Test Drove a Prius yesterday...

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

VERY interesting experience. I'm not sure I'm ready to go quite that green, though if it had power seats I would seriously consider it. I also drove the Camry Hybrid, which is more carlike and has power seats and a moonroof (40 mpg compared to Prius' 60, and Prius is ZERO emissions, while Camry still has partial emissions).

For anyone that would like to understand the hybrid technology and see it in action, I recommend a short visit to your dealer. The Prius has a screen that shows you when you are running on gas vs. battery. And there are a few other things that make it a fun kinda space age experience.

Now if they would only give them some 'gusto..' I just don't know if I can go from "Turbo" to this, but if you are used to a V4 anyway it would probably be fine.

[kapish Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close kapish]

Thumbs up for the Prius.

Prius is a cool car. Although I have not driven one I had the opportunity to ride in couple - the first generation and the second gen. They are quite, and very nicely put-together, and the Prius owners seem to really love the driving experience. I rode in one from Orange County to Indio last January and the (1st gen.) Prius had enough power to haul 4 of us and our gear very very nicely!

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

Although the Prius has lower emissions in use I understand that it's actual construction created far more emissions than a conventional car. This is apparently due to the very high emissions in the creation of the secondary electric motor and the batteries. I don't have any information on the mileage coverage required to negate that initial extra 'cost'.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

Although the Prius has lower emissions in use I understand that it's actual construction created far more emissions than a conventional car. This is apparently due to the very high emissions in the creation of the secondary electric motor and the batteries. I don't have any information on the mileage coverage required to negate that initial extra 'cost'.

Very interesting... that will certainly help rationalize a 'no' decision... I will look for data, and am curious about the source

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

Prius is a cool car. Although I have not driven one I had the opportunity to ride in couple - the first generation and the second gen. They are quite, and very nicely put-together, and the Prius owners seem to really love the driving experience. I rode in one from Orange County to Indio last January and the (1st gen.) Prius had enough power to haul 4 of us and our gear very very nicely!

I forgot to mention how roomy it is inside. The back seat has a LOT more legroom than our Volvo S60. I know it has enough power to get you where you're going, but I'm used to being able to rocket onto the Long Island Expressway and do a bit of 'accelerated traffic dodging...' Just changing lanes around here takes a peppy vehicle...

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

Very interesting... that will certainly help rationalize a 'no' decision... I will look for data, and am curious about the source

I think the 'source' was a UK television motoring programme. There are quite a few so I can't be certain which one it was.
There would seem to be some logic in the argument as the Prius is basically a 'normal' car with extra electric motor and batteries. There must be some 'footprint' in the manufacturer of those extra components.

[PeterS Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close PeterS]

I think the 'source' was a UK television motoring programme. There are quite a few so I can't be certain which one it was.
There would seem to be some logic in the argument as the Prius is basically a 'normal' car with extra electric motor and batteries. There must be some 'footprint' in the manufacturer of those extra components.

The Prius (and other Hybrids) were covered pretty extensively on the Showtime show Penn & Teller BS...

Besides the more pollution to build them, there is the fact that the car totes around two engines.. one gas and one electric, making the vehicle 500 pounds heavier (easy to check on cars.com by comparing the same vehicle in gas only or hybrid). Also carrying two engines and a rack of batteries takes up space, not saying the car is not spacious just that it would be more so if you could reclaim the extra engine and battery space for passenger use and/or storage. That is also the reason the don't have much gusto...

Also when the batteries need to be replaced... you now have a toxic disposal problem...

Hybrids are not as GREEN as they are made out to be...

The only reason they have higher mileage that their gas only versions is the one thing they do correct... reclaim electrical energy when you slow down or when you are stopped with the engine running. This they do well, but to reutilize this energy, it takes a rack of toxic batteries and an extra engine... not very good...

Also the mpgs are actually worse than their gas only version when the gas engine is running (draggin that weight) but the number goes up when it runs on electric as it is getting "free?" miles or at least infinite miles per gallon as there is no gas being used then.

So if your style of driving has the gas engine running all the time, you can actually get worse mpg than the gas only model.

Pete

[Carol C Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Carol C]

I've been a passenger in a Prius now and then. I'd buy one if I were in the market for a new car. But one thing I want to share with you is this...they are very quiet, oddly quiet...enough to surprise to folks not aware of the Prius's stealthy arrival. A driver should use caution when driving where folks aren't used to too many cars on the road; in Mexico with my friend John in his Prius, locals in small towns couldn't hear us coming and a few times we had to swerve to avoid hitting pedestrians (and animals too). In towns whose names I can't pronounce on Mexico's Pacific coast, I found it a bit nerve-wracking in the passenger seat. We even almost hit a donkey!

[short Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close short]

I've been driving a Prius for 2 years.

I've had my Prius for over 2 years. Love it and would buy another one next time.

Gas mileage is about 45 MPG as I do mostly highway driving. I would get better gas mileage if I just drove in town.

One of the biggest pluses is the car pool lane stickers.

When I first started driving it I would be disconcerted by the engine shutting off at a stop light. I've gotten use to the silence now.

Short

[PeterS Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close PeterS]

Oh, one other comment...

My experiences are from a friend who has had two of them now...

He had it valet parked in Philly, and when they got back to pick it up, they told him the car died when they tried to park it. Unaware of how they act, they thought it kept stalling and kept trying to start it and everytime it did start and they moved it a little, the engine would cutout and they again thought it stalled. They jerked this car around so much, they had to take him to it to see what he could do. The windows were all down and it was dead. He even suspected they tried jumper cables, but they wouldn't admit it. He had to have it towed to a dealer who reset all the components and it was fine but he will never valet park it again.

Pete