Recent Test Drive

[timberwolf]

I've recently taken a two hour test drive of a Prius T-Spirit and here are

some of my observations as best as I can recall them.

As I find driving stressful at times, I planned my test drive to start off with

some quiet A and B class roads, then to head towards the town, and finally some

motorway driving. (As it turned out, I didn't plan a long enough route).

Pros:

Quiet most of the time when driving.

Couldn't tell (most of the time) when the petrol engine was on.

Transition from electric to petrol was seemless.

Stable around corners (Test drive was on a dry, sunny day).

Cloth seats felt like a padded armchair perhaps a bit too much padding in places.

Seats fully supported my legs and comfort was okay (I'm 5'10" with 29" inside leg and 2 stone over weight).

Ample elbow room.

Impressed with the digital speedometer - large and easy to read numbers.

(Only briefly tested) Reversing camera (it would be nice to also have a camera at the front).

Liked the steering wheel controls (although I only used two of the buttons on the right-hand side).

Cons:

Slow to pull away at junctions.

Ride was bouncy at times.

Accelerator was very light (initially I had great difficulty adjusting my foot

position to set my speed - I kept over compenstating).

Steering very light (below 50 mph) made Prius feel sort of skitish (but see comment on cornering).

Engine noise harsh under hard acceleration to get up to motorway speed.

Jekyll & Hyde suspension - most of time it was very comfortable, but some man-hole covers really jarred.

Braking system was very different to anything that I've driven before.

(I can't honestly say that I got the hang of the braking, although it wasn't

something that I recall paying attention to by the end of drive, I think I

actually changed my driving style to drift up more slowly to a stop).

One section of the motorway with a rough concrete surface caused violent vibration.

Cloth seats allowed little circulation, it was a sunny day and my back got sweaty.

Undecided:

MFD displayed 60 average mpg (it was displaying 43 average mpg and I reset it about 10-15 mins into the test drive).

Drivers foot well confining.

Boot space shallow.

Sat-nav voice direction was incorrect about the correct lane to be in.

Centre console fabric very soft to touch - unsure how hard wearing it would be?

Unable to pay much attention to the MFD and therefore I was not familar enough

with the main display to know what the hybrid system was doing at a glance.

Car is light, unsettled in the windy conditions on the motorway.

Unknown:

Radio/CD

[Stepppy]

Thanks for the very informative review.

I take it the test drive was from a main Toyota dealer, but did they just say take it away for a couple of hours or did you have to persuade them? Did you go to the new Hedge End dealer or Millbrook?

[Chris Dance]

Some of the cons you oberved on your test drive are a matter of getting used to the Prius. On concrete surfaces all cars will vibrate. On the MI north of Leeds there is a concrete section and both my Volvo and Avensis rumbled and vibrated on that. We have found the Prius to be quiet running and the steering although light is very positive. Under heavy acceleration engine noise does increase but only momentarily.

As you can tell we think the Prius is the best car we have owned. Our son has a Prius as well and tells me his Sat/nav was brilliant on the continent. I have not experienced any problems with it either although it does not recognise the relatively new Leighton Buzzard by pass.

Our motoring costs are way down since we bought the Prius and if we go into London then £10 a year is better than the daily charge in the congestion zones.

[timberwolf]

Stepppy:

Thanks, that was the short version.

It was at Hedge End, although I've not made up my mind about the dealer. I was offered the 2 hour test drive, the sales exec. said he had to check the book for a free slot, so I assumed that it wasn't an unusual thing. It did have to be booked in advance. I don't know if anything I actually said influenced it, but I imagine that they have to decide whether there is the potential that you'll buy a new car from them. Just be aware that the insurance excess was £1000, it might possibly be normal for the motor trade but I thought it was rather steep.

