Toyota Prius 1.8 Enjoyable Drive Or Not

topdost

Just looking at your view about Toyota Prius 1.8

Are they fast , do you enjoy driving ?

I know you save money but is the same as driving a 1.8 petrol or diesels

Max Power1

Enjoyable drive? No. Unless you get your driving thrills from returning 40 odd mpg, it is not enjoyable

ANd not particularly frugal either, a diesel from the same era would be more economical.

Idbatterim

If mad-lad doesnt show up soon, I reckon we send out a search party!!! If the poster didnt have a reasonable amount of posts, Id have assumed it was a troll trap, just waiting for mad_lad v the world i.e. motoring forum on boards with MaxPower and the other electric and hybrid doubting thomases lol

Max Power1

Idbatterim wrote: »

If mad-lad doesnt show up soon, I reckon we send out a search party!!!

Seriously.. two ev/hybrid threads today and he's not here?

Obviously he doesnt have the fast charge connection and he's stuck there for hours

dgt

Max Power1 wrote: »

Seriously.. two ev/hybrid threads today and he's not here?

Obviously he doesnt have the fast charge connection and he's stuck there for hours

The range must have ran out on the way to the computer :pac:

Chippy01

topdost wrote: »

Just looking at your view about Toyota Prius 1.8

Are they fast , do you enjoy driving ?

I know you save money but is the same as driving a 1.8 petrol or diesels

What would you class as fast? It's top speed is around 112 mph (180kph), so it's fast enough for our speed limits.
In 'normal' mode it's accelleration is muted, but press the PWR switch and it's performance is more lively, at the expense of your mpg of course.
And before anyone asks; No, I haven't timed the difference but it is very noticable.

I enjoy driving mine, and find it quite comfortable. But what is comfortable for one could be excruciating for someone else.

They have thier plus points and thier minus points like all cars, depending on what you are looking for in a car.
Best advice is, try before you buy.

650Ginge

Max Power1 wrote: »

Enjoyable drive? No. Unless you get your driving thrills from returning 40 odd mpg, it is not enjoyable

ANd not particularly frugal either, a diesel from the same era would be more economical.

Complete and utter rubbish, ok they aren't a hot hatch or even a ford focus, but they drive very nice. If you can only get 40mpg out of it you aren't much of a driver. Nearly 2000 mk3 1.8's are averaging 58mpg on fuelly.

So tell me the diesel that size and automatic that can give those figures.

In town they beat any diesel but that isn't to be read they are only better in town, they average 55 or over at 120km's.

They are also extremely smooth, no gears changes, your passengers will notice the difference. They can do 0-100khp in under 10 secs. The boot is massive, over 6ft from tail gate to back of front seats full back. The come pretty much fully loaded, they hardly use break pads, servicing is very cheap, insurance is very cheaper, they never get stolen.

What is not to like about them?

Max Power1

650Ginge wrote: »

Complete and utter rubbish, ok they aren't a hot hatch or even a ford focus, but they drive very nice. If you can only get 40mpg out of it you aren't much of a driver. Nearly 2000 mk3 1.8's are averaging 58mpg on fully.

So tell me the diesel that size and automatic that can give those figures.

In town they beat any diesel but that isn't to be read they are only better in town, they average 55 or over at 120km's.

They are also extremely smooth, no gears changes, your passengers will notice the difference. They can do 0-100khp in under 10 secs. The boot is massive, over 6ft from tail gate to back of front seats full back. The come pretty much fully loaded, they hardly use break pads, servicing is very cheap, insurance is very cheaper, they never get stolen.

What is not to like about them?

The 1.9 TDI vag autobox in an A4 or Passat would get that MPG or close to it anyway (meaning that, as diesel is 8-10 cpl cheaper, they are cheaper to run)

And as for your "what's not to like" comment - I dont like priuses for two main reasons

1 - They are hailed as saviours and green cars, but they are not really efficient, and when you take into account production energy, and especially for the batteries - which are transported around the world before being out on the road - they do not save the planet.

2 - Life is too short to drive a white goods econobox car. Drive the most fun car that you can afford. For me, driving the equivalent of a freezer would be like death.

