Discussion
Recently my brother got a newish Prius as company car, I've not had chance to go in one before. And while it's easy to hate on principle, I honestly was interested.
And tbh it's kinda cool, quite space age in many respects. The glove boxes and other bits feel and sound 99p store and the suspension is noisy with the kind of ride quality I would expect from an 1980's mass market family hatchback.
But performance was strong and overall quite impressed. Now I've never hated these, although I do hate the hysterical bulls
t that surrounds them, especially how they get cheap everything and are viewed as fashion accessories by most Hollywood celebs.
But what really astounded me was, not only does this example come with a 1.8 litre engine and a headline power figure to rival some of the warmer family cars on the market, but the fact it was only managing 27mpg!!!
And no this wasn't a quick reset and a blast down the road, this was an average after 4 or 5 complete fill ups.
I'm sure if you stick to town driving and use mostly the electric motor they can be frugal, but evidently being used as a 'normal' car for longer distances, a hybrid such as this really is an exercise in marketing bullst, rather than one in making a more frugal car with lower emissions.
And not that I care about such silly things as a carbon foot print, but as that sort of thing seems important to greenies, lets not forget a hybrid has the same carbon foot print (construction) of any other petrol powered car PLUS the carbon foot print of building an electric drive train. So a much larger total carbon foot print than a regular ICE powered car.
A cool car in it's own right, but one that should be paying more road tax than a Ferrari and not get free parking!
And tbh it's kinda cool, quite space age in many respects. The glove boxes and other bits feel and sound 99p store and the suspension is noisy with the kind of ride quality I would expect from an 1980's mass market family hatchback.
But performance was strong and overall quite impressed. Now I've never hated these, although I do hate the hysterical bulls
t that surrounds them, especially how they get cheap everything and are viewed as fashion accessories by most Hollywood celebs.But what really astounded me was, not only does this example come with a 1.8 litre engine and a headline power figure to rival some of the warmer family cars on the market, but the fact it was only managing 27mpg!!!
And no this wasn't a quick reset and a blast down the road, this was an average after 4 or 5 complete fill ups.
I'm sure if you stick to town driving and use mostly the electric motor they can be frugal, but evidently being used as a 'normal' car for longer distances, a hybrid such as this really is an exercise in marketing bulls
t, rather than one in making a more frugal car with lower emissions.And not that I care about such silly things as a carbon foot print, but as that sort of thing seems important to greenies, lets not forget a hybrid has the same carbon foot print (construction) of any other petrol powered car PLUS the carbon foot print of building an electric drive train. So a much larger total carbon foot print than a regular ICE powered car.
A cool car in it's own right, but one that should be paying more road tax than a Ferrari and not get free parking!
Edited by 300bhp/ton on Friday 17th January 09:58
mike-r said:
I'd suggest something is a bit wrong there if a 1.8 is only getting 27mpg on the motorway. I get more than that from a 3.0 and I don't exactly hang around.
I love how people always assume something must be wrong...Honestly I'm sure the car is 100% fine. But driving normally, using the available performance and doing motorway work evidently shows up the Prius as not being all that frugal for that kind of use.
And yes, I'm fully sure a larger engine petrol non hybrid could deliver similar or better mpg for the same use, which is kind of my point. Why should a Prius get free road tax, congestion and parking charges reduced or for free, when under use like this they use as much or more fuel than a normal car and will be pumping out just as many emissions.
I used a Prius over xmas, first actual drive in one tbh and my findings were;
It averaged about 40-45mpg
Brakes were stupidly over servoed
It was noisy at 80+
Ride and handling were no better or worse than any other modern 'A-B' car
Electric only drive wasn't used that much, it was gutless when pulling away and generally the acceleration was poor
This particular Prius was 3 years old and had covered 50K, faultless service record, nothing ever falls off.
But.
My 12yr old 200,000 mile Volvo was faster, as economical, waaaaaaay more comfortable, sounded better and was as, if not cheaper to run all things considered and utterly destroyed the Prius once rolling.
It just confirmed everything I thought about them really. OK car, clever bit of kit but nowhere near as economical as everyone likes to make out, certainly not enough to overlook the driving experience and environment.
It averaged about 40-45mpg
Brakes were stupidly over servoed
It was noisy at 80+
Ride and handling were no better or worse than any other modern 'A-B' car
Electric only drive wasn't used that much, it was gutless when pulling away and generally the acceleration was poor
This particular Prius was 3 years old and had covered 50K, faultless service record, nothing ever falls off.
But.
My 12yr old 200,000 mile Volvo was faster, as economical, waaaaaaay more comfortable, sounded better and was as, if not cheaper to run all things considered and utterly destroyed the Prius once rolling.
It just confirmed everything I thought about them really. OK car, clever bit of kit but nowhere near as economical as everyone likes to make out, certainly not enough to overlook the driving experience and environment.
A Prius doing 27mpg is either:
Someone calculating it wrong.
Something wrong with the car.
Someone deliberately driving as hard as possible.
http://therighttrack.millbrook.co.uk/proving-groun...
Someone calculating it wrong.
Something wrong with the car.
Someone deliberately driving as hard as possible.
http://therighttrack.millbrook.co.uk/proving-groun...
Based on 1840 cars, the average is 54mpg, with 400 getting >60mpg
http://www.spritmonitor.de/en/overview/49-Toyota/4...
http://www.spritmonitor.de/en/overview/49-Toyota/4...
300bhp/ton said:
mike-r said:
I'd suggest something is a bit wrong there if a 1.8 is only getting 27mpg on the motorway. I get more than that from a 3.0 and I don't exactly hang around.
I love how people always assume something must be wrong...Honestly I'm sure the car is 100% fine. But driving normally, using the available performance and doing motorway work evidently shows up the Prius as not being all that frugal for that kind of use.
And yes, I'm fully sure a larger engine petrol non hybrid could deliver similar or better mpg for the same use, which is kind of my point. Why should a Prius get free road tax, congestion and parking charges reduced or for free, when under use like this they use as much or more fuel than a normal car and will be pumping out just as many emissions.
Of course interested to know what speeds this was achieved at, which will probably explain all.
wemorgan said:
Based on 1840 cars, the average is 54mpg, with 400 getting >60mpg
http://www.spritmonitor.de/en/overview/49-Toyota/4...
Ah but we have one post from one person so we now know that ALL prius owners are lying and are only getting mid 20mpghttp://www.spritmonitor.de/en/overview/49-Toyota/4...
FACT
And the battery MUST of failed by now
What this tells me is that your brother hasn't got a clue how to drive properly!
(whilst our cars get more and more complicated, and have more and more legislative loops to jump through and be tested and marked against, the poor old lump of lard behind the wheel has no such requirements!)
(whilst our cars get more and more complicated, and have more and more legislative loops to jump through and be tested and marked against, the poor old lump of lard behind the wheel has no such requirements!)
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