There are two different schools of thought regarding the Toyota Prius hybrid. Some see it as the future of transportation -- a roomy family car that uses about half the fuel of a typical mid-size sedan. Other see it as the anti-car, a joyless, soulless form of transportation completely lacking in the character which car fanatics love so much. Personally, I can see both side of the argument -- and apparently so can Toyota, because they've attempted to imbue the all-new Prius with something the old car lacked: Personality. Has it worked? Find out in my 2010 Toyota Prius test drive and review. -- Aaron Gold
Photo © Aaron Gold
Aaron, did your Prius have the auto-park feature? I’ve often thought that sounded like a neat feature, but never heard any real-world feedback on it.
In the Harry Potter books and movies, there is a character called the “Dementor.” A Dementor sucks out your soul, and leaves you feeling like there is no joy left in life.
The Prius, to me, is an automotive Dementor. Yes, there are hundreds of thousands of people out there who have bought them, and apparently love them, for the sole purposes of getting good gas mileage and saving the planet (if that were really possible). I’m sure that they are all very happy with their Happy Shiny Smiley cars. To me, however, it is a car that takes all of the joy out of driving. There is no performance. It wasn’t built for that. It isn’t particularly appealing to look at. It wasn’t designed for that either. In fact, now that Toyota has applied it’s current “design language/architecture” to the car, which means that they applied their “signature” grille and general styling cues to the car, it looks even worse than it did before. There is no manual transmission for added driver involvement, no exhaust note to listen to as you accelerate. It seems akin to driving a fully enclosed, road legal golf cart. In fact, I’d have more fun driving a golf cart than I would a Prius.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for getting better gas mileage, and I’m all for adapting hybrid technology to cars to achieve it. It car companies would do more with adapting this technology to existing models, or developing other similar models that utilize hybrid technology along with gasoline or better yet, diesel engines, I would be thrilled.
The Prius in its current design, reminds me of a garden slug with wheels. It’s an appliance pure and not so simple, and not worth five figures worth of my money. I’ll make due with lower fuel economy and wait for a design and driving experience that is actually appealing.
Ah Eric, you’re such an autophile! Just like me, Aaron and the majority of us who read Aaron’s pages. The Prius is designed for those who stictly view the car as a conveyance…pure and simple. To me it is my symbol of freedom, excitement and the instant ticket to untold adventure. We autophiles often look upon these “appliance drivers” with pity or disdain. They of course look upon us with disgust and disdain. But it’s OK, when we blow by them on that curvy road, we’ll be the ones that are smiling. To me in my Mini, at least I know I’ll be having a heck of a lot more fun and nearly the same gas mileage. In my books I guess I win…and that’s all that counts to me!
I hear you Don. There are a number of other cars out there that get nearly the same gas mileage as the Prius for about the same money, that are infinitely more fun to drive.
I’m not really sure how to view the Toyota Prius or even the Honda Insight. My history with the quality of each of these companies is not good. If you throw in the high tech systems in each hybrid it scares me away. Both cars seem to lack a passionate personality that would appeal to most drivers and yet both are selling quite well. Both are great Urban vehicles and the mileage they get reflects that, but cruising on the highway sounds about as fun as doing it in Smart car with a high crosswind. Then there’s the price. I would expect more luxury from 30+ thousand dollars, but these two are the basement dwellers in hybrid market in pricing.
Gasoline and clean diesel cars like the Mini Cooper or Jetta TDI are cars that are part of a internal combustion engine market that create smaller carbon footprints, but aren’t a long-term solution to our fossil fuel dependence.
There’s got to be a way to create and build a fun, fast hybrid that doesn’t cost as much as a Tesla Roadster or even either of these.
Until then I still plan on a new Tornado Red 2010 GTI that will average over 30 mpg on the highway, through the curves and past the Prius or Insight. It may cost 30 grand with autobahn package, but it’s worth it.
Now that you mention it, I have thought of the Prius as the old Earth Shoes from the 70s – not too attractive (even a little silly looking), but they made sense on some levels(but not enough sense to where most people abandoned more fashionable shoes).