Ded_Zebra

topdost wrote: »

Just looking at your view about Toyota Prius 1.8

Are they fast , do you enjoy driving ?

I know you save money but is the same as driving a 1.8 petrol or diesels

If you are asking that then it's not the car for you and will not return the fuel consumption that you expect to get from one. The power is adequate and faster than most other N/A 1.8s NIce interiors on that generation too IMO

Max Power1 wrote: »

Enjoyable drive? No. Unless you get your driving thrills from returning 40 odd mpg, it is not enjoyable

Have you actually driven one?

Max Power1 wrote: »

ANd not particularly frugal either, a diesel from the same era would be more economical.

This depends hugely on the kind of driving that you do. Diesels from that era are sh!t for low millage and town driving in terms of reliability and MPG where as the Prius' excels.

Ronnie Beck

Only 1400kg kerb weight - not bad. There an odd size of a car though. Look along the lines of a focus saloon.

galwaytt

650Ginge wrote: »

Complete and utter rubbish, ok they aren't a hot hatch or even a ford focus, but they drive very nice. If you can only get 40mpg out of it you aren't much of a driver. Nearly 2000 mk3 1.8's are averaging 58mpg on fuelly.

..my only experience of Hybrid was a loan of a 1.8 engine Auris a while ago, for two weeks.

No matter what I did I couldn't get anywhere above mid 40's mpg out of it. And I tried, I really did.


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=82907263

Tea 1000

Max Power1 wrote: »

Seriously.. two ev/hybrid threads today and he's not here?

Obviously he doesnt have the fast charge connection and he's stuck there for hours

Either that or he just bought GTA 5...

Zcott

Tea 1000 wrote: »

Either that or he just bought GTA 5...

And stealing someone's Prius in GTA is a great way to get you to take a break from the game while you recharge it...

Max Power1

Max Power1 wrote: »

Seriously.. two ev/hybrid threads today and he's not here?

Obviously he doesnt have the fast charge connection and he's stuck there for hours

Yeah yeah Git !

But I did laugh at that one !

Max Power1

Max Power1 wrote: »

Seriously.. two ev/hybrid threads today and he's not here?

Obviously he doesnt have the fast charge connection and he's stuck there for hours

EV thread where ? :eek:

Max Power1

Deleted User wrote: »

EV thread where ? :eek:

This was posted last night, I'm currently on valium for my back so I have no recollection of the threads lmao

keithclancy

650Ginge wrote: »

they never get stolen.
?

Max Power1

Max Power1 wrote: »

The 1.9 TDI vag autobox in an A4 or Passat would get that MPG or close to it anyway (meaning that, as diesel is 8-10 cpl cheaper, they are cheaper to run)

And as for your "what's not to like" comment - I dont like priuses for two main reasons

1 - They are hailed as saviours and green cars, but they are not really efficient, and when you take into account production energy, and especially for the batteries - which are transported around the world before being out on the road - they do not save the planet.

2 - Life is too short to drive a white goods econobox car. Drive the most fun car that you can afford. For me, driving the equivalent of a freezer would be like death.

Here we go again !


1 I regularly get 60-64 mpg in a MK II prius. In a 110 hp Petrol Automatic. Prius is a decent car with loads of interior space.

Production energy is not all that bad and it's made from more recycled materials than most if not all cars.

The battery last the life of the car and is recyclable.

No it's not fun but it's one of the most reliable cars on the planet and has proved itself.

The prius is also one of the least emissions cars on the road and that's the harmful emissions like nox, pm etc etc. Far less than a diesel !

It cost me 3k less than a diesel car with almost twice the mileage, it was a no brainer !

Max just hates anything that isn't a 535D!!! :pac:

Max Power1

Max Power1 wrote: »

This was posted last night, I'm currently on valium for my back so I have no recollection of the threads lmao

Thats from too much torque in the 535D !

topdost

topdost wrote: »

Just looking at your view about Toyota Prius 1.8

Are they fast , do you enjoy driving ?

