Prius As New Company Car

[rando]

Hello All - New to these forums and do not currently own a Prius but my current company car is due for renewal (VW Touran 1.9TDI) and had not previously considered the Prius until Sunday's visit to a local motorshow which had one on display. I was very impressed with the look of the car and of course the acclaimed MPG. After some research at work it turns out that a Prius comes in on the company lease scheme very reasonably and of course it is only 10% BIK which is great. Anyway I have just returned from a test drive in a T4 which is the grade I would opt for.

I have a few questions for you Prius owners out there:

Is the acclaimed MPG really achievable ? My commute to work is 32 miles with 15 motorway miles and the rest A/B roads with of course the usual stop/start traffic queues . In my diesel Touran I average 48 MPG so will the Prius beat this woithout too much trouble ?

How comfortable do you fihnd the seats ? Having only been sat in the Prius for about 45 mins it was hard to gauge how comfortable they would be day to day.

I also found the rear view a bit limited so would probable opt for the rear parking sensors as an added extra.

My biggest concern though is going from always having driven manual cars to an automatic. Do people find it easy to adjust from one to the other. I will still drive a manual gear car occassionally as the wife has one.

My main reason for considering this car is to save money which it ticks on the BIK front and hopefully the MPG front. I think it would be big enough for our family of 4 (2 girls aged 5 & 8) as the rear seat space seemed good and the boot is of reasonable size.

The other car on my consideration list is a Volvo V50 Drive 1.6 diesel with acclaimed MPG of 72. This would be a more normal choice for me but have to say the Prius has impressed me. So hopefully some of you can give me some views of living with a Prius day to day.

Sorry for the long post !

[SilverT4]

Hello All - New to these forums and do not currently own a Prius but my current company car is due for renewal (VW Touran 1.9TDI) and had not previously considered the Prius until Sunday's visit to a local motorshow which had one on display. I was very impressed with the look of the car and of course the acclaimed MPG. After some research at work it turns out that a Prius comes in on the company lease scheme very reasonably and of course it is only 10% BIK which is great. Anyway I have just returned from a test drive in a T4 which is the grade I would opt for.

I have a few questions for you Prius owners out there:

Is the acclaimed MPG really achievable ? My commute to work is 32 miles with 15 motorway miles and the rest A/B roads with of course the usual stop/start traffic queues . In my diesel Touran I average 48 MPG so will the Prius beat this woithout too much trouble ?

How comfortable do you fihnd the seats ? Having only been sat in the Prius for about 45 mins it was hard to gauge how comfortable they would be day to day.

I also found the rear view a bit limited so would probable opt for the rear parking sensors as an added extra.

My biggest concern though is going from always having driven manual cars to an automatic. Do people find it easy to adjust from one to the other. I will still drive a manual gear car occassionally as the wife has one.

My main reason for considering this car is to save money which it ticks on the BIK front and hopefully the MPG front. I think it would be big enough for our family of 4 (2 girls aged 5 & 8) as the rear seat space seemed good and the boot is of reasonable size.

The other car on my consideration list is a Volvo V50 Drive 1.6 diesel with acclaimed MPG of 72. This would be a more normal choice for me but have to say the Prius has impressed me. So hopefully some of you can give me some views of living with a Prius day to day.

Sorry for the long post !

I have owned a gen2 Prius for over 5 years and just recently replaced it with a gen3.

To try and answer some of your questions:-

The quoted mpg on the gen2 car (62mpg I think) was certainly achievable, as I used to easily manage over 60mpg on my 75 mile round trip to work each day on a mixture of motorways and town roads. It really depends on how you drive. Go easy on the accelerator and take notice of what the displays are telling you. Its too early to say whether the gen3 mpg is achievable as I have only driven 100 mles or so which has returned about 55mpg, but i'm sure I can improve on this.

I found the gen2 seats to be very comfortable, but first impressions are that the gen3 ones are a little hard, but it may be that my old ones had softened over time.

I suppose the manual/automatic question is down to personal choice, but I personally prefer automatics now. My wife has only driven manual cars, but has taken to the new Prius without problems.

Only normally have two people in my car, but I would say its perfectly adequate for a family of four.

Why not ask your dealer for an extended test drive 24 hours or a weekend. They usually agree to this.

Only other comment I would make is that my gen2 was a T4. I chose this because it had a 6cd changer and I like a good selection of music whilst i'm driving. I was surprised that the new T4 didn't have this, so I opted for the Tspirit mainly because of the HDD music system which stores tracks from around 200 Cd's, which sort of makes up for not having a cd changer. Worth considering if you like your music. And of course the rear view camera certainly helps with the limited rear view.

