2016 Prius in Review

I'd say that's true only if you have an unlimited data plan with a carrier that provides excellent coverage in your area, which many folks don't. I'm surprised that an area remote enough to have poor radio reception would have the kind of strong consistent data service to support continuous streaming to a moving vehicle without the occasional hiccup, but I guess anything's possible under the right circumstances.

For those with more limited data plans, many music streaming services (especially paid ones) also allow pre-loading of their "channel" content, putting a couple of hours or more of content per station on your phone, refreshed whenever you reconnect to the service. I've made use of these services to play music from my phone; while I'll admit it's no substitute for live streaming of curated content, I don't want to pay for the kind of data plans that would make live streaming practical.

My wife will have none of it. She just wants to turn on the radio and play her stations, and XM works out fine for that (also great on road trips, which we only take in the Prius); the money we save by eschewing high-volume mobile data plans more than pays for our XM sub (which also provides lots of live baseball, important for us). I like HD radio because our local NPR station runs a second HD-only channel that plays continuous news, information, and talk entertainment. If either of those are of interest to you, the Two is a less convenient package. If you value those services less (and preferring to access content one way or other through a smartphone would be one reason for that), then again, the Two is a cost-effective choice.

 

Was that actual mpg or trip computer mpg? they can differ greatly.

 

the high mpg you claimed is plausible in UK galons but highly suspect in the U.S. I'll believe it when I see it with my own eyes.

 

There's a few 2016 owners recording on Fuelly now, with crazy high mpg.

Defiant (Toyota Prius) | Fuelly

I think you could throw out this one, something wrong??

Sleep In It (Toyota Prius) | Fuelly

 

They are well within the range:

Bob Wilson

 

Picked up my new 2016 Prius Three Touring a week ago and I absolutely love it! In fact, my spouse, who has always driven VWs (no, not the diesel ones) said that it felt very close to the feel of his car--a high compliment coming from him! The ride is quieter and more stable, and the pick-up smoother and more responsive than in all of my prior Priuses (I have owned a 2008, which my daughter still drives, as well as a 2010 and 2013, the last of which I got a great trade-in price for when purchasing the 2016.) I also hated the white console and so purchased the applique, which makes it look rather nice, I think. And the white around the steering wheel is not flat white, but rather, iridescent white, which gives it a nicer look than I would have thought as a highlight color. I have always bought red autos, but on principle didn't this time around because of the added cost of the new red formula they are using. (It IS nice, though.) There is subtle blue stitching on the black Softex seats, and the same metallic blue trim as the paint on the area around the air vents--I nice touch, I think. The only other option, which I got at cost, was all-weather mats in the car and cargo area. As soon as I get a car, I take out the carpet ones and leave them in my garage in favor of the all-weather variety, and the dealership found me a car with these mats (which they provided at cost) and kept the carpet ones, saving me $$.

Speaking of dealership, I want to give a shout-out to Bob Suprenant and Sunshine Toyota in Battle Creek, MI (about 65 miles from my home). I have now purchased three cars from this dealer because they have shown themselves to be honest, caring, and willing to go the extra mile to get the car with the features I want and to negotiate on the price. There are other dealerships closer to where I live, but I would recommend them highly to anyone who lives in mid-Michigan.

 

A couple of personal perspectives from someone who just purchased a Three Touring model. I drove a Two, Three and Three Touring beforehand, and I found the ride of the Three Touring to be smoother and that it hugged curves better--perhaps because of the 17" wheels--or my imagination. I also liked some of the safety features, and in particular have been surprised at how much I REALLY like the auto high beams. They are much more responsive to oncoming lights than my reflexes could ever be, and having them allows me to concentrate on the road at night without worrying about this. Another reason I purchased the Three Touring model was to get the Softex seats which, as a golden retriever owner, is going to be much easier to keep clean (even with the cover I use on the back seat) than the fabric seats I have always had in my other Priuses.

 

I'd go with imagination regarding ride quality. The Touring is claimed to offer some modest handling improvements, but the suspension tweaks are not for ride quality. The 17" wheels with their lower profile tires clearly offer no "smoother" benefits, and probably make things a wee bit rougher, though again, not so much that I could tell without doing a hard A/B, if then (I drove a Two and Three Touring a few days apart).

Just a reminder, these features are available on non-Touring models in the Advanced Technology Package. I also liked those features, but got them with the ATP instead of the Touring.

 

Yes, I have unlimited voice/text/data for $50/month from Sprint. I bought the iPhone so I'm not paying it off.

In rural areas, cellular reception is not necessarily uniformly bad. Sure my condo is in a "weak" area, and there are well-known "holes" where you will drop a call if you are driving through them. My home is in a weak area for radio as well. As I recall, I could pull in just one FM station. But generally cellular is usable as one drives around this area, and you get a reasonable number or radio stations.

The big reason I use Sprint is that at no charge they give rural customers Airave units which hook into one's internet connection and act as an "in-house cell tower", receiving one's calls via internet rather than from a cell tower and then broadcasting them via a modest cellular signal that anyone in the house with a Sprint phone can connect to. So no more standing in a particular position by a window holding one's cell at a contorted angle, or wandering around outside in bad weather.

Cable internet is quite fast here, which makes streaming music off cable internet work extremely well.

So to clarify, I started out streaming at home before the advent of Pandora, Spotify, and the latest version of Apple Radio (which I find lousy). When those apps came out, I tried them and didn't care for them, particularly the restriction on how many selections one can reject. Then I decided it was silly to pay $8/month or whatever it is for Pandora or Spotify when I could just stream, both at home and in my car, and pay nothing extra.

Different solutions for different situations.

 

Really sweet technology in the Gen4, but I hate they don't have it in the bright blue color I like

 

Thanks for the article, very good to hear your take on the new gen. I'll be coming from a 2011 Golf TDI as soon as we hear what VW will do for their customers, so some handling is important for me, though I'm not expecting that level of performance in the Prius obviously. I am planning at this point to get the 4 touring as I believe the 17" tires will perform a bit better, and though a small thing, I really want the fog lights. If it were not for the lights, I might now be tempted to go with the 4 since I'm reading that the ride is smoother. Can you weigh in with your initial thoughts on how well the whole entune system works for you?

 

I've been doing some tire tests over the years and my data and analysis suggests the 17" wheels have more problems than the 15" wheels. The 15" wheel problems can be fixed when the original tires are replaced but the 17" wheels do not really have a good fix:

• 17" tires - moment of inertia is significant and found in the EPA test data
• revs/mile - can be fixed with a 5% change in rev/mile tire

Bob Wilson

 

54Ah now

 

Thanks for the excellent review Tony. I'll be buying a 3 or 4 touring within the next month, keeping my 2005 with 2001,000 mi.

 

Is that really 2,001,000 miles (nearly 200,000 miles per year)

 

I find this chart amazing. Thanks for posting it. If i read it correctly, i can drive the Prius 3/4 @ 100mph and still best the average gas mileage of my Camry (SE v4)? #YesPlease. Not that I plan on doing that...but it's still pretty amazing...