I know you save money but is the same as driving a 1.8 petrol or diesels

Honestly,

They are fast enough no record breaker and no 535D acceleration that's for sure but it's 9.0 ish seconds to 100 kph. for the MK III

I only had a short time in it but it's noticeably quicker than the MK II and more refined but the electric motor makes a whine not very noticeable in the MK II.

I really like the MK III, I was impressed especially with the gadgets in the TSpirit.

They are cheap and easy to maintain and they don't break.

There are 0 belts in tehe mk III , no starter motor, no alternator as that's all done form the traction motor/generator.

I can't comment for fuel economy but if it gets the 60-64 mpg i get in the MK II I'd still be impressed because of the extra power. But I would like more time with one to see the real economy.

This is what I got on a trip to the wicklow mountains. Speeds varied 60-100 kph .



This is my normal average various driving including motorway.

YbFocus

I always fight the prius battle with.....

You only live once, I therefore don't want a prius. I get bored to tears just thinking about it.

YbFocus

YbFocus wrote: »

I always fight the prius battle with.....

You only live once, I therefore don't want a prius. I get bored to tears just thinking about it.

Depends on what you can afford and how much money you're willing to spend on petrol or diesel.

Sure the new Clio Diesel is rated at 90 odd mpg on the extra urban cycle, that's a NEDC joke figure though so possibly anything from 58-75 mpg ? I would like a week with it to see. I'm sure it would be no fun either.

Thing is the MK II prius on LPG would be about 80-85 mpg equivalent in Diesel. So if you can get a 2nd hand prius with 80,000 + miles with a service history is absolutely no problem and convert to lpg could save a lot of money.

A mk III Prius on lpg has the potential to be about 90 odd mpg equivalent in diesel. And those are real figures.

SO I'd rather have a MK III Prius for 12 grand than spend 21 or 22k on a clio , prius is a far better car !

YbFocus

Oh your right there mad and each to there own.

I can make 40mpg with my diesel and I'll live with that for now
Those figures are impressive though as I always thought they were bull**** since a few years ago when that was the reports of it. Must be false obviousl.

If you want maximum fuel economy and are willing to spend 30,000 Euro's then a 2012 Opel Ampera can be got in the U.K rated at about 250-280 odd mpg. EPA rating which is far more realistic than the NEDC !

Now it is around 45 mpg in petrol only generation mode but the two combined using plug-in power equals the 280 mpg, but my knowledge is limited on the Ampera.

The big thing about the Ampers is it's EPA rated 38 mile electric only mode. And then you got the engine if you need it.

The BMW I3 Rex will have much greater range in EV.

YbFocus

YbFocus wrote: »

Oh your right there mad and each to there own.

I can make 40mpg with my diesel and I'll live with that for now
Those figures are impressive though as I always thought they were bull**** since a few years ago when that was the reports of it. Must be false obviousl.

Maybe the 40 mpg you get is good enough for your mileage but for someone doing 20,000+ miles a year every bit saves money that they can spend on other more useful things.

Sure I'd like having the power of Max's 535D but I couldn't justify the amount of money it would cost at my mileage, and the motor tax. + I couldn't really use that power much. But I'm sure it's a lot of fun.

YbFocus

Oh I do 50,000 miles a year

And 40mpg is if I don't drive it anyway on.

I have a 530d so same tax as Max but just lose out on everything else, except maintenance costs

My only real interests are cars and airsoft, not big into drinking etc, so by me spending a bit more through cars I'm just enjoying what I love.

Edit: and once the power is there you'll use it

YbFocus

YbFocus wrote: »

Oh I do 50,000 miles a year

And 40mpg is if I don't drive it anyway on.

I have a 530d so same tax as Max but just lose out on everything else, except maintenance costs

My only real interests are cars and airsoft, not big into drinking etc, so by me spending a bit more through cars I'm just enjoying what I love.

Edit: and once the power is there you'll use it

Well at 40 mpg and 50K Miles a year is around 8,810 Euro's.

Now you can obviously can afford that and are quiet willing to spend it, maybe you're a business owner and can claim back the vat. But either way most people couldn't afford to spend that amount of money of fuel, nor I'm sure would be willing. I certainly wouldn't pay that for fun and that's before the car and motor tax.

pred racer

Op, I had one beat me away from the lights to 100kmh at newlands cross.
I drive a 159 daysul (150bhp) not a quick car , but hopefully that gives you some frame of reference.

