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  • Toyota Prius (and similar cars) – experiences?
  • Digger90
    Free Member

    Have been thinking about switching to a Hybrid (Prius or similar) or anything that gets 60+mpg for a while.

    Putting aside the hype – any real-world owners care to share their experiences?

    – Actual vs. claimed running costs?

    – Reliability?

    – Servicing costs/parts/breakdowns?

    Also, comfort. Many Hybrids look pretty spartan in the interiors…

    hora
    Free Member

    The Pruis is actually quite spacious inside. I’d be interested to see real world mpg against claimed.

    joao3v16
    Free Member

    Depends what your average journeys are.

    If you’re using a Prius to bumble around your local area on the usual short, slow, stop-start journeys then that’s when you optimise the benefits of the electric power.

    For longer journeys at higher speeds where you’d not be using the electric motor a modern diesel will be far more efficient in terms of mpg.

    Plus, what’s the life expectancy of the battery/cells used in a Prius?

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    molgrips
    Free Member

    I’ve had a MKII Prius for 5 years. In summer, we get around 60-63mpg on long trips and 54-57 on town trips. In winter, it’s about 55-57 on long trips and 52-54 in town.

    Running costs are low – VED is low obviously and servicing seems cheap. No special servicing costs so you are basically servicing a simple small car engine. Services are about 150. No cam belt so no big bill there.

    Reliability – well nothing’s gone wrong at all in 70k miles, not a whisper. Faultless every single time, unless you leave the interior light on for 2 weeks whilst away on holiday 😳 Tops reliability surveys consistently IIRC. Battery life is long, upwards of ten years it seems, some cars have done 200k miles on the same pack. There are more second hand packs from crashed cars available than there are cars needing one. Individual cells can develop faults and these are replaceable, but it’s not a common fault.

    Interior – not as good as other larger cars of similar cost, but definitely better than Fiesta/Yaris class car (of the same age). Plenty of room for 4 adults – back is as roomy as a big car. Boot is on the small side, but with the seats down it’s a really long load area. I could sleep in it at full stretch (although it wouldn’t be comfy!)

    Superbly smooth and easy to drive though, impossible to be rough with it. Light steering and no gear changes either automatically or manually make it really relaxing imo. Engine inaudible when cruising (unless you hit a hill) as is wind noise, all you can hear is road noise. On a smooth bit of road it’s virtually silent. Ride is average, again not as good as a bigger plusher car but comparable with smaller ones. Handling not all that bad – not sporty but certainly corners better than some cars I’ve driven. Turns in fairly well so you can keep up momentum on windy roads.

    Power is adequate – 0-60 in 10.6 or something so enough for overtaking and all.

    It’s not just an electric motor bolted to a petrol one. There are two motors working in flux with the petrol engine – one side effect of this is that you can cruise in an incredibly high gear whilst being able to change down instantly. So it is still good on motorways.

    The new Prius is bigger, plusher significantly more powerful AND significantly more economical than the old one. Definitely better if you can afford it. Lowest CO2 of anything on the road (at least it was when it came out) and no NOx like a diesel.

    Only thing I really don’t like about our MKII is the lack of reach adjust on the steering wheel.

    tommid
    Free Member

    We have a work pool car Prius and I have used it for several trips, both local and long distance and I love it. Great on the fuel on the motorway (£30 from Cambridge to Manchester to Norfolk to Cambridge 290 miles).
    Great drive lots of space.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Should also add, my in-laws have a Honda Insight. It’s a lot smaller inside and a lot more spartan with lots of hard plastics. A fair bit slower and less economical. Ride is a bit worse and engine noise is worse (although it’s a US one and I think their different petrol makes engines sound different somehow) and the seats are weird having a huge bulge in the lumbar region.

    However, despite all the above I actually like it quite a lot 🙂 It’s got a good driving position, handles well, it’s fun to drive (somehow, more direct link to throttle perhaps?) and the controls and functions are well sorted. The seats feel awful at first but are bafflingly comfortable in the long run. Cheaper than a Prius, but really to be compared against Fiestas/Polo/Jazz etc and is more expensive than those.

    bol
    Full Member

    I’ve got a latest generation one as a company lease car. Appart from being indecently cheap to on benefit in kind tax, I really rate the ownership experience. It’s big, smooth, quiet (unless you gun it) and handles pretty well for a fairly big car. Most of my journeys are very short, so it often doesnt have time to warm up. My average is therefore about 47mpg at the moment. On longer town/a/b road journeys it gets well into the 60s. I would say that it only starts losing out to a diesel once you start breaking the motorway speed limit.