[rando]

Hello All - New to these forums and do not currently own a Prius but my current company car is due for renewal (VW Touran 1.9TDI) and had not previously considered the Prius until Sunday's visit to a local motorshow which had one on display. I was very impressed with the look of the car and of course the acclaimed MPG. After some research at work it turns out that a Prius comes in on the company lease scheme very reasonably and of course it is only 10% BIK which is great. Anyway I have just returned from a test drive in a T4 which is the grade I would opt for.

I have a few questions for you Prius owners out there:

Is the acclaimed MPG really achievable ? My commute to work is 32 miles with 15 motorway miles and the rest A/B roads with of course the usual stop/start traffic queues . In my diesel Touran I average 48 MPG so will the Prius beat this woithout too much trouble ?

How comfortable do you fihnd the seats ? Having only been sat in the Prius for about 45 mins it was hard to gauge how comfortable they would be day to day.

I also found the rear view a bit limited so would probable opt for the rear parking sensors as an added extra.

My biggest concern though is going from always having driven manual cars to an automatic. Do people find it easy to adjust from one to the other. I will still drive a manual gear car occassionally as the wife has one.

My main reason for considering this car is to save money which it ticks on the BIK front and hopefully the MPG front. I think it would be big enough for our family of 4 (2 girls aged 5 & 8) as the rear seat space seemed good and the boot is of reasonable size.

The other car on my consideration list is a Volvo V50 Drive 1.6 diesel with acclaimed MPG of 72. This would be a more normal choice for me but have to say the Prius has impressed me. So hopefully some of you can give me some views of living with a Prius day to day.

Sorry for the long post !

I have owned a gen2 Prius for over 5 years and just recently replaced it with a gen3.

To try and answer some of your questions:-

The quoted mpg on the gen2 car (62mpg I think) was certainly achievable, as I used to easily manage over 60mpg on my 75 mile round trip to work each day on a mixture of motorways and town roads. It really depends on how you drive. Go easy on the accelerator and take notice of what the displays are telling you. Its too early to say whether the gen3 mpg is achievable as I have only driven 100 mles or so which has returned about 55mpg, but i'm sure I can improve on this.

I found the gen2 seats to be very comfortable, but first impressions are that the gen3 ones are a little hard, but it may be that my old ones had softened over time.

I suppose the manual/automatic question is down to personal choice, but I personally prefer automatics now. My wife has only driven manual cars, but has taken to the new Prius without problems.

Only normally have two people in my car, but I would say its perfectly adequate for a family of four.

Why not ask your dealer for an extended test drive 24 hours or a weekend. They usually agree to this.

Only other comment I would make is that my gen2 was a T4. I chose this because it had a 6cd changer and I like a good selection of music whilst i'm driving. I was surprised that the new T4 didn't have this, so I opted for the Tspirit mainly because of the HDD music system which stores tracks from around 200 Cd's, which sort of makes up for not having a cd changer. Worth considering if you like your music. And of course the rear view camera certainly helps with the limited rear view.

I would like the TSpirit for the music option but unfortunately it is too expensive on our company lease . I have been reading the brochure this afternoon and the audio options are a bit poor in my opinion. It seems there is no DAB upgrade or a USB interface. All there seems to be is an AUX in so I suppose I could connect my MP3 or IPOD to this but would prefer to load all my music to a cheap USB memory stick that could be left in the car.

I did request a 24 hour drive but this was not available for a few weeks due to demand and I have to place my car order within the next 7 days.

Well you clearly must be happy with the Prius as you have replaced it for a new one. Have yet to see a new gen 3 on the road but suspect i will once the new reg comes out on Sept 1st.

I have never dithered before about a company car but it just seems this is a huge leap for me to the other side if you get my meaning.

[DaronB]

Hi Rando , we replaced my wifes Rav T180 at the end of July with a new Prius 3 T Spirit, my wife changed jobs and most of her driving was town driving where the Rav was averaging only 29 mpg, the Prius has about 1000 miles on it now and the average MPG reading is 54, she regularly gets much higher readings for short journeys especially when driving on flat or downhill roads, it has shown the maximum 100mpg on several occasions but regularly reads mid 70's , most of the stories i've read here seem to be showing an overall average around 54 to 57 which is superb, we said if ours did 50 we'd be happy so its better than we hoped for and its almost double what the Rav was doing. The T Spirit seats are the suede type material and very comfortable and the car is superb to drive also we went for the pearl white which I think looks great especially when the sun is shining(which is not very often here at the moment :( )

All in all these are great cars , the auto is very smooth but takes a bit of the fun out of driving although if you are stuck in traffic its fantastic no constant up and down on the clutch!

