YouTube videos about the Prius

"Top Gear": Yep, goes to prove that some people just don't get it. You can give them all of the information and facts in the world, but if in the end they choose to warp that information to suit their pessimistic world, that's their choice, I guess.

The host comes across as a Simon Cowell wannabe.

 

While I understand our negative reaction to any criticism of the prius. Keep in mind that Europe has not taken to the prius as much as the United States has. The guy in the clip, i don't know his name, has driven A LOT of nice cars. He is an expert in that sense. He is by no means an expert on hybrids, and you could obviously tell his bias against it. Reviews like these are probably why diesels are selling better in Europe than over here. I found it interesting that he never mentioned the sks, bt, nav, etc. All features that you would not find on a car at a comparable price. You mgiht find it in a BMW 7 series but not ont a $25,000 car. Perhaps Europe in general has a genuine interest in protecting their own automobile industry and are decidely biased against foreign competition. I don't know, i'm just guessing here.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(brandon @ Jul 10 2006, 12:40 PM) [snapback]283877[/snapback]</div>

Yes, he is a nit. And, I have seen other videos with him, and it's obvious that he has a lead foot.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bigj3347 @ Jul 10 2006, 01:06 PM) [snapback]283941[/snapback]</div>

His name is Clarkson and he is well known in the UK as a TV motormouth who represents a kind of 'boy racer' section of the motoring public. The Prius he was driving must have been a 2003 model, according to the number plate, so this video may be 2-3 years old. Note that the 43MPG he said he got on his 70MPH trip would be about 35 MPG with USA gallons which is very low so clearly his figures are either wrong or he couldn't drive a Prius properly. It's noteworthy that he did not mention other economies you get with a Prius - very low annual road tax and freedom from the London congestion charge.
You may have noticed he pronounced Prius to rhyme with 'Try us". I think on PriusChat we generally accept it should rhyme with "see us". Or do we?

I'm pretty sure there is no European bias against foreign cars, as this post suggests. Japanese cars are very common on the roads here and so are Fords which incidentally now have a high reliability rating from the main Consumer Association - "WHICH?"

Anyway a very nice selection of Prius videos and thanks for mentioning the site.

 

i'm sure it was a 2004. he mentions the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" which came out in 2004. i assume this was done soon after.

as for his comments, i agree with a few of them, yes maybe three. but... if you notice he keeps calling the car slow, but he also keeps saying he's not a lead foot. well which is it? if you weren't a lead foot, you wouldn't be so bothered by how "slow" the car is. the only video i've ever seen him do that wasn't of a sports car, was one on the hilux, and it wasn't about driving. if you have ever watched any of his other videos, you know he is all for power.

i pronounce it pree us. see here

 

The thing is I am getting about 40-42mpg on our Prius. We live on a hill so not complaining. Also there are rattles and some cheapness about the car. Since there are so many more diesels in UK I imagine fuel is handier to buy. I'm sure some diesels easily beat the Prius. It is quiet when in electric mode and that "danger" fact has been discussed here a few times I recall. I don't see too many things wrong with the review. There is another video of him and an Audi V8 diesel getting 50 mpg. Here's the link to that one:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search=top+...s&search=Search

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(koa @ Jul 10 2006, 04:01 PM) [snapback]284059[/snapback]</div>

Remember ... those are Imperial gallons. About 1.2X the U.S. gallon.

 

I may be wrong, but could it have been he had not converted the gallons to liters? In the video, the screen says 'MPG' which I would have thought he would have in Liters. Again, I may be wrong. Then later, he points out what he got with the diesel VW, and maybe then, he was quoting MPL, which would be higher?

Maybe I am wrong. But either way, he sure seem biased.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TJandGENESIS @ Jul 10 2006, 10:02 PM) [snapback]284204[/snapback]</div>

I'm fairly sure they use gallons in the UK... for some reason, they haven't gone metric.

 

Don't forget that diesel at least here in the US is going through some changes!

Shell has already posted the "don't use this diesel for 2007 or newer model cars or engines". I guess we're going to a zero sulfur diesel fuel this year.

So, like E85, will be...impossible to find.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonnycat26 @ Jul 10 2006, 10:28 PM) [snapback]284260[/snapback]</div>

Petrol is sold in litres (pump price is now about £0.97 per litre) but many drivers, probably most, refer in conversation to 'gallons'. The Prius (at least my 2005) is sold with MPG on the screen (imperial gallon) but I suppose this is easy to alter. I haven't tried.

The UK went metric officially some years ago. Food weights and quantities are sold in kilograms and litres, although as you line up at the cheese counter you'll hear most people ask for "half a pound of..." etc. But the scales are marked in grams and the customer will get the cheese priced in grams at so much a kilo.

Timber and other building materials are entirely metric but often referred to by users in imperial. For example I recently wanted to buy some new square paving slabs to match some older ones which were 2 feet square. So I go to the shop and ask for "2 foot slabs" and they are pointed out to me but they're marked 600mm and when I come to measure a new slab I find it's actually 60 cms square which is 1 cm smaller than 2 feet.

The surveyor who comes to your house to measure for new windows will call out the measurements in numbers such as "1030 x 1486". If you were born before about 1950 you'll wonder what the heck this means because you thought your window was around 3 feet x 5 feet. The surveyor's "1486' is of course 1.486 metres but he talks in millimetres. The plumber may still refer to "a four inch pipe" but the new pipes he buys will be 100mm, which is slightly smaller.

If you go in a pub to recover and you ask for a beer the barman will give you "a pint" unless you have asked for "a half". I've no idea whether this really is a pint or something near.

In short, it's all a bit muddled but on the whole it works and the situation is probably improving because kids at school are not taught using inches, feet, etc. although they'll still see "miles" on road signs and they'll refer to speeds in "miles per hour". The speed limit in built-up areas is still "30 MPH"

 

I watched the Prius segment and the Audi, 800 mile segments.

Wow, he went without heat for a couple of really cold days, he went the speed limit and maybe slower taking on inclines, he didn't stop along the way, etc. for the Audi test. Yet, I imagine he did lots of things - A/C on, jack rabbit starts and stops, etc. - to reduce the Prius mileage.

The guy is entertaining, but I won't take his word on hybrid evaluations.