Xpro

Heres my view on the 1.8 Prius:

Only yesterday myself and friend of mine both returned from UK, me driving a 2011 Prius and he was in a 2011 520d F10 Automatic.

We both refuelled at the same time ( both cars were empty at the time of refuelling ), 25£ in each car.

Coming home, Bmw needed to refuel just before holyhead.
The Prius i was driving managed to get an addition 80miles out of the same 25£. That was a good going if you ask me.

We were travelling quite fast, averaging about 80mph with occasional blasts up to 100mph.
Prius was just fine, obviously not as comfy as the Bmw, but it handled it quite well with literally no struggle.
The fuel mpg was 51.7 the time i got home. Bmw averaged 44.8mpg.

Now the driving part:

If you drive the Prius in the Eco mode, the car feels sluggish and unresponsive, the eco mode sort of limits the throttle and the car will cruise along nice and slow, but very efficient.
If you flick the PWR mode, the car gets a totally different feel. It becomes more responsive and it will accelerate nicely. nothing slow about it there:)

Handling is ok,not a sports car, but still pretty good for what it is.
Brakes feel slightly different, and they are awesome. Car stops almost instantly.

Thats all.
Its a good buy, it will average 65+ mpg any day for normal sorts of driving, which i honestly don't think theres many cars out there that will do that.


Cheers,

Xpro

Xpro wrote: »

If you drive the Prius in the Eco mode, the car feels sluggish and unresponsive, the eco mode sort of limits the throttle and the car will cruise along nice and slow, but very efficient.
If you flick the PWR mode, the car gets a totally different feel. It becomes more responsive and it will accelerate nicely. nothing slow about it there:)

Handling is ok,not a sports car, but still pretty good for what it is.
Brakes feel slightly different, and they are awesome. Car stops almost instantly.


Cheers,

To be honest Eco mode is for newbies, to try help them drive economically. It isn't necessary really.

I agree with the brakes and a word of warning to anyone tailgating a prius or especially an all electric car, DON'T !

unkel

Xpro wrote: »

The fuel mpg was 51.7 the time i got home. Bmw averaged 44.8mpg.

So with the diesel being cheaper per litre, the 2 of you spent nearly exactly the same on fuel (give or take a euro or two)?

You were driving a crappy family hatch and he drove a large comfy executive saloon?

I rest my case

650Ginge

unkel wrote: »

So with the diesel being cheaper per litre, the 2 of you spent nearly exactly the same on fuel (give or take a euro or two)?

You were driving a crappy family hatch and he drove a large comfy executive saloon?

I rest my case

The prius was 16% more efficient and as it was in the UK diesel is approx 3.5% more expensive than petrol.

Now tax, insurance and running costs (just price a run flat tyre for the beemer and see what I mean). You can try to fool yourself but a BMW is going to cost much more to run.

That said the beemer is a nicer car, and bigger too. But it is not going to be cheaper. I am not prepared to pay the extra it takes to run a beemer. I would have to give something else, as I don't seem to having a growing bank balance despite my miserableness......

I never saw as low as 51 mpg in the Prius ! :eek: Though I rarely if ever reach those speeds.

beauf

This is all a bit pointless unless fuel is the majority of your total running costs.

Max Power1

Deleted User wrote: »

Here we go again !


Max just hates anything that isn't a 535D!!! :pac:

Here we go again indeed . But if that last sentence is your actual opinion of why I hate priuses (should that be priusi?) then I obviously havent explained enough why I hate them, or you choose not to listen!

I'm a diesel head anyway, i love the tractory sound - yeah im just weird like that. Im currently working on buying a 7.3 v8 diesel which will do 10-13 mpg so it is not for economy reasons!

The reason I hate priuses are the people behind them. As a concept (and especially in cities) it is a great concept. 40+ mpg in town centers is just not possible in other cars, so it does that well. But as an everyday car for all modes of transport outside of towns, it is bested by a lot of diesel cars of the day. So I dont see why it is hailed as the greenest car ever, especially given the energy costs due to battery creation and transportation.

