The Prius’s excessive, annoying gadgetry is laughable.

Mission Accomplished

The Prius has pretty much eliminated them, for all practical purposes. With the extra bonus of creating additional cynicism about environmentalism and ‘green’ politics.

I don’t think you get the purpose of this car. The Prius is not about the advantage of being an electric car but is all about being the advantage of an electric transmission.

The Prius does not contain a storage battery for energy. Obviously because at 1.3Kw-hrs it stores only 50% more energy than your conventional 72 A-hr lead acid car battery. The storage battery in the Prius is there purely for power. It is able to supply 21kw for up to two minutes without destroying itself. Don’t try that trick with your car battery it would probably boil the acid about the same time the terminals melt and the plates start buckling.

Simply put the Prius is what it is despite the efforts of those who would try and PHEV it into an electric car. Sorry, not going to happen.

May I suggest a fat Denon amplifier and Bose speakers turned upto 11 ?

You will probably even feel him speaking through your PC table vibrations!

Love the vid reviews Roman !

May I suggest a fat Denon amplifier and Bose speakers turned upto 11 ?

You will probably even feel him speaking through your PC table vibrations!

The interior bits are on-par with most other 25K-35K cars – my sister’s 2009 Accord is no better in terms of interior quality or roominess (and costs about the same).

I grant that the styling is ‘oddball’, though the 2010’s roofline is actually much closer to that of a conventional hatchback than that of the previous model. I personally have some subjective quibbles about the styling myself, but then most mass-market cars have a wart or three…

BTW, I am not trying to sell you a Prius, nor am I a Prius fan-boy – I actually am not too excited about it myself – only trying to help inject some personal, first-hand ownership insight for what it is worth. Having compared the Prius to pretty much everything else (hybrid, conventional, diesel, what-have-you), my decision swung to the Prius… your mileage may vary.

Compact? Funny I thought the Prius was a midsize.

The extent to which the American consumer has been brainwashed to believe our precious asses mustn’t ever be placed at even a modicum of risk, is hysterical, until one contemplates the 10 airbags aimed at the occupants, and the corresponding weight penalty and complexity.

I’m pretty sure I survived the 70’s, when child seats, seat belts, helmets, etc. were optional. And their use pretty much relegated you to the status of dork. But then, companies realized there was money to be made, and consumers soon bought into the safety-as-status symbol.

My minivan has a 5-star crash rating, and 12 airbags, therefore, I love my family more than you, who only has 4.5 stars and a 8 airbags… Good Lord.

I’m a firm believer in wearing helmets and seat belts. My kids, when appropriate for their age and size, rode in car seats. But at some point, enough is enough. When your ticket gets punched, it will get punched. And frankly, there are worse outcomes than death. In some cases, perhaps if I were to get smoked by a semi carrying a set of doubles, piloted by a drunken 14 year old who ran away with Pa’s truck, I’d rather be caught in the Neon, than the S500, especially if it meant going quickly rather than lingering for even a moment, incapacitated and relying on the kindness of strangers to feed me or wipe my ass.

(Now there’s a sight they leave out of the commercials sporting all the airbags and safety stars…)

Maybe as the economy, the job market, and our natural resources continue to contract, we’ll return to a certain amount of sanity, where driving a Neon and eeking the last bit of life out of one’s ride (out of love for the family’s financial well being) carries with it as much or more status than the level of horsepower or number of airbags.

In Virginia, Pri-eye are permitted to drive in the HOV lanes with only 1 occupant, which is all that 99% of them usually carry in rush hour traffic. They clog up the HOV lanes and destroy one of the major incentives to commute in carpools and vanpools, which share the same HOV lanes. So, they cause MORE environmental damage. The ‘green’ sanctimony and hypocrisy of the Prius owners makes them much worse than SUVs, IMHO.
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Well, if they don’t drive Prius and instead drive Camry/F150 and occupy other lanes, I can’t see how that would be any better.

The problem is not with Prius, it’s with HOV lanes. It shouldn’t be there in the first place.

Got a congestion? Raise gas tax 1% per day, until there is no congestion and the highway is utilized fully.

The three times I have filled it up so far, I recorded 54 mpg, 56 mpg and 56 mpg. The current tank is showing 59 mpg on the trip-meter half-way through the tank. This is real-world driving – commuting (50/50 street and freeway), grocery-getting, going out in the evening to dinner, type of activity. That gives me a range of about 550 miles between regular-unleaded fillups at Costco (cheap!). Warm weather means the A/C is on most of the time too. Priora are not allowed to drive in the HOV in California any more (only older ones with the magic sticker).

As a commuting appliance, its efficiency is pretty impressive. It is also much more refined than the Insight or the Nissan Cube, which I test drove twice before buying the Prius. It isn’t a sports-car on the curves, nor a jack-rabbit at the lights. And the rear-visibility is terrible. But it is comfortable, roomy, smooth, safe, refined and has a hatch.

And oh yeah, I also have a Merc CL550, which I drive when I feel like burning some premium gas to impress strangers. :-) I like the anonymity of the Prius these days – there are enough of them here that you don’t stand out much.

I can’t think of a car that I’d want less than a Prius. It’s an interesting car and has contributed to other automakers developing interesting technology. But I think they look retarded and I have an irrational urge to ram them when they are in front of me. I know, I know… I am trying to switch to decaf.

In Virginia, Pri-eye are permitted to drive in the HOV lanes with only 1 occupant, which is all that 99% of them usually carry in rush hour traffic. They clog up the HOV lanes and destroy one of the major incentives to commute in carpools and vanpools, which share the same HOV lanes. So, they cause MORE environmental damage. The ‘green’ sanctimony and hypocrisy of the Prius owners makes them much worse than SUVs, IMHO.

no need to give up on that criticism. It really dosen’t. I’ve been in the latest generation 3 times but have yet to drive it, and have driven quite a few 2nd gens by now. The new car feels more like a normal car, but is still only mid-pack by Toyota’s own low standards.

For far less money you can buy a small diesel engined vehicle which returns much better MPG (think 70-80MPG in the case of the VW Polo Bluemotion) and actually produces LESS co2 than the Prius.

C’mon – you’re just making this up (you are talking US gallons, right?)

And I’m willing to bet that in the life of these cars, when it comes to replacing worn out parts these small diesel engined vehicles will be much cheaper to fix as they are a helluva lot more simple.

You’re dreaming

There are cars out there which are cheaper than the Prius which do it better, and until we see 100+mpg out of a hybrid I remain to be convinced.

There are cars out there which offer a credible alternative to a Prius, but you’re still dreaming. Why set the bar so high for hybrids?

You might want to check out the Insight. I know the reviews haven’t been good but I like it. The wife and kids love it. I’ve had mine for five months with no problems. There’s plenty of room in the hatch. In 7000 miles since I drove it off the lot I’m getting 50.7 MPG, mostly highway, 65-70mph.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD_tuGe_S_s

It’s not the semi’s you have to worry about it’s the drunk driver drifting into your lane, or the blue hairs blowing through stop signs. It doesn’t worry you at all?