With zero road tax and the company car benefits you get these cars make perfect sense. Good luck with whichever one you choose but I would agree with SilverT4 the T Spirit is worth spending the few extra quid on for all the extras you get.

Cheers

[rando]

Hi Rando , we replaced my wifes Rav T180 at the end of July with a new Prius 3 T Spirit, my wife changed jobs and most of her driving was town driving where the Rav was averaging only 29 mpg, the Prius has about 1000 miles on it now and the average MPG reading is 54, she regularly gets much higher readings for short journeys especially when driving on flat or downhill roads, it has shown the maximum 100mpg on several occasions but regularly reads mid 70's , most of the stories i've read here seem to be showing an overall average around 54 to 57 which is superb, we said if ours did 50 we'd be happy so its better than we hoped for and its almost double what the Rav was doing. The T Spirit seats are the suede type material and very comfortable and the car is superb to drive also we went for the pearl white which I think looks great especially when the sun is shining(which is not very often here at the moment :( )

All in all these are great cars , the auto is very smooth but takes a bit of the fun out of driving although if you are stuck in traffic its fantastic no constant up and down on the clutch!

With zero road tax and the company car benefits you get these cars make perfect sense. Good luck with whichever one you choose but I would agree with SilverT4 the T Spirit is worth spending the few extra quid on for all the extras you get.

Cheers

Hi DaronB, For town driving the 54mpg is great but I would hope for rather more on a longer journey involving motorways and major roads which is what my commute to work is. One of my concerns is that the Prius is more suitable for town driving as the EV mode gets more opportunity to function thus increasing the overall mpg. As i am currenly getting 48mpg with my VW Touran i am wanting to achieve at least the high 50's on my journey to work.

Unfortunately for me the TSpirit is out of budget for the company lease scheme but the T4 has the majority on my wish list (would like USB connectivity and DAB radio though).

We have to keep our cars for 4 years (employment pending of course) so this is a big decision as once its made I am stuck with my choice.

[DaronB]

Hi Rando , we replaced my wifes Rav T180 at the end of July with a new Prius 3 T Spirit, my wife changed jobs and most of her driving was town driving where the Rav was averaging only 29 mpg, the Prius has about 1000 miles on it now and the average MPG reading is 54, she regularly gets much higher readings for short journeys especially when driving on flat or downhill roads, it has shown the maximum 100mpg on several occasions but regularly reads mid 70's , most of the stories i've read here seem to be showing an overall average around 54 to 57 which is superb, we said if ours did 50 we'd be happy so its better than we hoped for and its almost double what the Rav was doing. The T Spirit seats are the suede type material and very comfortable and the car is superb to drive also we went for the pearl white which I think looks great especially when the sun is shining(which is not very often here at the moment :( )

All in all these are great cars , the auto is very smooth but takes a bit of the fun out of driving although if you are stuck in traffic its fantastic no constant up and down on the clutch!

With zero road tax and the company car benefits you get these cars make perfect sense. Good luck with whichever one you choose but I would agree with SilverT4 the T Spirit is worth spending the few extra quid on for all the extras you get.

Cheers

Hi DaronB, For town driving the 54mpg is great but I would hope for rather more on a longer journey involving motorways and major roads which is what my commute to work is. One of my concerns is that the Prius is more suitable for town driving as the EV mode gets more opportunity to function thus increasing the overall mpg. As i am currenly getting 48mpg with my VW Touran i am wanting to achieve at least the high 50's on my journey to work.

Unfortunately for me the TSpirit is out of budget for the company lease scheme but the T4 has the majority on my wish list (would like USB connectivity and DAB radio though).

We have to keep our cars for 4 years (employment pending of course) so this is a big decision as once its made I am stuck with my choice.

Its a great car you won't be disappointed , the new 1.8 engine was designed to make the motorway mpg better as its not working as hard at motorway speeds as the 1.5 did , I think your figure of high 50's is easily achievable if not early 60's(remember our car is getting nearly 55 average and is'nt even run in, it can only improve) , the new car also does'nt sound strained at higher speeds the way the 2nd Gen did (my parents own a 2006 Prius2). The big benefit though is in town driving where most cars drop considerably in MPG the Prius doesn't . I will say though forget the Eco mode it makes the car so flat and un-responsive it will ruin the enjoyment of driving , we just leave ours in the normal mode and its great , its nice to have the EV , Eco and Sports modes but Sport is the only one you would ever use if your in a bit of a hurry , otherwise the normal mode the car runs in does everything you need.

