Any advice, buying a used Prius…
Discussion
Cliffe60 said:
I had a Auris hybrid for a couple of weeks. The electric motor gets you out of the car park and then you’re on ICE, lugging batteries around. They are only economical because the people who buy them are intent on getting high mpg to be sanctimonious and seen to be green, so they drive so slow any car would get great mpg.
Hybrids are just a scam for people who like to think they’re green.
Nonsense. I had a 4th Gen Prius and I would keep up with the flow of traffic and not hang around. My average over 2 years was 65mpg and in summer time even with AC on, I would get 75-85mpg. Hybrids are just a scam for people who like to think they’re green.
raspy said:
Cliffe60 said:
I had a Auris hybrid for a couple of weeks. The electric motor gets you out of the car park and then you’re on ICE, lugging batteries around. They are only economical because the people who buy them are intent on getting high mpg to be sanctimonious and seen to be green, so they drive so slow any car would get great mpg.
Hybrids are just a scam for people who like to think they’re green.
Nonsense. I had a 4th Gen Prius and I would keep up with the flow of traffic and not hang around. My average over 2 years was 65mpg and in summer time even with AC on, I would get 75-85mpg. Hybrids are just a scam for people who like to think they’re green.
Cliffe60 said:
raspy said:
Cliffe60 said:
I had a Auris hybrid for a couple of weeks. The electric motor gets you out of the car park and then you’re on ICE, lugging batteries around. They are only economical because the people who buy them are intent on getting high mpg to be sanctimonious and seen to be green, so they drive so slow any car would get great mpg.
Hybrids are just a scam for people who like to think they’re green.
Nonsense. I had a 4th Gen Prius and I would keep up with the flow of traffic and not hang around. My average over 2 years was 65mpg and in summer time even with AC on, I would get 75-85mpg. Hybrids are just a scam for people who like to think they’re green.
1. The EV mode will kick in at any speed up to 73mph on a light load, it will happily chunter along in a traffic queue at 50-55mph on electric alone until it is depleted and the ICE starts.
2. Winter to Summer, mine averages 65-72mpg easily. Touring on holiday in Norfolk, I got 94mpg over 130 miles without trying at main-road speeds.
3 The Auris, until very recently, had the older Gen3 motor and gubbins which is significantly less frugal than the Gen4. In addition, the Auris (now Corolla) is much less aerodynamic than the Prius and will never be as economical. I've done a significant mileage in all of the variations of both. The latest 2-litre hybrid Corolla is a brisk little thing and less thirsty than its Auris predecessor.
4. The Gen4 Prius has the new 4-link rear suspension and handles quite tidily - reminds me of my Pug 405 with it's eager turn-in. OE tyres (Toyo), however, are rubbish.
5. The basis of using hybrid technology is linked to the fundamental way a four-stroke ICE works. It is only truly fuel-efficient at wide-open throttle when running near its peak torque revs; anything less does not yield the same thermal efficiency so the logic behind having battery storage is to keep the engine at or near peak efficiency and store any surplus energy for later, which it does quite effectively. There's further reasons relating to it being a variable-compression engine which has limited torque, but there are many learned papers to read on this subject without me boring everyone with it.
Cliffe60 said:
Only reporting my OWN experience. I got about 45 mpg . I wasn’t thrashing it as it was in Norway and at near £2 a litre , it was disappointing and expensive . I would have expected another 10 mpg at least with a diesel.
I wasn't discounting your own experience but challenging your general viewpoint that hybrids are a scam and owners all drive them super slowly. Some remarkable disparity in MPG figures. In 10 yrs I've never had less than a 60mpg tank average. I don't drive it like I stole it (often)but I don't hang about either. One summer/winter 8000 ml average was 68mpg including daily 4 mile trips to work and long fast runs to the Festival of Speed and the North West of Scotland. The Prius likes warm weather with a best of 78mpg tank average from Edinburgh to Skye then round the NC500 (NC1300 by the end of the fortnight) on a hot summers day. Remarkably they do happen occasionally north of the border. 63mpg at 80-90 mph to the south of France. 0W-20 seems essential to get the best from it with several reports of dire economy when 10W-40 has been used at service time. Ive come to like the eCVT too. 
Cliffe60 said:
2Btoo said:
Cliffe60 said:
DON’T!
Can you expand on that a little? General view or do you have experience of them? Hybrids are just a scam for people who like to think they’re green.
5s Alive said:
True, I've always had better economy on steady speed long trips than in busy urban areas. No different to most ICE cars but contrary to the oft repeated perception of hybrids being most economical in slow speed/ city driving.
