Anyone drive a Prius?

Can't really comment on the Prius but couldn't pass on the irony of the OP's eco thread yet rebel siggy...

I'm picking mine up on Saturday from the Toyota dealer I work at. Whats your thoughts? The £20 pa road tax really appeals............

...........Life shouldn't be a journey to Heavens gates with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather, to skid in broadside, cigar in one hand and Jack Daniels in the other, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly shouting, 'Wow! What a ride!
 
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odd jim said:
The problem is the Prius and it associated manufacture, import by cargo vessels and driving mostly with it's 1.5 litre petrol engine (combined with it's heavy weight), means it pollutes the atmosphere in much the same way as your average car anyway, negating it's green values and putting as much crud in your childrens lungs as any vehicle.
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1.8l actually.

The well-to-wheel carbon footprint for the Prius is 107 g/km compared to the average new UK car figure of 196 g/km.

But, hell, let's not have facts spoil a good thread ;)
 
I imagine the insurance on a Prius is considerably cheaper than a remapped Derv. I understand a lot of insurance companies put quite a large premium on remapping.
 
Strangways said:
I imagine the insurance on a Prius is considerably cheaper than a remapped Derv. I understand a lot of insurance companies put quite a large premium on remapping.
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A quick look at the ratings suggests that, at group 15/16 it's the same or higher than a petrol MINI Cooper S :nuts:
 
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Anyone who hasn't already seen the Southpark Prius episode, watch it!!
 
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Flash In The Pan said:
A quick look at the ratings suggests that, at group 15/16 it's the same or higher than a petrol MINI Cooper S :nuts:
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That is a high group, are you sure that's not the new system which is basically double the old group.

My Mondeo ST TDCi as standard is group 13 under the old groups (Petrol varient the ST220 is group 16). I have decat, induction pipe, performance panel filter, silicon boost hoses, performance exhaust, uprated brakes and a remap all specified on the insurance and my premium was £100 more than the premium on my Mk2 Mondeo which was group 12.
 
nilagin said:
That is a high group, are you sure that's not the new system which is basically double the old group.

My Mondeo ST TDCi as standard is group 13 under the old groups (Petrol varient the ST220 is group 16). I have decat, induction pipe, performance panel filter, silicon boost hoses, performance exhaust, uprated brakes and a remap all specified on the insurance and my premium was £100 more than the premium on my Mk2 Mondeo which was group 12.
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Yes, you're right, the Prius is the same insurance group as regular MINI Cooper, not an S...
 
Completely off topic for a moment, I know if you type Tesco or Apple or whatever it provides a link, but why, when I typed my cars model in a previous post, does it provide a link to a Mondeo Witter towbar on Amazon?:thinking: I'd have expected something alot closer related.:lol:
 
neil_g said:
depends if you use a decent performance insurer. mine was a negligable increase.

still comes in at a measily £400 ish a year including mods.
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Put £110 on mine
 
2blue4u said:
1.8l actually.

The well-to-wheel carbon footprint for the Prius is 107 g/km compared to the average new UK car figure of 196 g/km.

But, hell, let's not have facts spoil a good thread ;)
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You sure about that?

"In 2008 the British government and British media have requested that Toyota release detailed figures for the energy use and CO2 emissions resulting from the building and disposal of the Prius. Toyota has not supplied the requested data details to support statements that the lifetime energy usage of the Prius (including the increased environmental cost of manufacture and disposal of the nickel-metal hydride battery) is outweighed by lower lifetime fuel consumption."

And let's not forget, over it's lifetime the Prius will excrete more carbon related pollutants than far more economical vehicles, such as the Polo Bluemotion, Eco 2 Renaults, the frankly brilliant BMW 320ed and many others.
 
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2blue4u said:
Oh! WOW! Isn't that interesting......

Most industrial nickel is recovered from recycling and not mined. And the cost of 'disposal' in Japan, where the Prius is the best selling car, is, er, zero. On account that the old batteries (usually from written off cars rather than from having an age-relaated under-performing battery) are recycled by Sumitomo Metals.

Talking of recycling. How do we recycle those thousands of tons of derv particulates in the air. Ah, that'll be with our children's lungs.

This is the year of the Model S launch. Bring it on.
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That is only a fraction of the full picture.

Where do lanthanum and neodymium come from? They are super rare metals and there is not enough scrap yet... They have to be mined at huge expense.

Luckily NiMH may just be the past of Electric cars. Anyone remember Li ion batteries? They are coming to your dealership in a few years time.
 
daugirdas said:
Still, Prius is one of the better things available in the US. The have very little modern diesel cars
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Do you mean the Americans have very small diesel cars, or very few? ;)

If the latter then the reason for that is diesel never took off there as a fuel for cars so the main players have been reluctant to import them.

The Prius is also much, much cheaper in the US than it is in the UK,it's price being on par with that of a small diesel over here.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Do you mean the Americans have very small diesel cars, or very few? ;)

If the latter then the reason for that is diesel never took off there as a fuel for cars so the main players have been reluctant to import them.

The Prius is also much, much cheaper in the US than it is in the UK,it's price being on par with that of a small diesel over here.
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I was very surprised there weren't more diesel cars in the US, given he vast distances I'd have thought a luxury car that would do 50+ mpg would have been a good seller

Diesel wasn't even available on he car side of the forecourt when I was there, you had to go round to the truck side.

