Toyota Prius drive blog: Another step in emerging technology

Read our Toyota Prius news report here.

Paul Matthews rejoices in the title of Technical Program Manager. As for most of the guest reviewers of the Toyota Prius i-Tech, he is an 'early adopter' of new technology, but his interest in the Prius revolves around checking out the options available to his parents for their next car. His own car is a Subaru Impreza and, as a benchmark, that car informed his evaluation of the Prius.

The 'left-field' question he posed was this: "How does it go towing?"

Not well, we presumed. His parents own a camper trailer and the Prius would probably manage hauling that up to a point, but this is the straw that tips the beam balance in favour of a small diesel.

"Oh man, this is weird," he remarked as the car drove out of the car park under electric power alone.

Matthews quickly warmed to the Prius though and expressed a desire to support emerging technology -- the Prius being one example of that.

But it was that "embryonic" element of the Prius that makes it something of an orphan.

"It's kind of a lifestyle choice..." says Matthews. And the lifestyle extends to readily disposable income.

"[My folks] were thinking [the purchase price] would be more like 30 or 32 [thousand dollars]. It was a bit more than they were expecting.

"For us, it would have to be compelling enough that you feel like you're not sacrificing something to get the hybrid [system]."

Obviously purchase price would be one concession buyers must make with the Prius, but Matthews excuses the Toyota on most other fronts.

"It's a neat package -- especially this model. You don't feel like you're sacrificing too much."

"It's great," he concluded. "I think it's a great concept -- and we've gotta start supporting it, surely, so that we eventually get there."

Performance/Fuel efficiency
"You notice it's not as nippy [in EV mode]. It's probably more sluggish on the battery than I was expecting.

"You pretty quickly end up [using the petrol engine]" -- this remark was immediately supported by the Prius dropping out of EV mode into normal mode during acceleration.

"You'd have to adjust your driving style a bit, so you're not kicking in the engine. That's probably my lead foot..."

On the basis of fuel economy alone -- without taking into account lower emissions -- the Prius wasn't outstanding, according to Matthews, although we'd doubt that diesel cars would necessarily do any better in the same circumstances.

"I guess I would have thought you could probably get that [figure of 4.7L/100km] out of a similar-sized diesel -- at around those sort of numbers -- so not super-efficient, for what you're purchasing when you're buying a hybrid."

Matthews was the guest reviewer most impressed by the EV mode on the 40km/h stretch of Bridge Road.

"This is where it comes into its own. Rather than start the [engine] up, let's just roll five metres."

"Sounds like a tram... I don't mind that. It makes you kind of feel like you're being environmentally friendly. I sort of like to hear that so you feel 'oh, it's working'.

"You're purchasing it to hear it working.

Matthews was generally receptive to the placement and operation of controls and instruments. He was particularly impressed by the head-up display.

"Out of the box, it's fine. I think you could get a little bamboozled by all the options. It's a bit of a 'tech-fest'.

"[My folks] -- they're never going to use any of these [drive mode] buttons. I would never suggest that they purchase anything that is going to require that kind of [concentration and commitment]. I just don't think they'd use it.

"This button is a bit odd," he said in connection with the placement of seat-heating buttons, beneath the floating centre console.

As did his colleague, Paul Dossett, Matthews commented on the "fairly limited" range of steering wheel adjustment.

Packaging was surprisingly important to him, because his mother is shorter in stature and prefers smaller cars.

"If my folks were buying it, they might have a problem with the length of the bonnet, because they're driving a Corolla. They like small cars, but they're looking to get a hybrid.

"For someone who's short, it's quite a high car," he noted. He was not the only person to find parking the Prius a question of guesswork, thanks to the bonnet.

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