All in all the new shape is a beautiful looking car with loads of space inside (especially rear legroom) , the interior is ultra modern, the ride is smooth and comfortable, performance is there when you need it, we did'nt buy it because we are tree huggers, my wife was fed up putting £43 a week thru the Rav , in the Prius £40 will last her nearly two weeks, and with fuel going upwards again it will soon make alot more sense.

Don't forget only a year ago diesel hit around 15p a litre more than petrol and that will probably happen again in the next so called fuel crisis ;) , at that point you will really see the benefits.

[rando]

Hi Rando , we replaced my wifes Rav T180 at the end of July with a new Prius 3 T Spirit, my wife changed jobs and most of her driving was town driving where the Rav was averaging only 29 mpg, the Prius has about 1000 miles on it now and the average MPG reading is 54, she regularly gets much higher readings for short journeys especially when driving on flat or downhill roads, it has shown the maximum 100mpg on several occasions but regularly reads mid 70's , most of the stories i've read here seem to be showing an overall average around 54 to 57 which is superb, we said if ours did 50 we'd be happy so its better than we hoped for and its almost double what the Rav was doing. The T Spirit seats are the suede type material and very comfortable and the car is superb to drive also we went for the pearl white which I think looks great especially when the sun is shining(which is not very often here at the moment :( )

All in all these are great cars , the auto is very smooth but takes a bit of the fun out of driving although if you are stuck in traffic its fantastic no constant up and down on the clutch!

With zero road tax and the company car benefits you get these cars make perfect sense. Good luck with whichever one you choose but I would agree with SilverT4 the T Spirit is worth spending the few extra quid on for all the extras you get.

Cheers

Hi DaronB, For town driving the 54mpg is great but I would hope for rather more on a longer journey involving motorways and major roads which is what my commute to work is. One of my concerns is that the Prius is more suitable for town driving as the EV mode gets more opportunity to function thus increasing the overall mpg. As i am currenly getting 48mpg with my VW Touran i am wanting to achieve at least the high 50's on my journey to work.

Unfortunately for me the TSpirit is out of budget for the company lease scheme but the T4 has the majority on my wish list (would like USB connectivity and DAB radio though).

We have to keep our cars for 4 years (employment pending of course) so this is a big decision as once its made I am stuck with my choice.

Its a great car you won't be disappointed , the new 1.8 engine was designed to make the motorway mpg better as its not working as hard at motorway speeds as the 1.5 did , I think your figure of high 50's is easily achievable if not early 60's(remember our car is getting nearly 55 average and is'nt even run in, it can only improve) , the new car also does'nt sound strained at higher speeds the way the 2nd Gen did (my parents own a 2006 Prius2). The big benefit though is in town driving where most cars drop considerably in MPG the Prius doesn't . I will say though forget the Eco mode it makes the car so flat and un-responsive it will ruin the enjoyment of driving , we just leave ours in the normal mode and its great , its nice to have the EV , Eco and Sports modes but Sport is the only one you would ever use if your in a bit of a hurry , otherwise the normal mode the car runs in does everything you need.

All in all the new shape is a beautiful looking car with loads of space inside (especially rear legroom) , the interior is ultra modern, the ride is smooth and comfortable, performance is there when you need it, we did'nt buy it because we are tree huggers, my wife was fed up putting £43 a week thru the Rav , in the Prius £40 will last her nearly two weeks, and with fuel going upwards again it will soon make alot more sense.

Don't forget only a year ago diesel hit around 15p a litre more than petrol and that will probably happen again in the next so called fuel crisis ;) , at that point you will really see the benefits.

Thanks - Its good to get real feedback from owners rather than just reading journalists reviews. I too would be buying it to save cash at the pumps and also a large chunk from the taxman as the company car BIK tax is only 10% - Great.

I am definately no tree hugger either - just a normal chap with a family looking to make the hard earned money go a bit further.

My test drive today was enjoyable and its just a shame I couldn't have it for longer but I did find it nice to drive and it has plenty of gadgets which I like in my cars.

