Toyota Invite; Come Drive the Mirai

Thank you for the report. Let us know if you end up with a mirai. IMHO you don't really want one before march anyway, that first batch gets to find the problems.

 

Why anybody would want to be subjected to this (hazardous) mess at such an early stage is anybody's guess (aside from zero emissions).

 

The reality is that everyone is just taking guesses at how the infrastructure will work or not work, and we really don't know how it will all work, until the first year goes by....

 

That is a two edge sword. The infrastructure will work if you put enough money into it. What is pretty much assured is government money will run out long before a national self-sustaining commercially viable infrastructure is up and running.

 

Well, hopefully the ones running in Japan already will be considered the first batch

 

I do consider them the first batch, but I don't expect you'll hear complaints even if they complain loudly. Most Japanese don't hit us blogs, and most of that batch has gone to corporation and the government, where the drivers are encouraged to say how great the cars are.

Only 700 cars this year, so next year as they work out the kinks of building them.

 

Just a reminder , we are talking about Toyota, I highly doubt there will be any kinks to iron out. As an owner of many Toyota's and Lexus's over the years I have never had any issues with any of my cars, regardless of being first year models.

 

Wow...such doubt. Your Gen II has not had 50 years to work out the kinks, how's that working out for you?

 

And they aren't immune to first year problems. The first year gen2 Rav2 was one of the worse drops in reliability ratings at CR.

 

My 2001 Prius and 2004 Prius were both first year cars and they were both subject to various recalls and service campaigns as was the 3rd gen Prius. That's just a fact of life. In spite of that, I'm glad I didn't wait a year or two before buying them. The same is true of my 2011 Volt.

 

That first yea cars issues is genuine Governent Motors legacy - they built it, sold it, had it crap out, and pissed off many customers.
no wonder Toyota is a world leader, thanks to GM

DBCassidy

 

The infrastructure is so minuscule, I have no interest in waiting around for it to be built out over the rest of the country when I can get a zero emissions vehicle today and charge it at home (just waiting for the more affordable longer range models to come).

 

Right, my 2009 suffered from a malady that I couldn't even get the local dealership to resolve through a known service campaign. I just traded in the vehicle at year 3 due to losing the will to fight them over it.

 

Per Tesla Supercharger Network - Page 103 - My Nissan Leaf Forum, there are 32 Supercharger stations in CA now, consisting of 257 charging stalls.

 

I just finished my Mirai test drive this afternoon.

The car was very nice and definitely had a Lexus vibe to it. Acceleration was fine but then I'm a slow poke driver. The noise from the fuel cell system was similar to a pleasant fan whirl when it was present at all.

The staff was pleasant and friendly but there was a very typical amount of uncertainty or inconsistency about details as is often the case on new-fangled test drives. One person said H2 was ~$7 a kg (I think) while another more accurately said $12-13 per kg at the moment. But of course, Toyota is giving away a fueling credit for now.

One thing I hadn't noticed until now is the small triangular red light or reflector in the lower middle part of the rear bumper. It reminds me of the 1st gen Volt's backup light.

I continue to have serious doubts about the wisdom of rolling out H2 fuel cell passenger vehicles now but at least the early adopters will have a nice ride.

 

The red triangle light in the rear bumper is a fog light. The cars we are test driving are not US spec cars, but made for the German market. Ours will not have the fog light.

 

Thanks for sharing, and no I did not know about Victor Wouk. Very interesting. I would like to point out that American car companies may have been playing with Hybrid systems for the past 45 years, but in the 1970's Japanese car companies were just trying to figure out how to build a reliable car. Japanese cars did not take off in sales in the US until the late 1970's and early 1980's. I would be surprised if Toyota was researching Hybrid technology during these early years. Don't forget Honda did not get into the car business until 1963, 10 years before Victor Wouk had the Hybrid system in his car. During the early 1980's Toyota was more focused on creating the best luxury car they could build to complete against the likes of Mercedes Benz and Baverian Motor Works. So I don't think Toyota's focus at this time was on Hybrid systems, at least not till the mid to late 1980's. This is certainly not 50 years of development for Toyota as you suggest. Honda went a whole different direction with the Hybrid system that has proved to have taken a back seat to Toyota's system.

 

It isn't like Toyota was working in the dark and didn't know about the Wouk hybrid or Brigg&Strattons or the hybrids from the beginning of the automobile era.