New Prius World Beater?

[hawk20]

NEW PRIUS WORLD-BEATER.


Toyota’s Prius division is continuing its quest for a world beater in the ugliest car in the world competition. Experts think they may well have cracked the prize that so narrowly eluded the current model. Toyota will reveal its next Prius at January’s Detroit Motor Show. The car – set to take cues from the Hybrid X seen at Geneva last year – will be bigger than at present, but promises lower emissions, more power and 13 per cent better economy.

 

[Alfie]

NEW PRIUS WORLD-BEATER.


Toyota’s Prius division is continuing its quest for a world beater in the ugliest car in the world competition. Experts think they may well have cracked the prize that so narrowly eluded the current model. Toyota will reveal its next Prius at January’s Detroit Motor Show. The car – set to take cues from the Hybrid X seen at Geneva last year – will be bigger than at present, but promises lower emissions, more power and 13 per cent better economy.

Yuk. Have they not learnt anything from the present ugly car?

It looks like a squashed cabbage patch doll!

 

[verytalldave]

I dont really mind it too much. Not that I would EVER buy one.
In my opinion it fails on all counts.
It doesnt look good enough to buy.
Its overpriced.
Its not that economical.
And most important............ITS NOT GREEN.
Which surely is the whole point of this cars very being.
The materials used in its construction are very expensive to produce. And the battery contents are about the worst collection of ungreen materials known to man.
All for saving 5mpg and a few smidges of CO2. Big deal.
How long is it going to be before the world wakes up to this fact?
I would like to be a fly on the wall when owners are charged a small arm and a large leg for battery disposal come the day..................

Also, as a BTB................I read an article a few weeks back that in the Prius Handbook it states that the car HAS to be started at least once EVERY 2 weeks for 30 minutes to maintain battery condition. Failure to do this voids the warranty on the batteries and leads to short battery life.
So you cant leave your car longer than 2 weeks at any time. Interesting.

 

[hawk20]

So if you go on holiday.....

 

[verytalldave]

So if you go on holiday.....

That was precisely a point that someone made. They needed a "car sitter" to come in an turn the car over if they went away for more than 2 weeks.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/toyota_prius_battery.html
http://prius.ecrostech.com/original/Owning/Undriven.htm

 

[hawk20]

Odd thing is when AutoExpress tried many different cars to see which got closest to its claimed govt mpg figure, the worst performer was the Prius. Got nowhere near its claimed figure.

 

[timskemp]

I have a client with a prius, he is averaging 57mpg which for a car its size is very good indeed. The big thing about prius is the urban consumption, extra urban it's just a low drag car with a petrol engine, the car is often better on fuel in town than on the motorway.

 

[nick mercedes]

I have a client with a prius, he is averaging 57mpg which for a car its size is very good indeed. The big thing about prius is the urban consumption, extra urban it's just a low drag car with a petrol engine, the car is often better on fuel in town than on the motorway.

I'm sure that years ago people with Montego diesel estate cars were getting 50 odd miles to the gallon?

 

[st13phil]

I'm sure that years ago people with Montego diesel estate cars were getting 50 odd miles to the gallon?

Quite correct. The Perkins "Prima" was a very fuel efficient engine. The unkind would observe that a Montego diesel estate was even less desireable than a Prius, though

 

[Alfie]

................ The unkind would observe that a Montego diesel estate was even less desireable than a Prius, though

Not sure, its a close call actually. Nope...got it. The Montego had a proper engine and wasn't as hideously styled as the Prius so the montego wins in my book.

 

[DaveK]

Everybody was doing a lot more miles to the gallon of diesel before they decided to reduce the sulphur content in it

 

[miro]

I dont really mind it too much. Not that I would EVER buy one.
In my opinion it fails on all counts.
It doesnt look good enough to buy.
Its overpriced.
Its not that economical.
And most important............ITS NOT GREEN.
Which surely is the whole point of this cars very being.
The materials used in its construction are very expensive to produce. And the battery contents are about the worst collection of ungreen materials known to man.
All for saving 5mpg and a few smidges of CO2. Big deal.
How long is it going to be before the world wakes up to this fact?
I would like to be a fly on the wall when owners are charged a small arm and a large leg for battery disposal come the day..................

