Disappointed in Prius ('08) waiting for '10

Rented a Prius to check the hype myself and while I generally like the car and idea I came out disappointed.

We have 3 cars in family: BMW 530, Odyssey and Mazda 6 V6. All 3 liter or bigger engines burning about 11-12 l/100 km or about half of the MPG than Prius. Yes, my next car will be hybrid and most likely Prius, unless WV does really good job with new hybrid Golf next year.

I am waiting for 2010 Prius because '08 failed to impress me performance wise. Yes, it is nice car and I liked driving it. However MPG which suppose to be so much better than everything else of comparable size is unimpressive. After 500 miles I returned car with average MPG at about 42-44 (5.5 l/100 km).

Look at similar sized cars sold in Europe from same manufacturers that sell here in North America and you will see that with common engine sizes at 1.1-1.3 liter, cost thousands less than Prius, no hybrid technology and they burn maybe liter (1/4 gal.) more than Prius. If we are talking diesel engine 5 l/100 km (47 MPG) is nothing uncommon.

Conclusion, Prius has to have much bigger battery and thus much more all electric driving to get more impressive MPG. Plug-in.
We are talking normal driving speeds, NOT crawling speeds (just to beat the MFD numbers that pop up on the screen and make amazing post on this forum).

That's it. Now I have to brace for blast that will come from upset members of this forum.

 

Just passed by gas station, 1.27 $/liter. Funny ha? Like you said we export almost everything to USA and our gas is 20-25% more expensive than at your gas stations.
I am glad that nobody is offended with my findings. I still love the car, overall concept is perfect and savings substantial. Where Toyota came short is bigger battery and thus much higher "electric drive only" speed limit.

I found best article so far explaining technology behind Prius here:

Toyota Prius Hybrid Car Technical Information

and from there I would say that they are able to double size battery and achieve those goals without big penalty in weight. I also believe that gas engine inside is too big, could be 300-400 cc's smaller and that wasted power regeneration could easily make up for that.

 

Car I was driving was Budget's, 13500 miles on the counter. I tried both styles, regular (nothing fast, regular accelerations, regular highway speeds (55-70 MPH), let go on the gas early) and extreme easy (feather touch on gas pedal, maximum possible electric only driving, a lot of gliding, watching MFD at all times).
Found "easy" driving quite impractical where whole ride (while still somewhat fun) became race against the MFD (MPG counter, consumption bar graph and animated arrows showing a flows of energy).

 

Impressive would be something in range of the 55 - 57 MPG (around 4 l/100km).
rmckay3919 is just reporting 53 MPG on brand new Prius. That means it's doable and I am sure that Toyota will achieve that with new Prius design in 2010.
My brother in Europe is driving French Peugeot with diesel engine for last 3 years with regular 55-56 MPG consumtion with no hybrid, no extra electric power, it is full time drive, manual and so on. That car is about same size as Prius. They have Mazdas Toyotas, Kia, VW, Hunday, Audi, Mercedes ... you name it in gasoline or diesel versions.
Yes, they got into saving on gas much earlier than we are here. Why, gasoline there is almost twice as much as it is here so they had to!

 

Sorry, fixed it ...

 

I managed to find your chart. Now this is whole science! i hope Toyota pays you for such precise data collection.
Anyway, I am wondering what kind of driving is involved to get 58 or 62 MPG? It looks like 60 let alone 55 MPG is no problem for you at all!
i wish I am closer (I am in Toronto) so I could take you for lunch somewhere and you show me the drive.