The first contact with the car is disconcerting: drop in, press the start button (the key-less system takes care of the rest), and this thing starts moving in silence. At least until you attempt to get to real speed, where suddenly the magic fades and the rather intrusive sound of the smallish 4 cylinder petrol engine comes spoiling the driving experience.
This silence at traffic lights and while crawling is so addictive that you wish it would last, but the power of the electrical engine and the battery capacity would be seriously limiting autonomy and pace.
Now, let's step back and rationalize.
We're talking about a small size 5-door sedan with a bland but not unpleasing exterior design, decent rear legroom and a smallish boot. The car is not small, far from the eccentric form factor of a Smart City Coupe, and not light, thanks to the two power plants and the batteries.
Build quality is decent, nothing rattles or squeaks, but surface finishes and seat fabrics will not give any sense of occasion to your daily commute. There were some bizarre attempts at using shiny black inserts, but they don't look classy and are just begging to get scratched. This interior is about as entertaining as a raw cube of tofu.
Driver interface is rather uncommon.
A digital instrument cluster located far front provides the essentials, while the multipurpose display takes care of gadgetry and, most important in the first miles, the power train display which distracts your attention by telling you, real time, where the energy comes from and goes to.
Driving position is good, controls feel firm, the steering wheel nicely small and loaded with controls, seats decent although lacking lateral support, outward vision a bit limited: impossible to tell where the front ends, and rearwards visibility is hampered by the curved roof.
Once in normal traffic, you have to get used to the fact that you'll hear the 1.5L petrol engine a lot more than you wish to, unless bumper to bumper traffic makes most of your daily menu. The engine is noisy and not very pleasing.
Torque and power are sufficient considering the target market segment (Prius buyers are unlikely to expect sports car performance), but unless you indulge yourself to very relaxed driving, squeezing pace out of the Prius will be anything but peacefully quiet.
Still, one can regret that Toyota did not manage to shave off another 200 kilograms, this would both help save energy and achieve brisk performance when needed.
The power train is a pure engineering gem. The frequent switches between the three propulsion modes (electric, petrol, both) are absolutely seamless, the switch to battery charging at lift off does not bring any jerks. This power train is really well sorted out.
Handling is quite neutral, and the likely front weight bias translates into predictable understeer at the limit. More than sufficient for the targeted customer segment.
Things get a bit more cloudy when looking at the price list. The Prius is very expensive if you consider what it delivers, a basic 5-door car, moderately equipped, arguably underpowered car. Throw in sat-nav and the bottom line starts looking really scary. You're then in fully loaded Mercedes A-class territory.
One could argue that the energy savings could make up for the price adder, but the math does not work out.
A quick computation: the Prius will save at best around 3L every 100km compared to a compact petrol sedan. At european gas prices, you'll save at most 5$ per 100km, or 5000$ over 100'000km. This far from compensates the price premium for this technology, furtherless as Toyota hardly makes money on these yet.
Getting towards the sales volumes which will make hybrid technology as economically sound as it is ecological is going to be an uphill battle. State taxes incentives may help, but will that be enough ?
Toyota thoughtfully pre-empts legitimate concerns about battery reliability by offering an 8 year/100'000 miles warranty which should bring some piece of mind ... until the deadline gets close.
For 30% less, the Prius would be a nice second or third car for urban and suburban commutes. At current pricing, it is a social statement and interesting market test targetting a tiny niche.
Toyota has the means to afford such experiments and it is likely that the Prius 1 and this Prius 2 will allow to bring the technology costs down towards competitive levels with conventional rivals, and provide an affordable alternative.
As long as the market remains a niche and technology evolves fast, depreciation is likely to remain brutal, as the Prius 1 second hand market prices show.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 30000
Condition: New Model Year: 2004
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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