dutch -possible- Prius buyer, will I miss my 150 HP?

Hi Bart,

I went from a Toyota MR2 Roadster (140hp) to the prius. The prius is also twice the wight of the MR2. Of course there is a big performance difference, but the Prius still gets away from the light quickly if you want :evil2:

You may want to look on the dutch group http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/prius-nl/ and ask if someone close to you can give you a test drive.

btw, you know you cant tow with the Prius dont you , so no going on holiday in a caravan :lol: :wink: :lol:

 

Hi Bart,

No regrets at all. Just dont beleive Toyotas 4.2 ltr/100km claim. I get about 5.1/100km on normal driving, but my home to work is only 5 km or so. longer trips I have had 3.8/100 but only twice (from Vipitino over the alps to Garmisch ontowards Munich.

Couldnt resist the caravan dig. I guess you know the Air holland photo? If not google air holland and look in the images results. We are also more into a bit of comfort on out holidays. Last December we were on the QM2 (photos on www.ogee.org) and a couple of years ago a rather nice hotel in Dubai, the Burg-al-Arab for a night

 

Toyota's fuel economy claim is highly dependent on the weather, driving habits, terrain, and trip length. The car is very efficient so any deviation from optimal and you will see a drop. With that said I get about 54 mpg (toyota's claim is 55). My current tank is 60 mpg (so probably around 57 mpg, the MFD is usually about 2-3 mpg high).

I went from an F250 to my Prius. That truck could get moving when I needed it to. As for the Prius it is not bad. I have never needed to press the 10 sec 0 to 60 mph time. If you are traveling at 30 mph then getting to 60 to get on the ramp is pretty quick.

Once you start driving a Prius your driving habits may change. I tend to coast more, anticipate stops and hills, drive speed limit, etc to try to get the best fuel economy possible. Oh yeah and I have walked up to a friends car and tried to open it without keys once. SKS spoils you.

I think even if you do miss some of the horse power a litttle you will not miss the costly fill ups. For me it went from $80 to $20 a fill up.

 

Bart

I was worried about the Prius' power output at first as I (still) drive a 2 litre car with 140bhp. But after several test drives including plenty of motorway cruising I was convinced. The Prius easily holds its own with high speed motorway traffic. And the max torque from zero revs characteristics of its electric motor mean that in the city it can get away from the lights faster than many so-called hot hatchbacks - and much more quietly.

A 1.5 litre petrol engine with 75bhp does sound like a step back if you're used to trading up to faster cars with bigger engines. But, top speed aside, the Prius behaves most of the time like a 2 litre petrol car; and in slow urban traffic it does a pretty good impression of a Lexus LS430 or Jaguar XJ, especially now that you can specify a leather interior.

The hardest part is the wait when you've ordered one, as I'm now discovering.

regards

Martin

 

My last vehicle was a 2000 GMC Sierra four wheel drive half ton pickup that I special ordered. They haven't changed much for 2005:

http://www.gmcanada.com/english/vehicles/2...005/gmc/sierra/

I got the Towing Package, the optional 5.3 litre "Vortec" V8, and 4.10 axle ratio. It was rated to tow 9,000 lbs, and it actually could too. I had a trailer that I regularly towed, then I needed to haul constuction material for my hobby farm.

To say that truck had "power" is a bit of an understatement. Without a full load behind, or at least 600 lbs in the box, you could never push the accelerator pedal more than 1/3 of the way down from a stop. Otherwise both rear tires started spinning.

The fuel economy was terrible, my best tank was 12 litre/100km. I usually averaged 22 litre/100km in city driving in summer, in winter city at -40 closer to 42 litre/100km.

In contrast, during my 12 km city commute in warm summer temps, the car routinely gets 4.2 litre/100km. During winter at -40, it got around 8 litre/100km. Most of my driving is at or under 70 km/h, which appears to be a "sweet spot" for fuel economy.

Believe it or not, a lot of folks in North America will drive pickup trucks to work every day. With just a single occupant. So if you wonder why we have an energy crisis ...

I don't miss the "power" one bit. Actually, when I put on the Dunlop Graspic DS-2 snow tires for winter, and there is a nasty blizzard, I can easily beat any four wheel drive running on all season tires.

 

I switched from a 2004 Sentra SE-R Spec-V which got around 160hp/tq and it could haul nice person, and handle like a dream. The Prius is a different beast all-together. It's only rated at 110 net hp, but don't let that fool you. Combine that power with the CVT and it gets off the line almost as good as my Spec-V.

Some clown in a 2000+ Prelude attempted to race me. I gave it 75% throttle and was already 2 car lengths ahead when he shifted and squeeked into 2nd gear. I stopped accelerating when I hit the speed limit of 60km/h, and he did his ricer fly-by.

150hp is probably your peak power output, but consider that you have to rev around your redline to get that power. That means climbing the RPMs everytime the gear changes. The beauty of the CVT is that you can be at 110hp almost immediately since the gear ratio is variable and the engine can stay in the, albeit fuel-inefficient, high RPMs if you need it.

I don't think you'll miss 150hp from a vehicle using a pre-CVT transmission

 

you may miss the power, but you will enjoy the prius.

i went from a 265HP Acura TL-S to my 2-week old Prius and have never looked back. 22mpg vs 55mpg... great technology... and that good feeling that i'm doing my little part toward a little more sustainability...

it's funny - what i really miss most is the leather interior and very comfortable seats. :wink:

 

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Did the ricer also hit an innocent pedestrian or other motorist and cause the typical ricer crash? Then did the ricer attempt to blame the pedestrian or other motorist, like they typically do?

 

Hey,

I've said it before, I'll say it again....

My last car was a 285 horsepower Pontiac Trans-Am.

I've had my Prius for 2 months now, and haven't missed the power even once.

But that's me...

Yoda