... I work on the theory that if I slip the word Prius into a long long paragraph that absolutely nobody will read in an obscure thread...
C'mon, Crankers, you'd expect no less, would you?
Is it a spankers new one?
|
I missed that one, will Crankcase become "Rotorcase"?
It would not suit my long distance roaming but if it is good for your requirements great. At least it isn't a 4X4 for the school run. :-)
|
Sigh. Thank you R.
No, not new - 2007 T-Spirit, 55k miles. Similar comfort to my old Lexus GS, lots of gadgets including things I've not had before, like satnav you can talk to (which has understood the only thing I've said to it so far) and self parking, which is a jape.
Uses unleaded of course, and got 71mpg on the 12 miles from from garage to home, trying. Since then, couple of hundred miles driven normally, commute and motorway, 61mpg on the screen, so probably high fifties without trying at all. That's about what we got in the little Aygo, but there's the key word - "little". This is bigger and easier to get bits in, which was a bit of an issue sometimes.
Drives quietly and pleasantly, feels like an ordinary car, goes "really well" if you floor it as the battery adds to the engine power in that circumstance. Range of about 500 miles on a tank I'm guessing, not having used a tank yet. Tenner a year to tax.
Can't knock if for what we want - very civilised place to be, a bit quirky, cheap as chips, and more buttons to press than you can shake a stick at.
Not a "drivers" car at all, but if I could be driven entirely automatically and sit in the back I'd be happy, so fine for me. It's pleasant silently wafting through the village or in Cambridge using just battery.
Finally, for the totally anal, I found an interesting (to me) video of how it all works, and it's more cleverer than what I thought when I bought it, but by crikey you'd have to be keen if you didn't have one.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmHpSyTsfm0
|
>> like satnav you can talk to (which has understood the only thing I've said to it so far)
I have to have one of those. A satnav that responds to "SHUT UP!" :-)
|
:) it does, actually, as long as you say something like "Audio off". You can control lots of things by voice, like air con temp etc, but it seems pointless when there are buttons for most of them anyway.
Impressed Mrs C no end when I said "Destination home" and the nice lady in the machine said "setting destination to home" and started up.
She was less impressed when I said "destination bank" and took out three sets of life savings to pay for it. Thank god for reincarnation.
|
It's not easy to find something a bit different and also usable at the sort of price most of us can afford to pay.
I've only ever looked inside a parked one.
Am I right in thinking it's a column change?
And do you just stick it in Drive and go, and let it chose gears, petrol, electric and so on?
|
In the style of Rupert Murdoch...
Yes.
:)
Yes, move the shifty thing to D and that's it, drives like a normal auto. It decides whether to use the battery or engine or both or neither as you go, swapping them about at all sorts of interesting places (like at 75mph on a downslope for a few seconds battery recharge).
|
Sounds fun.
Shame they don't do a convertible, probably because you'd need a HGV licence to drive it.
|
|
Living in the middle of nowhere - well almost - I was surprised to find that my next door neighbour (but two) has two of them, encountered one of them on an afternoon walk recently and realized how important your hearing is as an advanced warning device ! Sounds a nice car Crankcase...
Last edited by: R.P. on Wed 20 Jul 11 at 13:14
|
Keep us posted CC, i'm very interested in one in due course.
Can't knock that economy in a civilised medium large car without a tractor engine.
|
They're dangerous enough in town... I cannot imagine what one would be like on a country lane.
And no, that's not excusing myself as a pedestrian from paying attention, merely thinking that as a driver one needs to be far more aware when in an electric vehicle.
They often surprise me - in the I'm giong to cross this road, I can "feel" it's clear, quick glance over shoulder before crossing. !!! It's a PRIUS, the road isn't clear.
|
They should do an estate. All very well as a hatch but you could argue it would be much greener still if it could shift more stuff as well as people.
Hope you enjoy it CC !
|
They now do a larger Prius don't they?
If it had a diesel engine, it would do quite good mpg. What CC is getting is no better than a powerful diesel in a large car.
|
|
Yes but petrol is considerably cheaper to buy and the tax thing is a no-brainer.
|
|
...and people will assume you are an eccentric millionaire making a statement. If they don't you can always pretend to be. Harder in a Qashqai. They just think you've borrowed your wife's car.
|
>> If it had a diesel engine, it would do quite good mpg. What CC is
>> getting is no better than a powerful diesel in a large car.
>>
Prius isn't just about economy, it's about limo drive train refinement, smoothness and silence with Diesel manual economy.
Try a drive in one, uncanny silence which hardly changes when the quiet smooth petrol fires up to assist.
Motorway cruising isn't Prius' forte though the new model with the larger engine has addressed that somewhat, it's traffic and short journey near silent driveability without the DPF worry makes it about the perfect short journey or urban use car.
60 miles daily motorway commute, agreed Diesel is still the answer.
|
|
I know its built round more batteries than Hamleys at christmas time, but why do they have to make the thing so damn ugly.
|
...but why do they have to make the thing so damn ugly...
