Re: 2018 Prius 1 or 2, on the highway, how is overall comfort and noise?

• It's a generally low-stressed vehicle;
• Brakes barely get used - unless you're rough driver - they could well last 200,000 miles;
• The engine runs only 60-70% of the time;
• There is no gearbox to break-down (which can be one of the biggest problems with new cars with Twin Clutches expensive to repair if they go, or extremely complex 8 or even 10 speed Autos. And a friend just had to spend $4000+ getting her SUBARU CVT fixed - out of warranty);
• The electric motor/generators - in the 3 yrs I've been on PriusChat, I haven't heard of a single failure, though maybe some of the really old ones have?
• The battery is warranted for 8 or 10 years, and have been lasting well past that time - and if they then do need replacing, it's a minor cost compared with the fuel savings.

 

I ended up putting my seat almost to the top of it's adjustment as being what is most comfortable for me - I'm 5'10" and have plenty of room above my head.

 

No - First the A/C. The A/C runs off the Hybrid Battery. You can even park waiting for someone under a tree with A/C blasting - keep the car running, it's silent for a good few minutes till the Battery goes low, then the engine starts up intermittently to give the Battery juice to run the A/C. Drive along in town, and it just drives like normal, pull up at a traffic light, it goes silent except for the A/C fan, and the engine won't come on unless it's a really long light or when you take off when it goes green.

Heater - yes, it needs the engine to run to provide heat. So, cold morning, your Climate Control is set at 22C from the day before - the engine starts almost immediately and runs till the heater core is warm enough to heat you up. It then works like a normal hybrid drive.

Cruise Control - yes, it just works. It's (I'm not in USA - so I could be wrong, but think all the US models have it now) got RADAR Cruise - so it'll sit behind a row of traffic, keeping an intelligent distance behind, speeding and slowing in sync with the car/truck in front. Wonderful - I would never go back to a car with "just" cruise control. It's not "self-driving" - nothing is - but it just helps in tight traffic. Warning - like anything automatic, it still needs carefully watching the traffic, and occasionally intervention.

I just did 2 100km return trips a couple of days apart, 31-34C deg, RADAR Cruise 95% of both trips. 62.5MPH speed limit for 90% of the trip which is what I set the RADAR Cruise on, though the traffic was heavy at times so slowed maybe to 50 on occasions. Got 69US MPG for both return trips.

 

I see you are interested in the Prius, how does your son feel about it? Does he have any other cars on the list?

 

No, no gearbox. There is a clever, but simple planetary gearset which is (simply described) driven by either (or each of) the engine or the 2 Motor/Generators (MG1 and MG2). MG2 always drives, assisted by the engine when needed - and the output goes direct from the planetary gearset to the axle drive through the clutch damper assembly. When slowing down or "braking" - which will be regeneration, the reverse happens and MG1 and MG2 charge the Hybrid Battery. The drive in reverse is only by electric motor.

There is no belt (like a CVT), nor clutches (like a DSG etc), nor a torque converter or clutches (like a "normal" auto).

If you have 25 mins to watch this - it shows the assembly of the planetary gearset [just check it starts at the beginning - it kept starting 10 mins in for me]

 

You said in an earlier post about "lack of power" - I've not had any time when I wished for more - but then it depends on what you're used to. Maybe go for a drive in one. Alternatively, hire one for a weekend - though, a rental car isn't necessarily representative of the breed.

 

not sure where you're getting your ideas like no heat, a/c or cruise.

prius is a normal car in every way to the driver and passengers. there are no issues with finding something is different after you've purchased, other than the obvious things like sks, shifter knob, power button etc.

one thing that is a bit different, prius likes to be driven. the 12v won't stand up to long periods of disuse, and the nimh hybrid battery model would not appreciate an application like a seasonal home where it sits for months at a time every year. lithium models would poly handle that better.

 

i think it's just the cheap seats. there are probably a few other low end cars with the same problem, but even a camry has better seating. gen4 is supposed to be somewhat improved, or the higher package has leather and adjustable lumbar which makes a difference.

 

While the battery, electronics and program code dependency on a prius is far higher than other cars, consider that the actual transmission has something like 1/20th the parts count of a traditional automatic transmission. They've achieved a massive simplification in terms of lubricated parts wearing on each other.

A certain portion of Prius owners bought the car specifically to support very long commutes and high utilization. We've got 12k miles on our 7-month old car now. You spend that long in the car, more of your aches and pains happen there.

Getting in and out of it is less comfortable than our other cars, but the reduced fuel requirement pays big.

 

You can't set the cruise control on below 28 MPH on the Gen4 Prius, so you will get a message about it if you try. That has nothing to do with power draining of course.

 

The 2018 Prius has 121 HP and is like a rocket compared to the '95 Ranger I had!

 

please point us to any articles/reviews with what appears to be dubious info. it would be helpful to all concerned

 

i prefer the lithium, but nimh is the proven. i have had both, and there isn't much difference in performance.