Hands on: Prius

[Arcdelad]

so...here I am in arizona in a self-imposed exile, finding myself travelling from east mesa to the I-17 and down to chandler everyday, which is the wow equivalent to traveling from booty bay to winterspring to the un'goro crater...

luckily my mother was gracious enough to let us borrow her toyota prius, the self proclaimed next step towards greater fuel efficiency...this almost, ALMOST, negates the fact that her five (yes five) dogs in her brand new house like to decorate the base boards with urine...or maybe that i mistakenly grabbed my step-dad's denture soaking cup and almost took a swig...

either way, it has been interesting driving the prius...the handling is so-so and the acceleration is no better or worse than a midsize or compact car that middle class yuppies like myself like to drive, so really the proof of worth here for me lies in the gadgetry...

the key is awesome...no need to turn it in the ignition or manulaly unlock the doors...just walk up to the door and POOF - instant unlocked...sit in the drivers seat, step on the break, and hit the power button...BAM...no need to insert a key into the ignition so long as you have it jingling in your pocket...

the power button, though, speaks of what this car really means - the combination of consumer electronics with the world of automobiles....this is why this car fails in my eyes...the main source of information from this gadget comes from a screen in the console which takes the place of the standard radio and temperature controls in most cars...while this may seem cool, the functionality of the screen blows hairy goats (sorry buz)...yea! i can see the imaginary flow of electrons passing from the engine to the battery...woot! i see that i now have 50 MPG...no wait...now 34...er...nlow 99.9 (im braking after all)...all thats nifty...but try and easly chage the radio station and youll soon find that you can listen to mary's boy child, barry manilow, or the latest oompaloompa cascade from radio amor...in their haste to make this cool lookig console they totally blew the functionalty of it, meaning the "wow" factor of the 12" square LCD screen lasts one to two carrides at the max, leaving you only with the bitter frusration of trying to find an alternative music station while suffering through a 12 minute Prince balad.

Not only that, the intellectual in me gets peeeved at this damn thing as well...my crappy display diligently tells me im avergaing 48.9 MPG, but it fails to mention that averages, like other math stats, can be carelessly misued to give you a false sense of understanding...48.9 MPG does NOT exclude the reported 99.9 MPG i get when braking and the such, which overall are not as often as you are stepping on that gasoline draining accelerator pedal..through my observations im getting about 35-39 MPG on the freeway, which in reality is as good or worse than what i get in my 2006 corolla...

...and...the lights do not come on automatically....im used to cars now that sense the darkness and instantly turn on the lights when appropriate...with all its rear view cameras and LCD screens, this car did NOT turn on y lights automaticlly, meaning billy joe redneck (sorry threlin) in his 1980 dodge felt the urge to flash me with his highbays as i drove down the lighted street without lights on due to my assumption...

cmon car makers...if your going to give me an electronic to play with, make it really impressive...and fuel efficeint....being green is popular these days you know

[Rocknlock]

Tell them to buy a diesel pickup. plenty of power, room, cargo space, good looks/sound, and gas prices are just about as much here as diesel costs lol

[un4]

I've driven a Prius before.  It's kinda fun once you get used to it, but I'm still holding out for the Maserati.


...who'm I kidding 

[Nixphire]

/macro
/script get odometer
/script get gallons you just filled
/math miles / gallons
/script reset odometer

[Kothnok]

The Prius displays the avg mpg much like Windows does estimated times on file transfers.  Connection perhaps?

[Shadowwolf]

Prius' have lots of issues

They blow tires a lot, the weight of the batteries is sometimes too much for the tires and they just flat out blow out.

The batteries last only 3-4 years before needing to be replaced, at which time, you have to pay roughly $8-12k for new ones and the cost of disposal =P

In extreme weather, they dont perform well at all.

Hybrids and Electric cars have a long way to go still before they are fully ready for the consumer marketplace I think. There is still way too many kinks and bugs to be worked out from so many years of petroleum product dependency =/

[un4]

Handled pretty well in six inches of snow, haha.

[fiere redfern]

Half of PhillyCarShare's fleet is taken up by the Prius (for those of you that don't know, PCS is basically a way to have a car for a couple hours/day/whatever without having to keep a car in Philly (and worry about it constantly) or pay the prices big-name rent-a-car companies charge.) I recently had the pleasure (jury's out on that one) of driving one.

For one, they're terrible for being able to just sit down and drive a car. Maybe part of that was my fault, but I had a helluva time figuring out how to turn the damned thing on. (PCS's Priuses have to have the keyfob inserted into a little hole next to the stering wheel - won't turn on otherwise) The back window was my main dislike. I'm used to windows literally twice the size of that one (I drive a station wagon normally) and NOT bi-sected by the bloody spoiler. It took more effort to see the cars behind me than I would've liked, and the piece of glass below the spoiler is next to useless.

I didn't particularly like the touch-screen display for radio/mpg/whatever either - too many shiny things to distract my attention from the road while trying to learn the car's quirks for my comfort level. I'll take a standard radio any day - though it did give me something to play with during the long red lights =P I'm also too bloody tall for the things - it gets distracting having your head brush the ceiling during every minor bump in the road >.<

[LastDyingBreath]

Un4 and I have both driven our parents' prius... no thanks.  Too much gadgetry(wtf is with the turtles stacking up on the built in display?), not enough OOMPH (pedal is to the metal, wtb acceleration), and the angle of the windshield messed with my head.  I also had space issues.  I'm a big guy, though not enormous (6 foot tall, 40 inch waist, 50 inch chest, size 12 triple extra wide shoes) and I felt cramped.  I was constantly scrunching down to see, banging my head on the spot where the roof meets the wall.  The seatbelt is also hypersensitive and locks up repeatedly as I try to buckle up.  The pedals feel unnatural and I have difficulty getting my foot off the gas and to the brake.  My Matrix has a smaller driver's seat but for some reason I fit hella better in it.

It is nice to just walk in and hit go, however.

[Shadowwolf]

Give me my gas guzzlers any day =)

Thats just a sexy sound, something no Green car could ever replace 

[Threlin]

...and...the lights do not come on automatically....im used to cars now that sense the darkness and instantly turn on the lights when appropriate...with all its rear view cameras and LCD screens, this car did NOT turn on y lights automaticlly, meaning billy joe redneck (sorry threlin) in his 1980 dodge felt the urge to flash me with his highbays as i drove down the lighted street without lights on due to my assumption...

Aw now, Arc...Billy Joe was just trying to be neighborly! I'd bet he was just trying to save you being reminded to turn your lights on by the police.  He probably thought you were likkered up and lacquered over! 

[Buzan]

Gasoline dependent cars all the way for me.

[Shadowwolf]

Hehe

[LastDyingBreath]

did you just embed an entire episode of south park?  yes, yes you did.  This amuses me greatly.

BTW... everybody who's loving gasoline sucking cars should practice bike repair.  Because when the oil runs out it'll be THE way to get around.  just sayin'

[Shadowwolf]

Of course I did =)