Toyota Prius 1.8 Enjoyable Drive Or Not

19-09-2013 3:36pm

Max Power1 wrote: »

Oh they are of course, why else would one put themselves through the ordeal of driving one

Fuel consumption was a concern for me, naturally, but I was on the lookout for another Diesel and could not find any with under 80-90K miles I certainly wasn't on the lookout for a Prius after coming from a B6 A4 130hp Multitronic.

I got the Prius 3 k cheaper than the best diesel I could find with nearly half the mileage and of course several thousand cheaper than an Audi, so after doing some research with actual owners and not Auto journalistic Bull Crap I found out about it's excellent reliability and low maintenance and decided I'd give it a go and I'm happy I did.

I went from average 48 mpg in the A4 to 60-64 in the Prius. And it was another automatic which was a big plus for me.

I like it for it's quietness, it is noisy to accelerate but that isn't for long and it's silent in town, no diesel noise and vibration.

Over all I am happy with it and would drive a MK III in a heart beat it's a much better car than the MK II with better interior and decent extra poke.

The only way I'll be going back to diesel is if for some reason I have absolutely no choice.

My natural progression is to electric which in the case of the Leaf is leaps and bounds above anything I've ever driven, drive wise. The range maybe on the low side but it's something I've calculated would work for 98% of my driving and the prius can do the rest as most likely herself would hang on to it. The fuel savings/tax/maintenance would mean I can put the 7-8 k after 3 years to another car as I like to change in 3 ish years if I can.

I can see max your attraction to the 535D and driving, I love cars and driving too, but in a different way.

19-09-2013 3:38pm

Xpro wrote: »

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.

Don't forget the savings on maintenance which will be a lot more on a Prius than a BMW oh and road tax.

ikarie · 19-09-2013 4:29pm

Chippy01 wrote: »

What is 'driving it like a Prius'? I drive mine like any other car and return over 60mpg regularly.
What would your 1.2TDi return if you drove it normally?

As for the second clip .....:P:P, that was only over 22.9kms!!!!!! :P:P
FFS, i could do that and use far less than 2.8 litres!!

Normal driving, some motorway and town.....65-70mpg depending on traffic.
longer drives ..exceeding maybe 50-80 miles then near 80mpg, keep it to 100 kph then you'll see 90mpg on those journeys, the further the better.

I thought it was so good I bought the blue motion version and the daughter took the TDI, but really you only need the Bluemotion for the city, the long distance measure only increased by a couple of mpg, still fantastic though.
Local diesel price €1.37 and at that fuel consumption plus the range means the Nissan Leaf didn't even factor in the buying equation.
Maybe next time

ikarie · 19-09-2013 4:31pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Don't forget the savings on maintenance which will be a lot more on a Prius than a BMW oh and road tax.

forgot...
30,000 km service interval, €139 for service

jackofalltrades · 19-09-2013 5:09pm

ikarie wrote: »

VW Polo TDi 1.2
Prius killer

It would be, if you were comparing cars in the same class.

and if you commute through the town or city get the Polo Blue Motion version it has stop start and regeneration as well

Recommending a diesel car for commuting through a city is madness.
It represents the worst possible conditions for a lot of the expensive parts in them.
The DPF is never going to get a chance to clean its self out.

Tragedy · 19-09-2013 5:36pm

Donnelly117 wrote: »

I think what he is getting at is that people on fuelly can input any data they like for their car which will corrupt the overall readings. Whats to stop me logging that my car does 80 mpg on fuelly. Its not checked by anyone.

~3500 different cars with somewhere north of 40million miles logged is an extremely large sample to base estimates off - whereas Max Power1 is a sample of 1 telling us that Prius' are less economical than diesels of that generation (factually untrue), then telling us that they may be more economical but that the cost of petrol makes them more expensive to run (factually untrue), to god knows what next utter ****e next.

Max Power1 has an irrational hatred of these cars and will vomit whatever he thinks will make them look bad all over boards. He doesn't seem to care about facts, reality, or the thread topic at hand.

