(Car and Driver) 2010 Toyota Prius - First Drive Review

[Tideland Prius]

Could the Prius and fun finally get along?

We’ve never gotten too excited about the Toyota Prius around here. On one hand, as an extreme fuel-sipper with a distinctive design and contrarian appeal, the Prius is laudable in the manner with which it eschews traditional luxury and conspicuous speed in favor of high-tech eco features, utter thrift, and unconventional hatchback living. On the other hand, with skinny tires, a loud cabin, terrible rear vision, and a boomy ride, the Prius has been the exact opposite of fun to drive. Indeed, efficiency and green image aside, considered as a plain ol’ car, the Prius has represented little more than an expensive Corolla.

Toyota has been relatively fine with that, for there are plenty of shoppers seeking the automotive equivalent of an Energy Star appliance for their transportation needs, and Toyota has wooed more than a million into Priuses so far. For 2010, however, Toyota has stepped up the game, not just updating the styling considerably, but veritably pouring engineering talent (some 200 engineers’ worth) into making countless changes intended to make the Prius both more powerful, more efficient, and—get this—more fun to drive. Plus, there are those impressive fuel-economy ratings: an official EPA-estimated 51 mpg city, 48 mpg highway, and 50 mpg combined.

Full Article

[ggood]

quote:

"Specify the 17-inch wheels and 215/45 tires (yes, 45-series tires on a Prius), however, and watch the Prius take on a more spirited persona. Priuses thus equipped adopt a much quicker 14.6:1 (versus 17.6) steering rack with just 2.8 turns lock-to-lock (versus 3.7), as well as firmer shock tuning, resulting in much more grip and less bitching on the part of the stability-control system."

[spwolf]

as i mentioned in other thread, yeah, so much for how much marketing people know about cars until they get them :P

The bundle of upgrades allowed us to maintain impressively high speeds along the tight, squiggly, and oddly cambered roads east of Napa, turn with grace (i.e. no beeps and tugs from the stability control), and pull out of corners with surprising aplomb.

Now, while a fun, comfortable Prius might be seen as some as a portent to the apocalypse, we doubt the world will end when the Prius hits dealers in April at a yet-undisclosed MSRP. It’s no longer the punishment device that the old one was, particularly with the larger rolling stock. What’s next? Likely more Prius variants, although we’re not sure what sort of form they’ll take. But we know now that Toyota isn’t afraid to build a Prius that can actually be considered a little fun, so perhaps a Prius Sport model isn’t out of the question.

[thomatt12]

The 2010 Prius is almost the same as the old model except for the new front fascia and some other added features. But I like it still!

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toyota parts catalog

[Son of Gloin]

Oh how I "love" that article ... especially the part - near the end - that suggests the 2010 Gen III Prius is ...

"... no longer the punishment device the old one was ...."

Punishment device?

I'm confident there are SOME people out there who already require the services of a chiropractor on a weekly-or-monthly basis ... and for them, I dare say ANY lengthy trip in ANY vehicle would be sheer agony.

But for the other 95% of "us" ... the "old" Prius is by no means a "punishment device"! Rather recently, my wife, daughter and I made a trip from west-central Indiana to up-state New York and back in our '08 Prius - traveling nearly 1,700 miles and spending perhaps 40 hours in the car in a span of five days - and, upon our return home, failed to feel as though we had been "punished" in any way!

EDIT FOLLOWS: I've sent an e-mail to C&D in which I included the text of my post above. IF they should happen to respond in any way - yeah ... right! - I'll update this post accordingly.

[yardman 49]

I agree with Son of Gloin. We just made a 900 mile trip in 15 hours in our 2009. Three adults, left rear seat folded down for extra cargo. The car rode great. We all took turns driving and drove straight through. It was a very comfortable ride.

I really don't understand the comment about the cabin being "loud". Our cabin seems to be very quiet on the highway. Did Toyota add more sound insulation in the latter years of the G2s?

[fred garvin]

Originally Posted by thomatt12

The 2010 Prius is almost the same as the old model except for the new front fascia and some other added features. But I like it still!

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toyota parts catalog

you are correct - the 2010 is almost exactly the same in most important respects as the prior model. There are some very minor differences, which really don't even merit mentioning, but here are a couple:

29% increase in engine size (1.8l over 1.4l)
same general shape but different sheet metal - aggressive
disc brakes in the back vs drums
new display system w/ touch tracer
solar roof, remote ac
new electric motors
heat recirc to shorten warm-up time
app. 10% mileage increase (epa to epa)
better seats
tilt/zoom steering wheel
price reduction year over year

[David Beale]

Yawn, (pardon me). To use the vernacular, if the car don't have a gazillion HP, burn the pavement, look dangerous, etc. then C&D don't like it! It ain't a "real fun car"
They are still in the 20th century. Hope they have fun there.

