'The Truth About Cars' Rips 2010 Prius a New One

Sorta silly to see people get worked up about a gearhead not liking a Prius. Are you waiting for a Hummer owner to approve of the Prius too? If you are waiting for everyone in the world to line up for a Prius, you're going to be disappointed.

Who cares what someone else thinks? They are just as entitled to their choices as we are. I thought it was pretty funny all in all, and it didn't change my choice at all...

 

Air up the tires on the Prius and hit those corners!

I do it all the time when I travel to some of our preserves which can only be reached via super winding roads. I play a little game called "See if you can catch the Prius". I love seeing people frown when we first turn onto the roadway because they think they will be stuck behind a slow hypermiling hybrid for the next 10miles. Little do they know that hypermiling downhill can be done pretty damn quickly.

 

I wouldn't waste my time reading an anti-Prius article. Too much agenda there.

 

This guy did not even mention the mpg's or the ultra low emissions this car has. Maybe he thought the Prius was Toyota's new sports car.

 

OUCH! It appears he wrote the article and then asked Honda how much they would pay him to publish it.

The article sure didn't mirror my reality! This years Consumer Reports Auto Issue didn't much agree either.

Unfortunately, reading the comments following the article, it seemed he had the desired effect on many - some of the comments will pretty humorous though.

 

Review: 2010 Toyota Prius | The Truth About Cars

"Of course I could always tell how slowly I was driving from the desperate looks on the faces of the drivers eager to get past me".

I have people wave (with more then one finger) sometimes.

 

He secretly loved it but he felt to admit it would make people think he had small balls.
He loved it so much, he took unnecessary extended journeys.

 

I'm with you, I don't know if we get a different suspension package to you guys but with a BT Tech plate, 15 inch wheels and 50 PSI I love the way my Prius corners.

Sometimes I just say, bugger the fuel consumption and have some fun.

 

Clowns like that can say what they want about the new Prius. It won't matter. The new car will still sell like mad. Word of mouth beats out cheasy reviews any day.

My Prius is the nicest little car to drive around - it is so quiet, smooth acceleration, handles well, looks good, the hatchback is so useful, can seat 4 adults easily.

It's success speaks for itself over some blowhard.

 

You mean the interior of the car I can't drive for more than 40 minutes without taking painkillers? Thats function? I'll pass.

Putting in a console and adding seat adjustments is hardly "flash and lures". The interior of the 2010 Prius is very futuristic looking.

 

The guy did make some good points in this article. Yes he's biased but that's ok, so are we. But he's right about the steering wheel, it does need to have more travel towards the driver. I could use 2-3 more inches easily to get more comfortable. The seats at least for me could be significantly better and the steering is very light. Toyota has said they are going to fix that so that's good.
The rest of the article points out very obvious flaws in the Prius that it is not
1) A Sports car
2) A Luxury car
3) Both
There is no way you can compare the Prius to a high end BMW or Merc. I bet if Toyota dropped another $10K on the interior it'd be amazing and called a Lexus.
The Prius is very good at what it does and no other car does it better than the Prius. But if you want a Sports car or a Luxury car the Prius is not the car you should be looking at in the first place. I mean my Prius II cost under $23K OTD!
A BMW 335i is easily twice the price.

 

I enjoy reading car reviews and enjoy the standard writing style loaded with sarcasm, hyperbole, and humor. This one seems no different. In fact, most of the issues raised by the author have been expressed by owners on this forum, so I don't really understand the negative reaction here.

