说说 Toyota Prius – My Own Experience

Yesterday moderator Casinoeye posted GM Hybrid Photos and Toyota Hybrid Photos, and love_lexus put up a Hino truck with hybrid click here. To support thus discussions, now I am inputing mine...

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Last Friday I went to Hertz to return Chrysler 300 I rented a week earlier. 300 is kind of raw with gas guzzling appetite, so I want to switch to another one. The clerk said to me that all others were out, only a hybrid 07 Prius left, if you would like to give it shot. I said sure I’ll try.

On my way home, woops, I found it’s not too bad – better than what I expected. Over the weekend I drove it to 99 Ranch and today I came to work, I felt I had a good amount of experience for it, now I’m sharing with you.

(1) Size – from outside, it looks small, about 1 foot shorter than 07 Camry, even smaller than Corolla; but inside, it appears bigger. Surely it’s a narrower car – I can reach passenger side doorknob with slight lean-over, while with Camry, I’d need to stretch harder. The legroom, head and shoulder rooms seem adequate for most people.
(2) Interior control – it has a touch screen panel in the middle for climate and audio controls. Normally it stays in graphic state showing battery charges/discharges, for which I wasn’t fully understanding the meaning yet. Other buttons/knobs are typical of Toyota’s.
(3) Driving – overall it is pretty good. Picking-up is not bad, seems better than Corolla. Steering wheel is moderate hard, but stable. Noise level – quiet in low speed or smooth surface but noisy on highway when it reaches 80 mph and engine is roaring, particularly the road noise is a bit of disappointed comparing its Toyota siblings (but way better than Mustang or Taurus). Suspensions are typically medium hard. The rims are 15’, which is subject to small bumps on the road if the surface is not smooth.
(4) Gas Economy – Even though EPA says 60/51 for local/Hiway, according to center panel info, I got average 43 mpg so far with 60% hiway 40% local over 150 miles. I think it’s impressive although EPA numbers are exaggerated. I have a Jetta TDI in my home; it gets almost the same numbers.
(5) Start and Park – the gear selection is different than regular car’s. When you start, you plug in an electronic “box” to the slot, press a separate button called “Power” to turn electric motor/engine on. When you stop, you’ll need to press the “Park” button in order to engage the parking mechanism. A couple times I was unable to shift the gear to R or D, maybe software issue, I had to turn the “Power” off, then press it again to get it working.
(6) Safety – Just like other Toyota small cars, it is light; I have yet to have a chance by-passing a 18-wheelers to see if it “floats”. It has 2 front Disc brakes, with 2 drums at rear. When I braked it, at the very moment, I felt it jerked forward before it slowed down. I am not sure this is a design issue.

Overall, I am happy with its performance. You can save a lot of money on the gas, even though it’s far behind what it is labeled. Considering that it can be driven on car pool lanes with only one person, that is an added bonus. Minimum emission to protect environment is good thing too.

The battery, however with warranty 100000 miles, and costing $3k to replace it in case needed, might be a factor as well. Given the fact that it gets almost the same gas economy than TDI, factor the diesel fuel price vs gas price, offset by potential maintenance costs, safety features, I think it may be wise to get a TDI than this electronic laden new breed.

Here is the actual car I am talking about: