Toyota Prius - any good?

[Parm]

My dad's after a new car, and if there's one thing he hates, it's spending money on petrol.

He's had some nice cars in the past, a Land Rover, Lexus GX300, Lexus RX300 etc etc, but he's not a car enthusiast at all. With those cars eating up petrol, he's ended up selling them on and the last car he bought was a £500 battered Peugeot - and he loved it!

"£10 a week" he used to say, and it made him happy. That was, until it kept breaking down and parts and maintenance became expensive.

So, now he's after something else and I've suggested the Prius simple due to its MPG rating which I believe to be around the 65 mark? That's pretty good, and though it looks a little odd-shaped, it isn't a bad looking car.

Anyone had one? Any opinions? Alternatively, anything else around that price that's more fuel efficient?

[dave87]

If it is within budget, a 120/123d.

All the fun of a pokier luxury car, with 50+ mpg. Sorted

[joshwa]

A small diesel is generally more fuel effecient than a Prius. But it depends on where he drives - the Prius is meant to be good around town.

Wikipedia says: In the United Kingdom there are eight cars on the market which are more fuel–efficient than the Prius on combined use. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Prius

Auto Express said the Citreon C4 1.6 HDi was the most fuel efficient with the Prius in 10th place. (in a test of 10 cars)

Add to that all the environmental damage caused by the manufacturer of the Prius and then shipping it all over the world from Japan - you'd do more good to the environment by buying a locally produced small diesel car - like a Mini Cooper D?

Lowest Co2 "According to the UK Department for Transport, the Prius is tied with the diesel MINI Cooper D as the third least CO2-emitting vehicles behind the tied Volkswagen Polo 1.4 TDI and SEAT Ibiza 1.4 TDI"

[directhex]

the prius is unbeatable in traffic jams - essentially, it's zero emmision when idle

but at speed, it's a 1.4 petrol, nothing more.

[dave87]

So are the new BMWs

They turn their engines off when you take it out of gear, and are stationary. Efficient Dynamics or something they call it.

[hamd01]

I used to have an Alfa....that used to switch its engine off when I was out of gear. Think they call that the "shoddy workmanship" feature.

[digit]

I've suggested the Prius simple due to its MPG rating which I believe to be around the 65 mark? That's pretty good, and though it looks a little odd-shaped, it isn't a bad looking car.

Anyone had one? Any opinions? Alternatively, anything else around that price that's more fuel efficient?

I'd say a bluemotion polo or golf would be a far better bet. He won't get laughed at for starters, plus it won't have been shipped from japan

[TeePee]

My car turns itself off when out of gear too. All you do is turn a control next to the steering wheel. It's gets 60mpg too, which is pretty impressive in the US with all the traffic lights. Civic 1.6 EX.

Seiously, the Prius I found to be a total dog. Not good enough with the mpg to be worth the high initial cost, and I suspect there's at least some truth to the claims of it's lack of environmentally friendlyness.

[Guy]

I'd say a bluemotion polo or golf would be a far better bet. He won't get laughed at for starters, plus it won't have been shipped from japan

Another vote for the blue-motion range, although id go for the Seat Ibiza rather than the polo, more kit, better looking, cheaper and the same MPG

[hitman67]

I used to have an Alfa....that used to switch its engine off when I was out of gear. Think they call that the "shoddy workmanship" feature.

My TDCi Focus easily gives me 55mpg combined, and is a bit bigger than Polo/120 ect, well built and handles nice. Plus can be had for around £3000 now which is a real bargain.

[burble]

I can't abide the Toyota Pious. We had one as a company car and I borrowed it for a drive up to Lancashire and couldn't wait to get rid of it. It handled like the steering wasn't attached to anything, was sluggish, uncomfortable and nowhere near as good on fuel as Toyota say. For comparison the Prius got about 46mpg on the run to Lancashire and my car at the time (Golf TDI PD150) did a shade over 50mpg.

It also went wrong quite a few times and the local Toyota dealership took an age to fix it because they didn't have any Prius trained engineers.

[directhex]

I can't abide the Toyota Pious. We had one as a company car and I borrowed it for a drive up to Lancashire and couldn't wait to get rid of it. It handled like the steering wasn't attached to anything, was sluggish, uncomfortable and nowhere near as good on fuel as Toyota say. For comparison the Prius got about 46mpg on the run to Lancashire and my car at the time (Golf TDI PD150) did a shade over 50mpg.

so... not city driving, then?

[TheAnimus]

thing is, when it comes to a hybrid, do it properly:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisker_Karma