[wooski]

Hi Rando , we replaced my wifes Rav T180 at the end of July with a new Prius 3 T Spirit, my wife changed jobs and most of her driving was town driving where the Rav was averaging only 29 mpg, the Prius has about 1000 miles on it now and the average MPG reading is 54, she regularly gets much higher readings for short journeys especially when driving on flat or downhill roads, it has shown the maximum 100mpg on several occasions but regularly reads mid 70's , most of the stories i've read here seem to be showing an overall average around 54 to 57 which is superb, we said if ours did 50 we'd be happy so its better than we hoped for and its almost double what the Rav was doing. The T Spirit seats are the suede type material and very comfortable and the car is superb to drive also we went for the pearl white which I think looks great especially when the sun is shining(which is not very often here at the moment :( )

All in all these are great cars , the auto is very smooth but takes a bit of the fun out of driving although if you are stuck in traffic its fantastic no constant up and down on the clutch!

With zero road tax and the company car benefits you get these cars make perfect sense. Good luck with whichever one you choose but I would agree with SilverT4 the T Spirit is worth spending the few extra quid on for all the extras you get.

Cheers

Hi DaronB, For town driving the 54mpg is great but I would hope for rather more on a longer journey involving motorways and major roads which is what my commute to work is. One of my concerns is that the Prius is more suitable for town driving as the EV mode gets more opportunity to function thus increasing the overall mpg. As i am currenly getting 48mpg with my VW Touran i am wanting to achieve at least the high 50's on my journey to work.

Unfortunately for me the TSpirit is out of budget for the company lease scheme but the T4 has the majority on my wish list (would like USB connectivity and DAB radio though).

We have to keep our cars for 4 years (employment pending of course) so this is a big decision as once its made I am stuck with my choice.

Its a great car you won't be disappointed , the new 1.8 engine was designed to make the motorway mpg better as its not working as hard at motorway speeds as the 1.5 did , I think your figure of high 50's is easily achievable if not early 60's(remember our car is getting nearly 55 average and is'nt even run in, it can only improve) , the new car also does'nt sound strained at higher speeds the way the 2nd Gen did (my parents own a 2006 Prius2). The big benefit though is in town driving where most cars drop considerably in MPG the Prius doesn't . I will say though forget the Eco mode it makes the car so flat and un-responsive it will ruin the enjoyment of driving , we just leave ours in the normal mode and its great , its nice to have the EV , Eco and Sports modes but Sport is the only one you would ever use if your in a bit of a hurry , otherwise the normal mode the car runs in does everything you need.

All in all the new shape is a beautiful looking car with loads of space inside (especially rear legroom) , the interior is ultra modern, the ride is smooth and comfortable, performance is there when you need it, we did'nt buy it because we are tree huggers, my wife was fed up putting £43 a week thru the Rav , in the Prius £40 will last her nearly two weeks, and with fuel going upwards again it will soon make alot more sense.

Don't forget only a year ago diesel hit around 15p a litre more than petrol and that will probably happen again in the next so called fuel crisis ;) , at that point you will really see the benefits.

Thanks - Its good to get real feedback from owners rather than just reading journalists reviews. I too would be buying it to save cash at the pumps and also a large chunk from the taxman as the company car BIK tax is only 10% - Great.

I am definately no tree hugger either - just a normal chap with a family looking to make the hard earned money go a bit further.

My test drive today was enjoyable and its just a shame I couldn't have it for longer but I did find it nice to drive and it has plenty of gadgets which I like in my cars.

My drive to work is from Islington out onto the A12 to Romford. The FE starts terrible - only averaging 20mpg over the first half mile - but I think this is totally normal during warm up. By the time I've reached the A12 in Hackney (approx 25 minutes later of inner London streets) my average is up to 50mpg. By the time I've got to Romford along the A12 - mostly 40 to 60mph cruising with loads of traffic lights - my journey time is 50 minutes and the average is up to 65mpg. One thing I must stress - I've learnt to get the most out of the car by reading the road and coasting / medium braking to stops which cuts the engine and recharges the batteries. If you're the sort of driver who madly accelerates and then brakes heavily you're just wasting energy and you wont get the most benefit out of the hybrid system. Obviously the clearer the road and the more steady cruise you can maintain the better fuel economy you'll get. As said previously, follow the indicators available and you'll soon learn how to get the most out of it.

BTW you can get a DAB radio and iPod integration kit but they are both expensive. I'm happy with the HDD jukebox in my T-Spirit which is what I'm mostly using for music.

