Well it was a shock for me anyway. I guess it had to happen that a confirmed petrol head such as myself would end up being issued a rental car that seems like the absolute antithesis of fun motoring. But it was late at San Francisco Airport and I didn?t want to wait.

Actually first impressions were quite good. In the car park I was confronted with Priuses as far as the eye can see, all in a very bright shade of metallic red which suits the futuristic styling. I?ve never seen so many Priuses and I later learned that there is a tax incentive here for hybrid vehicles. I found mine, operated the small, well designed electronic key module and climbed in, noticing that the door closed with a very solid clunk, reminiscent of a VW if not quite a Merc. The driving seat is comfortable even though Toyota have clearly gone out of their way to find the least attractive interior fabric imaginable, presumably thinking the target customers generally want to adopt a sack cloth and ashes approach to life. There is more perceived space up front than many SUVs I?ve experienced and the dashboard is stunning its weirdness. Then the big problem was, how do you start this thing? 10 minutes of fiddling and swearing revealed that you have to put the key module in a hidden slot, then simultaneously press the brake pedal hard and touch the ?Start? button on the dashboard. Should have been obvious I guess. Put the tiny shifter thingy on the dashboard into ?D? and off we went.

There are 2 big surprises when you move off from rest the first time in a Prius. One is the unexpected shove in the back from the acceleration. The other is that it?s virtually silent. Or at least it is until you push the pedal too far and the petrol engine starts up. That?s not to say the engine is noisy, it just interrupts the eerie silence of pure electric power (especially in a multi-storey car park).

Onto the broken blacktop of US 101. There is always a lot of traffic around San Francisco irrelevant of the time of day. You sit high up in a Prius, which helps self confidence when driving an underpowered eco car in a sea of nose to tail SUVs. Actually it isn?t that underpowered. Pulling onto the highway it was easy to reach the speed of the rest of the traffic. The petrol engine sometimes sounds strained as the revs bear no direct relationship to the road speed, but it?s never intrusive and the rest of the car is very quiet with almost no wind noise even up to 85 mph. The car is also very stable, has excellent brakes, and handles in a very neutral fashion, probably helped by a low centre of gravity with the NiMH batteries mounted low over the rear axle. The ride appears as good as any other mid sized car and I was not being knocked off line by pot holes which happens in various US sheds. Actually, I realised, a Prius is not only relaxing but also (gulp) fun to drive.

Time to take stock of the interior. There is a digital speedo, lots of idiot lights, including one that tells you when the air-con is switched on and one that says ?Ready? for no apparent reason. A large touch sensitive screen dominates the middle of the dashboard and controls pretty much all of the minor functions such as air-con and stereo, sort of like a miniature i-Drive, and there appear to be no controls instantly recognisable from other cars. I eventually discovered that these controls are on the steering wheel. You read that correctly, the air-con controls are on the steering wheel. Underneath the screen in typical Toyota fashion is an ugly LED digital clock which looks like it came from a 70s Corolla. Two additional functions on the screen are an ?energy transfer? display and a fuel consumption meter. The former shows which energy source is doing what, whether the car is consuming or regenerating energy and what the state of the battery is. The latter shows the fuel consumption in 15 minute time intervals together with little tokens which you win when you manage to regenerate more than 50 kW of power. I found both screens huge fun and massively distracting, but in Northern California no-one wastes much time watching the road anyway. There is something strangely fulfilling about coasting downhill with the shift lever thingy in the ?B? setting and seeing the battery in the display turn green as you fill up the last charge bar. I also found myself trying to accelerate in such a way as to keep the petrol engine from cutting in for as long as possible for no other reason than liking the feeling of silent forwards motion. I discovered this is particular fun in supermarket car parks as people don?t hear the car approaching.

