Nothing.
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.
'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.
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.
I wonder what diesel engine you're talking about. If you compare the 2006 (2007 not available) Golf manual TDI 1.9 liter diesel. The EPA mileage is 37/44, 33/44 for automatic. real mileage with the Prius is like 46-48 mpg (EPA is 60/51), the tdi manual is around 40 mpg, tdi automatic like 38 mpg. The 1.9 100 hp motor the largest of the VW diesels on the Golf gave a whopping 177 ft/lbs of torque. The Prius which is an automatic gives 110 hp, and 295 ft/lbs of torque. The Prius goes 0-60 in 10.2 sec., the Golf zips to 0-60 in 10.4 sec manual, and 11.5 sec automatic. True cost to own for a Golf is like 34,000 over 5 years, vs 28000 for a Prius. The Golf is a compact car vs the Prius is mid sized. The Prius is a Toyota, the Golf is a fall apart VW. I'm still wondering why people are buying the Prius like crazy and don't like the Golf now being renamed the Rabbit because of the Golf's great reputation.
I guess the solution for some people is just to pay for diesel fuel instead of gasoline. Guess what? IT'S STILL OIL. And you're going to pay through the nose for it. The Prius may not be perfect, but it's lightyears ahead of a diesel Volkswagen.
The epa mileage is 37/44, 33/44 for automatic. real mileage with the prius is like 46-48 mpg (epa is 60/51), the tdi manual is around 40 mpg, tdi automatic like 38 mpg. The 1.9 100 hp motor the largest of the vw diesels on the golf gave 'a whopping 177 ft/lbs of torque. The prius which is an automatic gives 110 hp, and 295 ft/lbs of torque. The prius goes 0-60 in 10.2 sec., the golf zips to 0-60 in 10.4 sec manual, and 11.5 sec automatic. True cost to own for a golf is like 34,000 over 5 years, vs 28000 for a prius. The golf is a compact car vs the prius is mid sized. The prius is a toyota, the golf is a fall apart vw. I'm still wondering why people are buying the prius like crazy and don't like the golf now being renamed the rabbit because of the golfs great reputation.'
Have you just made all this up off the top your head? MOst of it is completely fictional!!
Ans as for the Prius having less emissions than any diesel, I suggest you take a look at the new Mini diesel... lower emissions, far superior fuel economy & much beter performance.
On the way home from work today, I saw a Prius limping along in the right lane with the hazards on, trying to make it far enough to coast down the nearest off-ramp. This is Toyota's best technology?
The Prius is Toyota's most reliable model to date and is listed as Consumer Report's number 1 car in consumer satisfaction.
Do you know why the Prius you saw was "limping?" It could have had a flat- or another mechanical issue. No car is perfect, but Toyota has a solid reputation for innovation and quality.
Believe me, I've heard many more horror stories about VW models.
Also, diesel cars smell bad & are loud.
I saw 2x 2008 VW Jetta TDI's with black smoke.
The Prius is a pointless exercise, as the environmental cost of building it with all the pollutants used (particularly the nickel) and the huge sourcing mileage of the products needed for the build would outweigh any small gain in economy, if there was any - which there is not.
The fact that the batteries will give up after 8-10 years, and other electrics will be uneconomical to repair, simply and obviously points to the absolute fact that a frugal, well built and long lived conventional diesel or petrol car is still more environmentally sound over the lifetime of the vehicle.
Toyota is doing very nicely out of the PR the Prius gets, but behind the gloss is the hard fact that the buyers are not thinking the thing through, and being "token" environmentalists.
If you want to save the planet, use your car as little as possible, and buy a lightweight, well built, small petrol engined car, drive it sparingly and gently, and keep it well maintained and run it until it dies. Buy a state of the art 1.0 petrol five door, like the super frugal Toyota Aygo or Yaris, or the better and lighter Daihatsu Sirion. All get over 58mpg, are under 120g/km CO2, and will run for 15-20 years, without huge environmental cost.
If you swapped your 4x4 for a Prius, fair enough, but don't preach that it is cleaner than other cars - the Prius only average 45mpg day-to-day, and the environmental cost at build and end-of-life is huge.
Even the Golf 1.4TSI petrol is a better bet.
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