Consumer Reports Prius Prime Review (Aug 3 2017)

My dad was a long time CR subscriber and I read every issue like it was the bible. The only biblical part "truth" is the reliability ratings year over in the CR annual buyers guide which is also featured in their once a year auto issue.

You will never get accurate 0-60 times from CR but you will get accurate performance numbers and 0-60 times from Car and Driver or Road & Track. C&D always has slightly quicker numbers than Road and Track. Those magazines do not care about budget, reliability or cost of ownership though they do write about that sort of thing in their 40,000 long term tests.

CR said the Tesla Model S was the greatest car they ever tested. Several years later they now say the reliability of a Tesla is not very good at all.

 

CR, many times does not look at long-term reliability, apart from their automobile user survey. The results from Tesla owners apparently were obvious enough they needed to revise their rating.

 

It has an eCVT, the best kind of CVT. No belts.

 

I am aware, and the drone complaint does come up in reviews time to time.

You only got mid thirties mpg in city driving the Prius?

 

My overall MPG with my Prius 2 (2011) was 44 mpg. P.S. long since sold.

 

The fuelly numbers on my posts refer to my TAH.

 

Which isn't much lower than the Fuelly average for the car.
Did you get worse fuel economy on city routes than highway with it or the Avalon? CR getting MPG in the thirties for the gen 2 and 3 for their city test boggles my mind. They must be racing to each stop.

 

Where does this drone come from in a Prius that would not be present with an automatic transmission? There are just a couple of permanently connected gears (plus a one-way clutch in the Prime). I can understand a noise from the belt or chains in a CVT.

 

From the engine. Some people don't like the near steady drone of the engine at one engine speed, or more precisely, they prefer the the up and down revving with shifting gears.

 

Thank you for the explanation. Basically, they are objecting to the ICE being operated at its most efficient RPM. Sounds like Toyota needs to install a "engine revving up and down" noise generator for those folks, just like they already installed an external fake "engine noise" generator to warn pedestrians of an approaching car. Maybe they should make sure the fake revving noise generator also works in EV mode, so those folks won't be disturbed by the quietness.

 

Like they used a standard gear shifter in the Prius c.

 

If memory serves me correct, the city numbers were lower than the highway numbers for both cars, but I live in LA and Im not about to get shot for holding up traffic so I can squeeze out 2 more mpg.

 

Correction: Consumer Reports always, ALWAYS looks at long term car reliability. It is why they always rate a new model's predicted reliability as "very low" for lack of any history. CR uses the scientific method. As data is collected, they publish their latest findings, thus the Tesla's (and many other cars') ratings. If you want paid, biased, muscle-car hype, go ahead and have fun reading blogs and Car and Driver, but regular consumers wanting safe, reliable testing can rely on Consumer Reports time tested methods.

 

I specifically excluded automobiles and you only mentioned automobiles as "proof" that my comments were incorrect. Consumer Reports reviews much more than automobiles. Unless there is an obvious safety issue I do not remember them severely downgrading a recommendation.

 

I guess you are challenging my knowledge base, memory or both?
That is at least twice this morning!

 

For a car with EPA city higher than the highway rating, that is odd, and raises a flag. I always got lower fuel economy on the highway in my gen2.

Maybe it would sell better here if it wasn't a Prius either.

Except for their fuel economy testing in which they don't publish the starts, stops, and maybe the speeds on the test. They might factor in different ambient temperatures, but don't publish the formulas.

 

What an odd post. We assumed you would be talking about the Prius, a car, here at Prius Chat. Next time we will assume you are talking about toasters or washing machines or any of the thousands of products tested at Consumer Reports.

Here's how Consumer Reports tests vehicles:
How Consumer Reports Tests Cars - Consumer Reports

 

And where is the details? Do they accelerate and brake faster or slower than the EPA test cycles? Do they test when it's wet outside? If they adjust for temperature, so a car tested in the summer can be compared to one tested in the fall, how is the adjustment made?