19-09-2013 6:11pm

ikarie wrote: »

Normal driving, some motorway and town.....65-70mpg depending on traffic.
longer drives ..exceeding maybe 50-80 miles then near 80mpg, keep it to 100 kph then you'll see 90mpg on those journeys, the further the better.

Again, show me the trip computer with 840 kms and not some (per trip) calculation. I showed you mine, you show me yours !

ikarie wrote: »

Local diesel price €1.37 and at that fuel consumption plus the range means the Nissan Leaf didn't even factor in the buying equation.
Maybe next time

50 euro's in Electric in the Leaf is 2400 ish miles, how did that not factor into the equation ?

Also, how much did you pay for the polo and how many miles ?

I bought the Prius about 3.5 years old at the time for 8K and 50 K miles. I could still convert to LPG and have a real 80-85 mpg equivalent in a much bigger more powerful car and automatic. And no 3 cylinder diesel rattle !

19-09-2013 6:14pm

ikarie wrote: »

forgot...
30,000 km service interval, €139 for service

On a 5 series ?

Not bad and it's got no timing belt either, still the road tax !

19-09-2013 6:17pm

jackofalltrades wrote: »

Recommending a diesel car for commuting through a city is madness.
It represents the worst possible conditions for a lot of the expensive parts in them.
The DPF is never going to get a chance to clean its self out.

Not to mention all the toxic diesel exhaust that DPF can't filter out. The Prius is still one of the lowest emissions car on the road.

And I'm not talking C02 which the E.U is more obsessed with than what is actually harmful to our health.

ikarie · 19-09-2013 6:41pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Again, show me the trip computer with 840 kms and not some (per trip) calculation. I showed you mine, you show me yours !

50 euro's in Electric in the Leaf is 2400 ish miles, how did that not factor into the equation ?

Also, how much did you pay for the polo and how many miles ?

I bought the Prius about 3.5 years old at the time for 8K and 50 K miles. I could still convert to LPG and have a real 80-85 mpg equivalent in a much bigger more powerful car and automatic. And no 3 cylinder diesel rattle !

Are you Including battery rental for the leaf and what about the range
At least the polo will do nearly a third of that mileage on one tank, like to see the leaf do that. It worked out that I couldn't even make it into work.
By the way LPG conversion will lower your mpg Your just factoring money, if that was the case I could just Switch to a different fuel as well.
'3 cyl diesel rattle' yeh right, I jump from my A4 in to my polo, both are comparable in noise characteristics have n't heard any rattle yet.

It's good that you got a deal on the prius, but in the real scheme of things from an economy pont of view the Prius try's very hard at something that comes easily for the Polo......cheap running costs and affordability.

Stheno · 19-09-2013 6:54pm

Deleted User wrote: »

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 !
:

But they are so ugly, only surpassed possibly by the Multipla.

Just looking at one makes me die a little inside.

Bigus · 19-09-2013 7:47pm

ikarie wrote: »

Are you Including battery rental for the leaf and what about the range
At least the polo will do nearly a third of that mileage on one tank, like to see the leaf do that. It worked out that I couldn't even make it into work.
By the way LPG conversion will lower your mpg Your just factoring money, if that was the case I could just Switch to a different fuel as well.
'3 cyl diesel rattle' yeh right, I jump from my A4 in to my polo, both are comparable in noise characteristics have n't heard any rattle yet.

It's good that you got a deal on the prius, but in the real scheme of things from an economy pont of view the Prius try's very hard at something that comes easily for the Polo......cheap running costs and affordability.

A Prius interior is more comparable to a passat than a golf never mind a Polo , not a valid comparison .
Also despite the technology hype by the anti Prius brigade there is less to go wrong with a Prius than a modern diesel.
No DMF,DPF, no turbo, no expensive piezo injectors, no high pressure pump no starter motor , no timing belt, .......and they don't wear out brake pads or discs .

Max Power1 · 19-09-2013 8:38pm

Tragedy wrote: »

~3500 different cars with somewhere north of 40million miles logged is an extremely large sample to base estimates off - whereas Max Power1 is a sample of 1 telling us that Prius' are less economical than diesels of that generation (factually untrue), then telling us that they may be more economical but that the cost of petrol makes them more expensive to run (factually untrue), to god knows what next utter ****e next.

