And out local taxi company's latest acquisition is...

[johnpeat]

First a little background!!

Local company runs a large fleet of private hire cars and minibuses. For a long time they had a deal with Skoda (Octys and Superbs) which then switched over to Saab (yes - ahem - the only way I'll ever get into the final 9-5!!) as well as allsorts of 1/2-offs like Chevys, Jaguar X-Types and even a Chrysler 300C (petrol on LPG)!!

I saw the first of their latest acquisitions yesterday tho and it was a bit stunned.

I expected more Chevys perhaps or a return to the classic Mondeo/Insignia or maybe even a Peugeot (not - really!!) but it's

It's...

I can tell you're annoyed but I'm still quite astonished that a taxi firm would buy a...

Prius!?!?!?!?

How long will that last then?

Also it looks TINY sitting on a taxi-rank - last night there were 4 'usual sized' taxi drivers sitting in it and their arms were outside more due to lack of space than 'sitting casual'

Sweepstake on the death of the batteries?

[Mr Gear]

It's one of the most reliable cars available at the moment. Check JD Power surveys if you don't believe me.

Prius is an ideal taxi, you see loads of them as taxis around here. Don't understand why you find this so shocking.

[sleep envy]

They've been used in London as miniscabs for years.

If the likes of Addison Lee can find ways of making a profit from running them on their fleet I guess they're pretty robust/durable.

[SSBB]

Seen loads of these about in the last few years. Thought they would be ideal taxis. Not sure why you were shocked.

[Willy Nilly]

SSBB said:

Thought they would be ideal taxis. Not sure why you were shocked.

Must be just about the perfect mini cab????

[CBR JGWRR]

Prii have been doing the rounds in New York for many years now.

[aizvara]

Priuses are used as taxis the world over. Makes very good sense indeed to me. The batteries are warranted for eight years.

[freakynessless]

I'm pretty sure I got into one in New York last year that was a taxi.

In sunny Ipswich, one of our local cabbies, decided that a Ford Fusion was the way to go! It looks utterly ridiculous but he's been running it for over a year now so it must be working out for him.

[johnpeat]

SSBB said:

Seen loads of these about in the last few years. Thought they would be ideal taxis. Not sure why you were shocked.

Mainly because they're tiny - this was sitting next to a current-gen Octavia and looked like a toy car and the 4 people in it were 'crushed'!?

I've been told they can't be made to run on LPG either (Toyota won't warrant the hybrid system if you convert it??), no idea if that's true or not but the local firm has it's own LPG/Diesel only filling station (couldn't see a conversion on the one I passed last night, anyway)

Priuses may seem reliable to joe public (the sort of people who'd buy one mainly being shoppers and the elderly doing 4K a year!?) but doing 100K a year will be a good test for the hardware for sure? 8 years on the batteries would be almost a million miles on a minicab (the 57 plate Saabs they're retiring now have over 300K on them).

[davepoth]

Taxis do lots of low speed trips round town. The Prius was designed to be most economical when doing small trips around town.

[CBR JGWRR]

johnpeat said:

SSBB said:

Seen loads of these about in the last few years. Thought they would be ideal taxis. Not sure why you were shocked.

Mainly because they're tiny - this was sitting next to a current-gen Octavia and looked like a toy car and the 4 people in it were 'crushed'!?

I've been told they can't be made to run on LPG either (Toyota won't warrant the hybrid system if you convert it??), no idea if that's true or not but the local firm has it's own LPG/Diesel only filling station (couldn't see a conversion on the one I passed last night, anyway)

Priuses may seem reliable to joe public (the sort of people who'd buy one mainly being shoppers and the elderly doing 4K a year!?) but doing 100K a year will be a good test for the hardware for sure?

I've heard of some reaching the 1 million mark...

[thinfourth2]

johnpeat said:

Sweepstake on the death of the batteries?

100 pounds that the batteries last to 100,000 miles

[SHutchinson]

A large proportion of the taxis in Barcelona are Prii' too. I guess the whole world must be wrong.

[aizvara]

johnpeat said:

Mainly because they're tiny - this was sitting next to a current-gen Octavia and looked like a toy car and the 4 people in it were 'crushed'!?

I've been told they can't be made to run on LPG either (Toyota won't warrant the hybrid system if you convert it??), no idea if that's true or not but the local firm has it's own LPG/Diesel only filling station (couldn't see a conversion on the one I passed last night, anyway)

Priuses may seem reliable to joe public (the sort of people who'd buy one mainly being shoppers and the elderly doing 4K a year!?) but doing 100K a year will be a good test for the hardware for sure? 8 years on the batteries would be almost a million miles on a minicab (the 57 plate Saabs they're retiring now have over 300K on them).

So how do you explain the sheer number of Priuses being used as taxis around the world? Are all the taxi firms simply being idiotic?

Regarding the size/comfort. I've been in a previous gen Prius on a number of occasions with full occupancy, and it was comfortable and spacious inside. Perhaps people are more heavily built round your way, however.

[sparkyhx]

I suppose the answer is in what limits the lifetime of the batteries - miles or age. Certainly the batteries are good for 100k but is that based on them being about 8 years old (at 12k/annum) or do they last longer if used for less years.

Equally are the whole of life savings enough to warrant the cost of replacement batteries. Taxi drivers are usually pretty astute when it comes to cost/benefit so I can only assume the figures stack up.

[danny0001uk1]

heavily built! haha how politicly correct!

[williamp]

In london they are exempt from the congestion charge too, have good mpg, good stop/start mpg, handy size and Toyota reliability.

To get back to the main point, in Leicester I have seen recently an E39 5 series, XJ jag (X350) and late 8-s Merc s-class as minicabs!!

[Ullevi]

SHutchinson said:

A large proportion of the taxis in Barcelona are Prii' too. I guess the whole world must be wrong.

Yep, seen them in Valencia as well.

Actually got into one there- much better than the usual clapped out Seat Toledo!

Priuses are very reliable by all accounts, and battery life is not a problem.

Sorry to disappoint you, OP, seems you'll have to move on and try to vent another prejudice instead.

[Glosphil]

A taxi firm based just outside Portsmouth has a Prius that seems to be used mainly for runs along the M27 to and from Eastleigh airport. I won't have thought that motorway journeys made the best use of the hybrid system? The (female) driver seems to think that 85 is the right motorway cruising speed,

[johnpeat]

aizvara said:

So how do you explain the sheer number of Priuses being used as taxis around the world? Are all the taxi firms simply being idiotic?

Perhaps people are more heavily built round your way, however.

1 - I've never seen one as a taxi before - ever - so that's not really a question I can answer

2 - taxi drivers, most commonly found hanging around corner shops and takeaways where they find their favourite foods of curry and chips, crisps, chocolate and Lucozade/full-fat Coke in regular feeding frenzys between jobs. Note them away from their cars by the faint smell of Feu Orange and Kebab...