I had a Lincoln town car with a v8 in it, but it was nothing like the v8 in my XK8, I even lifted the bonnet to see what was under there it was so gutless
 
I find it weird people will pay so much just to appear to the world like they are kind to the environment by buying a hybrid.

Why would you buy a new Prius over the new Focus TDCi 115 - http://www.carbuzz.co.uk/car-reviews/Ford/Focus-New/1.6-TDCi-115

The Focus is way cheaper, just an economical and only £20 in tax a year. Plus it looks better imo and will be lots better to drive.
 
daugirdas said:
Still, Prius is one of the better things available in the US. The have very little modern diesel cars
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...but in California you can buy Honda's hydrogen powered car (and yes, petrol stations in California do sell the fuel!) which is way better, cheaper to run ten fold and still drives like a normal car. The only by-product that comes out of the exhaust is steam. This is the future of carbon free travel.

I know which I'd rather see in the UK! (and no they don't explode like a hydrogen bomb if they crash!)
 
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odd jim said:
...but in California you can buy Honda's hydrogen powered car (and yes, petrol stations in California do sell the fuel!) which is way better, cheaper to run ten fold and still drives like a normal car. The only by-product that comes out of the exhaust is steam. This is the future of carbon free travel.

I know which I'd rather see in the UK! (and no they don't explode like a hydrogen bomb if they crash!)
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They can catch a rather bad fire... they are not that safe. It is a 'green' technology but only as far as hydrogen is made using the energy from the nuclear (or wind / solar) power plant. Burning oil to generate hydrogen is just an unnecessary and in fact wasteful step in the middle. Water splitting is not very easy and that's why hydrogen explodes so violently.
 
10jh said:
I find it weird people will pay so much just to appear to the world like they are kind to the environment by buying a hybrid.

Why would you buy a new Prius over the new Focus TDCi 115 - http://www.carbuzz.co.uk/car-reviews/Ford/Focus-New/1.6-TDCi-115

The Focus is way cheaper, just an economical and only £20 in tax a year. Plus it looks better imo and will be lots better to drive.
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Yuck! I'd rather have a Prius than a Focus in that colour, but I would still prefer £0 road tax and my Alfa.
 
daugirdas said:
They can catch a rather bad fire... they are not that safe. It is a 'green' technology but only as far as hydrogen is made using the energy from the nuclear (or wind / solar) power plant. Burning oil to generate hydrogen is just an unnecessary and in fact wasteful step in the middle. Water splitting is not very easy and that's why hydrogen explodes so violently.
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True, but this technology is evolving and improving at a massive rate, more so than the electric car conundrum that has frustrated engineers for decades. One of the major fuel companies is in the process of patenting a more efficient way of generating and refining the hydrogen for vehicle use. I think whatever the outcome it'll be interesting.

Also interesting will be Renaults new fully electric vehicles out this year. Their new superminis looks very good and apparently the battery life and performance will be quite a major evolution. Still not sold on fully electric vehicles though, unless the power originates from nuclear/solar/wind which can never be guaranteed.
 
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odd jim said:
...but in California you can buy Honda's hydrogen powered car (and yes, petrol stations in California do sell the fuel!) which is way better, cheaper to run ten fold and still drives like a normal car. The only by-product that comes out of the exhaust is steam. This is the future of carbon free travel.
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You can only lease a Honda Clarity as they are far to expensive to sell commercially and they are only available in southern California (only customers currently residing in the Torrance, Santa Monica and Irvine areas who meet additional qualification criteria were eligible to take an FCX Clarity FCEV home) . Honda hope to make 200 (yes that's Two Hundred) available in the first 3 years starting 2008 Leasing price $21,000 over 36 months.
 
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Personally think the Prius is a waste and as said not that friendly, personally would go fully one way or the other. It's what's around at current you have the likes of Nissan leaf which is the only pure electric designed from the ground up to be an electric car soon to be joined by its Renault sister or diesel.

The biggest problem with the modern diesel is the fact that the DPF filters cause issues if you don't do long distances regularly.

Petrol is catching up slowly, I played with the new supercharged micra not so long ago and managed 85mpg which is a 1.2 although is a lot smaller than the cars bing talked about.
 
whiteflyer said:
You can only lease a Honda Clarity as they are far to expensive to sell commercially and they are only available in southern California (only customers currently residing in the Torrance, Santa Monica and Irvine areas who meet additional qualification criteria were eligible to take an FCX Clarity FCEV home) . Honda hope to make 200 (yes that's Two Hundred) available in the first 3 years starting 2008 Leasing price $21,000 over 36 months.
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Yes they are limited in numbers as they are still really in the experimental phase, almost like a "Clarity beta" - another reason why you can only lease them in certain parts of California.
 
neil_g said:
depends if you use a decent performance insurer. mine was a negligable increase.

still comes in at a measily £400 ish a year including mods.
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Mine too...that's using Greenlight. It's actually cheaper than insuring it with anyone else unmodded.
 
antihero said:
Mine too...that's using Greenlight. It's actually cheaper than insuring it with anyone else unmodded.
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I'm with Aviva and they were almost £200 cheaper than companies quoting me for a standard car. I've not tried any of the more specialised compaines.
 
neil_g said:
depends if you use a decent performance insurer. mine was a negligable increase.

still comes in at a measily £400 ish a year including mods.
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Even so, you pay more to insure your diesel than I pay to insure my Boxster S as my everyday road car, and that was a group 20 under the old 20 group scheme.

I pay a lot more in fuel, of course.
 
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