) no i don't think its too hard to get used to, once you get over the lack of clutch, its like driving a go-cart

maidhc

junkyard wrote:

As far as I know it's available, not sure about the act or rebate.

Questions answered:
http://www.motoringlife.ie/news_ford0306.htm

Definately the way to go!

junkyard

Now we know...nice car too btw.:)

Guy:Incognito

sean_keevey wrote:

You could deal with the whole one foot thing by taping your left foot to the seat;) no i don't think its too hard to get used to, once you get over the lack of clutch, its like driving a go-cart

Yeah it's dead easy. I just changed to a 2.5 auto safrane last week.Took about 5 mins to slip into full auto mode (my brain that is) and its such a lazy way to drive. I love it. Just have to go on a few long drives to use the cruise control properly now.:)

knifey_spoonie

Id like to know where the whole idea of replacing the batteries came out of they dont have to be replaced after 60,000 miles.Toyota have a 8 year unlimited mileage warrenty on all hybrid parts now if the batteries needed to be replaced at 60,000 miles do you think they would offer a 8yr warrenty.

You should drive the prius i know people who hated driving one and i know people who love them its up to personal tastes.Its a strange felling moving but there being no engine noise.

junkyard

I hate driving them tbh, the car seems to be alive in a creepy sort of way, especially when you drive off in electric mode.

rosie2

Thanks everyone for your ideas and advice. I'll let you know how I get on with the test drive.

unkel

Beware! The Prius doesn't achieve anywhere near the official MPG. In fact it struggles to get 45 mpg, way worse than a modern diesel of similar size

ninty9er

Relatives have one and regularly travle from Cork to Dublin, as well as urban/rural in Cork, Avg MPG is 57 MPG and they compete with each other to see who can do better. No Petrol used below 50 Kph

pburns

Zero-emissions my a**e!
It's become a fashion accessory for the PC brigade (thanks to Cameron Diaz, Tom Hanks et al).
In reality a 1.6 diesel Focus/Mazda3/Citroen C4 are all less wasteful of the world's resources and better to drive. I know Citroen are lambasted by people here but it's a pretty funky car, if you like that thing...

As a previous post pointed out, some customers are complaining of much lower MPG than expected.

Question is, do you genuinely want a ecologically-friendly car or a fashion trinket?

maidhc

pburns wrote:

It's become a fashion accessory for the PC brigade (thanks to Cameron Diaz, Tom Hanks et al).

So true. Although I suspect the Lexus 400h is causing heads to explode.. is it or isn't it PC?

bkehoe

Surely the amount of energy consumed is still the same with these cars? Something has to move the car from a to b, and that energy has to be obtained from something. If all the energy is being produced by the petrol engine anyway (i.e. both mechanical and electrical), then surely it's more inefficient than being directly powered? The process of converting the mechanical energy to electrical and then back to mechanical can not be 100% efficient.


I presume they charge themselves up from the petrol engine when it's running, or can you plug them into the mains every night when you're home? But still, a fossil fuel is being burned to produce the energy, even if you can plug them into your home esb supply. One must then wonder about the ecological cost of producing and, in time, disposing of the presumably large battery array that's required, as well as the components of the electric motors, etc. I wouldnt be surprised if some of these vehicles actually have a higher environmental cost overall than other conventional small engine cars - opinions?

bkehoe

Forgot to mention MPG... We have a VW Gold 1.9TDI which will easily get 55MPG on mixed driving, rising to almost 60MPG on long journeys if driven carefully (not especially slow, just a fuel efficient speed, e.g. 90KPH). Audi A4 1.9TDI in the family gets 50 - 55MPG. Unfortunatly I've got a Discovery (2004 auto) which struggles to get 30!

greglo23

you can't plug them into the mains as they only charge from the engine unless you get the kit from the states to do this. toyota dont support this at all.

Anan1

ninty9er wrote:

No Petrol used below 50 Kph

Not true. How do you think the battery is charged?:)

Anan1

maidhc wrote:

So true. Although I suspect the Lexus 400h is causing heads to explode.. is it or isn't it PC?

Well it's still an SUV, isn't it?

Robbo

Am I the only one who's considered stripping out all the electric guff from a Prius and dropping in a big V8?

greglo23

Anan1 wrote:

Not true. How do you think the battery is charged?:)

the battery is charged by regenerative braking where the electric motor works as a generator and also by the petrol engine when travelling over 50 kph.

unkel

greglo23 wrote:

the battery is charged by regenerative braking where the electric motor works as a generator and also by the petrol engine when travelling over 50 kph.

So, you can drive it forever on the electric motor without filling it up with petrol as long as you keep your speed below a certain treshold?

Don't think so

Anan1

greglo23 wrote:

the battery is charged by regenerative braking where the electric motor works as a generator and also by the petrol engine when travelling over 50 kph.

My question was a rhetorical one, the point being that the power in the battery is produced by burning petrol.;)

greglo23

unkel wrote:

So, you can drive it forever on the electric motor without filling it up with petrol as long as you keep your speed below a certain treshold?

Don't think so

do a little research before you scoff. http://tinyurl.com/lv7w7

Anan1

greglo23 wrote:

do a little research before you scoff. http://tinyurl.com/lv7w7

Surely you don't really believe that the Prius can travel indefinitely below 50km/h without using petrol?

Eoin

Anan1 wrote:

Surely you don't really believe that the Prius can travel indefinitely below 50km/h without using petrol?

Once you brake occasionally, you should be OK!

Re: the Lexus 300h - didn't the Sunday Times motoring section show that the Merc diesel SUV was more fuel efficient? Though, I don't know if that automatically means more eco-friendly. The same article also said that many Prius drivers worldwide complain that the fuel economy averages around 40-45 MPG. Not all that great, but probably sounds great for the Americans who may be more used to massive engines.