What percentage of Prius drivers actually think about the driving experience?

No mistaking it the Prius is nothing more than a technological econo box

 

We like the kind of short commutes we do in a Prius. Very practical for hauling kids and shopping cargo. Longer trips can wear me down. Never had a long commute like you are saying but maybe that gets into Camry Hybrid as a more comfortable vehicle. Where are you Rondo? You couldn't possibly have as many Prii as we have in north VA.

 

the car is a pure joy to drive in my 30 years of driving this is by far the best experience I've had behind the wheel with mileage hypermiling.
so yeah you do sound smug and you should really appreciate the technology that toyota has put into this car that we are so fortunate to own.we get GREAT MILEAGE. we're all different when I was younger I wanted speed power and didn't give a damn about gas now that I'm older gas is number one on my list

 

Yes, many drivers have turned away from the Prius for the reasons you mention, and others. Some have posted why as they left the Prius family, most others didn't join in the first place.

But because of selection bias, you won't find a large fraction of people here who feel the same way.

 

Makes sense what you've noted. What you can improve upon in the Prius is the handling. I find mine with the Plus springs and 17" wheels handle pretty decent. Before the Prius, I've owned BMW's since the turn on the century.

I don't agree about the interior if you referring to aesthetics. I think it looks nice. What I find to feel cheap is the lack of noise insulation.

 

Yep. I had an 04 Nissan 350Z from late 03 until mid-2011. I loved the handling and brakes of the Z and enjoyed the acceleration. I could do w/o the very heavy steering and very bouncy, rough ride.

The Prius drives ok and I've driven plenty of less pleasant to drive vehicles before. Its handling is definitely nowhere near that of a sports car. Prius can be fun to drive, but in a different way than a sports car.

Now, after starting a lease on a Leaf at the end of July 2013, the Prius mostly sits. I do drive it sometimes to keep it from getting flat spots on the tires, on longer drives where the Leaf's range won't cut it, partly to keep the fuel from going bad (from sitting) and to keep miles off my Leaf. I figured 12K miles/year would be more than enough for a commute to work that's 12 miles/each way. But, apparently, it's not...

As DaveinOlyWA (IIRC) put it, the Prius (compared to the Leaf) feels like a noisy rattletrap. I tend to agree.

If my Prius were to get totaled and I were to replace it w/another ICEV, my list would include a regular Gen 3 Prius, a PiP and '12+ HyCam. Not sure about any others... I'd probably lean towards the HyCam as I miss the extra power. Z was 287 hp and my former 02 Maxima was 255. My mom's 07 NAH is 2 hp shy of the '12+ HyCam and feels almost like a rocket compared to my Prius.

I wouldn't get a Lexus CT. Although the interior bits are much better, I don't like its styling nor that it's smaller than the Gen 3 Prius and even slower than the Gen 3 Prius. If they improved its styling and threw in the '12+ HyCam powertrain, then I'd be more interested.

Maybe in a more perfect world, short of going Model S, I'd have maybe 3 cars: a relatively efficient sports car (e.g. Toyobaru FR-S/BRZ), a hybrid (e.g. '12+ HyCam or PiP for the CA HOV sticker benefit), and a BEV (e.g. Leaf or a Rav4 EV, provided the reliability problems are fixed).

 

The money i saved in fill-ups i used in sprucing up the handling department. The car feels more planted and can take corners the way I want to now.

Only thing lacking is power. But hey, with great power comes expensive fill-ups.

 

I think the Prius is a great car. Handles reasonably for its price range other than the body roll which is easily correct with a sway bar. Technology is poor?! What car are you driving?! The tranny/drivetrain is one of the things that makes the Prius an awesome car. I am not sure what you are comparing it to, but your claims make absolutely no sense to me.

There are very few cars out there that don't come with launch control where when you press the pedal you get instant power. Very few cars out there with such a flexible power band. The power is meek, but it is delivered in a way that gets it around just fine. The Prius is one of the more tech-based cars, so not sure what you are talking about.

I have classic cars, new cars, and old cars. I am an exhibitor at SEMA, go to an auto club with many exotics and drive a few around the track. No it doesn't handle like the LP 570-4 Superleggera or the F458 that I get to throw around the track, but it is a respectable little car.

 

We each have our own priorities.

I drive to several clients but I mapped the farthest one US-49E N to US-61 N - Google Maps
Dead flat. 8 mile long straightaways. No banked curves. 35 MPH farm equipment.

