Consumer Reports Prius Prime Review (Aug 3 2017)

The radio stations are actually front and center (on the 11" display) while the phone stuff is hidden in the phone menu.

I drove an all highway trip Saturday in Ev. 22 miles and had over 10 left when I arrived. Both ways.

I drove a 1500 mile trip with a fully loaded car across Kansas at 78mph in heavy wind and averaged 55mpg.

CR is clueless as always. Their surveys are good, their reviews are terrible, and always have been.

 

The thing that still makes CR useful is that generally their comparison to other vehicles are consistent. So if you take 5 CR reviews and lay them side by side, they don't tend to vary vastly which means I can use this to see which vehicles may be better for my usage. If I read a review alone without other CR reviews to compare against, it may turn me off certain vehicles. This is mostly within a vehicle type, comparisons across types of vehicles can be a little hard to fathom.

That said, I don't put a ton of stock in their views on efficient vehicles, they tend to think these things should drive like hot rods and ride like luxury vehicles.

 

Except for when comparing their fuel economy results. CR tests are done outside, using locally available fuel, in Connecticut. The climate and fuel blend variables make such comparisons questionable.

 

The CR criticism seems right, although I don't know if I'd ever make a comparison on some random numerical score. I drove both, and the Prime seemed more solid.

CR is crazy lol. All the reviews I read on the internet and saw on YT were just ... short sighted. Except for SavageGeese and maybe AlexoA.

How can CR they not comment on dealer support? Everything else is subjective, why not opine on this? Also, resale value?

I'm not defending the Prime but...GM knows nothing about their vehicle in most locations where I am. They also rarely take you seriously, and it's the same for their regional customer service (who handles escalations). I've owned numerous Chevys and they've spewed straight BS to me since I've owned their vehicles (Corvette, Silverado, Sonic, Cruz..). I was a technician and I'm an engineer now... I usually give them root cause analysis when I bring it in, so just fix the darn thing.

Toyota on the other hand, is not like this. Yeah, they'd given me the run around a couple times. Citing one time, I blew the rear on my Tundra towing at the rated max. They blew some smoke, and then I told them I'd escalate to corporate if they didn't put an A-tech on this right away. Someone could have gotten hurt... Yeah, he found it in 5 seconds and agreed the rear wheel bearings were burned up and on the way out. They gave me a loaner and took care of it, NO PROBLEM.

Toyota has been invested in the hybrid market for awhile now. They've matured a product. Yeah, it's not cool and new...but they stand by it, even when there was no reason to.

Maybe I'm nuts. But I think overall customer service end-to-end is more important than some made up numbers that get re-normalized everytime something cool and shiny comes along.


-Avi

 

I really don't know how they test there mileage, but wow, the lowest I've ever gotten was an indicated 53.9 after driving 375 in one day from Fresno to Pasadena, CA. If anyone knows that road, you have to go through the return leg of the Grapevine, and I wasn't just cruising but moving pretty good up the hill. This was with a regenerated 20 EV miles to start. I had no access to a plug for this trip for a couple of days. The leg up I got 56.7mpg a couple of days before, but with a full charge. I don't think their test track is as varied as my drive was and this was going 75+ miles per hour for most of the trip.

 

When you are testing mpg you should never include the readout with the battery charged. You should either make sure is in hv mode the whole time or wait to drain ev mode before seeing the mpg in hv mode

 

Well, at least they admitted we exist.

 

If Toyota US would agree with you, they could capture more of the market. They are successful, for the most part, IN SPITE of their dealers, not because of them.
There are a few good dealers but most of them are to be avoided if at all possible. That is why people like me drive 150 miles away to avoid the local dealer when making a purchase.

 

I will have to agree 100% on dealers not knowing their product (Bolt), not caring if you buy. A Ford Dealer in the Hampton Roads area literally had the only plug in hybrid of any brand in a 300-mile radius. After pulling out the Bolt, from what seemed to be the section of less desirable, we went for a test drive. Could not answer questions on the drive. Back at the dealership, rather than looking up my questions in their system, told me to go home and look it up on the Internet. Six days later I drove up to Maryland, and have been content since.

 

LOL Dude.My conversation with Chevy salesman.

Me - "Does this thing help warm up the battery when it's cold?"

Rep - "Yeah, it has a battery"

Me - "Ok, what is the electric range?"

Rep - "It takes a few hours to charge"

*Buys Prime*

 

Here's OP's cited CR report in PDF.

 

Thanks for posting that, Marine.

 

Best and worst used cars from same Sept 2017 CR magazine. Surprised they rate the Tesla Model S over our Prius's when the Tesla predicted reliability is lowest "poor" vs our highest "excellent". Plus you can get about 3-4 used Prius's ($10K-15K each) for one used Tesla Model S ($40K-60K)

 

Yes, I know a Prius is not a Tesla Model S. Comparing apples to oranges.

 

Yeah...a Prius can charge 20 times as fast at 100 times as many locations and have twice the range when it's done, all while costing 1/5th as much.

 

Yes and no. CR reports they have formula to adjust for local temperature effects and I'm OK with that. Fuel effects with the exception of ethanol, are in the noise.

The real problem is Consumer Reports local, MPG test protocol that has more in common with:

Bob Wilson

 

I am convinced there is a problem in Consumer Reports auto section. It is hidden behind a veil of 'proprietary' nonsense and suggests a fundamental ignorance of basic engineering ... sophomore level. But I learned in college that 'journalism' often attract those unskilled in math and physics and Consumer Reports validates lessons learned at Oklahoma State.

Bob Wilson

 

The rating could be factoring in survey results. Tesla, Porsche, and Chrysler were the only brands in a recent survey to receive the highest level of customer satisfaction.

How do they account for prevailing winds? This is the first I've heard about the the temperature adjustment; it wasn't mentioned in the write up on their testing method I last saw. I think we both agree CR can improve the confidence in their test results if they were more up front about the method.

I'd bet on there being ethanol in the fuel they get.