SlowHands
03-25-2009, 07:49 AM
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg Toyota will retain the fuel efficiency crown with the Prius. (wired.com/cars/coolwheels/news/2009/03/prius0324)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2010_Toyota_Prius-III_2.jpgKeith Buglewicz - Wired Autopia (wired.com) – Mar. 25, 2009
A nice review, mostly, except the author thinks its "boring to drive". I have to strongly disagree... -- Ed.
Laguna Beach, CA. -- The 2010 Toyota Prius is the best Prius yet, a car that's roomier, more powerful and more fuel efficient than ever before. It remains the gold standard for hybrids. But then, it has to for one simple reason: The Honda Insight.
Toyota has dominated the hybrid market since bringing the Prius to America in 2000, and for the first time it faces a legitimate threat from a car that is cheaper to buy, more fun to drive and almost — but not quite — as easy on gas. Toyota tells us it doesn't consider the Insight a competitor to the mighty Prius, but pretty much everyone else does.
"Now there's serious competition," says Mike Omotoso of JD Power and Associates. "Add the fact that the new Insight is cheaper than the existing or the new Prius, and [Toyota's] only remaining advantage is best overall fuel economy."
The Prius is synonymous with hybrid technology and Toyota holds about 75 percent of the market — there are more than 1 million on the road worldwide. But it now faces new competition from the Insight — which is expected to cost about 20 grand when it goes on sale next month. Toyota also faces a challenge from Ford, which is aiming its all-new Fusion Hybrid squarely at the Camry Hybrid. Toyota can't afford to get complacent.
Toyota will retain the fuel efficiency crown with the Prius, which the company says is good for 50 mpg around town and 49 on the highway. (The Prius does better in city traffic because it's electricity more often.) That's up from 48/45 for the current Prius. We've all heard about Prius owners getting 60 mpg or more, but we're talking about the official EPA figures on the window sticker here. We easily hit the high 40s with the pedal mashed to the floor and managed 76 mph creeping along in EV mode.
Those figures eclipse the Insight, which is estimated at 40 mpg in the city. But the Insight and Fusion use clever interactive dashboards to make maximizing efficiency a game. Toyota's bland bar graph makes saving gas about as much fun as a physics lecture. That's a problem, because industry watchers and academics say it won't be long before we're all using green gauges to make us better drivers. Toyota risks turning the Prius into an appliance by ignoring driver interactivity...http://www.wired.com/cars/coolwheels/news/2009/03/prius0324
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2010_Toyota_Prius-III_2.jpgKeith Buglewicz - Wired Autopia (wired.com) – Mar. 25, 2009
A nice review, mostly, except the author thinks its "boring to drive". I have to strongly disagree... -- Ed.
Laguna Beach, CA. -- The 2010 Toyota Prius is the best Prius yet, a car that's roomier, more powerful and more fuel efficient than ever before. It remains the gold standard for hybrids. But then, it has to for one simple reason: The Honda Insight.
Toyota has dominated the hybrid market since bringing the Prius to America in 2000, and for the first time it faces a legitimate threat from a car that is cheaper to buy, more fun to drive and almost — but not quite — as easy on gas. Toyota tells us it doesn't consider the Insight a competitor to the mighty Prius, but pretty much everyone else does.
"Now there's serious competition," says Mike Omotoso of JD Power and Associates. "Add the fact that the new Insight is cheaper than the existing or the new Prius, and [Toyota's] only remaining advantage is best overall fuel economy."
The Prius is synonymous with hybrid technology and Toyota holds about 75 percent of the market — there are more than 1 million on the road worldwide. But it now faces new competition from the Insight — which is expected to cost about 20 grand when it goes on sale next month. Toyota also faces a challenge from Ford, which is aiming its all-new Fusion Hybrid squarely at the Camry Hybrid. Toyota can't afford to get complacent.
Toyota will retain the fuel efficiency crown with the Prius, which the company says is good for 50 mpg around town and 49 on the highway. (The Prius does better in city traffic because it's electricity more often.) That's up from 48/45 for the current Prius. We've all heard about Prius owners getting 60 mpg or more, but we're talking about the official EPA figures on the window sticker here. We easily hit the high 40s with the pedal mashed to the floor and managed 76 mph creeping along in EV mode.
Those figures eclipse the Insight, which is estimated at 40 mpg in the city. But the Insight and Fusion use clever interactive dashboards to make maximizing efficiency a game. Toyota's bland bar graph makes saving gas about as much fun as a physics lecture. That's a problem, because industry watchers and academics say it won't be long before we're all using green gauges to make us better drivers. Toyota risks turning the Prius into an appliance by ignoring driver interactivity...http://www.wired.com/cars/coolwheels/news/2009/03/prius0324