I realised I was starting to like this car although it?s far from perfect. Being designed for the US market there are more annoying chimes and alarms than in a Tamagotchi factory and more idiot proof functions than any other car I can remember driving (e.g. it bleeps like a 40 ton truck when reversing and some radio functions are disabled when the car is moving). It also sometimes makes odd noises when the petrol engine engages and disengages itself, the amount of servo assistance to the steering changes for no apparent reason and the shape affects visibility and makes it a nightmare to park. I?m also not such how much fun driving would be with a discharged battery, though it seemed to charge quickly enough when I wasn?t continually performing full throttle starts from traffic lights.

At the end of my 2 day rental the Prius had achieved 42 mpg (US) average according to the trip computer, when I filled up it was actually a bit less than that, so approaching diesel economy without the rattles and turbo lag. Plus, with the screen and the electric mode there is an incentive even for someone as pathologically lead footed as me to drive economically.

Apart from the apparent economy benefits, I can?t help feeling that Toyota is underselling the hybrid concept by marketing it to tree huggers. There are so few cars that offer a genuinely different driving experience these days. In fact I felt a sense of anticlimax back in Pittsburgh when I picked up a conventionally powered Volvo S40. Maybe Toyota should beef up the suspension, put in a slightly bigger electric motor, a six cylinder engine and market it as a fun product. Oh, hang on they do ? it?s called the Lexus GS450h. That must be really something! Read more

HI.I have this weekend fitted a new clutch in my rover 420 SLDI.I noticed when I stripped it that there was no end play on the clutch arm,ie you couldn't move it from side to side at all when connected to the slave cylinder.I fitted the new clutch,when I came to refit the slave cylinder I tried to push the piston back so I could refit it,it wouldn't go back,in the end I had to undo the snap connector and press the inner bit down,then I could push the piston back.I refitted it,the clutch works fine,but there is no float on the clutch arm and there is no slack at all on the pedal,almost as if there is pressure on the release arm all the time.I know normally with hydraulic clutches you have a little bit of travel on the clutch pedal before you feel pressure,with mine it is there all the time.It seems strange that I couldn't push the slave piston back,it was as if a return valve is blocked.The whole system is a sealed thing,you can't strip the slave or master cylinder.Can anyone give me any help on this? Thankyou. Regards Andrew...
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I do like my Diesels to be Turbocharged for that extra OOMPH!!!! Read more

My GTI Anniversary has the factory fit 18" BBS Alloys which as you may know are prone to corrosion. Mine are in very good condition but I have already seen signs of it starting. Is there anything I can do at all? Im going to buy some GTI alloys for the winter months due to more salt on the roads but need some advice to either help slow down the corrosion or stop it altogether! Help! Read more

I am collecting my brand new car at the end of next week, and a week later I am driving to France in it.

Now normally before a large drive like that (especially in the summer) I would apply lashings of wax to the front of car and polish it up to make it as "smooth" as possible to minimise the amount of dead insects.

However, with the car being brand new, I assume it will have sat somewhere encased in a layer of wax waiting to be sold. In which case, is there any point in me spending time applying more to the front or will that be a total waste of effort?

Or, as with all other cost-cutting that is going on now, will the car preparation be done to a very minimal budget? Read more

This week I noticed a stale smell from heater and first thing that came to mind was the A/C - Although the service book doesn't say anything about A/C filters I took out glove box and cover underneath to expose A/C unit and found filters and by look of it they hadn't been changed from new - also after thinking about it I never noticed any water under car when A/C was on so poked around and found outlet in engine bay - managed to poke a thin wire up and water came out -in centre of hole is a plastic peg thing and at first the wire hit something soft and rubbery but moving it about it then went right into unit - the question is- is the drain hole free to air or does it have a valve or anything to stop air coming in -- when took filters out water came out of the opening as bottom of A/C unit was full of water and water was black hence smell. - since the wire poke I have found a length of plastic tube that fits in hole and I can blow into A/C unit and then when I suck I can hear water sort of bubbling as if it's trying to come up pipe - so far I haven't had time to take it out for another spin.
Any info would help

Dave Read more