2007 Toyota Prius T3 1.5 Hybrid from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Very very good

Faults:

None.

General Comments:

After much debate between this and a small diesel for my commute to work, and after a test drive, I plumped for the Prius.

Having driven for a short while I am glad I went for this.

The car is excellent, spacious, so if I do have to drop the kids off there is plenty of room.

The foot parking brake took some getting used to, just different to what I was used to.

The economy is superb, currently @ 58 mpg, I think because I am being ultra conscious on the driving style!

Driving in traffic is a dream, as it has plenty of power to keep up, and it cruises happily at the Motorway limits.

Overall very impressed.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 21st June, 2010

2007 Toyota Prius from North America

Summary:

Inaccurate fuel gauge makes driving a challenge

Faults:

The fuel gauge is extremely inaccurate.

It won't budge off of full until you've driven at least 150 miles, and when it gets down near the end, you can never tell how much fuel or range you have left. It is very easy to run out of gas in this car.

I would not recommend this car to anyone because of this problem.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 21st August, 2007

26th Sep 2007, 21:37

Maybe you should have that checked out. A faulty fuel indicator can be fixed.

26th Oct 2007, 18:17

It's been my experience that many cars have this issue to some degree as a result of irregularly shaped gas tanks or the length of the filler tube. Many people will top the tank to the rim keeping the sensing unit floating at the upper limit of it's range.

Most mechanics will recommend you never let a fuel injected vehicle go below 1/4 tank. The fuel sending unit in the tank uses the gasoline to keep coll and prevent wear and burnout.

Thanks for the tip, I will keep in mind if when I buy one.

2007 Toyota Prius Package 2 from North America

Summary:

Worth the money

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

The Prius so far has met all my expectations of an everyday driving automobile.

We bought this car last week, and it's performing well. I look at this automobile as an interest in life, and an investment into the future and future technology. And just like all technologies, such as microprocessors and batteries, everything will go down in price, and soon you will see transmission driven cars will be more expensive and outdated to fix.

The Prius is leading the way for the future, and I am proud to have one now.

The pick up is fine; it's not like I spend my days racing around town, especially in traffic. As long as it can reach 100mph, it's all good.

I have put 220 miles on it so far, and I average 42mpg.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 22nd July, 2007

19th Sep 2007, 12:13

Your mileage will continue to increase as you get closer to 1000 miles. Our break-in period lasted until 1000 miles and we're getting 46 mpg regularly in city traffic now. It increased about 10 mpg in the first 1000 miles.

20th Jan 2008, 17:39

"and soon you will see transmission driven cars"

What the hell does this mean? aren't ALL cars driven by a transmission?

7th Feb 2008, 18:55

I really think he meant to say hybrid cars.

2007 Toyota Prius from North America

Summary:

You can tell Toyota puts their best technology in this car

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

How many cars on the road get 50 mpg in regular driving?

The mileage goes down to maybe 44-45 mpg with 4 passengers.

The instrumentation on this car takes some getting used to, but after a short period of time you realize that while unusual, it is convenient and mostly of a safe design. The heads up type display especially keeps your eyes on road. The steering wheel controls take practice to remember where each control is and they are difficult to see in the dark. The center console is really not that distracting to me as after driving you realize, that the bar graph that gives your real-time mileage is all you need to maximize your mpg's without holding up traffic.

Basically you learn to occasionally ease up on the gas pedal to kick the car into ev mode. This probably gains you 4-5 mpg. Secondly, your commute has to be a minimum of 2 miles to really get excellent mileage. The batteries apparently require a period of warm-up.

Performance is really not a problem. It's not a sports car, but electric motors give you tremendous torque so it is easy to pull right into traffic.

While the car has some road noise, it has very little wind noise at highway speeds and is quieter than most cars. The bluetooth phone feature is highly desirable as once set up you just get in the car and the car is ready to call or take calls. The smart key feature is very convenient. Your car opens and starts as long as your key is in your pocket and you can't lock the key in your car. The car won't lock with a key inside.

The auto air is pure genius. It clearly minimizes the energy cost of ac by automatically using interior air and maximum fan to quickly cool down your car to the set temp then going to outside air and minimum fan, keeping your compartment cool, quiet, and well-ventilated without costing much in mileage depending of course on how cool you like it.

The car is loaded with secret compartments and the double glove compartment is OK to although stuff in there can rattle.

The stereo is OK, but it could sure use a subwoofer to up the bass. To me the cd changer is old technology that should abandoned in favor of a flash card mp3 player so I wouldn't have to always bring my I-pod.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 22nd June, 2007

25th Jun 2007, 06:35

'How many cars on the road get 50 mpg in regular driving?'

Answer: Just about every diesel with an engine capacity of 2000cc or less!

And TDI engines also produce far more torque than the Prius' electric motor.

27th Jun 2007, 21:21

For the above comment...

The emissions of the Prius are considerably less than any diesel engine.

The reliability of the Prius is well above any carmaker that sells a TDI.

Perhaps a more complete combination could be a turbodiesel hybrid.