Good Fuel Economy

[Aeneas]

Bought a new Prius Gen 3 a few weeks ago and took it to France for the past week. Did 1850kms (1156mls) of mixed driving - in towns, on country roads, motorways. The fuel consumption for the round trip read 4.6 litres per 100kms which is 61 miles per gallon. Pretty impressive. The only slight glitchs are 1) I found that the engine is so quiet and the gear stick so unusual that it is easy to forget that the car is not in parking mode - once or twice I found myself moving forward inadvertantly; 2) the reverse beep is annoying, but probably necessary because of the design of gear mechanism; 3) rear sight lines are difficult. Otherwise a joy to drive and even at 80mps on motorways I found the car quiet and well powered.

[Jan&tone]

Glad you enjoyed your trip, the Gen2 was (is) a nice car, the Gen3 is even better IMHO....

[RNS]

Hello

at low speeds around town do u find more people step off the pavements in front you... like they not realised theres a car coming...

[Jan&tone]

Hello

at low speeds around town do u find more people step off the pavements in front you... like they not realised theres a car coming...

Yes you have to be more aware of the fact that people actually never look - they listen! and if they don't hear anything they step out - then they look!

The fact that you, as a Prius driver, realise that they won't hear you and have planned for it doesn't detract from the fact that the look on their face when they actually see you is amazing! So far, I've not managed to give anyone a heart attack (only me :( ) but I'm sure it could be done under certain circumstances!

But I still wouldn't go for the 'noise maker' that Mr T is thinking of putting on his hybrids though!

[Glyyde]

Reverse camera is so brilliant that I am not worried about rear sight lines

[Aeneas]

Hello

at low speeds around town do u find more people step off the pavements in front you... like they not realised theres a car coming...

Yes. Like the earlier poster I find that people are startled when they find the car close behind them and that they are inclined to step off the footpath without realising that a car is approaching. It does mean I have to be more vigilent in areas with lots of pedestrians, particularly children and older people.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Hello

at low speeds around town do u find more people step off the pavements in front you... like they not realised theres a car coming...

But I still wouldn't go for the 'noise maker' that Mr T is thinking of putting on his hybrids though!

I've got a noise maker fitted on my Prius. To operate it you press the middle of the steering wheel and hold it for a second or two!

[Jan&tone]

Hello

at low speeds around town do u find more people step off the pavements in front you... like they not realised theres a car coming...

But I still wouldn't go for the 'noise maker' that Mr T is thinking of putting on his hybrids though!

I've got a noise maker fitted on my Prius. To operate it you press the middle of the steering wheel and hold it for a second or two!

Oh is that what happens when you press the middle of the steering wheel!! I thought that was an alarm call for early morning starts...

[timberwolf]

Nope, I haven't noticed any more people stepping or about to step out in front of my car than they did with any other petrol car that I've previously owned.

It doesn't hurt to be more vigilant, but the figures don't stack up to the Prius being some sort of killing machine. Are the Car insurance premiums way out of line for the Prius, not in my experience, so I think we can assume that the insurance companies for the moment don't consider the Prius any greater risk.

Bob Wilson posts on PriusChat, I think he is on a bit of a crusade to debunk the myth that the Prius is any more deadly than any other car. Sadly, he has an uphill struggle when even some Prius owners are willing to feed the myth based on their own imagination and 2+2=5 logic. :(

http://hiwaay.net/~bzwilson/prius/Prius_Fatal_Accidents/index.html

[Aeneas]

Nope, I haven't noticed any more people stepping or about to step out in front of my car than they did with any other petrol car that I've previously owned.

It doesn't hurt to be more vigilant, but the figures don't stack up to the Prius being some sort of killing machine. Are the Car insurance premiums way out of line for the Prius, not in my experience, so I think we can assume that the insurance companies for the moment don't consider the Prius any greater risk.

Bob Wilson posts on PriusChat, I think he is on a bit of a crusade to debunk the myth that the Prius is any more deadly than any other car. Sadly, he has an uphill struggle when even some Prius owners are willing to feed the myth based on their own imagination and 2+2=5 logic. :(

http://hiwaay.net/~bzwilson/prius/Prius_Fatal_Accidents/index.html

In my case I'm simply responding to a query on the post. And giving an honest view based on a few weeks' experience. The fact is: the car is quiet at low speeds and people don't hear it, especially when they are walking in front of you. On my recent trip I felt I had to be a bit more vigilant in towns eg in shopping areas and along sea fronts where there were many pedestrians. I was aware of this before I was aware that it was a concern amongst some Prius owners! And obviously a matter of some controversy.

[Jan&tone]

My comment was made on the strength of driving through Godshill on the IoW - very narrow pavements and everyone that walks through there at some point walks in the road.. as Prius owners I think that we should just be aware that people do not always look before they step out into the road, and from the 'normal' insurance premiums i think we do pretty well too. humans generally have sight and hearing and use both senses to discern what is around them when out and about especially when crossing roads. The only people that really take care when crossing roads are those unfortunate enough to be deaf or blind, those people I admire for their ability to do things that you or I would have great difficulty with.

[timberwolf]

Sorry, I didn't mean for my comment to be taken as personal attack.

My concern is that is very easy for us to make observation but they can be biased

because we a have an idea of how we think things work rather than the reality.

For example, how mnay Prius owners have mistakenly thought that the reversing beep could

heard outside the car and worked like those on lorries to warn pedestrians?

Yes, I take your point about drawing conclusions on the insurance,

we could on average be more aware drivers! I'd also question how well USA statistic

fit the UK or Ireland? we probably do more pedestrian miles than in USA e.g. less side-walks, cultural and geographical scale.

[johalareewi]

2) the reverse beep is annoying, but probably necessary because of the design of gear mechanism;

You can get the constant beeping reduced to a single beep if you haven't already.

[Jan&tone]

Timberwolf mate, it wasn't taken As anything personal, I just thought that I ought to clarify my thoughts!

As to the yanks walking anywhere, let's not go there

[Jan&tone]

2) the reverse beep is annoying, but probably necessary because of the design of gear mechanism;

You can get the constant beeping reduced to a single beep if you haven't already.

You actually don't notice it after a while, when I picked up my gen3, I actually had to check that it was there when someone asked whether there was any difference between the gen2 and the gen3 - I suppose you just tune it out!