The new GIII isn't -that- different from the GII. Basically the same cabin, noise level, ride smoothness. More power, but really, is a second in the 1/4 mile -that- big? Yup the OEM tires in the GII stunk. Just like -most- new cars. Change them to -real- tires and the car handled just fine, thank you! I suspect the reviewers looked hard to justify -not- liking the Prius, either model. They lept on many marginal areas most of us find are just fine. I suppose they still don't get that it's NOT a "performance car", unless you call performance carrying a lot of stuff, getting fabulous mileage, being extreemly reliable, and showing the world that the owner probably cares a bit about his/her impact on said world.

[nylion]

I have always liked Car and Driver magazine. In my sports car days, I considered it my number 2 source (Road and Track being number one) of pre-purchase information. Car and Driver has a long tradition of favoring domestic cars. That's why the sports car crowd prefer Road and Track. However, the road tests in C&D tend to be reasonable and fair.

I've been driving my 2006 for 3 years. My 2010 is due in a couple of weeks. While I wouldn't go into the hyperbole of "punishment machine" about my 2006, I have to agree that I never got the feeling I was driving the car. It's become a family joke that the G2 "sometimes lets me steer". It's silly for the C&D tester to think that the G2 or G3 Prius would handle like a sports car. It's classifed by Consumer Reports as a "family sedan". Certainly the features are more Lexus than MR2 (wish it were still being made).

The C&D road test for the G3 was amazing. It revealed some details about the series V that no one else has mentioned: suspension tuning and steering tightening. It seemed odd to me that one model would just "have" larger wheels with lower profile tires. The visual change is too small to justify the price jump.

This is pretty typical of Toyota. Sometimes engineering changes don't make it to the marketing literature. Why? Who knows. Maybe because the idea of a "sport" Prius didn't fit with the current image being sold to us. I don't think it is anything evil. I just think it is yet another one of Toyota's cool ways to "delight" the customer.

There has always been a dual personality associated with the Prius. On one hand there are the traditional economy car purchasers who see the spectacular mileage as the 21st century version of the AMC Rambler. Of course, even at the low end of the packages, the Prius G2 was much more luxurious thatn the economy cars. Of course it cost more too.

The other target group (at least for G2) is the "green", upscale buyer who wants to feel good about protecting the environment while having a cool car with all the goodies available on less fuel efficient models. The way G2 and now G3 aim at that market is pure genius. I don't think anyone perceives the Prius as an economy car. The Insight is trying to notch in at the "we're cheaper and fun and green" end of the market.

Neither of the target markets rate performance at the top of their lists. Apparently, Toyota is smart enough to realize that some of us really miss our MR2's, Eclipses, and other sports cars. I know I miss the insanely fun ride of my old Acura CL sport. Wow, was that a fun car to drive!

While a lot of people here who are Prius fans (I am a happy Prius owner, not a fan) will be upset with the C&D review, they need to know that C&D doesn't give many extra points for cool technology and fuel economy. They report it, but when they do a test drive they are taking the car over a known course that the reviewers have driven hundreds of times wth all sorts of vehicles.

Whether or not you agree with the G2 or 15-inch G3 reviews, consider the amazing change in attitude over the 17-inch type V. We just learned something new. Something Toyota didn't tell us. The type V isn't just more luxurious with more gadgets and bigger wheels. It is a reengineered suspension and steering capable of impressing the C&D reviewer. Wow! Can't wait till I get mine.

[fccn75]

Hi, had my 2010 for about two weeks now and all is great. The only thing I want to know about this year versus last years (gen 2) is the throttle response versus torque.

I read one of the car mags and stumbled on one of the more impressive performance item: torque = approx. 400ft-lbs from 0-1200 rpm! I would assume that gen 3 is better since most reviews says that gen 3 is "more" powerful (hp), but there is no way I can feel this much pull even on the gentle feathering of the throttle below 25mph.

Is the 2009 better in terms of torque or is it equal to the 2010?? On eco mode, especially entering an incline, it can be a wait to eternity if I don't floor it. On powermode, yeah, it comes on a bit better. I had expected the torque of the electric motor to get the car moving with a "press you back" feeling. Am I missing something that I should have gotten a gen 2?

For those who have driven the 2010, how does the torque feel at startup versus the 2009?