|
Knowledge / help please.
Currently on 2nd (3rd gen) Prius Hybrid company car, 62,000 miles per year.
Current list has the Plug in Prius which with tax and other considerations is the cheapest for my next 4 year co car lease car.
But I don't get the plug in bit. Is it free electricity. If I install a plug in point at home does it cost a packet on by EDF bill?
Can I plug in free in cities/ does it take 9 hours?
Can I use it like an ordinary prius and never plug in?
Too many variables but it is the cheapest for me over the 4 years.
Edited by JOGON on 14/10/2013 at 23:29
|
Knowledge / help please.
Currently on 2nd (3rd gen) Prius Hybrid company car, 62,000 miles per year.
Goodness, 5,000 miles per month is big mileage. How do you find the Prius for that sort of driving, and roughly what sort of economy do you get?
|
|
Well I do over 18K a year in my Yaris Hybrid and it's a breeze. 'Chill ak-sed' motoring if you like. Stop start hold ups become less stressful for me because I know that if anything they will INCREASE my average mpg. Since I'll be almost totally on battery. previousl;y i'd sit there frustrated at using up fuel but going nowhere. Not anymore!
Plug in Prius. Exaclty the same as the regular Prius in all respects except it has much more battery capacity shoe horned into it. So it potentially goes much further on battery before the ie cuts in. Plus you always start (in the morning) with a fully charged battery because you've charged it up at home overnight. Whereas that might not be the case with a regular hybrid. usually isn't in my case.
Do you pay for the electricty you use at home charging it? You betcha you do, but it's way cheaper than not plugging it in and using taxed to death liquid gold unleaded.
Economy (1.5VVt Yaris HSD) ...I'm probably not a great candidate for a Hybrid as I do little town motoring as a rule. Best MPG 68 Worst ever 55 (some high speed stuff on my private motorway). Which for a petrol automatic isn't too shabby, yes I know your weenie diesel manual does more but I really don't care to drive a weenie diesel manual. Okay?
Note that the ambient temperature has a serious effect on the MPG you get.
Hope that helps.
Edited by Ethan Edwards on 15/10/2013 at 14:33
|
|
@ Ethan, thanks, interesting.
How do you find the acceleration at motorway speeds - for example, going briskly from around 60mph behind artics to 75+ to overtake? Does it require the throttle to be mashed, or will it pick up and move out smartly?
|
I agree with Ethan. I had a yaris hybrid for 3 weeks while my Auris 2.0 d4d was being repaired. I found the car to be, well rapid. Especially off the line to 45 mph.
The car feels much quicker that it's paper figures suggest. My commute is from Stoke to Leicester, traveling between 70-75 mpg and whilst I had the car it averaged 59.4 mpg. To answer your question Craig pd-130, I found I had to mash the accelerator to get from 60-75, however I'm used to the torque of a diesel and I don't think the characteristics of the cvt helps. I would be tempted by the yaris hybrid to replace my Auris.
|
|
@GHS - thanks, interesting. I keep meaning to have a test drive in a Prius, I'll have to arrange one.
|
|
Collegue recently had a trst drive of one.
While he was on the test drive, the dealer was adament he left his keys so they could clean his Mondeo.
Apparently its 'what they do'.
He said his estate boot which was full of dog hair and mud was nearly spotless - this along with the positive experience of driving the Prius has seen him place a deposit down on a 1 year old prius.
Dont get that at Ford's.
|
|
|
|
|
Thats a very subjective question Craig. Personally I would say I find it adequate. A little noisy when worked hard but then I mostly cruise in it.
So as to 'mashing the pedal' rarely happens for me. But when you do 'mash' and unleash the dogs of 'kickdown'..yep off like a scalded cat (albeit a noisy one) but thats not good for your fuel consumption so I try to avoid using it.
But for anyone coming to any petrol car after say a Turbo diesel (as your username suggests) ...then you'll really miss that friendly little kick in the but. The Yaris HSD to me seems faster than the numbers would suggest. May I recommend that it's worth your time doing a lengthy test drive.
|
But for anyone coming to any petrol car after say a Turbo diesel (as your username suggests) ...then you'll really miss that friendly little kick in the but. The Yaris HSD to me seems faster than the numbers would suggest. May I recommend that it's worth your time doing a lengthy test drive.
Thanks for the feedback - I will arrange a longer test drive at some point. I do mostly cruise around, but good pick-up and decent overtaking ability is handy too.
The in-gear 'kickdown' acceleration figures I've seen for the Prius (I'd probably be going for a Prius+) have been respectable, and the long-terms tests done by Car magazine and others tend to criticise the noise which accompanies hard acceleration, rather than the rate of acceleration itself. Whether that's simply in contrast to the normal quiet running, I'd have to see for myself.
|
|
Try to include a longish uphill section in your test drive - some can find it a bit of a drone, given it doesn't drop down a gear
|
|
|
|
I've never yet read a mainstream car magazine which has presented an unbiased view of CVT or hybrid technology. it's as if they cannot get their heads around the fact that there is no particular gear as such, hence the "droning". I guess it's their "conditioning" to driving manuals or sequential autos.
I think best to keep an open mind and judge the car on how economically, comfortably and efficiently it takes you from A to B. These are not performance cars, they are transport - and about as efficient as it gets right now. The latest Auris Hybrid estate acquitted itself very well against the Octavia Tdi estate in a recent review I read ( What Car? I think), so I reckon Toyota have just about cracked it. A neighbour is averaging about 60 mpg in one.
|
|
I am a company car driver, my diesel avensis was due for renewal 6 months ago, a salesman persuaded me the prius plug in was the best thing since sliced bread so I had one on a 3 day test drive.
