Autoweek's attempt to take down the Prius

LOL. So according to this guy, the army of cars that are being shown to not actually get the 40 MPG highway they're advertising is a "match" for the honest 50 MPG average the Prii are getting. Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.

I wish the editorial pieces these self-proclaimed media experts would just come out and admit they hate a car for no intelligent reason instead of lying about statistics or blathering condescending remarks to make their position feel justified.

 

54 MPG the other day without even plugging in. There was 20 miles of highway and the rest several random trips throughout the day in the suburbs.

I'd like to see a "normal-looking" car do that.

Of course, when I do plug in... the traditional vehicles become a joke in comparison. Ha! Ha!

 

Seems like the Autoweek story acknowledges that the Prius surpasses the competition in areas that are important to me. Functional technology and aerodynamic efficiency are the pinnacles of engineering beauty and admitting that some other cars nearly match the Prius MPG is an acknowledgement that Prius wins the mileage competition. Prius wins when criticisms from the competition are compliments.

 

Is Pat Bedard writing again?

 

These guys are just clowns. No credibility at all.

 

I understand none of it. 32 mpg average? Good Heavens! I have owned the Prius for 9 months and I have never seen mileage that low. Ever. 49.5 is the lowest I have ever seen when I drove on the highway with absolutely no regard for mileage just to see what I would get. What puzzles me more than anything is why these guys always complain about the brakes. The feel of the brakes is better than any car I have owned - you tap them and you feel the car begin to slow down, without engaging the pads. What are they referring to? I think they are complaining because the car does feel different and they apparently hate that. My fear is that Toyota will modify the design so the cars are more acceptable to these morons, resulting in crappy brakes and far less interesting driving dynamics.

 

You know,all those auto magazines are live on advertise. When Toyota spend less at them,they are not happy and start to do dirty things. Never mind them,we just keep enjoy our toy.

 

Maybe we should start and "Angie's List" for car reviewers and put these idiots out of business.

 

It's not that they have no credibility. It's that they are not the target audience. I mean, ask your teenage child to drive your Prius and what would they say? These are car enthusiasts. They wouldn't be editors of Autoweek otherwise. Obviously, they will not like the car. Nothing they say isn't an honest opinion. The car is a terrible drive compared to the brand new BMW's they always test drive. Material quality is terrible compared to the brand new BMW's they always test drive. The car looks terrible compared to the brand new BMW's they always test drive. See where I am going? And at a cost of $33k, it's only a few thousand under what you could buy a brand new BMW for.

None of the criticisms are wrong. Drive the snot out of a Prius and you get 32 mpg out of 50 mpg. 36% less than EPA. Drive the snot out of a BMW and you get 16 mpg out of 25 mpg. Again 36% less than EPA. A single digit difference in MPG is acceptable but a double digit is not even though percentage wise, they're the same. That's because mpg is not a good metric for fuel economy because the numbers seem more significant the higher your mpg number goes.

As to the Jetta TDI getting better fuel economy, you don't have to drive "as much snot" out of it to go past legal speeds. Case in point, BBC Top Gear drove a Prius around their test track as fast as they could. They followed the Prius with a BMW M3. The BMW got better fuel economy because its engine lazily followed the Prius that was revving at high RPM the whole way. They may very well can get better fuel economy with the Jetta TDI.

These 3 editors are only interested in looks and drive-ability. In those two departments, the Prius fails miserably. Luckily for the rest of us, three men with a need for speed aren't dictating what personal transportation is available to us.

 

This just illustrates the reality of todays " news " media. It is a simple matter to find a supporting argument in the media for any position you hold on any side of any argument. Unbiased opinion ? Where do you find that ? BBC ? Al jazeera ? Amy Goodman ? Prius Chat ?

 

Wow, really blatantly biased.
What I was most surprised was that two other editors piped in with similarly negative comments.
I could understand some of their comments if it was true that other ICE vehicles could deliver the same efficiency. However, that is not true.
They are comparing the fuel efficiency they got in the Prius to other vehicles EPA ratings. And I am guessing the drove it like a race car or towing a couple of dumpsters.

And fine, I got the point that they don't like the styling of the Prius. But they seem to have let that impact all the other aspects of the car.
If I had a subscription I would cancel it with such poorly written and straight out mis information.

 

Prius is a game changer. People think the car is for the Environmentalists. Then they think it is for the Frugal. Than they think it is for the Political. Than they think it is for the engineer. Than they think it is for the Hypermiler. Then it is a Family Car. Than it is a City Car. Then it is a Suburban Car. Than it is the Worry Free Car. Than it is the Road Rage Creation Car. Than it is the car that makes a statement. Than it is the Car of Envy. Then it is the Diamond Lane Car. Than it is the match maker car. What is the Prius? It is what you want it to be and much more. Autoweek is a lame rag and perhaps this guy got cut off by a Yuppie Engineer driving a Prius merging into the Diamond Lane and took his frustration out in this silly article. If you own a Prius you know all the benefits.

 

the prius family has gone from dominant leader in the hybrid market to cracking into rankings in the overall market (#1 in CA, Toyota Prius best selling car in California - Oct. 23, 2012 )

this tells us that toyota got the engineering and price point right to capture the market share and turn a healthy profit, which breeds long term viability/success. it would be great if others can do the same but it remains to be seen (leaf, volt, tesla etc)

 

It is amazing how some media types can take the rapid adoption of Hybrid Technology and turn it into something bad. The EV is her and get used to it. The people have spoken.

 

Who cares what Autoweek says or prints?
That magazine is as irrelevant as the scores of other print media rags that have thankfully folded in the last few years. If they continue to print biased/misleading articles they will cause their own demise... it's not 1959 where nobody questioned the printed word. If they went out of business tomorrow it wouldn't be missed.

 

Did read the article yesterday, and was a bit miffed. This Guy writes for an extreme enthusiast magazine that is pie in the sky. They review Ferrari's, Lambo's. ZR1 Vette's, and ZL1 Camaro's. These Cars are not really every day drivers cars, as the Prius is. When commuting to work, or just driving around most people are not that concerned about high performance driving these days. Also why put $300-$400 in the Gas Tank every month, it's just crazy. Yes, I have had a Vette, Iroc-Z. That was years ago when gas was under $1.00.

 

Probably the same guy that reviewed Fieri's restaurant!

 

I clearly remember the same old desperate attempts to undermine the progress of Prius way back in 2000.

It's amazing the nonsense has been going on for over 12 years... but no surprise why efforts by the competition haven't done well. They really don't know who to take advice from. That's sad. Business is still run like it's back in the 20th.

 

I noticed that Autoweek touts German diesels in a number of articles. That's their bias, and they're sticking to it.