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Originally it was just to see the car, but as soon as I took command of the wheel I knew it was going to be an impulse buy. A turn on the key and the engine came on alive immediately, even if you try to quickly just put it into IG IV the car will easily come on (no cranks!) . Right from the roomy interior, to the upgraded seating in height compared to my civic, I was going to get the drive that I've been longing for a long time. I used the MFD to switch to the energy screen and get a feel for the screen. On the fuel gauge there was one last blip and it was blinking. I moved the car out of its parking lot and EV mode showed me its true roots. It was like me pushing the car but I'm actually inside the car!

Being the light foot that I am, I got out of the parking lot and attempted to "turn on" the engine for the first time. I mashed the throttle and there was a delay before the engine came on and gave me a mini roar. I was sacared of its presence and I let off the throttle only for the car to idle in silence as I had my left hand on the car's body and couldn't feel the slightest vibrations. On making my first left, I had the impression that my car was stalled (since i drive a 5spd) but a reassurance on the throttle proved otherwise.

One thing I noticed is the brakes, the regen braking had a limited amount of stopping power before you needed to step on the pedal further to increase stopping power. One will know that he isn't regening anymore when the weight suddenly shifts more forward than what regen was inducing. But with my ease off the brake pedal I manged to stop the car without disrupting the passengers.

The car felt heavy, being 300 pounds more heavier than my car I would assume a bloaty handling sedan but the electric steering and small radius plus high height position of the car greatly made up for it. I found turns are more fun to engage (although I would predict oversteer is easily more encouraged on this car) albiet with limited ability, but the lacking ability to shift gears and silky smooth power delivery greatly makes up for it ;)

Now the MFD was kind of werid, switching to consuption showed a green bar of my mileage. The updates felt slow as I'm used to instant feedback from the scangauge so I remained on the energy display most of the time. But touch screen felt cool and the screen was much larger than my puny scangauge (which I regret not getting to try, the car salesman thought it was some turboed device) and in color so sooner or later i'll be able to enjoy its uniqueness if I were to ever own this car one day...

Now doing a 360 on this very small road proved challegning but in the end I didn't make the whole endovour. One thing I noticed about the joystick selector is that to go into R you need to press the button. Coming OUT OF R was a easy slide to N then to D. Going into B required the button but from B to D yes none needed! For the best part going from D TO N resulted in the same fate so I knew this car was hypermiler ready... which brings me to my next point

After the 360 turn I was going to decend down the hill towards back the dealership again. And now with my sandles I tried my best to attempt gliding mode. After a battle between regen and EV mode I gave up and I EVed it back to the dealership but before I did there was this very steep hill I had to battle. It was at least 45 degrees so I WOT up the hill and noticed the car never tries too aggressive to actually pull to the point where it will disrupt the whole car, but at the same time your managing to pick up speed. I thought the smooth aspect was a definiate plus to why this car was such a joy to speed up and speed down with.

Back into the same parking lot I got it from (it was on a hill, so this prius was the king of used cars!) and my mileage resulted in more than 50 mpg, but the EV battery now showed half but still the green color :P Then I was prepared to buy until in the very end the car salesman said, "The previous iinterested guy canceled but now he wants to buy it again, his trade in is actually in the dealership right now! He was being indecisive but if he changes his mind I'll let you know!'

Maybe .... getting back to my car was a drag, even if the whole 45 mile trip netted in 50 mpg 90% highway, 10% city. I can see why people refuse to go back to such crappy inefficent ICE's. :D

Until then I'll keep stalking the ads!

liked:

small arm rest (no biggie i'm a small guy 5 foot eight)
EV mode
higher seating position than my civic coupe
silky smooth ride (no shifting yes!!)
as much but in some certain cases more power than a 7th gen civic petro
effortless steering (can't comment on highway useage)
I had enough leg room for a small guy like me even when the seat is all the way to the back.
Good fabric (better than mine)
I love the MFD, I'm a huge fan of touch screens.
a dinky rear cup holder, its small but it was there for two lol!

disliked:

- A little lag on the consumption screen? Until then I perfer to see what my car is doing, but when one day i do get used to the car then i'll stick with the consumption screen more often.

- trunk was a bit farther in dimensions but its width is less than my civic (werid) but my big baby stroller would eat up the whole space. Hmm....
gas tank is on the right (i'm used to it being on the left)

-car was not sold to me no i wanted the car man. Screw the mileage, screw the savings its all about the car and maybe this impulse was thankfully avoided for now. Until then.

