Toyota Prius

fjon

I am considering getting a Toyota Prius for my next car.
I like the Hybrid engine, the fact that it is more environmentally friendly than your normal car, and the fact that it (supposedly) can get up to 75 MPG.
As they are only new (ish) over here I would be looking at a Jap import, like this one. The older Jap models look better than the European ones IMHO. The only drawback though is that I would have to get an Automatic.
Has anyone here got a Prius, or driven one? What are your opinions?

jayok

Err... All Prius cars are automatic. It's an electric motor that drives the wheels and engine just provides the electric power.

With regard to the car, they are supposed to be excellent with one serious warranty from Toyota. However, you'll need this warranty and Toyota had to recall 60,000 of them recently! :eek:

fjon

jayok wrote:

Err... All Prius cars are automatic. It's an electric motor that drives the wheels and engine just provides the electric power.

D'oh! Didn't know that. This must be a mistake?

The warranty is all well and good, but I was thinking of getting a second-hand one, around 4-5 years old. Was the recal for newer ones?

bazz26

fjon wrote:

D'oh! Didn't know that. This must be a mistake?

The warranty is all well and good, but I was thinking of getting a second-hand one, around 4-5 years old. Was the recal for newer ones?

That is a typo, the Prius is only available in automatic.

And a 4 - 5 year old one is the previous generation like this:
http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=Car&carID=314369&message=You%20searched%20for%3A%20Toyota%20Prius%2C%20Year%3A%202000%2E%20Your%20search%20returned%20one%20vehicle%2C%20which%20is%20shown%20below%2E&CFID=53960763&CFTOKEN=52357146

kluivert

They where recalled for a problem with the computer program, the petrol engine would switch off and the electrical would come on.

I prefer the Honda IMA to be honest. Better looking for starters.

maidhc

Apart from city driving where the Prius comes into its own, I would say you would be far better off with a Diesel (1.4 D4d Corolla?). I'm sure this debate has been had before, but in general hybrids dont come close to 75mpg in normal run of the mill driving.

fjon

Sure, but it's not just the fuel saving. The car has one of the lowest emissions out of anything out there.
And for non-city/ motorway driving it is supposed to match a very economical Diesel.
I was also thinking of a Corolla D4D saloon, but they are so common. How many Prius's do you see on the road?

Ratchet

imagine all this places that you can go to when something goes wrong with the hybrid....

looks like toyota dealer all the way. your petrol saving will be well gone after first visit

ds20prefecture

jayok wrote:

Err... All Prius cars are automatic. It's an electric motor that drives the wheels and engine just provides the electric power.

Not quite true. The petrol motor provides mechanical power to the wheels just like a normal car.
The electric motors also provide power when called upon (i.e. when pulling away, travelling slowly or under hard acceleration) and double up as electrical generators under braking or deceleration, topping up the batteries.

Because the electrics operate very efficiently where petrol engines are least efficient (moving away from rest, stop-go traffic) the average fuel economy of a Prius is excellent compared to other 1.5 petrol engined cars. Because you effectively have two engines when you need it, the Prius can reasonably claim 2.0 performance from a 1.5 engine. So all is rosy in the garden, right?

Well, no. The batteries that a Prius carries round are dead weight when they are not providing power. Therefore, the Prius is less efficient than a 1.5 petrol car when operating under petrol power alone. Apparently, this is more often than not, in Irish conditions.
Also, the car's "green" credentials are somewhat sullied when you look at the types of non-renewable materials that go into it's make-up, particularly the batteries again.

In my opinion, a good small to medium diesel with a particulate filter will trounce a prius in terms of space, economy, performance, value and CO2 emissions. E.g. a Citroën C4 Hdi, or a Focus 1.6 diesel (same engine)

fjon

Thanks ds20prefecture.
I suppose it depends on the type of driving. The battery/ electric motor in the Prius is charged (mostly) when coasting or braking. It is best suited to start & stop traffic driving. You can switch to electric engine only, and it will switch to petrol when the batteries are dead. As long as there is enough braking/ coasting though you can really minimise the petrol usage.
However, on a motorway or "N" road the electric engine is of little - you will be going on petrol nearly the whole time.
I live in Dublin, and most of my driving would be through a certain amount of traffic, making this suitable to me.
The extra weight of the batteries though is not something I had really taken into consideration. Of course they are quite big (the luggage space suffers as a result), but still this would only really matter if most of te driving was on petrol, i.e. motorway/ N roads. I still am not convinced a 1.4/ 1.6 Diesel would "beat" it on emissions and performance. Value yes - the Prius is unfortunately quite expensive.

fjon

What would particularly interest me is if someone here has driven one. From reviews such as this one, the driving experience is quite different to that of a "normal" car.

knifey_spoonie

They come loaded with kit.Far cheaper than an equal speced diesel.But the 1.4 D4D corolla is a great car the diesel engine is briliant, about 90/100BHP and the aceleration is V. good too.Plus the corolla is far cheaper. Go and drive both.

