Edmunds.com and Prius hate?

I think they may see the Prius as a threat to their way of life. That's the only explanation I can come up with.

 

I'm going to put my perspective straight, as a 6 month Prius owner.

1) I am tall, 6ft2.5in w/o shoes. The Prius is between a small and midsize car. It has plenty of headroom to accomodate drivers well over 6ft. tall. But,

they designed the car such that the drivers seat does not slide back all that far for a 6ft+ with some long legs.

Incredibly, there is no seat height adjuster which could have easily fit into the price of this car if they had gone with perhaps 1-door smart key, or minus those $236 per side HID headlamps.

Seat bottom for me is sort of crummy - bizarrely shaped, flattens out at the front, back of bottom does not tilt due to no height adjuster.

no easy fix from Toyota. Maybe from an upholstery shop, but geez added cost on top of a $30k car of this size?
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There are some really good cars out there for less money than the current Prius.
A Honda non-hybrid Civic has very comfortable seating, costs a few thousand less than a Prius. It's shortfall is no hatchback.
When Edmunds says a Civic is fun to drive, I tend to believe them
They say a Mazda 3 is fun to drive. I test drove one. It has very sharp, responsive steering, nice car.

These people at Edmunds, Car and Driver, etc.... drive a lot of cars. I think they have a fair idea of what they're talking about.

Even Consumer Reports does not say the Prius is 'fun to drive'. They say it is economical, and reliable transpo.

Toyota builds safe, reliable, economical and sometimes luxurious cars.

The cars that lean more towards sporty handling would be some Mazdas, Hondas, and VW's, Subaru's, etc...

I can't think of a current model Toyota someone would buy, trick out and take to a trackday. I could see someone doing that to a WRX, Civic Si, RX8, GTI

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All that said, I bet the all new Prius will be much better received by Edmunds videos, Car 'n Driver, etc...

 

We have had height adjustment on the European Prius for ages, doesn't seem to hurt the FE here. The new 2010 Prius is getting seat adjustment. Even with the height adjustment, there are complaints about the seat comfort. After my last long trip, I realised the steering wheel is not padded enough.

As for the journalist bias, they claim to be reviewing for the public, just as our elected representatives claim to be doing what's best for us and yet I never voted them to go to war or put us into eye watering amounts of debt.

 

Yep, Toyota can't make everyone happy wrt to comfort, but the lack of seat adjustment concerning height was one that Toyota appears to have specifically choosen to exclude from the American market. People are different shapes and sizes, so the seats should be adjustable, that way the driver can fit into the car properly and have the least compromised driving position, which in turn may allow the driver to concentrate on driving the car and not being hampered or distracted by the seat.

 

My 2 cents
I think Edmonds definition of 'Fun' is a little outdated and narrow.

What is 'fun to drive'. I have had my Prius for 2 months now I am IN LOVE WITH IT. (My wife is quite disturbed by my extra-martial affair)
I am having more fun with this car than I have had for 25 years. I haven't been this excited about a car since I got my first cat at 16! No, the Prius doesn't win prizes for handling, No it doesn't "ride like it is on rails" no, it doesn't have every adjustable everything But Who cares... Cars that do that stuff can't cruse down the drive and halfway up street on EV mode with out burning a ounce of petrol.
Hell! watching the MFD and the 0 Ltr/100km makes it one hell of a 'fun to drive' car for me!:rockon:

 

Edmunds hates the Prius? If they do, it's nothing more than their opinion. Consumer Reports likes it, but be thankful that the Prius doesn't get rave reviews everywhere.

Just imagine what price the Prius would command if everyone thought it was the best car ever built. I suspect many of us wouldn't be able to afford one.

 

Wow. So the Prius was designed for the upper-middle class. Requires a high income and to be within a certain height range or else you'll want even more money to modify the seat.

And here's a lowly Yaris, designed for middle class mediocrity, made for high fuel economy and to be lightweight, comes standard with a driver's seat height adjuster ...
Toyota Yaris -- 2009 Models: Liftback & Sedan#

Seriously,

A mechanical height adjuster handle makes a noticeable impovement in seat comfort. Toyota adjusters do not just raise and lower the seat leaving it at the same tilt ...

the adjuster tilts the back of the seat bottom down, moves the seat slightly back ...
this makes a nice benefit for an over 6ft individual.

The European market got the height adjuster.

What a shame to not be very comfortable in one of the most important cars on the market, a Prius, just because one is 6ft3in tall, which is not really all that tall, like being 6ft8in.

A power seat would have been even better. I'd love to have a power seat. Probably wouldn't lose 1/8 mpg because of it.

Most competitive cars to the 2009 Prius -

All Honda Civics, CR-V, Jettas, Rabbits, Rav4, Matrix, Subaru Impreza, ScionxB, Saturn Astra, Mini Cooper, Mazda3-5, Chevy HHR, PT Cruiser ... all have seat height adjusters, now.

Wouldn't mind having 6 - $8K back and a couple on that list. My mistake of course.

 

Simple, They are just jealous of us.

 

A long, long time ago, my pops told me "opinions are like sphincters: everybody has one and they usually stink"

Edmunds is about par for the course

On the issue of seat adjustment, my FJ has height adjustment and it makes a world of difference

 

We've subscribed to Consumer Reports and it would be accurate to say their members drug them "screaming and kicking" to common sense. It seems having Prius owners out-poll all others in loyalty and happiness eventually got through.