Max Power1 has an irrational hatred of these cars and will vomit whatever he thinks will make them look bad all over boards. He doesn't seem to care about facts, reality, or the thread topic at hand.

Never said that they "may be more economical but that the cost of petrol makes them more expensive to run"

Im sensing by your intonation that you no longer want to debate this issue. That's fine. You go travel in your econobox Prius and save some dollars. Ill have a difficult decision to make soon as regards transport. Do I take the 3.0 twin turbo 275 bhp sedan, or the 7.3 v8 pickup that will return 10-12 mpg. Give me either of those cars (or 90 % of cars on the road tbh) anyday over the prius.
There are cars that are more economical, cars that are more comfortable, cars that have more space, cars that are cheaper to run, cars that look cooler etc etc. The prius's "thing" is that it is uber economical in town driving. That's not up for debate, I know it is the best at that other than ev's of course, so technically the prius is really the best at nothing

19-09-2013 9:08pm

Matt given the same size, power and automatic the prius still beats several diesels and not just in town driving and it will probably be more reliable.

Now don't forget there is a large percentage of the population that can't afford to drive a 535D or 7.3 V8, they are just not sensible cars for most people. And not many people would be willing to shell out huge amounts of money either.

You might do insignificant miles or are willing to pay huge amounts of money on cars, that's no problem if you want to do it.

Sure there might be more economical cars than the prius MK II, III, but you're talking much smaller and less powered cars and manuals.

There is also a 90 mpg normal prius on the way in a year or two and don't forget there is a plug in Prius unavailable (or wasn't last time I checked) in Ireland that is EPA rated at 113 mpg. Show me a diesel car that will get that at a similar power and size and automatic.

Xpro · 19-09-2013 9:11pm

Some amount of Prius haters here. must be a jealousy thing

Chippy01 · 19-09-2013 9:14pm

Xpro wrote: »

Some amount of Prius haters here. must be a jealousy thing

It's easy to hate something you don't understand.

Been happening for centuries ....

Max Power1 · 19-09-2013 9:17pm

Xpro wrote: »

Some amount of Prius haters here. must be a jealousy thing

Jealousy? Hahahaha. Sure, Im jealous of your little iCar. :rolleyes:

Deleted User wrote: »

Matt given the same size, power and automatic the prius still beats several diesels and not just in town driving and it will probably be more reliable.

Now don't forget there is a large percentage of the population that can't afford to drive a 535D or 7.3 V8, they are just not sensible cars for most people. And not many people would be willing to shell out huge amounts of money either.

You might do insignificant miles or are willing to pay huge amounts of money on cars, that's no problem if you want to do it.

Sure there might be more economical cars than the prius MK II, III, but you're talking much smaller and less powered cars and manuals.

There is also a 90 mpg normal prius on the way in a year or two and don't forget there is a plug in Prius unavailable (or wasn't last time I checked) in Ireland that is EPA rated at 113 mpg. Show me a diesel car that will get that at a similar power and size and automatic.

Dont know what your fixation is with calling me Matt

:pac:

I do 35-40k km per year, but I'll be damned if I am spending that amount of time in a car that I hate.
In the prius's segment it may be the most economical, but, what is the comparision in that class anyway? A mondeo, avensis, vectra, etc? Hardly the most exciting cars to drive anyway. So yeah if I were looking for a boring a-b car, had decided to give up my love of driving and wanted the cheapest possible motoring (taking into account maintenance costs etc) then yeah the prius would be up there as a viable option.

But, that would never be my criteria. Given 10k to buy a new (pre loved) car, instead of a Prius, I'd buy a 3k v8 jag or bmw and spend the rest on fuel.

Max Power1 · 19-09-2013 9:18pm

Chippy01 wrote: »

It's easy to hate something you don't understand.
Been happening for centuries ....

Dont understand? Whats not to understand?

Just because I dont care for your semi electric box doesnt mean I dont understand!