I think the armadillo is quite an attractive creature.
|
Slight thread drift but when I read about hybrid cars, there seems to be a tendency for them to be normally powered front wheels and electric motors on the rears.
Wonder if this means, with the correct input from the driver, that you could in effect make it into 4wd? Not to go ploughing over fields but could be useful for getting up a slippery hill or driveway or whatever?
|
>> I know its built round more batteries than Hamleys at christmas time, but why do
>> they have to make the thing so damn ugly.
Are we talking cars or Mrs C here? Just to be clear.
|
|
Mrs C is battery powered?
|
Ahem. Stand clear.
Well - she has been feeling a little run down.
I thenk you.
|
>> I know its built round more batteries than Hamleys at christmas time, but why do
>> they have to make the thing so damn ugly.
That's my biggest problem with it. I just can't want one.
|
>> That's my biggest problem with it. I just can't want one.
Know what you mean and to be honest I didn't really want my Qashqai but I've come to quite like it. Mind you "free" kind of swung it in the end !
|
Comparing like for like, the big diesel would have to be an auto and on an urban commute the prius would do double the diesels mpg.
I've had my Gen3 prius for 14 months now and on my very short urban commute of 3 miles each way I get 60 mpg in summer and 46 mpg last winter including letting it idle for 10 minutes am to defrost the windows on several occasions. A run to the coast, avoiding motorways got me 74 mpg and it will do 55-60 mpg at 70 mph on the motorway. The Gen3 is also lower in emissions and qualifies for £0 VED, not bad for a petrol Automatic.
The only negatives for me are the build quality should be better for the money, there are some annoying rattles, and the road noise is terrible at high speed unless it's perfectly smooth tarmac (not much of that left in South Yorkshire).
Last edited by: Kithmo on Wed 20 Jul 11 at 16:32
|
>> They should do an estate. All very well as a hatch but you could argue
>> it would be much greener still if it could shift more stuff as well as
>> people.
They had to keep it aerodynamic to help efficiency. As soon as you put a box shape on the back the drag is increased.
|
|
My worry would be the batteries needing replacing - they won't last forever.
|
|
8 year 100k warranty so no problem for me.
|
|
...and the chatter on US Prius websites seem positive enough.
|
If I spent more time driving round town I'd get a Prius. I've driven a few and my opinion turned from a combination of loathing and scepticism to real enthusiasm. Loads of low down torque, almost eerily quiet, very comfortable ride and an enjoyably bizarre dashboard. As an engineer I also find the technology fascinating - especially the way the generator/ motor is used instead of a conventional gearbox - now copied by the Chevrolet Volt.
I once drove a Prius in very heavy, slow traffic along a hilly 10 mile road from San Francisco to Half Moon Bay. On the downhill bits the battery would charge up, on the uphill bits the car was running almost exclusively on the electric motor giving you the feeling of getting something for nothing.
All goes a bit pear shaped on the autobahn of course, but that's not what the car was designed for.
|
|
I drove the RS400H. That combination makes a lot of sense, and works really well.
|
>> I drove the RS400H. That combination makes a lot of sense, and works really well.
I guess you mean the LS400H. Very nice car as are all Lexus LS models, but in my opinion massively compromised by the battery placement (in the boot rather than under it) and its inability to run more than a couple of seconds purely on battery power.
|
Complete typo and brain fade - I meant the RX400H!
|
>> They had to keep it aerodynamic to help efficiency. As soon as you put a
>> box shape on the back the drag is increased.
You could make it even more aerodynamic, as you could spread the batteries lower over a wider area.
|
|
Mine is a gen 2 - the current one, a gen 3, has better mpg. There is another due next year, and that has a headline figure of 108mpg, so perhaps they've indeed something aerodynamically clever and spread the batteries about, as well as using newer battery technology.
|
Phew!
And there we all were worrying you had splashed out on a NEW one!
|
>> aerodynamically clever and spread the batteries about
Like on the roof? Would that be more aerodynamic? :-)
As a company car (a) I didn't want one or it's sister the ugly Lexus but (b) surprisingly expensive really.... oh hang on.
eh no just did a quote and the base model I'd have got £100pm in my salary before tax. Still wouldn't want one.
I did look at the Lexus but the boot was very small and a decent spec'd one was more than the car I will get.
|
>> There is another due next year, and that has a headline figure of 108mpg, so
>> perhaps they've indeed something aerodynamically clever and spread the batteries about, as well as using newer battery technology.
>>
The Prius C, they've made it smaller and gone back to a 1.5 Litre engine, although in the spy shots it doesn't look much like the concept version.
|
>> They should do an estate. All very well as a hatch but you could argue
>> it would be much greener still if it could shift more stuff as well as
>> people.
>>
7-seat Prius+ MPV on its way later this year - it featured in a recent advert of theirs. It looks like a pregnant Prius.
|
He's bought a milk float - Old Navy