Hi Phil:

___Good overall write up on your experience w/ the Prius I …

___I know you are absolutely dying to own a hybrid but let us make sure there will be no buyer’s remorse a few months down the line. By your previous posts, you should be able to run your Civic to 45 + mpg tanks without to much trouble now. The Prius I was not a great hypermiling automobile to begin with and even though it can do a 70 mpg segment just driving down the highway using DWL at slower speeds, you may not be entirely happy with your lmpg after 10,000 + miles on your particular commute and climate in particular. Just make sure you are thinking with your head instead of (insert body part here ;)) because the Prius I was never a serious hypermiling machine compared to the Prius II/TCH or any of the HCH’s or Insight’s. Although it did extremely well for its day, with what you know and inability of a THS/HSD/eCVT equipped automobile to be forced into the modes you currently use, you may find it a disappointing purchase in the not to distant future.

___I am all for the average driver purchasing the latest gen hybrid if they can afford it because even on their worst day, they will still usually see 40 + vs. < 20 in whatever else that individual may have driven previously just driving them. Add in the US Tax credits, the multitude of corporate or State incentives, and minimal depreciation, a hybrid makes more sense then just about any car you or I could purchase today. This equation is a little different when you start talking a new or used Hybrid at $17.5K - $30K + US vs. your current Civic that you know how to hypermile in many more instances then you did not 3 months ago. I just want you to be careful with what you wish for. Driving all the hybrids that I have, I would love to own one of each for a particular circumstance but in the end, you need a 4 door because of your growing family and in the larger 4-door game, it might be some time before we see a TCH owner take out a 48 lmpg as an example due to the ability to swing the Accord into a situation the AH and the TCH cannot get into. In the HCH and Prius II ranks, they can destroy your Civic when driven to their strengths but not without some serious coin being spent to procure one and the fact you cannot always drive them in their specific circumstances when the eye-popping numbers appear.

___Think about this for a long while before you become so enamored with a hybrid that you make a financial mistake given your youth and current income situation is all.

___Finally, Hybridfest 2006 is only a plane ticket away and given the members that know you here, I am sure we could arrange a few longer test drives in any of your choosing so you too can experience what a hybrid can and cannot do with an experienced pilot right along side helping you along :D

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Good overall write up on your experience w/ the Prius I …
just for you Wayne ;)

I know you are absolutely dying to own a hybrid but let us make sure there will be no buyer’s remorse a few months down the line

Been dying ever since I started driving, the only buyers remorse I can think of is a) car dies down before I milked it or b) a hybrid that is priced so low, I could have gotten the same car for the same amount of money.


By your previous posts, you should be able to run your Civic to 45 + mpg tanks without to much trouble now.

Correct, < 45 mpg tanks are a thing of the past for me now. Majority involves city driving of course ;)

The Prius I was not a great hypermiling automobile to begin with and even though it can do a 70 mpg segment just driving down the highway using DWL at slower speeds, you may not be entirely happy with your lmpg after 10,000 + miles on your particular commute and climate in particular

Here's my logic behind my interests into the Prius I

a) it has the ability to engine off and on with the power of the accelerator pedal. So since my routes invovles in < 40 mph routes I can trick the car into going into a FAS and then putting it into N to prevent the engine from starting up, just over 40 mph and I would have to deal with the engine being on but at least its in its most efficent state!

b) I'm not buying the car because purely I want a huge margin increase in mpg, its more like the same mpg for a guy who don't have to work as hard :)

c) I have searched high and low for impressive classic mileage figures, none are to be found so I HAVE TO BELIEVE its an area that no one wants to touch (I'm not surprised, if you own a hybrid you got money you don't give a crap about mileage because you already did by buying the "green" car in the first place) and I want to be the first ones to touch it. Maybe if I read on something about a few classic users trying their best to get a 80 mpg tank or something and have failed miserably then I wouldn't think about it. But the thing is... no one has!

d) give HCH I users a run for their mileage :P C'mon competition is healthy, you see all these HCH guys breaking the 80 barrier and you still see tons of 50's with the prius I. Does the car SUCK that much? I want to be the answer to that then again I have to assume there are more HCH I on the road than Prius Classics.

e) small turning radius, seriously this is one thing that attracts me away from the prius II, although the prius II makes up for everything else :P

f) I hate shifting gears. After 40000 km of experience, I'm bored what can I say ;) I mean I got the skill already now can I just not do it anymore? Sure there can be improvement in my shifting skills but for what? More wear and tear on the car, I'm sure the car itself has a shift limit on how fast one can actually shift (since the engine and sycronoizers need time to do their job...) and not to mention the different terrian that can affect shifting. Bottom line is, CVT wins in terms of efficency (ok so the 5spd has FAS lucky!!!) and time spent getting up to speed (no shift shock delays) and I have to do nothing just press the pedal. Since I don't have to focus on the gears anymore, I can do more important things like holding my wife's hand, observing traffic ahead for prediction, both hands on the steering wheel at all times when focusing on hypermiling (no really i would perfer this espically for cornering with high momentum), or pointing at people driving that needs my eye contact. (very useful, I managed to stop people from doing what they were doing, forcing them to wait until I PASS for them to do whatever avoiding a mess when I have the right of the road and other people are trying to be pushy.)