    If you like toys, the T Spirit version, which I’ve got, has got everything from a reversing camera and self-parking to hard disk music system. You can even fit a couple of bikes in the back.

    Reliability and build quality seem good so far. Toyota has a prety good reputation for building cars that last forever.

    FAIL
    Free Member

    Had a mark III prius as a company car for the last 10 months.

    Its averaged 52 mpg over the 11000 miles its done from new with me. Day to day driving is all urban and suburban, but I’ve done a lot of road trips in it. The worst mpg it gets is high 40s in very cold weather for short urban journeys when the engine seems to run more for heating the cabin/screen. The best i’ve got was drving from the midlands to north wales – a mix of Mway and A roads in the summer gave about 65mpg.

    The interior has lots of space, and certainly more leg and shoulder room than a focus or golf. Its very relaxing to drive. I have had zero reliability issues.

    I can’t comment on servicing costs as i don’t pay them or even see the bill. As a company car its great.

    Dougal
    Free Member

    How do they compare with the likes of VM Bluemotion cars? Seems to me the manufacture of the batteries produce more CO2 than they ever save; refining heavy metals is not a cheap process.

    legend
    Free Member

    One point that seems to have been missed here – although the cabin is roomy, the boot most certainly is not!

    bol
    Full Member

    Well, they’re a lot cheaper than Bluemotion cars if you’re a company car tax payer, which is a start, and I’d argue that they’re better value.

    The whole issue about batteries is a contentious one. At the moment you’re probably right in that the lifetime energy consumption isn’t all that different between a hybrid and a regular petrol car. The issue for me though is that through supporting technology like this, we end up developing something that is a lot more efficient and doesn’t rely directly on oil. When I replace mine in a year or so’s time I’ll go for the plug in version, which based on my current usage will mean I fill up with petrol once every 1000-1500 miles.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    The worst mpg it gets is high 40s in very cold weather for short urban journeys when the engine seems to run more for heating the cabin/screen.

    Yeah, strangely it will cane the engine to get the cabin warmed up, which is a bit silly since most of us I suspect would like at least the option of putting up with cold for another 5 mins to save fuel. I tend to turn the blower off until I’ve hit the open road, just flicking on the screen demister for 10 secs if I steam up.

    How do they compare with the likes of VM Bluemotion cars? Seems to me the manufacture of the batteries produce more CO2 than they ever save; refining heavy metals is not a cheap process

    Bluemotion cars are, like for like, slower, not necessarily better on fuel, somewhat worse on CO2 and terrible for NOx emissions. However they do make smaller ones ie Polos, which would be better on fuel. It’d be nice if Toyota could bring out a hybrid Yaris or Aygo….

    I dunno about the battery costing more CO2 than the fuel saving. I reckon it saves at least 6 ish tonnes of CO2 over 200k miles over a similarly sized Bluemotion car. From a gas powered power station that would be equivalent to 12MWh which is about as much as the average home uses in two years or so (according to my googling).

    How much is power? 10p/kWh? So the cost of that energy would at that rate be £1200. The battery consists of 168 cells at 6.5Ah. Maplin sell C NiMH cells at £5 for two, 2.8Ah each. So to buy that much capacity retail would cost you £975.

    So even if Maplin, the battery manufacturers and distrubutors made no profit at all, and the materials were all FREE ie the only cost of cells from Maplin was energy, we can see that the hybrid system would save energy.

    Now, hybrid engines themselves are I suspect lighter than a bluemotion diesel because they are smaller and petrol based, and there’s no big gearbox to make, so there’s also metal saved there.

    Food for thought.

    EDIT: oh yeah and there’ve been some bad reviews apparently about driveability of Bluemotion engines – the low end torque being so bad it can cause problems at junctions. I dunno personally but it put my dad off.

    Digger90
    Free Member

    Many thanks for the detailed replies folks – some very good owner reports and insights here.

    Sounds like positive experiences overall.

    Many thanks.

    hora
    Free Member

    Plus Toyota have extended the warranty on the batteries to 7yrs haven’t they?

    molgrips
    Free Member

    I really want a new style one btw 🙂 Oh and Mrs Grips loves it, the best car she’s ever driven.

    Hora not sure about UK warranty but in the US the battery gets a 10 year warranty to comply with California regs about emissions control equippment.

    OP – also check out the Honda Insight and CR-Z. I quite like the look of that one 🙂

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