By Mike Solowiow
May 16, 2008 -
To my eyes, the Toyota Prius looks like an Area 51 reject: an ungainly sci fi fantasy devoid of charm or beauty. To its admirers’ eyes, the Prius is the latter day equivalent of a Model T or a VW Bug: an automobile whose virtues– and virtuousness– transcend the normal dictates of style. And THEN there’s the debate about propulsion, premiums and politics. It’s hard to think of another car that’s been this polarizing– for both manufacturer (Maximum Bob) and the end user (a.k.a. car buyer). And yet, just as sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, sometimes a car is just a car. Ah, but is the Prius a good car?
The current Toyota Prius (NHW20) hit American showrooms in 2004. The exterior shape hides the black skirts, integrated (vision robbing) rear spoiler and aero wipers that give the Synergy-driven sedan a slippery .26Cd. Clean, smooth and strangely attractive in Spectra Blue Mica, the Prius is still unique enough to stand out. “The” Prius has become “a Prius” without losing its identity.
And yet, for observers who know that “Dino” isn’t just the name of an annoying cartoon house pet, the word “ungainly” springs to mind. For others, “Toyota” is beginning to resonate; the Prius' shape is slowly fading into the masses of Yarii, Fits, and Versas. A refresh is overdue.
The Prius’ interior reeks of cost savings. Toyota hid all the really nasty plastic where fingers rarely dwell (lost parking tickets and french fries excepted). Strangely rippled soft touch materials resembling burnt Ruffles potato chips cover half of the dash, steering wheel and door panels. While it looks “interesting,” a close encounter of the third kind is like caressing a hairless cat. And the lack of beauty was more than skin deep; the center console shook more violently than a crack addict at the Western Casino and Bingo Hall.
The Prius places all the important driving info at the base of the windshield. After a few days, it was no biggie– unlike the gigantic ode to geekdom rising out of the dash like an electronic Kilimanjaro. The LCD information display that controls the car’s auxiliary functions is not so functional (Mr. Bond). The combination of buttons and touch-screen interface makes every adjustment– from the air-conditioner to changing radio stations– a tiresome two or three press affair. [Note: I fly AWACS for a living.]
At least the Prius gives drivers a choice between green and orange tones on the display, depending on whether you’ve got spring or autumn skin tones.
The Prius is motivated by a 76bhp 1.5-liter gas engine married to a 67bhp electric motor, a battery-powered powerplant that stumps-up an astounding 295ft-lbs of torque at 0 rpm. Around town, the Prius could not be easier to drive. It’s quick on its feet, nimble and almost tossable. In Las Vegas traffic, the Prius returned a laudable, affordable 40.5mpg. In stop-and-go traffic, the family-sized golf cart is in its natural element. Magic.
It’s an entirely different story on the open road. Find a slightly hilly/curvaceous piece of interstate and the Prius is more out of place than a gay pride parade at a West Texas football game. On level ground, the Prius easily attains 80, even 90mph (as the Clark County Police pointed out). Introduce a small incline, let alone a mountainous circuit, and the Prius huffs, and puffs, and gets blown off the road by any other vehicle, down to and including a Smart ForTwo.
Climbing the road to the summit of Mt. Charleston, the Prius quickly drained its batteries. It could groan no faster than a pathetic 57mph. Once the battery boost ceased to exist, the CVT transmission buzzed louder, and louder, reducing fuel consumption to 17.5mpg. Throttle response ceased to exist, and momentum became the name of the game.
If the Prius handled like a Honda Civic, you could dismiss its Pinto-like performance with the old “a slow car driven fast can be fun" argument. Nope. The Prius washed out into drastic understeer on every curve. In fact, the battery pack in the rear caused the back end to sway outwards when I lifted off the throttle. Who knew you could have a ‘moment’ in a Prius?
The more I pushed the Prius– and I mean that in the “I want to get home in time for dinner” sense of the word– the more it resembled a four-wheeled Lean Pocket. (“Remove from box, place directly in InSinkErator.”)
As a driving enthusiast, I’d describe the Prius as a funky Corolla with a big battery and bad handling. As an observer of the automotive scene, I’d call the Prius the uber-Toyota: inexpensive, efficient, reliable transportation that makes you feel good about not driving anything else. I’m not damning the car with faint praise; it’s what makes the Prius the people’s car of our time.
3 / 5 Stars | 2008 Toyota Prius rating summary and performance review
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May 16th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Nice review. I’ve always thought Toyota cheaped out a bit on the interior plastics to save some money that went into the hybrid drive. Hopefully now that they are making money on these they can improve that quality a bit.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:25 am
I put forth that the car itself isn’t polarizing, it’s the cars’ owners that are, in fact, the group that brings controversy to this piece of transportation.
Politics, smugness…you name it; the owners are the polarizers.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:28 am
I heard this car is back order.
A lot of people are buying Prius.
I wonder how much this car cost?