My thoughts on the prius plug in was an overwhelming feeling of disappointment. I drove it 30 miles on day 1, couldn't get on with it being an automatic, disliked the floor mounted parking brake and thought it was underpowered, it didn't have the uphill grunt of a 2 litre diesel. I left it on my drive days 2 and 3 and used my diesel Avensis as I found driving the prius plug in to be stressful. I felt the car was driving me instead of me driving the car (not used to and dislike automatics), it almost felt like I was on a fairground ride that I had no control over.
My only motivator for considering the prius plug in was the low emissions 49 g/km and low company car tax. I decided on another diesel avensis.
Yes I would consider a hybrid in the future but it would have to have a torquey diesel engine, a manual gearbox and either a proper handbrake or dash mounted electric avensis style parking brake.
|
|
You don't dislike the Prius; you don't like automatics.
I will not buy anything other than an automatic, but I don't dislike manual gearboxes.
|
|
Surely the biggest downside of any plug-in car is the fact that due to the Government signing up to bonkers EU emission targets; the UK will be experiencing 1970s style blackouts again in 2015. What's the point of a plug-in car when we're soon to have no electricity left?
|
Surely the biggest downside of any plug-in car is the fact that due to the Government signing up to bonkers EU emission targets; the UK will be experiencing 1970s style blackouts again in 2015. What's the point of a plug-in car when we're soon to have no electricity left?
Go long on petrol/diesel generators, and the circle of life is complete.
|
|
One question that never seems to get discussed by the green looney milk-float-car- brigade is how much electrical power is actually required to recharge these plug-in cars. I note that on the Toyota website linked above there is an option for either a 16 amp or 32 amp charging outlet to be installed by British Gas. Now 16 amp is roughly 3.5 kw and 32 amp is roughly 7 kw. Ok so these are max figures so assume that you are going to hang approx 6 kw on your electricity meter at home for an hour every day to recharge your shiney happy face electric car. That's 42 kwh every 7 day week -182 kwh every month, you're sure as hell going to notice that when the bill comes in!
And as Jamie says,there isn't the spare capacity in the power generation system to cope with tens of thousands of electric car owners arriving home and plugging in-better get a generator to charge your electric car with, oh hang on-is that going to be a petrol or diesel fuelled generator? Doh!
|
|
The point is that it's the most tax efficeint car on my company car list.
Even thrashing it 50+ MPG and no harmful diesel particulates
|
|
|
You're correct, I don't like automatics. I also prefer diesels to petrol engines.
I wanted to like the prius but from the start, I don't find it a particularly attractive looking car. When I drove it, I didn't feel at ease driving an automatic, I didn't like the electric parking brake pedal (kept mistaking it for a footrest) and it didn't seem to have the grunt I needed to get me up to motorway speed when driving up a motorway slip road. I even popped in to my local toyota dealer during the first day I had the car on test to ask what I was doing wrong as driving it seemed so strange to me. I liken it to when was learning to drive and it was my first time behind the wheel!
I guess that's what happens when the government's company car tax policy is linked to the car's emissions and there are big tax advantages in driving a low emission hybrid. If the prius plug in had been enjoyable to drive, I would have had one as a company car with no hesitation and learned to live with it.
Edited by wrangler_rover on 17/10/2013 at 19:38
|
|
Citroen do the only Diesel Hybrid. Its even a 4wd as the leccy motors drive only the rear wheel's. I've read that its not as good as Toyota's and its very expensive. But if thats your choice...
|
Generator systems are in the early stages of development for road vehicles, buses are becoming a more common sight, but I'm sure technology which has powered locos and ships for dozens of years will eventually find itself into cars.
I went to a talk by the Chief Engineer of a cruise ship and they don't escape emissions legislation. The ship is 3 years old, but is 25% more efficient than the previous class of ship thanks to common rail diesel engines powering two generators which in turn power azipods rather than shaft driven propellors.
Individual motors on driven wheels could be a similar solution for road vehicles.
|
|
French build is appalling, they're usually bottom of league in reliability.
We've had 7 Toyoytas over many years, zero defects.
|
I didn't like the electric parking brake pedal
Have they changed it then, last time i drove one it was like many Japanese automatic cars, simple push on push off cable brake...if they've gone electric parking brake the car is definately off my future list, bad move Toyota.
I quite like foot operated parking brakes, had them on MB's for years and they seem thankfully in no hurry to ditch a system which works brilliantly...so long as you have a real auto box as befits the marque.
If you don't like automatics you'll never like a Prius, for me they have the smoothest most refined transmission you will find a family sized car, each to their own i can no longer abide 4 cylinder Diesels, they belong in tractors and itinerants vans.
|
|
How is it affected by driving at night with headlights and heating going full time?
|
|
It's not. It's a hybrid. The ic engine and unleaded take over when needed.
You seem confused between a Plug in Hybrid and an fully electric vehicle such as the Nissan Leaf. The Leaf would be no good for me as I do 75 miles a day minimum. I drive a Hybrid. No range issues at all.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ethan - what happened to the Nissan Note on LPG? Have you still got it or did you didtch LPG?
|
|
As you know I do a high mileage. So three years and I faced a choice. Sell while some value remained or run into the ground.
So I part exed with the Yaris. Even cheaper to run. Still like lpg and I run our other car on it the xtrail 2.5 auto. Have done so for six+ years.
|
|
|
|
|
|
