2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius?

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Mon 15 Feb 2016 19:51
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - bwilson4web

There is a 'stop sales' order on all VW diesels in the USA. So I read Honest John's review and noticed he finds the 2016 Prius:

"So while the Prius is an excellent car, while I’m all for petrol hybrids and while I’m happy to make a strong case for it, it isn't my kind of car."

The question is would he choose a VW (or Mercedes) diesel of similar size over the 2016 Prius?

VW diesels are or will soon be compliant with the recently 're-approved' Euro 5 standards that make European city air so fresh. In contrast, the 2016 Prius can actually avoid the congestion charge because of their low emissions. Given a choice, which would Honest John choose?

Bob Wilson

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Tue 16 Feb 2016 00:08
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - Avant

You can E-mail HJ at letters@honestjohn.co.uk.

If you are a fairly leisurely driver, and most of your motoring is in town, a hybrid could suit you very well. If you do a lot of motorway or long-distance trips, you'd find most turbodiesels (including VWs) both faster and more economical.

Horses for courses.

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Tue 16 Feb 2016 08:45
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - nortones2

Prius can exceed the speed limit, so any performance differential is going to be minor over a long trip. Fuel usage? Maybe the diesel would edge it, but there is also a strong possibility of mechanical woe with a turbo-diesel. Depreciation of course is the biggest cost. Don't know how that would play out.

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Tue 16 Feb 2016 08:44
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - craig-pd130

VW also make the Golf GTe petrol plug-in hybrid, and a Passat estate version of that will launch this year too.

I will be very interested in the Passat estate, as apart from the Merc C- and E-class plug-in hybrids, it will be one of the few hybrid full-size cars (i.e. not a 'compact' or a 4x4 type) available.

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Tue 16 Feb 2016 09:11
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - slkfanboy

In cost the most espensive option is a hybrid unless you are a taxi driver and can take avantage of the around town mpg and the reliability.

In germany where the cost of elec. is 1/3 of what it is in the UK then a plug hybrid makes sense but sadly unlikely to be the case in the UK, unless you can find a free power source.

At a real average of around 50mpg which is good for an Auto petrol saving are going to be slim at best, so more of a badge then anything else.

My option would be buy a 1.0 ecoboost ford focus and spend the savings on a really good holiday. No hybrid currently interest me and my focus does the 10min drive to the train station, while the SLK is there for weekends and longer runs.

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Tue 16 Feb 2016 09:53
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - Brit_in_Germany

I wasn't aware that electricity was so cheap here (or expensive in the UK) - the average is around 25p/kWH. Maybe all those windmills dotted around the countryside are a good idea.

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Tue 16 Feb 2016 10:52
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - madf

I wasn't aware that electricity was so cheap here (or expensive in the UK) - the average is around 25p/kWH. Maybe all those windmills dotted around the countryside are a good idea.

I pay 11.5p per KWH in the UK...

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Tue 16 Feb 2016 11:06
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - Bromptonaut

I wasn't aware that electricity was so cheap here (or expensive in the UK) - the average is around 25p/kWH.

No idea of cost of electricity in Germany but in UK I'm paying 10.29/kWH for day time units.

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Tue 16 Feb 2016 11:14
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - gordonbennet

That's cheap Bromp, unless its accompanied by a high daily charge, mind if i ask who thats with please, we've just transferred onto Robin Hood Energy which appears to suit our usage well, that's 11.152 day units, 6.203 night, and 21.987 per day.

Sorry for the thread drift folks, if people prefer we could have a backroom leccy/gas thread on general discussion.

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Tue 16 Feb 2016 09:50
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - Brit_in_Germany

Or if you are a Yorkshire man, you could consider the VW e-up! taking into account the pronunciation of the letter E in its home country.

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Sun 21 Feb 2016 13:24
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - Sofa Spud

There's a VW e-Golf too, a pure electric Golf.

Reviews look good - range of 100+ miles - so obviously a niche model but would suit the needs of many drivers.

Technology apart, while the latest Prius and Golf / e-Golf are both easy on the eye, I think the Golf is the better looking of the two.

Edited by Sofa Spud on 21/02/2016 at 13:27

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Sun 21 Feb 2016 14:22
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - Ethan Edwards

Vw eeyup is almost 25 thousand quid. For a small city car. That's just stupid money.

My vote is for a non plug in regular hybrid prius every time.

Edited by Ethan Edwards on 21/02/2016 at 14:23

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Sun 21 Feb 2016 17:38
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - Jodd

For motorway driving I would choose the VW diesel. For mixed/town driving I would choose the prius/auris if it had to be auto, but consider a petrol small engine if manual is ok.

I went for an mb c220 diesel auto because it was for motorway and had to be auto. So far 24k miles at 59mpg. But in town this drops 30mpg.

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Sun 21 Feb 2016 21:46
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - coopshere
I wouldn't choose any diesel over a Prius let alone a VW one. I know people will say they can't be the only ones who have cheated over the diesel emissions but at the moment they are the only ones who have been caught. If they were prepared to use fraudulent methods to cheat on that what else are they prepared to do and maybe have done.
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Mon 22 Feb 2016 06:30
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - colinh

May be worth checking the Hyundai Ioniq 8if it's been released there yet?) - an hybrid but with a proper gearbox

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Mon 22 Feb 2016 22:21
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - dimdip

Side question if I may please: typically how many kWh does it take to charge a leccy car up overnight?

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Thu 17 Mar 2016 12:11
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - glowplug

Side question if I may please: typically how many kWh does it take to charge a leccy car up overnight?

Depends how much capacity it's battery pack has and how much charge is in there already. If it's a Zoe with a empty battery then about 22KW.

Most people misunderstand the Prius, it's main objective is to reduce pollution not give maximun MPG. Hence why once the engine starts it wants to keep going until the catalyst has reached operating temperature. This doesn't take long if you're driving. They are 'easy going' cars to drive, thrashing them everywhere is like trying to drive a barge like a speedboat. If you learn how to drive them to get the best MPG it's surprising just how efficient they are but drive them like alot of people drive their cars (i.e. no though for energy usage) and you probably find them a disappointment. I had a Scangage in mine so I could see exactly how my driving style affected comsumption, it taught me an awful lot about throttle control. If I needed greater distance than my Zoe offers I'd go for another Prius. They are very reliable and don't 'consume' wearable parts like other cars.

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Thu 17 Mar 2016 12:16
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - craig-pd130

Side question if I may please: typically how many kWh does it take to charge a leccy car up overnight?

Vauxhall used to say it cost about £1 to fully charge an Ampera's batteries overnight from a domestic 13A supply, giving a 30-ish mile range. I presume this is fairly representative.

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Thu 17 Mar 2016 13:03
2016 Prius - Would you choose a VW diesel over a 2016 Prius? - Engineer Andy

I big car like that only with a 30 mile range - what a waste of time! Surely if people wanted a city-only car (where a 30 mile range/day would be ok) they'd go for a far smaller all-electric car, or a Prius for that matter.

The Ampera's poor mpg (see HJ review) when on petrol-mode rather spoiled it when running up against similar sized diesels which are probably quicker and more fuel efficient on longer runs, especially on motorways where TDs excel. The wrong car for its time/usage in my view, probably why it didn't sell well compared to the Prius and was dropped by Vauxhall/GM.

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