Probably the most influential vehicle in the last century along the Model S.
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The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry
101–110 of 292 posts
Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry
#102I hated the original Prius. It had no right to call itself a "hybrid". It had one source of power: gasoline. This seriously confused the market and the press when the Volt -- a true Hybrid with electric and gas -- came out. I wish regulators defined the word "Hybrid" and limitied its use in marketing. Family Guy got the meaning of "Prius--and the type of self-righteous person who drove it--exactly right.
> It had no right to call itself a "hybrid". It had one source of power: gasoline.
That’s the definition of a hybrid.
We have a separate phrase for a hybrid that you can plug in. It’s called a “plug in hybrid”.
I don’t think it seriously confused the market at all.
Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry
#103I hated the original Prius. It had no right to call itself a "hybrid". It had one source of power: gasoline. This seriously confused the market and the press when the Volt -- a true Hybrid with electric and gas -- came out. I wish regulators defined the word "Hybrid" and limitied its use in marketing. Family Guy got the meaning of "Prius--and the type of self-righteous person who drove it--exactly right.
The other source of energy is kinetic energy. It converts the potential energy of gravity mgh, into electrical energy, back into kinetic energy, 1/2*mv^2.
You only put one energy in, the other source is gravity and recycled kinetic.
Besides hybrid means two motors gas and electric. Not two inputs.
Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry
#104The new Prius is really good-looking (to my eye at least), especially in person: I don't think the photos (I've seen) do it justice. Fun comparisons to the car Burt Reynolds drove in Smokey and the Bandit: Compared to the 1977 Pontiac Trans Am: - The Prius is as fast 0-60 (~7 seconds) - The Prius has nearly the same top speed (~115 mph) - The Prius is 4x(!) as fuel-efficient (57mpg vs. 12-16mpg) - The Prius has all t…
Doesn’t sound as cool though. Maybe the Mustang team was onto something when they were playing supplementary fake engine sounds in the cabin speakers
Will people always think vroom vroom sounds cool? As far as I'm concerned, we can't get rid of it soon enough. When I rent an ICE car, I'm always annoyed by the engine revving sounds.
Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry
#105I sometimes chuckle that most of the cool Lexuses are now Priuses under the hood! But that’s a good thing. I own a Toyota Corolla hybrid myself, and hybrids are one of those things that I can say I’ve completely changed my mind about. I used to dislike the idea of hybrids, because I assumed that the overall system complexity must be higher than either an ICE, or an EV. And I’m a sucker for simple systems, so I though…
>I’m at a point where if I’m looking for a car that uses fuel, it’s only cars that use the Toyota hybrid tech (or similar) that I’m looking at. At the moment it’s just Toyota, Lexus, most Ford hybrids (but not all).
Don't forget the Mazda CX-50 Hybrid that was just released. Using the Toyota Hybrid from the RAV4 with the elegance and beauty of Mazda design.
Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
My German EV was introduced a decade ago, and it’s still great! I think a better comparison is to the Italians. Stellantis bought up a bunch of iconic brands when they got Chrysler and then integrated a bunch of new technology from Fiat. Since then, they’ve focused on creature comforts and margin expansion, but neglected everything else. They recently realized their sales projections are headed for a cliff and uncere…
Yeah its a mixed bag in germany in my eyes. All of the big brands have a real electric platform minus BMW. 800V isnt pioneered with them either. VDA is pressuring for HVO100 bs. Mercedes just pulled back on the electric only strategy. I guess they figured that most of the added value is with the batteries and being deeply integrated there and thats not really their cup of tea, so far at least. There where Taycans for…
An off lease A6 in a couple years will probably be a great deal.
Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
You’ll typically add 50 miles of range overnight, which is more than the average person drives in a day. That’s not minimal. Unpredictability is buffered by the large battery. You can drive 200 miles one day then slowly fill it back up. Fast chargers can be a backup for the occasional times it’s not enough. Why would there be an issue with selling it used when doing this?
Nobody is interested in used EVs, therefore resale values are very low.
Resale values are low compared to new prices. Tell me, why does your logic not apply to new prices?
Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry
#108I know all cars can’t be perfect but as a 2010 Prius owner (I probably shouldn’t complain given it’s 15 years old) it has had several well documented issues that never prompted a recall.
I was hit with a bad oil gasket that causes the engine to burn oil. It’s so much work to replace their solution is to replace the entire engine. My solution is to keep putting oil in it. I was told by the dealer this is common over 70k miles.
The steering controls (heat, volume, cruise) stopped working pretty early on. It was well over $1k to fix, mostly labor. Apparently the connection they use is prone to failure.
Leaves me wondering if my next car will be a Toyota. Maybe if they adopted Apple CarPlay.
That being said, batteries are still good and I’ve been pretty impressed how low the maintenance has been.
Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problems with the Prius are basically: - Terrible in snow and ice - No way to defrost your windshield, unless you're already driving - Poor rear window visibility If not for those things it would be great, but unfortunately they've made zero progress on fixing any of the core issues for the last 25 years. The new models definitely do look cooler, and I appreciate that they accelerate faster, but I personally care…
> - Terrible in snow and ice I don’t know what gave you that idea, unless this is a complaint about FWD vs AWD. They do fine around here in snow and ice. Snow and ice performance is primarily (by a wide margin) about the tires. Next is the diffs and/or traction control for keeping both wheels moving when one starts slipping. A Prius on snow tires does about as well as any other common FWD car.
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Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry
#110I sometimes chuckle that most of the cool Lexuses are now Priuses under the hood! But that’s a good thing. I own a Toyota Corolla hybrid myself, and hybrids are one of those things that I can say I’ve completely changed my mind about. I used to dislike the idea of hybrids, because I assumed that the overall system complexity must be higher than either an ICE, or an EV. And I’m a sucker for simple systems, so I though…
Not a challenge, but a plea: where's your source(s) for this? I'm about where you were, but would love to know more about the internals so I can make an informed choice when my current (ICE) car dies.
This is a great series by a Toyota mechanic:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeFzfl0Q8rQUOHwFNOMTu...
He goes into the practicalities of owning/maintaining/repairing as well as the engineering.