g) cost, the difference (and yes after tax credit) between a classic and a new prius II would go for almost 12000 cnd, that's five figures I simply do not have access to. Plus not to mention insurance premiums, newer car more $ per month. In fact its cheaper to insure a 2001 prius than a 2004 civic! (since civics are too common, the mentally behind many civic drivers (FAST!), and it being the #1 stolen car in canada)

Just make sure you are thinking with your head instead of (insert body part here ) because the Prius I was never a serious hypermiling machine compared to the Prius II/TCH or any of the HCH’s or Insight’s

its also the cheapest four door hybrid I can afford, but then again .... 03 HCH are interesting... just I have a civic now and I'm so bored with it :P And I thought EV mode would be more practical since I experience bumper to bumper traffic quite often (although yes I realize even an EV mode does not equal better mileage... but c'mon you have to admit its pretty **** cool!), I've been just lucky avoiding it throughout my endevour of driving. But hey all it takes is just one accident for traffic delays up to 2 hours, and in those 2 hours I wouldn't want to FAS like crazy because it will drive me mad.

Oh the insight... aha I'd drive one but I wouldn't like to own one just personal since a pure mileage car is not really what I need.

Although it did extremely well for its day, with what you know and inability of a THS/HSD/eCVT equipped automobile to be forced into the modes you currently use, you may find it a disappointing purchase in the not to distant future.

That's the risk I'm willing to take, look at it this way I'll have way more fun in a prius than in a 5spd civic anyday. Yes that is the understatement of the year but then again people don't know the true fun of EV mode! :D

I am all for the average driver purchasing the latest gen hybrid if they can afford it because even on their worst day, they will still usually see 40 + vs. < 20 in whatever else that individual may have driven previously just driving them

that's what I find so attractive about the hybrid, good mileage no effort. Although if one were to actually put effort into it then what can one yield?

Add in the US Tax credits, the multitude of corporate or State incentives, and minimal depreciation, a hybrid makes more sense then just about any car you or I could purchase today. This equation is a little different when you start talking a new or used Hybrid at $17.5K - $30K + US vs. your current Civic that you know how to hypermile in many more instances then you did not 3 months ago.

Oh how i wish credits can go towards a used car, but then again that means coughing up more money in the first place :P Yeah if I switch a car now without mastering what my civic had to offer to get results worse than what I have now, then it will be a big blow indeed. Although a new shiny hybrid is far from my reach with my lack of education, however, used hybrids is more reasonable since they get somewhat simliar mpg and insurance rates are much lower.

I just want you to be careful with what you wish for

good advice, I have heard this line over and over again and cannot stress enough how important it is.

Driving all the hybrids that I have, I would love to own one of each for a particular circumstance but in the end, you need a 4 door because of your growing family and in the larger 4-door game, it might be some time before we see a TCH owner take out a 48 lmpg as an example due to the ability to swing the Accord into a situation the AH and the TCH cannot get into.

wouldn't it be nice if there was a car that can fit both of our needs? :) one can dream. Such a shame even a car like a hybrid has their disadvantages.

In the HCH and Prius II ranks, they can destroy your Civic when driven to their strengths but not without some serious coin being spent to procure one and the fact you cannot always drive them in their specific circumstances when the eye-popping numbers appear.

Yeah I'll give you that, all the cars needs their good situations to take advantage of that magic number.

Think about this for a long while before you become so enamored with a hybrid that you make a financial mistake given your youth and current income situation is all.


hey your reply is a good enough for a "um you sure?" moment :D thank you.

Finally, Hybridfest 2006 is only a plane ticket away and given the members that know you here, I am sure we could arrange a few longer test drives in any of your choosing so you too can experience what a hybrid can and cannot do with an experienced pilot right along side helping you along

yet another reason for me to cringe, and another reason to moan and frown upon the festival that could have taught me so many things, and more than I'll ever need.

Phil it sounds like you have those many considerations thought through, and Wayne gives some excellent thoughts as well.

Personally if you really want a Prius, unless the P-1 can be found at an extraordinary deal I'd shop around for the P-2 with a few miles behind it, simply because I think it's a better vehicle.
But that's just me.