Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction

[GaryM]

About 6-7 months back, one of the TV stations here in St. Louis had a story about a fellow in nearby Illinois who had developed an energy unit that consumed aluminum plates and delivered electrical power. He supposedly was running a vehicle on it. Don't remember any of the details, sorry about that, but as aluminum is one of our most abundant elements it might hold promise.

I guess it might not be a "fuelcell" but does anyone know any more details?

[kokopelli]

as i recall readying the toyota gets better milage in the city then on the highway. so for me the vw tdi is a better deal, and there is not wait to get one.

[Stoneheartfarm]

I'd be interested to see if it has the same reliability as the other Toyota products. Sometimes big tech jumps mean more bugs. Sooner or later, we'll all be driving something other than a 350 chevy, so I'm hoping they've got the bugs worked out.

Steve

[dmccarty]

Pat,

There was a Wall Street Journal article in the last couple of days
that listed the number of days a car sat on the lot before being
sold. The Prius was the quickest seller off the lot.

I can't remember the exact number but it was a week or so
before the car moved off the lot. This was really fast compared
to other vehicles.

Soooo, I would think if Toyota is moving them that fast there
are likely some areas of the country where people might be
paying MSRP+ and cars are going to move to those geographies
first. But that is just a guess on my part.

Later,
Dan McCarty

[avorancher]

Had mine for nearly a year. Averaging around 47mpg, sometimes lower sometimes higher. But MPG is not the only reason I went with it. It's also a pretty nice little car overall and would do it again in a heartbeat.

So what do you think is a myth?

[GaryM]

When I tried to preorder one in October they wouldn't budge off of list price. Not even $500 on a $22880 list. Did you find that to be the case when you bought yours?

[avorancher]

I bought just before the gas prices when rocketing to $2.25 (southern California). I got a great deal for a little over $19k, which was quite a bit off list. They had 3 on the lot and said they were slow sellers. Now, there are none on the lot even though gas prices are back down to a skimpy $1.80. :-)

I have gotten 58+ mpg in heavy city traffic. Of course any car can get 100 mpg if the hill is long enough... it is the trip back up the other side that gets you. I live in the hills and it is actually quite peppy and a pleasure to drive in steep terrain. The electric boost gives it a lot of torque. The CVT transmission is probably as big as an adjustment for the average driver as the electric power. I also have CVT on a quad, so I knew what to expect.

I still average around 47mpg when I'm doing 80mph+ on the freeways. The worst mileage is when my wife drives it 2 miles back and forth to work. It never has time to warm up and mileage drops into the mid 30s.

(Valets seem to have no problem... I was concerned at first, but Toyota has done a good job at making things seem normal)

[Pat]

kOKOPELLI, If Consumer Reports magazine had liked the VW more, i.e. their guality and freq of repair hadn't taken a downturn in recent years, it would have been a strong competitor. I don't have a problem with diesel noise, smell or "polution" but I was a tad dissapointed by their slip in the ratings. I would love to have a diesel Rabbit 4x4 pickup but not to fill the Prius slot. I took a good serious look at the diesels but didn't select one.

I would have liked to get one of the Mercedes diesel powered Jeep Liberties but there were a couple obstacles in addition to availability: 1. again the quality and frequency of repair, not the engine but the rest and 2, I was told by my trusted Dodge/Chrysler connection that the diesel Jeep would be orphaned soon as the emissions standards already on the books would shut them out of the American market in a couple years. I didn't want to own something not likely to be widely supportable in the out years as I generally keep vehicles as long as they are economical to maintain irrespective of their age if they remain reliable and safe.

Are you saying the fact that Prius gets better mileage in the city than it does on the highway is why yo don't want it?

It still gets over 50 on the highway and most folks will drive in town part of the time.

Pat

[kokopelli]

well for me i only have 3 stoplights on the way to work. so i have no city drive. plus modified tdi's have been known to get well into 60+ mpg. there is also that fact that my long time buddy owns a vw dealership.

[kokopelli]

there is also the fact that damlier and i believe chevy have canceled their hybrid programs because they can get a 40% increase on mpg by tossing in a diesal verses the 30% increase then they can get with a hybrid right now.

as for the liberty, my girlfriend is looking at that, and from my understanding mercedes already has an engine in the works that will meet the emissions standards coming out. toyota, honda, and chevy (i think) already have engines that can meet the new standards, so i am not too worried about that. i loved the liberty i had, but the 16mpg highway really stunk. as long at you stay away from the auto tranny you would be fine with the jeep. i really used mine for work. i had it for just under 2 years and put 80+k miles on with with no problems, just changed the brakes before i turned it in. with the abuse a work truck gets, i have no reservations buying the diesal version.

you are right about the issues on the tdi's but as i said my buddy owns the shop, so that didnt really concern me.