[rando]

Hi Rando , we replaced my wifes Rav T180 at the end of July with a new Prius 3 T Spirit, my wife changed jobs and most of her driving was town driving where the Rav was averaging only 29 mpg, the Prius has about 1000 miles on it now and the average MPG reading is 54, she regularly gets much higher readings for short journeys especially when driving on flat or downhill roads, it has shown the maximum 100mpg on several occasions but regularly reads mid 70's , most of the stories i've read here seem to be showing an overall average around 54 to 57 which is superb, we said if ours did 50 we'd be happy so its better than we hoped for and its almost double what the Rav was doing. The T Spirit seats are the suede type material and very comfortable and the car is superb to drive also we went for the pearl white which I think looks great especially when the sun is shining(which is not very often here at the moment :( )

All in all these are great cars , the auto is very smooth but takes a bit of the fun out of driving although if you are stuck in traffic its fantastic no constant up and down on the clutch!

With zero road tax and the company car benefits you get these cars make perfect sense. Good luck with whichever one you choose but I would agree with SilverT4 the T Spirit is worth spending the few extra quid on for all the extras you get.

Cheers

Hi DaronB, For town driving the 54mpg is great but I would hope for rather more on a longer journey involving motorways and major roads which is what my commute to work is. One of my concerns is that the Prius is more suitable for town driving as the EV mode gets more opportunity to function thus increasing the overall mpg. As i am currenly getting 48mpg with my VW Touran i am wanting to achieve at least the high 50's on my journey to work.

Unfortunately for me the TSpirit is out of budget for the company lease scheme but the T4 has the majority on my wish list (would like USB connectivity and DAB radio though).

We have to keep our cars for 4 years (employment pending of course) so this is a big decision as once its made I am stuck with my choice.

Its a great car you won't be disappointed , the new 1.8 engine was designed to make the motorway mpg better as its not working as hard at motorway speeds as the 1.5 did , I think your figure of high 50's is easily achievable if not early 60's(remember our car is getting nearly 55 average and is'nt even run in, it can only improve) , the new car also does'nt sound strained at higher speeds the way the 2nd Gen did (my parents own a 2006 Prius2). The big benefit though is in town driving where most cars drop considerably in MPG the Prius doesn't . I will say though forget the Eco mode it makes the car so flat and un-responsive it will ruin the enjoyment of driving , we just leave ours in the normal mode and its great , its nice to have the EV , Eco and Sports modes but Sport is the only one you would ever use if your in a bit of a hurry , otherwise the normal mode the car runs in does everything you need.

All in all the new shape is a beautiful looking car with loads of space inside (especially rear legroom) , the interior is ultra modern, the ride is smooth and comfortable, performance is there when you need it, we did'nt buy it because we are tree huggers, my wife was fed up putting £43 a week thru the Rav , in the Prius £40 will last her nearly two weeks, and with fuel going upwards again it will soon make alot more sense.

Don't forget only a year ago diesel hit around 15p a litre more than petrol and that will probably happen again in the next so called fuel crisis ;) , at that point you will really see the benefits.

Thanks - Its good to get real feedback from owners rather than just reading journalists reviews. I too would be buying it to save cash at the pumps and also a large chunk from the taxman as the company car BIK tax is only 10% - Great.

I am definately no tree hugger either - just a normal chap with a family looking to make the hard earned money go a bit further.

My test drive today was enjoyable and its just a shame I couldn't have it for longer but I did find it nice to drive and it has plenty of gadgets which I like in my cars.

My drive to work is from Islington out onto the A12 to Romford. The FE starts terrible - only averaging 20mpg over the first half mile - but I think this is totally normal during warm up. By the time I've reached the A12 in Hackney (approx 25 minutes later of inner London streets) my average is up to 50mpg. By the time I've got to Romford along the A12 - mostly 40 to 60mph cruising with loads of traffic lights - my journey time is 50 minutes and the average is up to 65mpg. One thing I must stress - I've learnt to get the most out of the car by reading the road and coasting / medium braking to stops which cuts the engine and recharges the batteries. If you're the sort of driver who madly accelerates and then brakes heavily you're just wasting energy and you wont get the most benefit out of the hybrid system. Obviously the clearer the road and the more steady cruise you can maintain the better fuel economy you'll get. As said previously, follow the indicators available and you'll soon learn how to get the most out of it.

BTW you can get a DAB radio and iPod integration kit but they are both expensive. I'm happy with the HDD jukebox in my T-Spirit which is what I'm mostly using for music.

I am definately not the sort of driver that accelerates / brakes madly. I try to get the most fuel efficiency i can in my current car. Driving it hard makes the figures plummit which i guess it does in any car.

Looks like I need to try and get the TSpirit spec then for the HDD jukebox. Will need the leasing company to come down a fraction on thier quotes.

