Prius Prime Short Test Drive Review

can you elaborate? i'm still not understanding what makes it necessary. it wasn't necessary on the pip.

 

It was somewhere 40's, not 40 precisely. Of course, that isn't so bad anyway. For when on a road trip, that's perfectly fine. I'd love being able to exit the highway with plenty of electricity available. Going on trips now, where I have to choose when to deplete since I won't be able to plug in, is sad. There are plenty of opportunities when I reach my destination that having EV to spare would be really nice.

 

good reason to buy a volt.

 

Volts get lousy mileage and have a small tank.

 

40 mpg although charging the battery is still better than many other gas cars get out there !

 

doesn't matter if you're constantly in charge mode so you won't be sad.

 

i'm not so sure...

 

Eventually you won't be. Once the battery gets to 80%, it stops charging.

 

then it's not a necessity?

 

why is there so much distance behind the wheel wells in the prime, compared to lift back?

 

42 MPG is the estimate for Volt operating as a hybrid.

42 MPG for Prime Prime cruising along as a hybrid while also recharging the battery-pack is a big advantage.

 

true, but with volt, you get 50 miles ev, which is uge. let's face it, how many people drive more than 50 miles on a regular basis? they don't even need charge mode.

 

I drive over 25 miles on average about once every three weeks. However, 100% of those trips are over 50 miles.

 

if you want to cover everything, buy a tesla. otherwise, keep in mind that a phev is just that, and a bev is for all electric driving.

 

A Tesla covers even less than a Volt.

 

sorry, we're talking all ev. it appears americans are wanting to do just what toyota feared when they didn't give us the ev button in the gen 2. we're going to constantly force charge the battery so we can drive in ev, instead of buying the proper tool for the job.
then, we'll come on priuschat and whine about only getting 40 mpg, and take the car back to the dealer claiming defect. then the class action threat nonsense will begin.

 

Not for road trips, which is the highlight of the current discussion and direct response.

My driving consists of commute, short jaunts around town, and long trips. More EV isn't enough to justify the tradeoffs. CHG opportunity will be handy for me, since those trip destinations don't offer a plug. Also when I travel (like regular escapes up north), the seats are down to carry all our stuff. That reduction of height in the back really won't make any difference. It's the length & width that has always been the cargo benefit. I suspect many others will see those same advantages.

There's an interesting twist too. Isn't the advantage of having extra capacity not having to plug in? If I had 50 miles of EV available (rated estimate), winter commutes wouldn't have the benefit of pre-conditioning. Would you really pay for or consume a charging spot for only pre-conditioning? Capacity drops roughly 30% due to efficiency-losses and cabin-warming in the cold weather driving. That would make my 19-mile commute a challenge. Being plugged in at work means I stand a chance of making it totally with EV.

It's situations like that people haven't considered yet. We see a lot of dismissals on review article comments, simply suggesting to get a Volt instead without giving the situation any thought. In other words, we've learned that real-world outcome doesn't always match on-paper calculations... especially when it comes to Prius.

So when it comes to the variety of new design aspects, charge-mode, pre-conditioning, and higher-capacity, we really need to step back and think about all that's involved. After all, most people have no idea what that one plug-in uses resistance heating and the other a vapor-injected heat-pump. So, trying to point out efficiency differences will basically be futile.

Real-World data will speak for itself. Watch what those numbers tell us.

 

i thought it was 'test drive review'. anyway, driving around charging the battery so you can drive more ev on a road trip makes no sense. it's a phev. if you want more ev, buy more ev.

 

Yeah, it does. It's relatively common for us to drive somewhere far away, and then spend a good amount of time making very short trips around the hotel. Avoiding constant warm up periods is definitely beneficial compared to driving 1 mile at a time all in the warm up period.