I recommend 6 stars on this.
it is really worth it. the review speaks for itself.
I interviewed 5 Master Tech and they all recommend Prius for durablity and dependability.
TTAC is tatak
May 16th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Mike Solowiow, Thanks for the review. If you would answer a couple questions…
Considering the handling… did it have some sort of electronic stabilization?
Also, Mt. Charleston where? And from which side of it did you approach? I intend to look up the change in elevation to get an idea for how dramatic that incline would be. I’ve only taken a short drive in one on flat ground, so your remarks on that were pretty interesting. Slowing down uphill aren’t necessariliy a deal-breaker but if this hill was very moderate, that would be cause for concern.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Uh, my bad. I misread Mike’s star rating. He gives it a 3. Seriously, I apologize to both Mike and our readers for the editorial SNAFU.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Now why would you give this car 5 stars (scratch that- 3 stars)?
You admit it’s horrid to drive, we all can see that it’s supremely ugly and if you’ve been in one you know it’s interior is underwhelming. From from a size perspective, it’s a a reverse tardis. Small on the inside and mid-sized on the outside (well at least for the non-US audience).
‘Hybrid’ engineering is, sadly, a reasonable solution to an intractable problem.
The intractable problem is, of course, energy density. Petrol has about 13,000 Wh/kg (watt hours per kilo). Lithium ion batteries currently manage something like 200 Wh/kg in development environments and 120 Wh/kg in real life (figures taken from the internet and no-where near checked for validity but the comparison probably remains valid even if the numbers aren’t exact). There is no battery technology (well at least not one that I’ve heard of publicly) that has more than something like 400 Wh/kg and currently there are charging / cycling issues with those.
Despite the fact that to achieve both range and efficiency ‘hybrid’ makes sense, the Prius is simply a horrid car. 40-odd miles per gallon is not that hard to achieve now (well at least everywhere except the US) with small, small-engined, sensible cars. You don’t have to drag around a lot of batteries and massive engineering complexity to do it.
In what sense is the Prius a (five) three-star car then?
In the sense that Toyota is a leader in this is space and a has version 1.0 hybrid that they sell effectively to gullible people? Well perhaps.
But I would have given it a 1 star rating on the basis that a Toyota Aygo, with a 1 litre engine, gets better fuel economy and in a smarter package too. If one is to believe the internet, the Aygo diesel gets 69 miles to the US gallon…
May 16th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Geography lesson, Olympus is in Greece, the Serengeti in Tanzania; not a lot of “rising above” is going on between them. Speaking of mountains, I had never heard of that issue of poor uphill performance before, but it makes sense. That >2L motor lugging the dead weight of all those batteries uphill. Interesting. That plus the poor handling should have knocked a star off the rating, no?
–chuck
http://chuck.goolsbee.org
May 16th, 2008 at 9:05 am
I agree with SpinningAround — the Prius appears to be more impressive than it is, only because fuel prices are so high and there is no 40mpg alternative in the U.S. at the moment. Who gave the Prius a second thought when gas prices were low 5 years ago? That’s right, almost no one.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:09 am
After reading the review it has kind of pushed me over the edge to go take a Prius for a test drive. My wife is a community health nurse, on the road all day in the city. Shuttling patients to hospitals etc. Here in Southwestern Ontario we have no mountains unless I want to go look for the hill on Hamilton Mountain so hill climbing is not a consideration. We are looking to replace her Hyundai Excel which has served her well. As sh eis paid mileage for her job, we have been thinking perhaps leasing one would be a smart move. Anyone have a similar circumstance and could tell me how it has worked out?
May 16th, 2008 at 9:13 am
I have driven the Prius on a few occasions as my mother-in-law owns one. She gushes about it constantly and I just keep my mouth shut. I can understand giving the Prius 5 stars if your only criteria is getting from point A to point B in an efficient manner. But I know that is not the criteria you guys use, so I have to call shenanigans.
The Prius interior is awful, simply awful, materials are terrible, fit and finish isnt that good, even the seats are uncomfortable. I cannot complain about the acceleration, I always thought it adequate for this type of car. Handling is horrible, just horrible. Then again, that isnt really that important for this type of vehicle until you need to do an emergency maneuver. Then get ready for serious understeer, body lean and brake dive. Another unfortunate saftey lapse is rear visibility, forget about it. Last, the exterior is….well….you’ve seen it. Its ugly. There is no reason for this car to be ugly with the exception of appeasing wannabee environmentalists who desperately need to stand out and wear their politics on their sleeves.
I applaud any manufacturer for bringing new technology to the market, in that sense, Toyota deserves props. But lets not kid ourselves, with the exception of efficiency, the Prius sucks in every other objective measurement of a good car. 5 stars it is certainly not. Thankfully, the environmentalists can sleep at night knowing their purchase of a Prius almost counter balances the environmental impact of that full sized Tundra that can get 0-60 in 6 seconds flat that sold in nearly equal numbers as the Prius last year. Almost.