One reason I was not too bothered about the TSpirit was the fact that Sat Nav came with it. I am not a lover of in built sat nav systems as they are very limited in function. i currently have a Tom Tom which I can load POI's to but most importantly I have speed cameras loaded to it. On the Prius system is it possible to update it with speed cameras or POI's ? Also does the audio/sat nav unit have a USB connection ?

[The Traveller]

Hi Rando.

The built-in SatNav has it's own set of built-in PoI. There is no option to add your own as a database, nor to subscribe to a safety camera database. Naturally you can add favourites to the system. In these respects it is a retrograde step compared to most 3rd party SatNav devices. Upgrades are done yearly by taking it to a dealer and shelling out a couple of hundred quid each time, whereas Garmin offer a lifetimes quarterly updates for one device for a one-off fee of £100. It's also been said on another Prius forum that the updates themselves may not be, ummm, up-to-date. So I'm certain to keep on using my own Garmin.

There is an option to have either an iPod integration kit, or alternatively an iPod and USB integration kit, fitted to the vehicle. Not certain if these are available across all three models though. The former will cost you £288 and the latter £325. A bit steep IMHO, but my company TSpirit with Solar roof is on order and I will have the latter dealer-fitted at my own expense as, like yourself, I like to vary my music with a USB stick as the source.

No doubt that I'll eventually rip a lot of the music I particularly like onto the hard drive for permanent storage, but that's gonna take some time. Given that the entry level hard disk for a PC/laptop these days is around 160GB (and that a 1000GB external hard drive can be had for around £70) I do feel that a 40 GB hard drive (30 GB is reserved for Nav data) is utterly measly. For a few shekels more they could have massively increased the storage capacity and built-in the USB connector. I suppose that you could just add a small and cheap portable hard drive via USB, the sort that doesn't require external power and is used with a laptop, for example?

There's also a DAB variant for the main audio, but it's a swingeing price to pay and I've never been impressed with DAB when I've heard it, to the tune of over £500. Most of the options available are listed on P38 of the brochure, stuff like a coolbox, roof load system, audio adaptations, child seats, rear-seat DVD screens, etc. The LED lighting Pack was too new to make it into the brochure, but it's out there for factory-fit only.

Be cautious though. The Prius is not allowed to tow anything, if that's a requirement? As such it doesn't have fittings for a towing system, including a wiring loom for a rear external lighting cluster. The Solar roof option can't have a roof-loading system mounted either. So I've somehow got to get our two bikes into the car or we'll have to use her car when we go off cycling somewhere. Can't stick them up top, nor on a hitch-mounted bike holder. That's my choice though, I'm not complaining. I'm a sucker for a gadget.

Having criticised Toyota (I hope justifiably) for the things they could have done better, like Nav and Audio foibles and carrying bikes, these are secondary to me. It's clear that Toyota have built the car to a price-point, they didn't want it to be more expensive than the previous variant. So they've underspent on things that would make the car better in some respects. It feels like an excellent drive, is comfortable, is a steal as a company car and cheap to run. That's enough for me.

[mark2me]

Hi Rando, I changed my Renault Grand scenic 1.5TD company car for the new prius gen 3 not 10 days ago. I opted for the T4, and could not be happier. I travel on part m/way, part A road most days, and I dont hug trees, or even try to hard to drive economically and I still achieve 56MPG every day.

Where else could I get 10% BIK, automatic, and get the higher fuel allowance than diesel. Love the PWR mode, forget EV mode, stick it in Eco mode and go with it. I too considered the V50 Drive with stop/start, but found it smaller than the prius, and not as nice to drive. take my t'pence...go for the Prius, scare the cats and kill some grannies...or was that round the other way...

[Fujisan]

Hi Rando, I changed my Renault Grand scenic 1.5TD company car for the new prius gen 3 not 10 days ago. I opted for the T4, and could not be happier. I travel on part m/way, part A road most days, and I dont hug trees, or even try to hard to drive economically and I still achieve 56MPG every day.

Welcome :D and well done

[rando]

Hi Rando, I changed my Renault Grand scenic 1.5TD company car for the new prius gen 3 not 10 days ago. I opted for the T4, and could not be happier. I travel on part m/way, part A road most days, and I dont hug trees, or even try to hard to drive economically and I still achieve 56MPG every day.

Where else could I get 10% BIK, automatic, and get the higher fuel allowance than diesel. Love the PWR mode, forget EV mode, stick it in Eco mode and go with it. I too considered the V50 Drive with stop/start, but found it smaller than the prius, and not as nice to drive. take my t'pence...go for the Prius, scare the cats and kill some grannies...or was that round the other way...