Lets imagine I drove a Lotus Europa as my fuel economy car. lotus europa - Google Search

Yep, Still dead flat. 8 mile long straightaways. No banked curves. 35 MPH farm equipment.

I might as well drive a Prius.

 

To: Rondocap, Junior Member, Male, 32 --- From: Catgic, Master & Commander Hybrid Guru, Male, 72 & Counting… - Your post has caused this Guru to wander down from the mountaintop… Grasshopper, you appear to be suffering from a bad case of, “Not Seeing The Forest For The Trees” or maybe it is “Watching The Hole, Not The Donut.” Worry not; with focused meditation and reprogramming, enlightenment is possible for you.

The truth be told, the days of the “Driving Experience” are long past. If you think you are having a “Driving Experience” driving in your VeeDubya, you do not know what is a true driving experience. Unless you are squealing tires on a Laguna Seca in Monterey or at
Porsche
“Driving Experience” ain’t happening. The pure and true “Driving Experience” was long vanished before you even existed, and is a figment of your young imagination. The beginning of the end of the pure and true “Driving Experience” came in 1956, with the signing of Interstate Highway Act by President Eisenhower. It caused the attendant rise of the ugly head of the beast of Limited Access Highways throughout the USA, signaling the death knell of the blissful Full Access “Mother Road,” Route 66 with her other sister roads to follow. It was the “Canary-In-The-Coal Mine” for the pure, true “Driving Experience,” as it were.

I ask you, Rondo-meister, are you really “Getting Your Route 66 ‘Driving Experience’ Kicks” driving your 150-200 city and highway miles per day in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Pilgrims Highway Route or I-90, I-93, I-95 & I-495 or making $Hefty “Big Dig” donations to transit I-90, and the Sumner and Ted Williams Tunnels? Well, are you, Pilgrim?

When I started driving, a gallon of regular gasoline cost 24.9¢ per gallon, occasionally dipping to 13.9¢ during the “Gas Wars” of the 1950s. 24.9¢, which is ~$0.25 is 25% of the $1.00 per hour minimum wage I earned working as a Bag Boy-Stocker at Jewel T. Fast-forward to the middle of the Go-Go Eighties when the cost per gallon of regular gasoline was $0.95, which was 28% of the minimum wage of $3.35 per hour. Today, gasoline at Shell in Cambridge, Mass goes for $3.79 per gallon or 52% of minimum wage. Do the math and plot the trend line.

You are in denial if you do not recognize that the Prius, and all other cars on the road today are government-controlled transportation appliances whose main function is not delivering “Driving Experience,” but rather to generate tax revenue for your local village, town, city or the Feds, and deliver geedas and gelt to them. Check out how much your annual license and registration costs you as well as those stickers you have stuck onto the interior surface of your windshield….and how about that MassDOT E-Z Pass? My friend, my "Neither Fish Nor Fowl," 50+ish MPGs electro-gliding Prius may be a transportation appliance, but so is your 30 MPGs delivering 2012 VW GTI with manual tranny, daily driver. Thee and me are nothing more than animated “Tax Paying Appliances” dressed in meat suits, who are licensed to pilot “Revenue-Generating Transportation Appliances.” Recognizing this new driving status paradigm, it would be more fitting if the Vehicle Pedestrian Notification Sound on my Prius would be a Ka-¢hing…Ka-¢hing… cash register sound rather than innocuous OEM empty barrel echoing sound Toyota selected.

Face it, Rondo-ster, gas prices will likely never be dipping down from where they are at now for very long. They never have in the past and will probably not be starting now.

Gas in Boston is currently selling for $3.79 per gallon on its way to $4 and beyond, not 20¢ as it was when the fuel wasting on-road driving behavior norms of today were formed. Whether thee, me, or we chose to realize it or not, we all are now driving under a new fuel consumption and energy use paradigm.

Where a car once used to be a mechanized, gasoline-powered personal and family transportation work of art that functioned as one's personal noble steed. It has since become a heavily government controlled and regulated transportation appliance whose fuel use and mere ownership generates tax revenue for today's revenue-hungry socialized government, with its ever-growing-appetite for citizen's wealth.

I recognized this paradigm shift a few years back, when gasoline was still selling for well under $1.499 per gallon. At that point, I purchased my first hybrid Prius and changed the driving and fuel consumption behaviors and techniques under which I operate my personal vehicle, successfully transforming myself into a Hybrid Pseudo-Hypermiling / EcoDriving Zen Master.

