UK PC Pro Columnist Swaps Hummer for Toyota Prius

[IsrAmeriPrius]

Jon Honeyball [PC Pro]:

[Excerpts]

So when I'm abroad, I tend to rent interesting vehicles, because there's so much to learn from them. A Hummer H2 might not be the most eco-friendly thing to drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and back, consuming more than 96 gallons of gas, but no-one would dispute the fun. This time, though, I decided to go green. I'd heard so many things about the Toyota Prius (or "Pious" to its detractors), I had to give it a go.

After all, when it comes to technological solutions, this baby has more techno-whizz than most. Two power sources - one petrol and one electric - regenerative braking for charging the batteries and some mind-boggling software to drive the whole thing, knitting together the power outputs through the constantly variable-ratio automatic gearbox. You wouldn't want an Excel-style miscalculation while driving down the motorway and end up having the electric motor arguing with the petrol.

First impressions are impressive. Starting the car isn't like your usual gas burner. Press the Power button and hold it in until the fascia boots up. Then wiggle the small "gear lever" into the drive position. Still, nothing has happened and the car is silent. Press on the accelerator and the car slides away silently, except for the quiet patter noise of the tyres on the tarmac.

The petrol engine kicks in seamlessly and you get more power on demand. It's a very refined unit, and almost silent in operation, too. In fact, the air-con unit was the noisiest thing in the car. Sit in static traffic, and a smugness comes over you - no petrol is being consumed, it's silent and there's no vibration either.

Unfortunately, it's impossible to accelerate in any meaningful way without the petrol engine kicking in. The engine runs all the time you're on a motorway, except for the rare occasions when you might be doing a long downhill stretch. Go uphill, and the engine can make a weird "mooing" noise as it slides around on the infinitely variable gearbox ratios.

And then there's the crushing reality of the fuel consumption. In several thousands of miles, spread between mooching around downtown Vegas and Hollywood and then long motorway drives between the two, the average fuel consumption was 41.1mpg. I'm sorry, but a major technological application of this nature can surely do 80mpg? Or even 120mpg?

My sisters get almost 40mpg out of their Audi A2s, cars that have an aluminium spaceframe and bodywork. The A2 weighs in at 895kg. The Prius comes in at 1,325kg, and the difference is due to the stuff that's been bolted onto the Prius to make it work as a hybrid. That's nearly half a tonne of weight difference.

The one thing the Prius should do well is the regenerative braking; that is, slowing down is achieved by using the motor as a generator to charge the batteries. However, even here I smell a rat - the brake pedal is definitely connected to the brake discs. When you lift off the throttle, the motor generates power into the batteries. And there's a B mode (for engine braking) on the gear lever.

What's more, the on-dash display assured me the engine-braking feature managed to generate only 100Watt-hours for my last half hour of driving. Slowing down over one-and-half tonnes of car and passengers using a true regenerative breaking system over quarter of an hour of driving will surely generate more than the energy required to run a table lamp for an hour?

I'm left with the feeling that the regenerative system is there to top up the undersized batteries, which allow you to sneak around in traffic queues in maximum smugness mode. Sometimes great technology isn't enough.[/b]

[bulldog]

I hope he remembered that 1 UK gal = 1.2 US gal.

[fircrkr]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ Nov 14 2007, 11:18 PM) [snapback]539793[/snapback]</div>

Jon Honeyball [PC Pro]:

[Excerpts]
[/b]

"A Hummer H2 might not be the most eco-friendly thing to drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and back, consuming more than 96 gallons of gas, but no-one would dispute the fun."

The man thinks driving a Hummer H2 is "fun" - what can you say to that.

And Here I thought driving our 05 Prius for 6,334 miles on 134 gallons of gas was kind of fun.
We took another road trip in Sept/Oct from Minnesota west to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons then south to five National Parks in Utah into Colorado for Mesa Verde and the Durango Silverton RR. On south to Phoenix then east to Texas and back north to MN. We spent $370.74 for gas. Now that's FUN!

[Tideland Prius]

he's comparing HIS driving to his SISTER'S driving? Maybe it runs in the family? I doubt it. He's probably a bigger lead foot than his sister.

Besides, I wouldn't be caught dead in an Audi A2. You think the Aztec was ugly, try the A2.

[swfoster2]

Once again there is no metion of emissions. It's a common thread with the Prius bashers- they focus on MPG and ignore the low emissions. And I guess those of us who do get over 50 MPG are liars according to this guy. Please, make him go away......

[HolyPotato]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cheminee @ Nov 15 2007, 11:24 AM) [snapback]539994[/snapback]</div>

And then there's the crushing reality of the fuel consumption. In several thousands of miles, spread between mooching around downtown Vegas and Hollywood and then long motorway drives between the two, the average fuel consumption was 41.1mpg. I'm sorry, but a major technological application of this nature can surely do 80mpg? Or even 120mpg?

My sisters get almost 40mpg out of their Audi A2s
[/b]

As a UK mag, I also wonder if he remembered to make the conversion between US and UK gallons (41.1 MPG[US] is a fair bit better than "almost" 40 MPG[UK]. It also reeks of another apples-to-oranges comparison. I've never seen an Audi A2, but Wikipedia says it's a "supermini", and it sounds pricey.

[KMO]

The stuff about weight's nonsense too. Any added weight from the battery has been saved elsewhere. The Prius slots between the Corolla/Auris and the Avensis in the line-up by size and its weight is pretty much halfway inbetween - exactly what you'd expect.

[patsparks]

Maby weight difference isn't due so much to what Toyota put in the prius but on what Audi put in it's A2

My sisters get almost 40mpg out of their Audi A2s, cars that have an aluminium spaceframe and bodywork. The A2 weighs in at 895kg.[/b]