Toyota Prius drive blog: Three's a crowd

Read our Toyota Prius news report here.

Brett Wakeman is a car enthusiast who works in the capacity of Product Manager, Manufacturers, for the Carsales Network. Wakeman grew up absorbed by the cars his father restored during his early years and he never lost that abiding interest in things automotive.

For someone with a long-standing interest in older cars, how does he feel about the Prius, a car at the forefront of fuel-conserving technology? Unsurprisingly, he has a 'back-to-the-future' outlook.

"It will be interesting to see how these sorts of things go, in 10 years' time or so," he muses.

"When, if they're still being kept on the road by owners, how readily the engine will restart after it's stopped -- and all that sort of stuff."

Given how electronic ignition, long-life spark plugs and fuel injection have mostly put an end to the old syndrome of cars stalling in the middle of intersections, the Prius will probably hold its own into the future -- a point that Wakeman acknowledges. But that's ultimately speculation too. More to the point, in our view, will cars like the Prius attract the future attention of vehicle restorers such as Wakeman's dad?

Wakeman was another of our reviewers who drew parallels between the Prius and another non-automotive device.

"It's sort of cool for the Playstation generation, I guess," he said in reference to the car's driver interface, including the 'Touch Tracer' system and the multi-information display.

With three boys aged between 7 and 10, Wakeman finds his time frequently consumed separating them when fights break out in the back seat, if one so much as leans on another.

This, as much as anything else, precluded the Prius from being the next urban-environment family car. At the present, the family owns a VY Commodore S and a Daewoo Lacetti -- and the Daewoo is beginning to feel a bit tight in the back seat. The Prius doesn't improve on the Daewoo's packaging in that regard, either.

Wakeman admits that the packaging is probably the principal criterion in a new-car purchase, but price is a consideration too.

"Probably for us, it's a combination of [packaging] and cost. With a growing family and a mortgage, the price is a very big factor."

In still other ways, the packaging of the Prius was a focal point for Wakeman.

"The interior is very different," he began. "It's very grey, in here. Inoffensive, but not particularly exciting."

"It's a little weird, the distance from the front of the windscreen -- and such a broad expanse of dash; it reminds me of the New Beetle."

"The CVT's a different sort of sensation too. Bizarre, it sounds like you're revving the guts out of it. But it picked up to 100km/h without any problems," Wakeman observed of the Prius in Power Mode, along the on freeway.

He was happier with the Prius for its fuel efficiency.

"That's its forte."

"You can feel the petrol motor kick in," but: "It's very quiet. [I noticed] the thrashing around of the engine, with the CVT box -- something that makes it a bit noisier. Certainly, just cruising down Bridge Road then -- pure electric -- it was very quiet.

"The ride's smooth enough," he noted too.

"I've no idea where the front is, so you'd gauge that from experience. It's easier to see the front of the Commodore than this beasty."

And the field of vision to the rear was not without flaw, in his opinion.

"There's not huge visibility out the back. Those rear corners are pretty bulky."

Nor was Wakeman satisfied with the Prius's manoeuvrability in car parks.

"Turning circle isn't as tight as I thought it would be."

In defence of the Toyota, the turning circle of the Prius appears to be on a par with other cars of similar external dimensions, but it's no easier to manoeuvre than a Ford Territory recently in our possession -- and that's a significantly larger car -- so we understand the point that Wakeman is making.

"The head-up display is good. Quite handy to be able to see that."

"I wonder how much of it would be distracting as you're driving along," he said of the multi-information display.

"Presumably you'd get used to it, like anything else..." was his opinion of Touch Tracer, which more or less negates the whole point of the system, since it's intended to be intuitive and easy to use from the word go. In effect, Wakeman's saying that the system aimed at making the driver more familiar and comfortable with switchgear placement requires some familiarity itself.

"It would be a bit awkward to get to," said Wakeman of the seat-heating switchgear, located below the floating console and already acknowledged in our launch review as a bit of a stretch.

"I tend to drive with my knee slightly splayed out and my knee was rubbing on that.

"[The rear seat] would be a bit cosy for them," he said, referring to his three sons.

"Where are the child [safety] seat anchorage points?" he enquired. He was satisfied that Toyota had made the right choice, locating the top-tether anchorage points in the rear of the folding seats. A Honda Accord wagon purchased previously had anchorage points aftmost in the luggage compartment and this hindered loading goods when the child safety seats were fitted.

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