Some of the cons you oberved on your test drive are a matter of getting used to the Prius. On concrete surfaces all cars will vibrate. On the MI north of Leeds there is a concrete section and both my Volvo and Avensis rumbled and vibrated on that. We have found the Prius to be quiet running and the steering although light is very positive. Under heavy acceleration engine noise does increase but only momentarily.

As you can tell we think the Prius is the best car we have owned. Our son has a Prius as well and tells me his Sat/nav was brilliant on the continent. I have not experienced any problems with it either although it does not recognise the relatively new Leighton Buzzard by pass.

Our motoring costs are way down since we bought the Prius and if we go into London then £10 a year is better than the daily charge in the congestion zones.

Yes, I think you are correct, some of the cons are just a matter of getting used to them. The reason that I put them as cons is that the Prius is a very light vehicle compared to most other cars - also I only have my Honda Civic to compare it against.

The concrete section was alarming, I don't believe that all cars vibrate so violently that you think the dashboard is going to shake itself to bits. I don't drive that section of the motorway very often, if I was on a daily commute of that concrete section, I'd have gone back and forth on that bit of the motorway trying out different speeds. Apart from the occasional jarring over some man-hole covers the Prius did otherwise have a comfortable ride (even if at times it was a little bouncy).

The pull away from rest appeared to be slow, I even tried pressing the accelerating harder at one quiet junction with no apparent improvement. Is the fly-by-wire accelerator limited by the computer to prevent quick starts off the line?

I listed the braking as a con because they behaved quite different from a normal car. One of the claims for the Prius is that you don't have to worry about the technology, just get in and drive it like any other car.

What I didn't say was that I really liked the Prius (but I thought we could have a discussion before I admitted that). If the deal had felt right, I would have ordered a new Prius on the spot.

[Chris Dance]

Hope you get the deal you are looking for. To be honest if you experienced sluggish acceleration I think there was something wrong with the car. Ours just "zooms" away and has better acceleration than my previous Avensis.

I am told there are some good deals for the Prius it is a matter of shopping around. You could get a second hand one like I did, 3 months old 1700, miles with leather upholstery and side strips. I found mine on the internet from a Toyota dealer (Brown's) of High Wycombe.

[timberwolf]

When moving the acceleration was good (on A and B roads, and town driving).

When I was at junctions, stopped waiting to go, that was when it was slow to set off. Interestingly, although I'd set off at the lights slower than other drivers, I'd soon (magically!) catch up and I could even have over/under-taken them in my lane if I'd wanted to.

I don't think I want leather seats now, although initially I thought I did.

What sort of deals are available?

I would have been happy if the dealer been positively prepared to drop by a 1000, but unfortunately I wasn't dealing direct with the Sales manager that makes the decisions, there were annoying delays whilst the salesman disappeared into the office (or maybe just for coffee - who knows?), and he'd already written on his sheet GAP Insurance and Supraguard prices and that was before we'd even discussed the price.

[Stepppy]

The concrete section was alarming, I don't believe that all cars vibrate so violently that you think the dashboard is going to shake itself to bits. I don't drive that section of the motorway very often, if I was on a daily commute of that concrete section, I'd have gone back and forth on that bit of the motorway trying out different speeds. Apart from the occasional jarring over some man-hole covers the Prius did otherwise have a comfortable ride (even if at times it was a little bouncy).

The above is very interesting as it was a concrete section that made the Prius I had my short trip in vibrate around the dashboard

I think when I take my test drive I will take it down the M271 and around the roundabouts in Millbrook as they are pretty poorley surfaced. The last thing I want to do if go from a car that is built like a tank with zeros rattles to one which could be prone

The £1000 excess I think is quite normal, before I bought my current car I was made aware of that fact too. Good to hear about it appearing quite normal and being able to book a 2hr slot. GAP insurance is the biggest waste of money - I took it once, but never again, besides you can get it cheaper through 3rd party.

Even after my concerns, I am still very keen to try the Prius, but I will have an open mind with the new one on the horizon. I wouldn't be changing until March at the earliest.

Thanks again :)