I recognize that there are other features not discussed, such as the air bags and technological improvements. In an effort to get more comments, here is my summary of the review with most of the fluff removed:

• The interior is not "traditional." Seems fair enough because it looks different than most cars I have seen.
• "Low rent" plastics. He's not the first to comment on the plastics, some like it and some do not. I don't know about the fumes?
• Unimpressed by the leather. Many people on the forum have also expressed concerns about the leather quality.
• The gauges. Others have also noted that they are hard to read. I'm not sure how others feel about the positioning of the display.
• Steering wheel position. Also noted on this forum by owners as well as general ergonomics.
• "Unsupportive and ill-shaped" seats. There are threads discussing pros and cons. The concensus seems to be that they are better than Gen2 seats but may not be for everyone.
• "Unbelievable Lightness of Steering." More comments would be appreciated.
• "Flagrant disregard for handling." I also need more input on that one.
• "Serenity of the ride quality." He's not the first to say this either.
• 17" wheels. I would not be surprised if they do "magnify road impacts" but I would like to hear more about their impact on "the 'driving experience'."
• "Three buttons for the various modes." There certainly are three buttons.
• "Stubby stalk" with choices for just "forward or reverse or braking." Seems to be a fair comment. Although I'm surprised he doesn't complain about the lack of detents for the positions.
• "Fourth button for park." I don't understand why it's not setable with the stalk either, but it is.
• EV mode is "totally useless." Its practicality is discussed/questioned in this forum as well.
• The brakes. I would like more opinions on how they feel and objective data on how well they work. I know the Road & Track review didn't like the brake feel either but the ultimate stopping distance was fine even with 15" wheels.
• Hidden controls under the center console. Common complaint on this forum.

Looking at the above and being familiar with reviews here and elsewhere, I am not seeing anything disagreeable or shocking about the author's review. Some of the issues may just take getting used to and some (e.g. steering and brakes) may be troublesome. Until I get a chance to drive a Prius V, I would certainly appreciate more opinions (pro or con) on the above and others. And thanks to those who have shared their experiences and opinions.

 

That's pretty much what I'm reading. As I understand it though, the steering fix is for the I-IV's to make them steer like the V's, which is what the author still considers light. So how bad do you find your steering feel now?

 

The steering feel is numb, after all it's a Toyota and that is what the majority of their customers like. I've had older buicks and caddy's 1960's era with similar steering feel.
The bigger issue for me is the turns to lock. I'm more used to it now but still less turns would be a huge improvement. The steering is artificial and in the Honda Insight that I tested it felt artificially weighted. by that I mean like it had two balls of lead on the sides of the wheel hanging down by a string.
If they do that to the Prius I'd rather keep it the way it is.
I don't mind the light steering too much, my wife likes it. But her Honda Fit feels so much tighter. I wonder how it will feel with tighter steering and yet having to crank that wheel 3.8 turns to lock!
I'd have to drive a car with it to see if I'd want mine upgraded unless we can upgrade the steering rack as well.

 

can you also provide links to the posts of people stating that because its (for a part) NEW to mee.

and the review is far from a style loaded with sarcasm, hyperbole, and humor.
buth really negative and anti prius.

you are here for 17 posts now and are getting your firts prius if i am correct als already think you now all off this... i wam wondering if you really have a 2010 on order and are not just here to be negative about the prius.

 

Let's all engage our EV mode and sneek up behind him for the kill.
Funny, all the comments underneath from other people who have likely never had the experience of Prius.

 

I hate reviews like this, not because they find fault with a vehicle that I intend to buy, but because they reveal a fundamental ignorance of what is actually going on in the world and place frivolous concerns like machismo above human life and national security. For some thoughts on the Prius that I find far more compelling, check out the Motortrend interview with James Woolsey. Because I'm too new here, the site won't let me post the article, but it comes up easily with Google.

