UK Features & Options round up

My thoughts exactly regarding the sunroof in the UK. In Arizona, California, Florida, Spain, Italy etc I totally see it. Some will no doubt want it for the tech factor though.

BTW - if you want to check out the car in advance, Toyota are offering some chances to see the new car this month and next as follows: Opportunity to see the next generation Prius at pre-launch event | Toyota UK news, reviews, video and pictures | Today Tomorrow. Its first come first served so e-mail away!

 

Mandatory huh! Interesting. Are they very effective, just squirting some kind of washer fluid?

I wonder what that Master of the Automotive Universe Mr. Jeremy Clarkson will have to say about the new Prius? Maybe he already has expressed his opinion. I'm sure it will not be complimentary though ... he's the kind of guy who has gasoline (aka petrol) with his morning cereal!

 

Whilst I think environmentally Clarkson's got his head up his @***, he tends to talk a lot of sense about whether or not cars are entertaining to drive. I'm realistic about the relative lack of driving pleasure to expect from a gen3 Prius vs something like a Golf, but I really do hope it isn't as awful as the gen2, which IMO was a nasty car to drive.

I am on the cusp of ordering a T-Spirit at the moment. It looks good, it's got loads of gadgets, it's environmentally pretty sound and it's cheap as a company car BUT no-one on here, or anywhere else I've found, including the US road tests has gone into any detail at all about WHAT IT IS LIKE TO ACTUALLY DRIVE!

Now, either no-one cares, so long as it's environmentally soundish, cheap to run and/or full of toys, or it is so compromised to drive that no-one dare admit it to themselves. I really hope it's alright. I only want alright. I'm not looking for a sports car, I just don't want it to make me want to abandon it in the street and walk. Sadly, it looks like I am going to have to wait for the UK press to review it, but unfortunately, whilst everyone on here appears to be unconcerned about driving pleasure, the UK press generally pretty anti-hybrid, but unless there is anyone out there whose driven a gen3 car and can give me an honest objective opinion about whether it's more than just a mobile video game, I'm going to have to listen to Clarkson and co.

 

Most of the road tests say it drives far more like a standard European car now. Nothing special like a BMW or Mondeo of course, but perfectly acceptable.

Try looking at some of U.S. reviews:

The UK Press are driving the car today and tomorrow, so expect to start seeing initial
UK press reaction online soon.

 

Well when it comes to Clarkson, hes a bloody idiot who can't drive and just does NOT get what the Prius is all about. Remember hes living in the world of Ferrari, Bugatti and "Oh dear, I'm a tweed wearing Tory who can afford to drink petrol as if it were a good old cup of Earl Grey. Theres nothing wrong with petrol prices and I think a pound a litre is pretty good" And the latter part of that rant was a direct quote from him. I'm on £2500 a month and I think that fuel prices are a bloody disgrace! The new series of Top Gear starts soon and no doubt he'll have a go at it, and to be honest, I think he should treat it very fairly and not be biased, which he clearly is.

On to the 3G Prius. Oh man, shes a beauty all right and I can't wait to place my order for it (top spec, sunroof.. the lot!) I know a lot of people here are complaining about the LED headlights here in the UK, well theres a simple solution. Swap them out after you get your Prius or force the dealer to get them in for you and put them in. (at higher costs... naturally)

 

Have to agree with your comments on JC; he is one of those people who seeks to deliberately antagonize people just to stand out ... with over-the-top commentary and analogies having nothing to do with the car he is reviewing. He is basically an entertainer for the dumb and dumbest!
So petrol is now 100p per liter in the UK? At the current rate of exchange ($1.63 buys 1 UK pound), that equates to $5.14/USG!! There would be street riots here in S. Cal with those kind of prices!

Why are LED headlights getting bad reviews in the UK?

 

I agree I'd totally love to have the LED headlights, mainly because they'll suck less juice than their other counterparts, and I for one would like to waste as little energy as possible. I'll admit that the whole reason I am going to be buying the Prius is so I can see just how economical I can push it. I've never done economical driving before, I have never hypermiled, I haven't even bought a brand new car before, so this is going to be one hell of an expensive science experiment! But me being an engineering geek (studying to be an Aeronautical Engineer) a petrolhead and an extremely tight b@$***d when it comes to money I figured it would be worth diving in head first. An on going experiment which will be video-blogged about extensively!