YbFocus

Max you do realise when you get this, these prius owners are going to despise you.
Not only that but the world behind as you pass will wilt and die

Bigus

Max Power1 wrote: »

Here we go again indeed
The reason I hate priuses are the people behind them. As a concept (and especially in cities) it is a great concept. 40+ mpg in town centers is just not possible in other cars, so it does that well. But as an everyday car for all modes of transport outside of towns, it is bested by a lot of diesel cars of the day. So I dont see why it is hailed as the greenest car ever, especially given the energy costs due to battery creation and transportation.

They'll do 55 around town easily, and a mate of mine gets 63 mpg out of his around Dublin regularly 2009 model gen 2, he does plenty of miles a year, and believe it or not he replaced a 2003 e39 530d auto with the Prius. He reckons he's saving up to 6k per year, every year.

Tragedy

Max Power1 wrote: »

Enjoyable drive? No. Unless you get your driving thrills from returning 40 odd mpg, it is not enjoyable

ANd not particularly frugal either, a diesel from the same era would be more economical.

Between 30-40million miles of measured fuel consumption returning ~55mpg on fuelly.com calls bull**** - bit silly to make statements like the above when there's so much easily available information around.


A diesel Passat from the same era returns ~40-45mpg on fuelly - feel free to argue that a ~6% difference in fuel price is greater than a 25% increase in fuel efficiency.

topdost

Thanks all for your input

quenching

I've had a Mk II Prius for the last year, its been completely reliable and has returned an average of 59.2 MPG over 8000 miles. My wife averages 54MPG as she pays no attention to driving it economically at all, I average 64MPG as I pay a little more attention. Its not driven any slower than other cars in surrounding traffic and most of its mileage is in suburban Dublin. And I quite enjoy driving it!

Max Power1

YbFocus wrote: »

Max you do realise when you get this, these prius owners are going to despise you.
Not only that but the world behind as you pass will wilt and die

I think a "prius repellent" sign is needed for this truck :P

As for the prius itself versus diesels from the early '00s, I had an 01 golf and regularly got over 50 mpg from it. Even on a tank with a fair bit of town driving I would get in the 40's. That's measured brim to brim. I heard that the SDI model was more economical than my TDI.
I trust my own measurements over some randomers on the interwebz.

quenching

Max Power1 wrote: »

As for the prius itself versus diesels from the early '00s, I had an 01 golf and regularly got over 50 mpg from it. Even on a tank with a fair bit of town driving I would get in the 40's. That's measured brim to brim. I heard that the SDI model was more economical than my TDI.
I trust my own measurements over some randomers on the interwebz.

My Prius is used mostly for school runs, cold starts of a 4 mile return journey, twice a day, most of the remaining mileage is of journeys of less than 10 miles. Show me a diesel that will return 60MPG on average on this type driving. My MPG's calculated brim to brim too, tracked on Fuelly. MPG of "in the 40's" and my of 60 are wildly different. If I was doing long motorway runs I'd have a diesel, but for the type of driving the car is used for I can't see anything more suited to it than a Prius.

BTW, my other car is an 30 year old Mercedes that does 19MPG in and out of Dublin city centre, so I'm no Prius evangelist.

650Ginge

Max Power1 wrote: »

I think a "prius repellent" sign is needed for this truck :P

As for the prius itself versus diesels from the early '00s, I had an 01 golf and regularly got over 50 mpg from it. Even on a tank with a fair bit of town driving I would get in the 40's. That's measured brim to brim. I heard that the SDI model was more economical than my TDI.
I trust my own measurements over some randomers on the interwebz.

But you are just some randomer on the Internet.

You would have to show proof, not just say I got ....blah blah 15 years ago blah blah.

I think millions of miles of recorded data proves the point quite well for the Prius.

Now can one of you diesel fans point me to the evidence for a modern diesel. You guys are big on claims, nothing to back it up.

I also have other vehicles, mx5, camper and a couple bikes. So I am not against other cars or think the Prius is better but I like to stick to the facts not the scaremongering and unsubstantiated claims.

