Car & Driver Says Prime Ugly, Too Slow

1/2 mile was with no oncoming traffic. With oncoming traffic you definitely need more.

 

Average truck length is 68 feet long. I think you're confusing a truck for a pickup

 

Oops.

Thanks

 

IMO the Volt is the better drive train, but Chevy built a stupid body around it. If I never needed a backseat the Volt would be doable, but the lack of leg room and such poor headroom in the rear meant I can't buy it. Maybe if the front passengers are no taller than 5'5" - 5'7" and the back seat will only be occupied by a small child then maybe it would work. But with kids needing booster seats and such I'm not even convinced it works then. If someone had to have the Volt drive train my suggestion would be to just find a Cadillac ELR instead. At least that way you don't have any false notions that the back seat might be usable. Of course at the price tag they wanted for an ELR just buy a Prius and pocket your substantial savings.

 

It's much, much less efficient and therefore, to me anyway, vastly inferior.

 

It sort of depends on your situation, doesn't it? If you've got say a 35 mile commute with charging capability at work, wouldn't the Volt be more efficient in terms of gasoline burned?

 

If that's all you ever do with the car, a Leaf would be better yet.

Sometimes I go on trips of 1500 to 3000 miles with no ability to charge. A Prime is going to obliterate a Volt for that, and not just in efficiency but also in space and comfort.

 

choice is good.

 

I just got back from a 1,600 mile long-week escape... which was hoped to be in a new Prius Prime. But with no sign of that yet, it was with the Prius PHV... which performed wonderfully. Efficiency at 80 mph (I crossed South Dakota) was remarkable, even at the freezing temperatures.

Knowing Prime is even more efficient due to the engine's improved thermal efficiency and the fact that it can recharge on-the-fly for no-plug EV later will most definitely be a big plus over Volt. The raised floor will be a complete non-issue too. The seats are down for our convenience, leaving lots of room in back to shuffle stuff while on the road. So, I'm very much looking forward to the next trip.

In the meantime, there's new photos for me to share. We got stuck in Wyoming due to an ice storm in Minnesota. Finding ourselves very close to Devil's Tower on a federal holiday was a golden opportunity. We had the place almost entirely to ourselves. With a light coating of snow, a cloudless blue sky, and a windless warm day, it was a remarkable experience. I went nuts with the camera.

 

Oh man, that brings back memories of getting stuck behind one of those on a mountain road. They were pretty exciting to drive in crosswinds too.

 

Yeah, I love choice. I only go on long trips SF to San Diego 4-5 times a year. The rest of the time I typical travel up to 50 miles on a single charge. Volt 2.0 would be more efficient for my usage. My kids are toddlers so will fit the back seats just fine. It also has Apple car play instead of Entune. If not for Volt 2.0, the Prime would be a contender to replace my PiP. As it is, it's a Volt or some other BEV.

 

The Volt is always less efficient and by a large margin, but sometimes with electricity and sometimes with liquid fuel.

Gasoline (petrol):
Prius 54 mpg US
Volt 42 mpg US
--
Prius 28.5% more efficient

Electricity
Prius 133 MPGe
Volt 106 MPGe
--
Prius 25.4% more efficient

 

That comparison is misleading since the Volt has over twice the EV range. The added range gives the Volt the advantage for many peoples daily needs (daily use between ~22 and ~95 miles).

 

When running in EV, the prime is more efficient. when running on gas the prime is more efficient. Isn't that what prius is all about? Efficiency? Why use more gas - or electrons - than you need to?

whichever - gas or electric - is cheaper than the other, it makes sense to want to use the cheaper energy. However, gas money goes to big oil and foreign dictators, electricity is homegrown. I would rather pay a bit more to avoid wasting oil, a non-renewable resource that has many other uses.

too slow? Too ugly? it's fast enough, and I don't have to look at it, much.

 

Range has nothing to do with efficiency.

Would you like to compare carbon emissions over some distance range ?
Tailpipe criteria emissions ?
Coal use ?
Petroleum use ?

Perhaps all of them, to give a balanced view ?
And while you are at it, include those long distance trips so many Americans seemingly take every year. In short, cherry picking arguments and scenarios for brownie points is boring.

 

No need to get all caustic man.

 

You might want to revise your numbers to include the higher efficiency the Prius Prime 'banks' while both Prime and Volt are in EV mode, 133 vs 108. Do the same for the Volt when it is in EV and the Prime in HV mode, 108 vs 54. I am pretty sure this moves the Volt 'donut ring' outward.

Bob Wilson

 

A fundamental problem with this article is the source it came from. Dating all the way back to 1999, nothing published from a performance magazine about Prius ever made sense. It's a mainstream vehicle, not something for enthusiasts. Yet, they still write about it, since that draws attention to them. So, we keep getting new articles.

Right from the start, it was problematic With a mainstream perspective, you want to compare base models... since that's what those buyers will first consider for purchase. Ordinary showroom shoppers consider what packages to step up to based upon what they find from that entry-level offering. Comparing the Premier model to Advanced clues us in to the intended audience, one clearly different from mainstream buyers.

The true reveal of intent was the terrible representation of efficiency. Why the exclusion of efficiency ratings? Omitting that, yet including detail of acceleration observations is an obvious indication of what they prefer, which is clearly different from someone interested in what the plug actually delivers. Simply specifying EV capacity doesn't really tell much. Perhaps they don't understand what those values mean?

54 MPG combined rating for Prime verses 42 MPG combined rating for Volt should be obvious. Why was such obvious efficiency information excluded?

133 MPGe for Prime verses 106 MPGe for Volt won't be understand by ordinary consumers. Should the job of journalists be to explain what that means, rather than avoid mention of those ratings?

26 kWh/100 miles rating for Prime verses 31 kWh/100 miles rating for Volt tells us the true story. Yet, that wasn't included in the article either. It reveals to us how much less efficient of an electric vehicle Volt really is. Prime shines in this regard. Why only a 6 then for efficiency? It simply makes no sense giving Volt a 10 once you discover that detail. Volt is a guzzler of electricity in comparison.

Needless to say, the article caters to a performance audience, which misleads about the purpose of Prime.