Which year of Prius do you have? I found my 4th Gen 2016 model far more economical in urban traffic 20/30mph speeds than steady cruising on a long trip. Surely, hybrids are designed for the urban environment where you end up using the engine as little as possible, because you are able to recouperate energy back into the battery when slowing down, hence even my 20 mile trips into central london would see the running on battery for up to 80% of the 20 miles, and on warm summer days with the AC off, depending upon my route and making use of B mode for recouperation, I could even see over 120mpg on occasions, whereas cruising on motorway at 65mph would only get around 60mpg.
Someone in the US tested the 4th Gen Prius in 2016, and they were getting 50% more mpg in their city driving test vs highway.
http://www.cleanmpg.com/community/index.php?thread...
It's a 2011 Gen 3 and has a few suspension/chassis modifications but nothing that ought to impact economy. I've never made any attempt at hypermiling either. I spent a year lurking on the US Priuschat forum before purchase hence the mods that have made it great fun to pedal along a flowing twisty road. This came as a pleasant surprise to a friend who normally drives a Golf R32.
I also adopted the lower grill blank recommended on Priuschat and this certainly helped get the engine hot on short winter trips and its been fitted since I bought the car at 3 months old but again would not account for the apparent disparity of mpg figures between owners. As for the "you'll never get more than 45mpg, it's a con" naysayers - lol.
Best mpg in my ownership was the hot weather trip to Skye that netted 82mpg Edinburgh to Portree. We were in no hurry but were two up with luggage including the kitchen sink and this did include several WOT overtakes of the usual trains of dawdlers unwilling to overtake trucks and caravans.
Locally, and until recently, I lived on the outskirts of Edinburgh near the City bypass/carpark yet even there open running produced the best economy.
I also adopted the lower grill blank recommended on Priuschat and this certainly helped get the engine hot on short winter trips and its been fitted since I bought the car at 3 months old but again would not account for the apparent disparity of mpg figures between owners. As for the "you'll never get more than 45mpg, it's a con" naysayers - lol.
Best mpg in my ownership was the hot weather trip to Skye that netted 82mpg Edinburgh to Portree. We were in no hurry but were two up with luggage including the kitchen sink and this did include several WOT overtakes of the usual trains of dawdlers unwilling to overtake trucks and caravans.
Locally, and until recently, I lived on the outskirts of Edinburgh near the City bypass/carpark yet even there open running produced the best economy.
Got mine from Edinburgh Toyota at a significant discount. 2700 manager/demonstrator miles and £5K off when a 1K discount was the max on factory orders. Circumstances have changed since then but franchised dealers should be able to source cars. Gen 3s are getting on a bit now but good examples do come up from time to time.
Cliffe60 said:
2Btoo said:
Cliffe60 said:
DON’T!
Can you expand on that a little? General view or do you have experience of them? Hybrids are just a scam for people who like to think they’re green.
Cliffe60 said:
I had a Auris hybrid for a couple of weeks. The electric motor gets you out of the car park and then you’re on ICE, lugging batteries around. They are only economical because the people who buy them are intent on getting high mpg to be sanctimonious and seen to be green, so they drive so slow any car would get great mpg.
Hybrids are just a scam for people who like to think they’re green.
Conversely, I also had an Auris hybrid hire car for a couple of weeks in the South of France. Managed around 50-55mpg average without really trying. A very impressive car in many respects and I liked it.Hybrids are just a scam for people who like to think they’re green.
I have to say the Auris does feel a fair bit nicer inside than the Prius.
Itsallicanafford said:
Cliffe60 said:
2Btoo said:
Cliffe60 said:
DON’T!
Can you expand on that a little? General view or do you have experience of them? Hybrids are just a scam for people who like to think they’re green.
Why do I need to know how the Toyota HSD system works? How would that make me get more out of a Prius??? I said what I thought of an Auris hybrid based on my real actual experience not second hand regurgitated opinions from Top Gear etc.
But this is PHs , so I’m not allowed to express my opinion.
Cliffe60 said:
Why do I need to know how the Toyota HSD system works? How would that make me get more out of a Prius??? I said what I thought of an Auris hybrid based on my real actual experience not second hand regurgitated opinions from Top Gear etc.
But this is PHs , so I’m not allowed to express my opinion.
Cliffe60 said:
The electric motor gets you out of the car park and then you’re on ICE, lugging batteries around.
Sorry - but not a fact. I'll happily demonstrate how a Prius will trundle along at 50-55 on electric alone, or how it will run on electric until its cut-off point at 73mph. This is not a regurgitated opinion from Top Gear.I don't particularly like SUVs, but that's my opinion so I don't offer this as proof that they're crap. You're very welcome to not like hybrids, everyone to their own.
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