How 'bout this PM review?

but none of them will give you 50-60-70mpg in hybrid mode.

 

In many ways I am totally in agreement with the points you are making. At the same time I think the Pip is a great car. The Hybrid is relatively new, the plug in is brand new. Toyota was gutsy enough to conceive both, I give Toyota a lot of credit. The other Hybrids that are following are all basically copies of the Prius. But this is what the Auto companies do, they copy each other. Toyota led the way. Is the Pip perfect, no, no car is. But I am thankful, yes, grateful that I was able to buy this fine car. It was not advertised as a firebomb, but if I want it to move it will. The car has actually molded me into a more conservative driver, which is really the end concept of the car, to save gasoline and to conserve our clean air. For not polluting the air, the Prius deserves what?? maybe the Nobel prize. YES, thats it let us nominate Toyote Corp for the Nobel Prize, for 14-15 years of cleaner air !

 

yes!!!^^^

 

TY My Main Man

 

A friend of mine just bought the Ford C-Max hybrid. She said she test drove the Prius V and felt like shit was stepping in poo instead of hitting the gas. Said the car felt sluggish. She floored it in her C-Max and said "do you feel that power?"

I asked her what kind of gas mileage she was getting. She said, I don't know.. When sitting in the back of the car, I noticed that I couldn't open my door to get out. I couldn't unlock the power lock or anything. She said that the child lock was on and she didn't know how to turn it off… I wondered why the other rear door would open, but not mine.. HUNH...

Let's see who has the most service during this 8-10 year run on our vehicles… LOL!

 

You know, everything is relative. I can tell you my PiP handles much better, has more responsive steering, braking, and better exceleration off the line than my Great Uncles old 1956 DeSoto... The DeSoto also got great gas mileage if your goal was to get less than 5 mpg! Of course it cost a whole lot more than other cars made back then so it must have been better.....

About 90% of drivers out there have no clue on the efficiency of whatever they are driving or how to improve it. Very few around where I live have any idea of how an HV even works and why. I would also point out that "Fun to Drive" is a completely relative thing. All the Motor Car Mags seem to think a car is "fun to drive" only if it has low gas mileage, fast exceleration, is expensive (aka: a "babe" magnet), and makes a lot of noise going down the street. There was a time I might have agreed with that, but I hope times are changing. Frankly I find the PiP to be the most fun to drive of any car I have ever owned. On the other hand, I thought my old 36hp VW bug was great fun to drive.

 

You are right, everything is relative. I also bought a new VW 1300 in 1966. thought it was the greatest thing out there. Shipped it to the US then to Japan then to Germany, after 10 years sold it to a School Teacher.

 

There are a incredible amount of people that are almost totally ignorant of a cars workings in general. I blame our education system, as the auto is a vital part of America. If mandatory courses existed in Public school on operation, maintenance and finances the dealers would have to try much harder and not so many people would get snookered. Car education is probably as important as English and History, definitely more relevant!

 

put together with general financial education and you have a winner that beats foreign language class fo 9 out of 10 students. unfortunately, finances are a foreign language for many americans.

 

Very true, what is really wierd is, it is considered impolite to speak of finances. Fortunately I have a son who is extremely sharp when it comes to the market. I guess some of it rubbed off.

 

Each door is independent of each other. Set each child locking switch at each door so you can lock just one side if you so desire!

 

So it was user error on her behalf.

 

You know what they say about assume, but I would assume they are the same on other cars, as well as on the prius.

 

You have a valid point. I believe that both diciplines can develop side by side. My son is a Computer designs Archtect but he is also capable of doing Auto repair. He definitely understands the Stock Market and finance better than myself. My previous statement meant only an understanding of auto mechanics, I dont expect the schools to teach engine overhaul. As for English and History there is some of both in Auto Ed. Of course Garage and back yard mechanics as a way of life or income does still exist. But as I said a large percentage understand almost nothing of mechanics. Sure the computer age is here but we are still also co-existing in the Industrial Revolution. As a retired teacher you are well aware of the value of many learned diciplines and also you know that the teacher does not decide the curriculum. Because somebody else makes this decision, the decision is not always the correct one for the students. The closer the curriculum is to REAL life the better. Trig, Geometry,Algebra, English, History never has really helped me in life, they were all a waste of time. Helped me do better in tests, thats all.

 

Every Prius review by a car magazine seems to require the statement that it has numb steering and brakes. I must have some problem with my hands and feet because I find nothing numb about either control. It goes where pointed and stops as requested.

I am comparing this with the BMW 335 coupe the Prius replaced and the BMW Z4 we still have.

Discussing numb controls the 335 off idle throttle response was numb and non linear. For some reason the magazines did not highlight that point!

 

To be fair, I've seen quite a lot of comment re BMW fly by wire (lack of) throttle response over here!

My only criticism of the car in terms of its behaviour is in terms of braking - sometimes whilst braking on uneven roads the ABS kicks in waaay to early and takes off braking force leaving you sailing ahead for a moment.

Doesn't happen very often, (maybe 3 or 4 times in c100K of Prius motoring) but when it does it feels just momentarily like a brake failure - and by definition, you're on the brakes and wanting to slow or stop for a purpose, so to lose retardation in that way necessitates some dry cleaning, shall we say...