With the $4.00± per gallon gasoline on the horizon in pursuit of $5, $6, $8, $10+ gasoline and beyond, most "$mart Folks" out here in the Yankee Doodle hinterlands have started driving to save "Green" and will do anything "legal" to save a "Green Back" Petrol Buck.

I have successfully and painlessly transformed my previous Porsche Throttle-Pedal Honed driving habits and behaviors, and learned how to "Drive Hybrid $mart" by becoming an "intelligent" part of the Gas-Electric Hybrid Man-Machine Interface. I now drive with a feather-light, deft touch on the foot throttle. In Zen-like fashion, I have Become At One With Prius Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD), thereby, permitting it to regularly deliver "$tellar" MPG-FE, and Green Back $avings to me.

My Hybrid Hypermiling enhanced EcoDriving is saving and "Paying" my family and me "Big Petrol Bucks" by minimizing our family’s monthly "fuel burn rate" and total annual gasoline fuel expenses. My Pv5ATP Petrol Warfighter has reduced the monthly auto fuel expenses for my family's primary transportation vehicle by ~80%. The 80% savings for our family’s driving equals ~$166.66 per month, $2,000± per annum savings rate, which has made the Family CFO, my wife, "Hybrid Happy."

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE… YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED

 

Everyone cares about driving experience.
However, everyone has different requirements along the 'driving experience' ruler.

A great example of this is electric cars. I far prefer the driving experience in a Mitsubishi Miev over a more expensive BMW 3 for example.
No, it isn't as powerful, but you have instant torque and instant response from the throttle.

Just because someone cares about driving experience doesn't mean they are a sports car enthusiast.
I am sure no one here would be indifferent to driving on oblong wheels. The drive experience is much better with round wheels. No additional power required to get a better experience.

That said, I never found the Prius driving experience lacking (I came from a Lexus IS250).
However, I have enjoyed being spoiled since retiring my Prius and would have a tough time going back (or back to any other ICE to be fair).

 

The thing is with cars is get what you want, dont try to make something into something its not. Prius is a good, solid form of transportation. Its one of the best on the road at fuel economy, low maintenance, and longevity. That is what you should be after if you bought one. If you want to autocross, drag race, or look like a player, then you bought the wrong car. Great news is you are not stuck, they seem to sell fairly well so you can sell it and get what your heart really wants, instead of what your head told you that you needed.

 

Now there's a problem. You wrote "better" without giving your definition.

My definition of better is:
- efficient
- comfortable
- quiet
- smooth
- safe

Prius is efficient and good enough at the others.

(You may note that I didn't write performance or looks because I don't give a poo about either and they both tend to detract from efficiency.)

 

I'm right there with you man. I'm blown away with Prius MPGs constantly, but beyond that and ease of use, there's little else to get excited about. The driver's seat is flat out WEIRD. Yeah, yeah, I know, 'why'd you buy it, you should have learned that on a test drive, blah, blah', and I knew something was a bit off before buying.... the driving mode buttons, PWR mode and ECO help out a bit though.

but, for the fairly high price of Prius, (mine was over $25k out the door), the base driver's seat ought to have better lumbar support, contour and adjustability....

Nothing really exciting or inviting about liftback Prius beyond very good MPGs. I suppose Prius liftback can be likened to a very supportive, faithful wife or husband who's pretty boring, never wants to go out (or rarely put out) and is sorta homely.

 

OP, what were your expectations when you bought the car? It seem like a mix of spontinaity then buyers remorse.

 

I enjoy the driving experience when I'm driving under my (ever so feeble, human)power, or in combination with an animal, say a road bicycle, very exhilarating, great for the heart and lungs, or Alpine snowboarding, getting low, near the ground while carving on ice, very exhilarating, or spending time on a horse that enjoys the woods.

But sitting in a machine that all I do is turn, start and stop

 

I don't mind the compromises made for the Prius to get incredible mileage. I would rather use the money I save from having a reliable and efficient car to do other things than use it to drive a more "engaging" car.

 

What are the alternatives to the Prius? Keeping in mind what it offers( size, price and efficiency, reliability etc)?

I actually don't know of any to be honest that really compares. A CT is a downgrade to me as it's interior is just too small.

 

For me "driving experience" implies power and a sports car type feel. That has never mattered to me. Even when I was younger. I want a practical, comfortable, reliable, and fuel efficient car. The prius does all of those things better than any car I have owned.

I strongly disagree with those who call the Prius a cheap car. Cheaply made cars are not as reliable as the Prius nor do they generally last several hundred thousand miles.