Top 5 cool things about the Toyota Mirai

Are hydrogen cars the future or will electric vehicles reign supreme? Perhaps both will co-exist in harmony, complementing each other for different purposes. A new era is approaching and there are plenty of reasons to get excited about hydrogen cars. Here are five cool things we discovered after cruising around in the Toyota Mirai for an afternoon.

The only tailpipe emissions from this hydrogen car are water. There's no noxious fumes to talk of, except those made by passenger who may have eaten something a little rancid. Toyota's hydrogen boffins reckon the water that comes out of the Mirai is close to medical-grade H2O, such is the quality. It's possible that one day society may look back at combustion engine cars the same way we look at smoking cigarettes today.

It's a slightly odd sensation driving into a Shell petrol station and pulling around the back next to a large, square object where fuel is metered out in kilograms, not litres. Refuelling takes slightly longer than a petrol car (although it depends on the size of the tank!) and the 7kg we sunk into the Toyota Mirai is good for about 500km of relaxed driving. At full throttle expect about half that range. The most challenging thing about filling up with hydrogen was getting an Aussie credit card to work in the USA!

The Toyota Mirai has a remarkably luxurious interior, which you wouldn’t expect looking at it from 20 paces. It features a power operated steering wheel, luscious leather seats and cool haptic touch controls. Comfort levels are very impressive, the split level instrument display is interesting step and the gear shifter is weird. Luxury blended with typical Toyota conservatism, you could say.

Dropping the hammer in the Toyota Mirai results in a very quiet but escalating electric whine, and the sort of acceleration you'd expect from a diesel engine with a massive turbo. Although output from the electric motor is meagre (113kW/335Nm), response is instant making standing starts a lot of fun. Top speed on this drive was 90mph, or 145km/h, but it could have gone faster.

Love it or hate, the Toyota Mirai has a bold design and it's been styled in a way that attracts attention. Not always positive attention, but attention nonetheless. For better or worse the Toyota Mirai gets people talking and that's what Toyota wants for its hydrogen plans. Image is crucial and, like publicity, sometimes even when it's bad it's good.