Any complaint I've ever had about the Toyota Prius was out of mind as soon I as started driving our long-termer around San Francisco. If you have to have a car in this city, I can't think of a better choice, even with all the new B-segment cars on sale this year. For one thing, the midsize Prius is just as easy to maneuver as a subcompact -- its turning radius is listed at just 34 feet and that's exactly how it feels when you're steering around other motorists and into parallel parking spots. Visibility is excellent from the driver seat, and it doesn't take long to get a feel for the Prius' dimensions...
Then, there's the advantage of the hybrid drivetrain -- plenty of low-end torque from the electric motor to get you going up steep grades and the "transmission" (not really a CVT in the conventional sense) does not allow the car to slide back when starting on hills. It's a very secure feeling and one less variable to worry about when searching for parking. And of course when you're going down the hills, you can rack up impressive fuel economy numbers. When I fueled up a couple hours south of SF, my average had crept up to 42 mpg, and I'm sure I would have done much better than that had I hung around the city longer. I'll post final fuel numbers from the trip shortly.
Erin Riches, Senior Content Editor, 43,840 miles
drjames says:
03:59 PM, 10/20/06
Sounds impressive! What strikes me as odd are all those who speak ill of hybrids and how it's not worth the extra money. What seems to escape them, or maybe they just don't care; is that driving these things significantly reduces emissions and is great for the environment.
tsgeisel says:
04:46 PM, 10/23/06
Heh. Y'know if I found a parking space in Chinatown, I'd take a picture of it, too.
jerrywimer says:
05:55 AM, 10/24/06
I personally like the idea of hybrids. But I'm among the minority, I know. Even so, I'd have to revise your statement drjames. I'm for hybrids because they significantly reduce emissions, they make more efficient use of the energy in whatever the primary fuel source powering their non-electric drive system (recycling braking energy, etc.), and they're relatively quiet in all-electric mode. But I can't go with the "great for the enviroment" part.
No matter whether you drive an all-electric car, a hybrid, or a full on funnycar, it can't be called great for the environment. The energy it uses comes from somewhere. If it's all-electric, how is the power it takes from the grid generated? For hybrids, there's still the ICE portion, just like straight non-hybrids. And regardless of technology, the electrical parts of the system have to be created somewhere. The factories creating those components are bound to be a bit less than "great for the environment". Let's not even get back into the disposal of the vehicle's components when it's finally all used up.
I might be inclined to agree that it's "better for the environment" however. Without digging quite a bit to determine what actually went into creating both the hybrid and it's non-hybrid competition, as well as what happens to each down the road, and weighing those factors into with the actual burden each places on the environment during their normal lifetimes of use, I can't argue intelligently either way. But I could at least agree that in the normal operation of each the hybrid is "better". ;o)
drjames says:
08:48 PM, 10/24/06
Jerrywimer, I understand your view and it is certainly valid. Perhaps I should have said that it is the lesser of two evils, period. The fact remains that Diesel motors are fuel efficient, however not emissions friendly. Not even close, hence the reason VW is not producing diesels for the upcoming model year.