Meant to post this a while ago, the Octavia was in for new dampers and parts were due following day so borrowed a Prius from the pool for the night. Objective was to see how economical it was.
Just took my usual route home and back to work the following day.
Comfortable and spacious, quiet, boot tiny.
Drive system felt strange, on cruise at 55 on the A38 it kept switching the engien on and off and the speed kept varying, dropping slowly when the engine was of then picking up when the engine cut in.
In a 30 limit I tried battery only at one stage and it managed about 400 yards before the engine cut in.
Trip economy over the 55 ish miles was 53mpg (trip computer), now the Octavia is averaging over 60mpg (fill to fill) driven the same way over the same route. What makes it worse is that the Prius is not even as economical as the 2.0 TDI Passat CC I tried which matched the Octavia even with the occasional use of all 140 horses.
I tried to get the best out of it economy wise and it failed abysmally to match what many people see as a far more poluting cars, with the problems of making and dispoosing of the batteries why do these things get beneficial tax treatment?
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>> on cruise at 55 on the A38 it kept switching the engien on and off
I thought over 31 MPH it is always the engine which keeps the car moving.
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I thought Prius would only run on electric at town speeds? Could it had been the electric motors kicking in and out to assist the engine rather than replace?
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I had a ride in a new Prius minicab the other night and found it to have a fairly harsh ride (5 up) and to have far too many rattles and squeaks for my liking
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I suspect the harsh ride may be a Toyota trait rather than specifically a Prius one. Our Verso is fine over short distances but fatiguingly jiggly over long ones. A lesson in the importance of a proper test drive - preferably a whole day when you have somewhere to go. Even an hour at the wheel when you're just playing won't tell you what you really need to know.
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Fill to fill gives an accurate indication of consumption, but 55 miles isn't really enough to be accurate! Tend to think OP was agin the Prius because of complaint re batteries: not a valid one as the tiny proportion of nickel consumed is from mines that existed well before the recyclable Prius batteries were developed:)
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I think we accept that for journeys involving open road motoring then Diesel still holds the fuel economy trophy, that changes when short stop start and more urban style if not urban driving come into play, not just fuel usage either that sort of running could cost a lot in problems.
In the Hybrid or Diesel choice for many though is the worry about mechanical problems, used for longer (business use?) journeys modern Diesels seem to be coping quite well, Mazda maybe not so well, but for private car use Hybrids at least Toyotas versions seem to be offering long term trouble free use.
Those who keep cars under warranty or have company cars won't worry about the complexities of modern Diesels, those of us who usually buy used or keep long term or our use is not ideal for modern Diesel will look at alternatives.
So far the reports of Prius problems and expensive failures are thin on the ground, the much talked about cost of battery replacement doesn't seem to have happened often, and as far as i can gather can be around £1500...which sounds a lot but if apart from normal servicing is probably what most manual Diesels would have cost in extra work by 10 years and 200k for clutch/DMF/DPF issues alone, if i could buy a car in the knowledge the only really big bill would be the equivalent of £1500 at half life for a 15/20 year service life of good economy i wouldn't be complaining.
IJWS you noticed the engine firing up a lot to aid the batteries, were you aware of the engine starting by feel or was it the accompanying extra power or the dashboard informing you.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Fri 23 Dec 11 at 12:34
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According to the fuelly.com website:
Prius is averaging 57.6 mpg
www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/prius
Octavia diesel 55.3 mpg
www.fuelly.com/car/skoda/octavia/diesel%20l4
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I look after two Priuseseses on the hire fleet in Manchester. Both fairly new.
I've only had occasion to drive then in urban speed limits, down to Altrincham and back for servicing.
They seem a competent urban car. I make no comment on the performance but I do't like the foot parking brake or the visibility through the rear view mirror. What on earth do they need a spoiler across the glass for on the tailgate ?
The interior is well appointed, I liked the speed display reflected low down on the screen in big orange figures.
The engine starting itself at traffic lights is very silent and the initial keyless starting is a bit quirky but you get used to the sequence.
One of our cars came to grief a couple of months ago . The customer was trying to do a three point turn when it ran away in reverse and smashed ( ploughed ? ) into a wall. It may not have happened with a normal handbrake which most drivers would grab in an emergency.
Ted
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I have one, so am of course biased. I won't go on but two points - the generation 2, that I have, will really yield 55 to 65 (I've had 72 out of it) in ordinary use over all seasons - but you do have to learn a couple of things about it. If you just drive it like anything else then sure, you'll get low fifties, which is still pretty good for an auto petrol of that size. If anyone cares, look up "stealth mode" and "pulse and glide". The serious hypermilers get over 90 mpg using those techniques to the extreme, but they won't make many friends with other drivers of course.
Yes, it's better in town than on the motorway; for us most of our driving is in town, hence my average so far of 61mpg in the last eight months. Motorways give me about 55mpg, usually.
As to the ride, that's probably the wheel size. My gen 2 is on 15s and is as smooth, quiet and comfy as you like - not up to my old Lexus but on a par with my old Jaguar S-type. But we had a gen 3 on 17s for a day and it was a firm as a rock - wouldn't have one on 17s myself, don't care how they look.
They only do about a mile on battery alone, but every time you brake, or even coast it recharges the battery a bit, so that mile extends. A rough idea is the three miles from the edge of Cambridge to my work I'm usually on battery about 75% of the time.
New plugin one next year will do up to 14 miles on battery alone at up to 60 mph - likely to yield 100mpg or more (official figure is 132!)
Last edited by: Crankcase on Fri 23 Dec 11 at 22:23
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Toyota Prius II - A day with a Prius - movilogo
