The Telegraph reviews the 2010 Prius

[Chuck]

A significant upgrade, but asks if it's better than a clean diesel?

Richard Bremner - TELEGRAPH - June 21, 2009

Interesting question on how to tune hybrids: to be mostly electric in the city or get the CO2 as low as possible? --Ed.

It's become the whiter-than-white charger of the green car revolution. It is the unlikely transport of choice for the thinking film star's passage to the Oscars. And it has probably made its creator a loss for years. But the Toyota Prius has come to symbolise all cleaner, greener cars, as the biggest-selling low-emission car on the planet.

Its success is not without controversy, however. Critics of the petrol/electric hybrid Prius argue that its CO2 emissions and fuel consumption are no better than those of a good diesel, that its motorway fuel economy is very average and that it makes little sense to carry the heft of an additional battery and an electric motor that is frequently idle when the car is cruising.

All of these criticisms have merit. And they have even greater bite when you discover that the modern hybrid was developed not so much to lower CO2 emissions as to provide a powertrain enabling a car to issue no emissions at all in polluted city centres, by driving on electric power alone. ... [Read More]

[Gordon]

it makes little sense to carry the heft of an additional battery and an electric motor that is frequently idle when the car is cruising.

Well that is a load of bollocks right there considering you'd be saving a considerable amount of weight by using the CVT than a traditional drivetrain. Especially since electric motors are VASTLY more efficient than ICE's.

[Chuck]

Bottom line is the electric motors and batteries onboard, the Prius still has the best FE of any mass-produced car sold in the US, UK, and probably the rest of the world. This is as good as it gets for 2010.