I also have two Chinese tyres on my Prius which are death traps in the wet and it handles awful. It had four but it would liftoff oversteer in every wet roundabout. I have been waiting for them to wear a bit before changing 36k miles later they are near new. Rears are michelin and are 30kms on them and look new too.

It is not just fuel you save on with a Prius.

Tragedy

Max Power1 wrote: »

I trust my own measurements over some randomers on the interwebz.

The last defence of the ignorant?
"I don't care how much measured fuel consumption you can prove, I'm going to trust my hasty guesstimations of 10 years ago over you!"

cpoh1

Tragedy wrote: »

A diesel Passat from the same era returns ~40-45mpg on fuelly - feel free to argue that a ~6% difference in fuel price is greater than a 25% increase in fuel efficiency.

Ill second that - I rarely get over 45mpg in my tdi passat, and thats with plenty of long journeys.

Whats not to like with an older prius if its going to be a commuting wagon thats cheap to run?

comfy with plenty of space
Petrol so no diesel vibrations
Auto comfy
Rev range you can actually use
No turbo lag/kick effect
No bad smell of diesel

If I they did an estate prius back in 2003-2004 id be all over one now!

Xpro

unkel wrote: »

So with the diesel being cheaper per litre, the 2 of you spent nearly exactly the same on fuel (give or take a euro or two)?

You were driving a crappy family hatch and he drove a large comfy executive saloon?

I rest my case

I'll refrase it again:

The above was just a fuel comparison and not a Prius vs Bmw debate.

For 25£ worth of fuel that we put in both cars, prius covered over 220 miles and the 520d only covered 160miles.

We are talking about how good on fuel these cars are, nothing about comfort here.

My point was that the little prius was flat out on the motorway, driving between 80-100mph and still managed to get a great mpg.

Pkiernan

There are a lotta fools out there who think that their diesels return the same efficiency in town as they do on the motorway!!!

Prius (after the Leaf) is hands down the most economical car to drive in an urban environment.

And oil burners - think of the havoc the stop start traffic is playing with your DMF's and DPF's.

HandsomeDan

cpoh1 wrote: »

Ill second that - I rarely get over 45mpg in my tdi passat, and thats with plenty of long journeys.

Whats not to like with an older prius if its going to be a commuting wagon thats cheap to run?

comfy with plenty of space
Petrol so no diesel vibrations
Auto comfy
Rev range you can actually use
No turbo lag/kick effect
No bad smell of diesel

If I they did an estate prius back in 2003-2004 id be all over one now!

I had a MkIII for a few days and it was actually surprisingly good to drive for a ****ty family car.

-It was a decent size, but I wouldn't say it was that comfy - the suspension was stiffer than what you'd expect from a family.

-The interior was very flimsy an creaked galore. A good diesel (508, b7 passat) would actually be more refined, despite the diesel lump.

-The auto nature of the car was beautiful around town. I will grant that.

-On rev range/ lag, the hybrid & CVT make up of the car makes for a fairly lumpy/ laggy/ noisey power delivery. A BMW diesel has a far sweeter power delivery, to compare.

-On the bad smell of diesel, I really don't know what you're talking about there.

Max Power1

Tragedy wrote: »

The last defence of the ignorant?
"I don't care how much measured fuel consumption you can prove, I'm going to trust my hasty guesstimations of 10 years ago over you!"

Ignorant? Really? Come off it now, that statement was a tragedy.

Hasty guesstimations? No, brim to brim fillup versus miles covered for every tank in the golf. Actually.

Whereas the "measured" fuel consumption for the prius (and any other car on fuelly esque websites) are not necessarily measured. Anyone can go and type in their mpg there. No validation needed or done.

And also, FWIW, I never questioned the in town consumption of the prius. Sure in town isnt it running on batteries mostly so using practically no fuel at all.

ikarie

VW Polo TDi 1.2
Prius killer

1822km on one 10 gallon tank 3.1L/Km if you drive it like a Prius
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLWgoSBD9_s

and if you commute through the town or city get the Polo Blue Motion version it has stop start and regeneration as well
2.8L/Km 84 mpg US = 101mpg imp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxRcHeUkCXM
Even Jeremy Clarkson recommended these cars against the EVs