Xpro · 19-09-2013 9:38pm

Max Power1 wrote: »

Jealousy? Hahahaha. Sure, Im jealous of your little iCar. :rolleyes:

Haha funny. I don't even own a Prius. I drove one and I liked it a lot. Great little car, maybe you should take one out for a drive too.

Bigus · 19-09-2013 9:41pm

Xpro wrote: »

Some amount of Prius haters here. must be a jealousy thing

You should have been around the motors forum 5 years ago we couldn't even put our head above the parapet to even mention Prius, due to the ignorance and the herd mentality.

Also some people that drive pruis's can afford V8's and V12's but got it out of their system many moons ago.

19-09-2013 9:54pm

ikarie wrote: »

Are you Including battery rental for the leaf and what about the range
At least the polo will do nearly a third of that mileage on one tank, like to see the leaf do that. It worked out that I couldn't even make it into work.
By the way LPG conversion will lower your mpg Your just factoring money, if that was the case I could just Switch to a different fuel as well.
'3 cyl diesel rattle' yeh right, I jump from my A4 in to my polo, both are comparable in noise characteristics have n't heard any rattle yet.

It's good that you got a deal on the prius, but in the real scheme of things from an economy pont of view the Prius try's very hard at something that comes easily for the Polo......cheap running costs and affordability.

You'd expect a small diesel car with 80 odd hp to be economical, however you should post up a pic of your mpg after 850-900 kms.

Don't forget the plug in Prius gets 115 mpg EPA rated ! I just keep referencing my old Prius.

There is no battery rental on a Leaf in Ireland so my figures are for electricity, tax and maintenance. And not including free public charging.

60-70 miles in winter based on US owners in US climate.

This may or may not suit your commute, if you can't make it one way then that is one serious commute. A leaf with charging can do 120 miles easily. Fast charging can be done.

It's not for everyone of course but it would do 95% of my driving. It is after all a 1st gen affordable mass produced EV.

The Mercedes B class electric will have 115 mile range it will reach the U.S first. It's got a Tesla battery and probably electrics including motor.

I could easily live with a 115 mile range and 5-10 min charging this will be the major break through. even 60-80 miles with 5 min charging would suit me fine.

I think the sweat spot of electrics will be 150 mile range, and 5-10 min charging.

19-09-2013 10:34pm

Max Power1 wrote: »

Dont know what your fixation is with calling me Matt :pac:

Yeah yeah, I keep mixing you and matt up.

Max Power1 wrote: »

I do 35-40k km per year,

Given 10k to buy a new (pre loved) car, instead of a Prius, I'd buy a 3k v8 jag or bmw and spend the rest on fuel.

Even at 10 K a 35 mpg car would cost 1500 Euro's a year in fuel over 60 mpg+ another grand in Motor Tax

If you want to drive older and older cars fair enough.

Max Power1 · 19-09-2013 11:13pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah yeah, I keep mixing you and matt up.

Haha I'd noticed alright... the cynic in me wonders why specifically, but I am not cynical.:pac:

Deleted User wrote: »

Even at 10 K a 35 mpg car would cost 1500 Euro's a year in fuel over 60 mpg+ another grand in Motor Tax

If you want to drive older and older cars fair enough.

So I have to pay 1500 per year plus 1k motor tax to not drive a prius?

Where do I sign

Where are you pulling the 1.5k by the way, sounds a little cheap?

YbFocus · 19-09-2013 11:22pm

I am completely with Max on this.

I will never drive one of these cars, I understand their ability to be economical but nowhere does that bother me in the slightest.

I love cars as many do on here, I could not bring myself to drive one. Its fine for people who have no interest in what they drove or whatever and want to be as eco as possible.

I'll take my couple of K spend extra a year to enjoy the car I wish to enjoy. As I said I do 50,000 miles annually so I really want something to enjoy with all the time I'm in it.

20-09-2013 10:44am

YbFocus wrote: »

I am completely with Max on this.

I will never drive one of these cars, I understand their ability to be economical but nowhere does that bother me in the slightest.

I love cars as many do on here, I could not bring myself to drive one. Its fine for people who have no interest in what they drove or whatever and want to be as eco as possible.