Thanks Mark2me. The more real driver views I get the better. Someone else at work has a Prius gen 2 and i was chatting to them yesterday and he would definately have another Prius so that also speaks volumes.(i know the gen 3 is a 'different' car and its not like for like comparision).

I would be happy with your 56MPG per day as this combined with the 10% BIK will save me money. Have spoken to our leasing company and just waiting for them to get a cost on the USB connector and the DAB upgrade and depending on this I may opt for one of them as an upgrade just to improve the audio options on the Prius. Then it is just the colour i need to choose but this will almost certainly be black as my last 2 cars have been black and the Prius T4 in the showroom at local Toyota garage looks the business in black.

[timberwolf]

The summer mpg is great, it'll be interesting to read how the new Prius compares with the old when it comes to the winter months.

[rando]

The summer mpg is great, it'll be interesting to read how the new Prius compares with the old when it comes to the winter months.

Are you expecting a significant decrease in MPG then in the winter ? Did yhe gen 2 suffer badly in the winter months.

Just on another point about winter driving - does the Prius being an auto have any problems getting about in the possible snow or ice.

[Chris Dance]

Gen 2 Prius is not good in snow and ice as my son proved in the French Alps last Winter. The anti skid device shuts down the engine when the wheels spin on snow or ice. Solution was to fit snow tyres; that solved the problem.

If you drive in the Scottish Highlands that is another matter but for the rest of UK the prius is OK in the mild winters we have been having in recent years.

[timberwolf]

Are you expecting a significant decrease in MPG then in the winter ? Did yhe gen 2 suffer badly in the winter months.

It very much depends on the distance that you drive on each journey when it is cold. Short trips are the real mpg killer. In a conventional car, the engine is running all the time, so it is outputting heat to keep the catalytic converter up to temperature, keeping the mammals warm and of course keeping the engine up to termperature. In a full hybrid, like the Prius, the petrol engine isn't running all the time, but in the cold months it has to run more often to provide enough heat as things cool off more quickly and the demands for heat e.g. to keep the windows clear are greater.

Just on another point about winter driving - does the Prius being an auto have any problems getting about in the possible snow or ice.

It is not as bad as people make out, but then most people do not know how to drive properly and have poor judgement - you can witness that by observing any driver that spins their tyres and then slides, spins around or fish tails on the road or crashes into the curb or other cars. The Gen 2 Prius won't let you spin the tyres, it has an aggressive traction control system (apparently? to protect the hybrid Motor/Generator rather than as a drivers aid). The oem low-resistance tyres are not so good in wet and icy conditions although they are okay when they are new. The Prius has some good points, the VSC, brakes and traction control do mean that when you are moving, the system works well to keep you going in the right direction.

[Mkuk0]

I have a gen 2 Prius and I bought myself a Pure Highway DAB radion which I velcroed to the dash right in front of the steering wheel. You get a small aerial which sticks to the windscreen and is quite unobtrusive and all the wires were dead easy to hide away. Net result, for 70 Notes I have good quality DAB radio for a fraction of the price of a dealer fit. Its now Planet Rock 24/7 Yay!!

BTW I was one of those who managed to get on a 'preview day' for the gen 3, and I am very impressed with the advances made over the gen 2, with the possible exception of the quality of the plastics on the gen 3 glove box doors, but that could just be me :)

[rando]

I have a gen 2 Prius and I bought myself a Pure Highway DAB radion which I velcroed to the dash right in front of the steering wheel. You get a small aerial which sticks to the windscreen and is quite unobtrusive and all the wires were dead easy to hide away. Net result, for 70 Notes I have good quality DAB radio for a fraction of the price of a dealer fit. Its now Planet Rock 24/7 Yay!!

BTW I was one of those who managed to get on a 'preview day' for the gen 3, and I am very impressed with the advances made over the gen 2, with the possible exception of the quality of the plastics on the gen 3 glove box doors, but that could just be me :)

Mkuk0 - How are you powering the Pure DAB radio then ? are you using the 12v socket ? Am interested as I too would like DAB in my next car. Can't believe that it is not standard these days with digital just around the corner or at least a cheaper option on the Prius.

[meannotgreen]

and I am very impressed with the advances made over the gen 2, with the possible exception of the quality of the plastics on the gen 3 glove box doors, but that could just be me :)

Probably because it's made from sweet potatoes, or something!

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.nsf...A257598000719BD

[Mkuk0]

Rando, yeah I just made a small hole in the centre console, and ran the 12v power lead under the carpet, then behind the dash and popped it out by the steering wheel, all very neat and tidy.