Toyota amazes me sometimes

Now for a little rant: So, I had an unexpected trip to Atlanta this weekend and decided to save gas money and rent a car. I went to the Toyota dealership and rented a new Prius V (for those that don't know, the Toyota Rent-a-car is the cheapest, best option of any rental car places in my experience). End result, I saved money since the rental plus gas was just over half what the gas alone would've been in the FJ.

Now, to my comments on the Prius V:
Oh wow!, how can one company build two such radically different vehicles??? The Prius came with sat. radio, navigation, heated leather seats, etc and a 0-60 time of haha. I have to give it credit for great gas mileage though. All highway, Atlanta and back, I averaged a bit over 75 mph and 44 mpg. Pretty good for those speeds. In and around town before turning the car back in, I was just under 56 mpg. Both numbers are better than advertised. Interior ergonomics were flat out terrible. If I were maybe 150lbs heavier and 6" wider, I would've been able to use the armrests, though they were still very hard plastic and would need some padding. Another example is the heated seat switch which isn't even visible or within reach. If you hunch down far enough that you can't see the road, you should be able to reach towards the gas pedal and just before you reach it, the heated seat switch is just to the right of your hand... Not all things were bad though. Even though it took me 700 miles to figure it out, the HVAC controls were awesome.

Anyway, about the drive. I'm used to a lifted FJ on 35" mud tires rolling down the road with anywhere between 600-1000 lbs of extra weight in it. Driving the Prius was flat out tiring. While it wandered a lot on the highway, the worse part was having to work the gas pedal so much. My right calve was sore by the time we reached the ATL and I can only describe this to manual FJ drivers. Have you ever been on a full day trip to somewhere like URE? You know how your foot and leg are tired from working the clutch so much? Yeah, same thing here. It's clearly a momentum car that doesn't have enough power to maintain momentum. Running down I-85, I'd go down a hill increasing speed to 80+ and be struggling to keep it up to 65 going back up the hill, then the same thing, over and over again. These aren't big hills mind you. Then, factor in Labor Day traffic that can't seem to maintain a set speed either and it becomes a heck of a right leg work out.

I'm sure the Prius V has a place for a good number of people out there, but not for me. It certainly does showcase the variety of ideas and philosophies at work within Toyota though. Okay, I'm done ranting.

its a short jaunt type of vehicle...around town and maybe to get "around" town....thats what the car is primarily built for in my opinion...56 mpg around town is ridiculous good...not to mention44mpg at 75mph...yeah its not a long trip kind of vehiclei had heard the ergonomics of the vehicle were just cruddy. to buy one though is insane too...you pay a huge price for a car that is no where near worth it other than gas mileage and then in 5-7 years your batteries are shot...then it costs you the cost of a new car to get the batteries replaced...

No cruise control?

Apparently the regular life of a hybrid has 4x the footprint if you doo 200k. But off the factory line the footprint just from the batteries is bigger than a f350 turbodiesel withh 1/2 a million miles put on it. Nothing else to say you save gas our world gets it in the nut sizack. Save gas= crush the environment. Not really a win win situation either way though. The tdi is a great temporary solution thoufh 44 plus around town 50 plus highway, and the tdi wagon is comfy has a serious trubo and will put you in your seat when it winds up. Temporary solution for sure.

MadToy wrote:

No cruise control?

Haha, if you want to try using the cruise control on I-85 on the Labor Day weekend in heavy traffic, go for it! It did have cruise control and the operation was the same as every Toyota product made for the past 22+ years (at least since my 91 MR2, I know). I guess I wasn't man enough to try it out in my 30' hole in traffic.

I certainly wouldn't get a Prius, but I'm not too concerned with carbon footprint, otherwise I wouldn't drive a modded FJ. A TDI VW is still on my list of four new cars I'm considering since it's getting to be about time to get another car. The main knock against VW is how expensive and difficult they are to work on. Been there, done that and not too crazy about trying again, so it's hanging out at the lower end of the list with it's mpg keeping it there.

My friend has one. They have a lot more room inside than they look. And his will move. I totally agree about the dashboard and ergonomics behind it. His gets extremely good gas mileage, but when you compare it to how much damage manufacturers do to the earth to harvest the elements needed from 3 continents to make the multitude of batteries for 1 car...."those" prius drivers have no room to be smug. But my friend isn't one of "those". Hes just a technology addict.

Saw this and thought of this thread!

https://youtu.be/cv5DfZwCOMg

That's hilarious!

What a DUSCHBAG. I would've rammed that son of biatch into the center wall.

Me too so I could get a new bumper! LOL