I'll take my couple of K spend extra a year to enjoy the car I wish to enjoy. As I said I do 50,000 miles annually so I really want something to enjoy with all the time I'm in it.

Yes but paying 8K or so a year for fuel is a huge waste, now doing 50K miles a year at 35 ish mpg you may very well be self employed and can write a lot of that cost off or work for a company that pays you mileage, or you're a well off individual who would not miss that amount of money.

See most people wouldn't pay that kind of money, nor can afford it. So you shouldn't really knock a car because of it's badge.

reni10 · 20-09-2013 10:57am

I do a 900km work commute every week that is 90% motorway and just changed to a Prius about a month and I could not be happier!

I am getting about 53mpg over a full tank whereas in my previous 1.8 petrol car I was only getting about 28mpg so with even just the saving on fuel it has been fantastic.

But then you factor in the additional space in the Prius, less maintenance costs, road tax, auto transmission and also the very efficient city driving at the weekend and I could not recommend them highly enough.

Anyone I have actually brought for a spin in mine has actually been amazed at how nice they are and now I have a couple of family members who are actually looking to buy a Prius as they are currently driving Diesels and would consider the Prius a large step up at a very reasonable initial and then also ongoing running cost.

I love my MK II Prius and next year will probably be looking at upgrading to a MK III and then passing on the MK II to family members.

Chippy01 · 20-09-2013 11:13am

reni10 wrote: »

I do a 900km work commute every week that is 90% motorway and just changed to a Prius about a month and I could not be happier!

I am getting about 53mpg over a full tank whereas in my previous 1.8 petrol car I was only getting about 28mpg so with even just the saving on fuel it has been fantastic.

But then you factor in the additional space in the Prius, less maintenance costs, road tax, auto transmission and also the very efficient city driving at the weekend and I could not recommend them highly enough.

Anyone I have actually brought for a spin in mine has actually been amazed at how nice they are and now I have a couple of family members who are actually looking to buy a Prius as they are currently driving Diesels and would consider the Prius a large step up at a very reasonable initial and then also ongoing running cost.

I love my MK II Prius and next year will probably be looking at upgrading to a MK III and then passing on the MK II to family members.

As the months of ownership pass, your mpg will improve as you learn the quirks that hybrids have, but without the loss of your normal driving performance.
When I first got my Gen II I could barely get more than 55mpg, but when I traded up to a Gen III, 60 -65mpg was more the norm than the exception.
I've only had my Gen III since July and I'm currently averaging 63mpg per tankful on my commute. This will improve without a doubt.

Soarer · 20-09-2013 11:31am

YbFocus wrote: »

I am completely with Max on this.

I will never drive one of these cars, I understand their ability to be economical but nowhere does that bother me in the slightest.

I love cars as many do on here, I could not bring myself to drive one. Its fine for people who have no interest in what they drove or whatever and want to be as eco as possible.

I'll take my couple of K spend extra a year to enjoy the car I wish to enjoy. As I said I do 50,000 miles annually so I really want something to enjoy with all the time I'm in it.

I love my cars, and have had many's a "weapon". I love speed, acceleration, hard cornering, etc.
But I also love sitting into the wife's Prius, wafting around in near silence, and being amazed at the economy.

Two completely different ways of driving, but I love both equally. Why people think they're mutually exclusive is beyond me.

BMJD · 20-09-2013 11:48am

Soarer wrote: »

Two completely different ways of driving, but I love both equally. Why people think they're mutually exclusive is beyond me.

lots of grumpy folk on here

My morning commute at mostly motorway speeds; consumption and average speed are way out because it was in for a service during the week.

I

my Mk III

for thrills I get on 2 wheels, the water or in the air

Bigus · 20-09-2013 4:48pm

Soarer wrote: »

I love my cars, and have had many's a "weapon". I love speed, acceleration, hard cornering, etc.
But I also love sitting into the wife's Prius, wafting around in near silence, and being amazed at the economy.

Two completely different ways of driving, but I love both equally. Why people think they're mutually exclusive is beyond me.

That's me too

Toyota Prius 1.8 Enjoyable Drive Or Not

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