As far as the fuel costs go, here in the city centre of Glasgow unleaded fuel is minimum 97.5p / litre and the maximum is a staggering 105p / litre and the prices will be going up as the Chanellor and the Labour government in their inifite stupidity has decided to increase taxes on fuel! I'm a part time self employed driving instructor aswell as being at college, so fuel costs is really hitting me at the moment. (and they'll be getting bloody well claimed back from the treasury on the tax returns!)

 

The person they should sent to test drive the Prius is James May. There is a train of thought that hybrid is only an interim technology - which in some ways I agree with - but as Hydrogen or Electric Power isn't going to be here next week it's the best option you can actually buy right now.

I looked at all my options before I ordered my car; including the Focus, Mondeo, Avensis, IS, even getting a 2nd hand RX400h (early examples are now coming into Prius territory with the prices). For me an auto gearbox was a requirement - and the Econetic versions etc are all manual which ruled them out. None of them work so well in the urban / city environment (i.e. engine off in heavy traffic). The Insight was too small (and is so un-refined by all reports), as was the Focus. The Mondeo diesal auto emits 187g CO2! - the same as the RX400h and double a T-Spirit (at 92g).

When my dealer took me out in a current car last week he was chuckling about Jeremy Clarkson. He loved the infamous Times review of the Insight - "Biblically bad". It's the smoothness of the Toyota HSD that's so impressive, and totally out classes the Honda IMA. It will be very interesting to see what Steve Cropley at Autocar thinks. He has just got an Insight on long term test.

 

Autocar's first impressions review is already up:

Toyota Prius 1.8 VVT-i T Spirit - Road Test First Drive - Autocar.co.uk

CAR Magazine have a blog up as well. Their verdict -

"My thoughts so far? The new, third-generation Prius is really, really good. Much better than the previous two models – and probably the most convincing hybrid I've tested yet in the real world. Of course, we haven't yet tested the economy which remains the acid (battery) test. But in terms of driveability, comfort and ease of use, the new Prius hits the mark. No wonder rivals are struggling to keep up with Toyota's lead."

Toyota Prius (2009) hybrid ? real-time CAR review blog | Road Testing Reviews | Car Magazine Online

I think Toyota PR will be happy with that!

 

Off that Autocar criticise the refinement when everyone on here says how good the new car is

 

The LED headlamps come with headlamp washers on the US Prius V as well. They're hooked up to the regular windscreen washer tank. Over there there's a button to press to activate the headlamp washers, generally here they're activated by the front windscreen's wash function.

We didn't have HID lamps on the 2G car so I don't know how it worked there (this may be because the HIDs didn't have washers and therefore wouldn't get type-approval here).

I would imagine the effectiveness would be checked in type-approval. We have mandatory scrutineering to ensure that relevant construction regulations are followed, with no car allowed to be sold unless it passes - the US and Canada are permissive with cars tested against the regulations only if a complaint is raised.

 

I'd be FAR more interested in what Steve Cropley thinks. Especially as he's now long term testing an Insight (as some of the others mags are too - are Honda giving them away?)

 

Confirmation we don't get LED lights:

and it's a T-Spirit: [IMG]http...m/2443/3618636227_a86b00f86d_b.jpg[/IMG][url]

 

Thanks Wooski, at least we know.

Where did you see that beauty??

How do we explain the one at the Bullring?? Japanese model, Pre Production ??

 

Check out the Toyota UK Media site - the full press pack is up - Toyota GB Media Site - Toyota Vehicles

Those pics were taken off the Toyota UK Flicker Site - Flickr: Toyota UK's Photostream

Also you can follow them on Twitter - Toyota GB PLC (Toyota_UK_Prius) on Twitter

And then of course there is the Blog - Toyota UK news, reviews, video and pictures | Today Tomorrow Blog