Airblazer

also the batteries need to be replaced every 100,000..just another small fact that Toyota forgot to tell people..
and what's that?? Oh yes you want to know how much are they to replace..why they're not so bad..about 3-4 grand..nice one eh..but at least you're saving the environment!!!

knifey_spoonie

Any bit of evidence about that, or do you like to make up stuff.

Just curious.

pred racer

I think its the petrol engine that does the taking off and hard accel, with the electric taking over for cruising.
A mate of mine has one of these and he is getting rid of it, very economical on long journeys, around town if you expect to drive it like a normal car and keep up with traffic expect 2.0L fuel consumption levels.

also just as with catalytic converters, you have to ask yoursel does the drop in emmisions justify the elements(and their mining methods) which go to make the batteries???

maidhc

knife_fighter wrote:

Any bit of evidence about that, or do you like to make up stuff.

Just curious.

It's probably a reasonable claim. Many cars need a new battery by 100k miles, and since the Prius uses the same technology it is most likely a reasonable assumption its batteries aren't immortal either. 4k for new batteries? well if a miserable battery for my laptop costs €150, it seems cheap.

Ratchet

knife_fighter wrote:

Any bit of evidence about that, or do you like to make up stuff.

Just curious.

batt pack cost is around 3000$ and expected life is average 8 years .

so if you buy 3 years old car there is not much left in it. you can only bring car to the dealer and have to recycle old batt.

69 mustang

Buy a 6.0L V8 and help rid the world of oil quicker:rolleyes:

junkyard

I've driven one and the're the weirdest thing I've ever driven and creepy too! You can sneak up on unsuspecting cyclists and pedestrians and scare the life out of them. The car comes with an instruction sheet to start it as there is a certain way of starting it which takes about fifteen minutes to figure it out( or maybe its just me:) ) I honestly can never see them catching on, in my opinion they have no attraction as a car. If you want to buy a car to get from A to B fine, buy one, but if you are into cars forget it!

lomb

69 mustang wrote:

Buy a 6.0L V8 and help rid the world of oil quicker:rolleyes:

id prefer a 6.75 liter rolls royce personally:)
the prius is an expensive toy for a greenpeace activist.

Ratchet

lomb wrote:

.....
the prius is an expensive toy for a greenpeace activist.

yes, but at least you will leave set of batteries behind you for next generation to recycle

mackerski

pred racer wrote:

I think its the petrol engine that does the taking off and hard accel, with the electric taking over for cruising.

I think you are mistaken there. The electric motor is better at moving off from rest. That said, if you floor it, and basically ask for more power than the motor can give you, then the engine will be switched in in parallel to contribute some more power. For cruising, the motor will always take second place, it just doesn't have the power to be the main contributor at high speed. The so-called Stealth-mode (electric only) tops out at, I think, just over 30km/h.

Dermot

bp_me

I don't think it has been said but the performance of the first generation prius could be measured in terms of calender years. It really is that slow.

Now I havent driven one, only been a passenger and its acceleration was truely terrible. At the time I would usually have been a passenger in a Toyota Picnic...not the fastest vehicle in the world.

The Prius I was in had been doing mostly extra-urban mileage and was only getting 40mpg. Not particularily good for a 1.5 however you try to put it.

I'm told (by a reliable source) that the current generation Prius is much closer to living up to the claim of 2 litre performance.

Still though, for the money I would have a D4D corolla (if I was buying for economy that is...realistically I would buy something more "sporty")

ds20prefecture

mackerski wrote:

The electric motor is better at moving off from rest. That said, if you floor it, and basically ask for more power than the motor can give you, then the engine will be switched in in parallel to contribute some more power. For cruising, the motor will always take second place, it just doesn't have the power to be the main contributor at high speed. The so-called Stealth-mode (electric only) tops out at, I think, just over 30km/h.

Agreed.

However the electric motor will also boost torque in kick-down acceleration, somewhat backing up that "2.0" performance claim.

knifey_spoonie

The acceleration in the new prius is much better than the old one.It has far greater troque.But you cannot tow with a prius(just to let you know).