Bob Wilson

 

Don't forget to add the comparison with the Fit to the hate list.

 

In the 2009 Prius video on edmunds.com, I might disagree with ..

'a challenge to sustain speeds over 70 mph on highway'

and 'clocking in a regular, consistent 40 MPG'

I get very high 40 MPG consistently, into the 50's sometimes.

Other than that, I think Edmunds is reasonably fair about the 2009 Prius. Thinking the Prius is just about perfect seems an early stage of dementia.

btw, a 2009 Prius pack #5 with BSM's and rear bumper gaurd - asking $28k at Piercey Toyota $$$$

... Noticed the 2008- resale values dropping like a stone? As gas prices are lower, you save proportionately less money in a hybrid, high-mileage vehicle, do the math. I'll do it

example - $4 / gallon fuel price , save $24 on fillup (50 mpg car vs. 25 mpg car)

$2 / gallon , save $12

fuel cost not the whole story, lower emissions, less ICE wear, etc ...

But, with 10yr / 150k mile CA states battery warranty, no brainer that Prius is ....

meant to be driven at least 15k miles / year. That's a long daily commute, shared car, outside sales, etc...

 

Edmunds ...

'We all agreed the 2006 HCH was the better car to drive'

and 'We especially liked the ergonomically designed interior and steering wheel feel, gauges ...'

So they prefer a little more fun on backroads going out of town. Maybe they don't like to pull over too much to let the locals go by. No hate there.

 

I'd agree there's no hate in those statements. Edmunds prefers a more standard, round dial look. They are not attracted at all to the more modern, digital look of the Prius. Who cares about convenience or even safety?

Of course, they do have something on the ergonomics of it. I love it, but it is not exactly "comfy" to get in to when you first drive it.

 

I certainly hope they aren't too broad. Mine are fairly wide as well, and after a nearly 3000 mile drive to Sedona, AZ and back, I can tell you that after a few hours of being in the seat, it ain't comfortable. Fine with local driving, and even an hour or two, but 8-10 hours of driving during the day - I was uncomfortable.

The high points of the seat shoulders (the part that sticks out the most) rubs my shoulder blades, about 1/3 of my shoulder blade sticking out the side of the seat or so. Several hours of that, and it was distinctly uncomfortable. Nothing I notice much driving locally - but, ouch!

And the seat not having some kind of height and tilt adjust is pretty cheap and cheezy (IMHO). Again, nothing you really notice driving locally, but after 8-10 hours (the first days drive was more like 12), it isn't comfortable.

While we got great FE, we found ourselves stopping nearly twice as much as we usually do, just in order to stretch our legs and get the kinks and uncomfortableness out of our bodies. And that added to the overall time of the trip - something I had not initially counted on.

Don't get me wrong - overall, the car is nice, and relatively comfortable, but a bit different seat design would have gone a long way to much more comfort.

 

Yeah, I'll challenge that one too. On our long trip, my wife was doing "over 80" with no problem.

I'm glad you do. However, ambient temp plays a HUGE factor in the MPG in the Prius. I made one two hour drive a few weekends ago to visit my daughter, and got the worst mileage I've ever had in the Prius - 37MPG. It was 10F that day (for the high), and stayed cold most of the weekend. Somewhat better on the trip back, but it had warmed up to 20F that day.

From your stated location, I'd say you get more even temps than I do (and many others), which leads to your better mileage. The last few weeks, I've struggeled to get up to 44MPG (it's been cold). Last week or two, it's warmed up considerably (ok, it's 50F and occasionally up to 65F during the day, but still freezing or below at night) and I'm back up to 47-48MPG when the days are warm.

No, I haven't blocked the air flow to the radiator yet - I'd really like to see someone create some kind of louvered block that moves automatically based on the temp of the ICE (with a manual override when the automatic part fails....).

As I recall, Edmunds typically does their testing up in the NorthEast, and I'll bet many other NE Prius owners are also doing well to keep it in the 40's, if they haven't blocked the radiator.

And the type of driving is critical. I normally do 95%+ highway driving to/from work, and when the weather's warm (I've only had mine since mid-Oct '08), I'll get 48MPG. HOWEVER, when I'm doing lots of in town driving, I'll see spikes of 53-55MPG, as I'm using the battery much more.

Again, as I recall, they take a fairly standard route (it's been many years since I actually paid attention to one of their reviews), and much of it was in suburban/highway areas. And usually consisted of a 100-150 mile "loop".

So, before poo-poo'ing another's experience, realize there's a lot of discrepancy in the mileage of the Prius - and it ain't all the driver. Air temp, type of driving (city/highway) are BIG factors in the overall mileage.

 

I'm with you OP. Every article I read from Edmunds seems to have an underlying bias towards the other car, whatever that may be. Couple months back when I was looking to buy a car, I wrote off the prius based on the Edmunds review. Thankfully my negotiations failed (for the fit, civic, and yaris) and ultimately I revisited the Prius and ultimately bought it. I went back to the review and while I can't say that Edmunds is flat out lying, I do believe that they're misinforming the public on the key pros to owning a prius.