Toyota Prius Mini Review

The dash is huge, and very, very soft.

Reply to
Geoff
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Accompanied by the sound of a chisel on slate Geoff, managed to produce the following words of wisdom

Oooh, it's a must-have then.

Reply to
Pikey Pete

how do you mod it?

Reply to
Peter Hill

The prius or just it's dash?

Most common Prius mods are mains plugs. Also early ones had battery charging problems so it would see them as dead (under 200v), you can take the individual battery packs out (there are/were 2 in the compartment) and charge them individually.

Reply to
Depresion

With a grenade.

Reply to
Iridium

I can sell you a "Chip" for =A3500. It even has a nice knob on the top=20 that you can adjust. Just two wires to splice and you get to choose=20 which ones. Upto 200% increase in performance.

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

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Reply to
Elder

I've got one, it goes up to 11.

Reply to
Douglas Payne

How old school, 12 is the new 11: you see most only go up to 10 and 11 is one more than 10 so 12 is one more than 11 so it's one louder. ;)

Reply to
Depresion

Solar panel charger. Bigger batteries. DVD / more information on the dashboard mounted screen.

Reply to
DervMan

Why would you want to ?

Reply to
Geoff

Both glove boxes and the grab handles are damped, this nearly compensates for the lack of power, shit handling, awful driving position, useless brakes and the sea sickness caused by the generator kicking in and out.

I am looking forward to using it for the next two weeks while I await the new motah.

And it gets less MPG then my VAG TDi......

Reply to
Geoff

Strange that everyone who owns one claims 60 mpg plus all the time. I borrowed an early one and took it on a long motorway trip fully loaded. Poorer mpg than my petrol BMW auto...

And a perfectly horrid thing to drive. Except when crawling through heavy town traffic - which it's obviously designed for. Apart from the size of the thing as a commuter only device.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I don't think everybody does.

My father-in-law has over 80,000 on his Californian Prius, a 2004 with the later donk set up. If he's careful he'll return a claimed 60 mpg over his commute, which is mostly freeway. These being US gallons, that's over 70 to the UK gallon.

When I've borrowed it, it returned lower / mid 50s to the US gallon. 54 as I remember, which was just under 1,000 miles. Mostly freeway. This is mid

60s to the UK gallon, which is comparable to what I'd tend to see from something like a Fiesta 1.4 TDCi over the same driving and distance.

Freeway or motorway driving does not flatter the car unless you are prepared to adapt to how it works best. In the city, drive it in a typical economy fashion (lots of time off the accelerator pedal) and it's less economical than if you use the brakes more.

To Los Angeles airport, involving going up and then down the Grapevine, four big adults plus Charlie's luggage (!), middle low 40s to the US gallon. What I'd expect from my diesel Saab.

The earlier ones were noticeably less "good" - in performance, economy, noise and ride. The later one is *remarkably* quiet most of the time. It's noisy at full acceleration (CVT transmission) and if you're being anal and it's running on battery, you can hear the muted clicks and whirrs of the pumps, relays and other funkiness various.

On I99 and I5, cruise set to 75, it's eerily quiet.

It doesn't feel all that different to any other similar sized automatic Toyota, which is the key point.

Oh come on. I commute in a 9-3. A Smart ForTwo has twice the seats and luggage space that I need. The majority of commuters are in Focus or larger cars, one up.

Reply to
DervMan

The one I am using is a brand new T-Spirit wit all the toys, I'm getting

45 average MPG compared to 50 in the much larger, heavier and four-wheel drive Passat.

It's not that small a car, you just think it is because it has next to no interior space.

To be fair to it most of my milage has been motorway so we'll see how it does over the weekend on the urban cycle.

Reply to
Geoff

Yes it does, the starting off on battery and lurch as the engine starts, the engine stops every time the car does, the rocking motion as the generator kicks in and out at steady speed, all very different and takes some getting used to.

Reply to
Geoff

Not in the three I've driven. Perhaps the one you have is knackered?

Reply to
DervMan

The AWD 2.0 TDI Passats are not all that economical. As I remember the manual is something like 43 combined cycle. How were you driving for 50 to the gallon over a tank?

Again, no. There's a shortage of head room in the back. But surprisingly lots of rear leg room.

And how fast were you driving on the motorway? :p

Reply to
DervMan

It has only done 3k miles, I have no idea if older Priuses do the engine cut out, milk float start thing, we have four Priuses in the fleet, all do the rocking thing.

Reply to
Geoff

1.9 just had to retire her, may she rust in peace mileage is mainly M25 rush hour so average speed 60-70.

Not with the drivers seat all the way back, the boot can only accommodate one suitcase with the blind closed.

They are not safe much above 70, skinny tyres, crap brakes and very soggy suspension.

Reply to
Geoff

Sorry, but I don't believe your trip computer (or your calculations).

I can't imagine that there is a different seat or cabin arrangement in the US model, they feel the same; my father-in-law is 6'10", has the seat all of the way back and there is an annoyingly decent amount of room behind him. A shortage of headroom.

The trunk is also significantly roomier than you're making out too. One full size suitcase, one smaller case with the blind shut. But then you can open the blind and be done with it...

Gibberish. That's gibberish pure and simple.

Reply to
DervMan

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