The bottom line is that the oil is running out. Without getting into the environmental aspects of the problem (which are their own unfolding tragedy), we have perhaps twenty years left of easy oil, and after that the amount of energy required to obtain the stuff will make it increasingly prohibitive to obtain. About ten years ago, this figure was often held at fifty years, but that failed to take into account the astronomical rise of China and India in recent years. The problem here is that every aspect of our technology is almost entirely dependant on the certainty of easily obtainable fossil fuel. When that assumption proves itself false, as it inevitably will, we will have either prepared for it or not. In the meantime, America consumes something like 25% of global oil production while only owning the mineral rights to about 5% or less of proven reserves (this from the U.S. Department of Energy). This disparity has required us to undermine the foundations of our economy through the most egregious negative trade balances in U.S. history (see the U.S. Census Bureau's statistics on trade balances) and placed our security and stability in the hands of people hostile to both. It has also required a foreign policy focused on safeguarding the flow of oil, the consequences of which should be familiar to everyone. I now divide the world into two camps; those who see that there is a problem with how we do business and those who do not. For the latter group I reserve a very special variety of contempt.

While this may come off as playing into the sanctimonious Priophile stereotype, that is far from my intent. Driving a hybrid car per se is not really that big a contribution to our problems. A person may reduce their overall petroleum consumption by an equal or greater margin by riding a bike on certain errands, or factoring a few vegetarian meals into his or her diet every week. I’ll be pretty happy with whatever a person decides to do to contribute to the future prosperity of the human species, but for God’s sake recognize the problem and at least do something! Everyone who insists on keeping their head in the sand today might as well go to their nearest military base and put a bullet between the eyes of a U.S. soldier, then present the nearest schoolchild with a bill for the funeral, because that is essentially what they’re doing only with more middlemen and far more steps involved.

If you don’t like the car, fine. Do something else to be part of the solution. If you don’t like the car because you think it will reduce your testosterone levels, get a grip. My job is to go to the far corners of the Earth and rain fire upon the enemies of the United States, and I have absolutely no masculinity issues with buying a Prius. Neither does James Woolsey; a man held in awe in certain hard core Realist and IR circles. As my degree is in political science, it has also not escaped my notice that an awful lot of the people I’ve rained fire upon just happen to be sitting on large oil deposits, though I’m certain that’s just a coincidence. I can also see that, if an average warship burns roughly 5,000,000 gallons of fuel on a six-month deployment, and there is a steady flow of them in and out of the Gulf, as well as fighters, supply and personnel transport, Humvees, etc. we’re essentially putting money in our enemies’ pockets to allow us to go and fight them. Woolsey talk about this, too, and it’s a very pertinent point. This is the true price of America’s gasoline consumption. Does anyone think that this is even close to sustainable?

In the larger scheme, we need to get off fossil fuel entirely, and the Prius won’t really help with that except to serve as a catalyst for new technologies. In the immediate sense, we can buy some time and take some money out of our enemies’ pockets by doing what we can to reduce our consumption of the stuff, and the Prius will help with that. So will other hybrids and a number of day-to-day changes that we can make. Every little bit is a good thing. Ideally, we would all drive what we felt like driving and leave everyone else alone, but there are times when certain actions become harmful to the health and safety of all, and at those times I don’t feel like being denigrated or ridiculed for choosing a different path. Call me pious if you like; I’ve got mathematics and grand strategy on my side (or should I say our side, given present company), so I’m amazingly unconcerned as to whether the reviewer linked to in the original post feels a certain car is powerful or manly enough. Big picture, dude. We’re missing it in an epic way.

I’m not sure if I was really moving towards any kind of conclusion with this rant other than that. Mostly I just see red when I read people saying silly things for stupid reasons and I needed some kind of catharsis. The management apologizes for any inconvenience. I feel better now.

 

Wow!! This thread isn't 24 hours old, and all of this attention. This writer has accomplished what few can.

Besides, if enough people can take this seriously, perhaps the demand will drop and prices will be lower. What's the problem?

Now, if he had said your child had crooked teeth and a big nose .....

 

My Prius is like a child to me. My most useful kid.

 

Wow, 6 pages and finally one person gets it. Try reading some other reviews on that site, they are all in the same style, that's his thing. Hint: "The Onion" is not a real news site either.

People need to lighten up. As the author points out in his flamboyant way, the Prius has many shortcomings, not the least of which is it's reputation as a smugmobile for humorless busybodies. Let's not keep perpetuating the myth.