Also, as a BTB................I read an article a few weeks back that in the Prius Handbook it states that the car HAS to be started at least once EVERY 2 weeks for 30 minutes to maintain battery condition. Failure to do this voids the warranty on the batteries and leads to short battery life.
So you cant leave your car longer than 2 weeks at any time. Interesting.

The current BMW is 95% recyclable. The Prius is lucky to be 75% used. The Prius would not meet German standards for a car design. It causes too much land-fill on being dismantled.

It really has nothing to offer the environment. It satifies only the requirement of how it should make the smug zealot feel.

 

[nick mercedes]

The current BMW is 95% recyclable. The Prius is lucky to be 75% used.

Most cars are 100% recyclable, however much of the material has no scrap value so ends up getting land filled.

The 95% recyclable BMWs will end up going through the same shredder as all the other cars...

 

[Dieselman]

The Prius is lucky to be 75% used.

Is that an actual published figure or just conjecture.

 

[nick mercedes]

Not sure, its a close call actually. Nope...got it. The Montego had a proper engine and wasn't as hideously styled as the Prius so the montego wins in my book.

Exactly, some family car from the '80s does 50+ to the gallon, yet now the world is aghast becuse some egg shaped japanese car manages 57mpg...

 

[st4]

Everybody was doing a lot more miles to the gallon of diesel before they decided to reduce the sulphur content in it

I heard the EU3 engines are better on fuel than the EU4. If thats the case then thats real progress if we buy into Carbon footprints. However it does work out nicely for the tax man....

IMO in mixed driving a diesel focus will out MPG a prius, offer a better drive to boot.

 

[timskemp]

Exactly, some family car from the '80s does 50+ to the gallon, yet now the world is aghast becuse some egg shaped japanese car manages 57mpg...

Why does nobody actually understand the chief benefit of the prius. It has all the safety and luxury features we expect in a modern car, yet manages the highest urban MPG of anything its size, due to the regenerative braking mostly.

A Montego weight just over a tonne and had 81bhp, find me a modern car that size that weighs so little, if you can then stick a modern 81bhp diesel motor in there and you can say hello to huge MPG too. I'd say its modern mainstream equivalent would be something like a Focus 1.6tdci saloon, 109ps, 62.7mpg combined. Of course if you want an automatic, you have to get the 2.0d focus, which drops to 48.6 mpg.

 

[DaveK]

Have you ever ridden down a motorway for 4 hours in a Prius ?
I'd need to be drugged to complete a journey like that again. You'd feel more refreshed climbing off the saddle on the back of a donkey after four hours.

 

[hawk20]

Why does nobody actually understand the chief benefit of the prius. It has all the safety and luxury features we expect in a modern car, yet manages the highest urban MPG of anything its size, due to the regenerative braking mostly.

A Montego weight just over a tonne and had 81bhp, find me a modern car that size that weighs so little, if you can then stick a modern 81bhp diesel motor in there and you can say hello to huge MPG too. I'd say its modern mainstream equivalent would be something like a Focus 1.6tdci saloon, 109ps, 62.7mpg combined. Of course if you want an automatic, you have to get the 2.0d focus, which drops to 48.6 mpg.

On the AutoExpress tests in the real world it was the car least able to achieve the claimed mpg figures. One reason is that it can do the govt tests arriving with a fully charged bank of batteries and ignoring all the fuel needed to charge them in the first place.

My A class has more legroom in the front and in the back and the automatic A180cdi does a combined figure in auto form of 52.3 mpg.

My brother's manual A class regularly achieves over 60 mpg on a run (where the Prius is useless).

The three year Prius guarantee is limited to 60k miles. The A class guarantee is for unlimited miles.

 

[Dieselman]

I heard the EU3 engines are better on fuel than the EU4. If thats the case then thats real progress if we buy into Carbon footprints. However it does work out nicely for the tax man....

EU4 is nothing to do with carbon footprint or Co2 emissions.