Toyota Prius

[danksy]

As my car is coming up for renewal on the company scheme, I thought I'd test drive a Prius on the basis that I'd pay bugger all company car tax, as well as getting a fair bit left over from the monthly lease charge.

So how did I get on?

Apearance

Well the prius looks like a cross between a Nissan Primera and a Citroen C4 IMHO with a sharply angled bonnet, and sharp lines running from the front to the back of the car. It also has contours running over the roof line in a W shape to help with the aerodynamic efficiency.

The best thing I can say about the looks are that the front headlights remind me of a Nissan 350Z.

Being 60% recyclable the car itself has uses a lot of plastic (interior smells like a brand new Nissan Bluebird from thew 1980's!). In fact the boot itself is made from a plastic composite!!

Not sure whether the wheeltrims are standard, but i think they are put on by the fleet department to stop people scuffing the wheels!

The interior looks pretty awful as well as smelling awful, and in the 3 days, and 200 miles I drove the car I was not able to work out how to use the sat nav, or tune the radio! The big screen is a great distraction IMHO, and the JBL stereo is nothing but a marketing gimmick. I think it should stand for Just Bloomin' Lousy in this car. The sound quality was simply awful

The whole look and feel of the dashboard was that of a cheap and nasty item from a poundshop!

The best thing about the whole system was that although it was completely mind boggling you could control it all from the relative simplicity of the steering wheel.

On The Move

The weirdest thing about this car is the way you have to drive it.

There wasn't a key as such , you have to put the fob into a receptacle on the dashboard (just to the right of the steering wheel) this is obsurced by the steering wheel in the picture.

To get the car started you then have to press the start button.

There is an eerie silence as nothing appears to happen, apart from the aircon and radio kicking in. To get moving you then have to put you foot on the brake pedal and press the start button, then a light lights up "READY".

Then the parking brake must be removed (its an american style foot brake), and drive selected with the little gearknob come switch to the left of the steering wheel.

As you move away the car is silent whilst in electic mode (unless you demand a lot of power) until 30mph then the engine cuts in.

The Car itself has no gears, using an electronic CVT system which in itself takes a while to get used to.

The car battery is charged by the unused engine power when cruising , conversley when extra power is needed, the battery sends power to a powerful electric motor to supplement to 1498cc petrol engine.

After a while you get used to it, but the strange silence when stationary (due to the engine stopping) takes some time to get used to!! But sure enough when you ask for power the engine starts and delivers pretty instantaneously!

The suspension is surprisingly firm, and despite the energy efficient skinny tyres, and heavy batteries/synergy drive the beast actually handles pretty well.

Quoted performance is 0-60 in just less than 11 secs, with 106mph flat out.

The instrument cluster is housed right at the base of the windscreen, and is about as close to as the car in fronts bumper, but it actually works in that you don't have to take time to focus back on the dials in front of you. Having said that the bright blue digits are a little to 1980's for my liking.

Verdict

Overall if you take the car for what it is, it is certainly expensive compared to Mondeos, Golfs, Vectras, A4's etc. It was a £21k list price for the model I tested, but it came loaded with a premium stereo, bluetooth telephone prep, and sat. nav.

I would not buy one if I was having to finance it personally, but for Mondeo man company car drivers it is very attractive from a benefit in kind perspective, costing only £63 per month .

The overall driving experience was strange in that I almost felt like a passenger in the car, despite driving it, but with time I got used to it.

For novelty value, and innovation it scores highly, as it does for practicality.

However to buy this and run it yourself the fuel savings aren't much more than my A4 Avant 1.9Tdi Quattro Sport, and I know which is more fun to drive . Just think of how much it will cost when it goes wrong

The weird thing is as much as I wanted to hate this car, i actually quite liked it, but I'm pleased to report I won't be ordering one for my next car

[ian_m]

Ok time for my 2 pence

I met up with Danksy on Friday night, we went for a drink in Castle Combe and I also had a spin in the Prius

I agree with Nick in relation to the looks, although I think I would be a little more blunt and call it UGLY

I could not believe that it had hub caps , the interior was typically toyota in that it was a sea of cheap bland plastic!! The screen was huge and insists on showing you where the power is coming from so you have a really annoying picture of a floor pan and flowing lines coming from an engine or battery to the wheels!

The speedo display was like in the Yaris, that horrible digital green display that looks as though its at the end of the bonnet .

It was very un-nerving when I pulled away, I didnt even realise it was switched on at first, the whole running on battery experience is a very strange one, I cant slate the driving experience as much as I would like to, I didnt like the CVT box but the car wasnt slow, it got up to decent speeds once you gave it some right foot

I have to admit Nick it would be a very cheap option for you but one that would take a lot of getting used to after the A4, one that I could never make and I doubt you could!!

All in all, it felt like a slightly luxurious Milk float

[CarMad]

Great review Dansky.

I think the Prius fits a market that most BMW / Audi owners don't look in. Some will want to have one for the saving in cost but most of these people are probably not that car loving on the whole.

However it gets interesting when this technology goes into a Lexus. You get the build, luxury interior and all the refinement and economy that a hybrid brings.

The current RX400h is selling like hot cakes and I think the GS450h to be launched next year I think will sell just as well.

As for reliability and worries about the batteries etc. they are fully warrantied and in a Lexus / Toyota they do fully honor the warranty. So that shouldn't be a problem. In the same article it mentioned that someone had asked about battery failures etc. and in a few hundred thousand sold only 2 had had problems with them, so it all sounds good to me.