Why we shouldn't hate the Prius

Those of you who have the high occupancy lanes in your commute will relate to this.

The official speed limit on the Ontario hyways is 100 kpm. The unofficial speed limit is between 120-130 kpm

Keep in mind that the HOV lane is the left lane and most people want to get a move on when they are in that lane.

What has happened is that since they get a free pass,(I believe) the Prius drivers have moved from the right hand lane where they used to just make a mess of merging, and the middle lane where they served as rolling chicanes, into the HOV lanes where they serve as a traffic cork. 100kpm max while saving the planet would appear to be a max speed for the Prius. Do the actually have a setting where the max speed where the GPS ties into the car so that it can be set to not exceed the posted limit?

Regardless of perception versus reality, every time I see a prius I want to do this:

I understand the Prius as a fuel efficient appliance but they just seem to have a neutered driving experience behind the wheel. What they need to do is put an actual shifter in it or at least a sport mode or paddle shifters. I drive almost 70 miles a day with majority of being highway. I need some interaction or i'd fall asleep driving something that boring. I'd go with something like a Chevy Cruze Eco. With some mods, it looks like you could pull mid 40's mpg on the highway. Heck, even a Mazda 6 or a CX-5 2wd could pull 35 mpg on the highway. Honda Fit gets my vote as another fuel efficient appliance.

ProDarwin wrote: Ah. So your mileage to work is probably still pretty low. Since its such a small usage its easily offset by other trips.

No. I did five hundred and something miles on a tank where I didn't remember doing any non-work driving.
I'm getting low to mid 40s to the gallon.

jstein77 wrote:

dean1484 wrote: I want to put a LSX motor in one or better yet some how take the drive line from a C5 and put the body from a Prius over it.

Epic idea.

C'mon...you had to know it has been done right?

92dxman wrote: I understand the Prius as a fuel efficient appliance but they just seem to have a neutered driving experience behind the wheel. What they need to do is put an actual shifter in it or at least a sport mode or paddle shifters.

A shifter would completely wreck the efficiency of the car though.

jstein77 wrote:

dean1484 wrote: I want to put a LSX motor in one or better yet some how take the drive line from a C5 and put the body from a Prius over it.

Epic idea.

So, a slower, uglier C5? At least it will seat 4 I guess.

This isn't a car that's easily 'fixed' by a V8 + manual trans.

In reply to ProDarwin:

Every car is "fixed" by a V8+manual trans.

In reply to Trans_Maro: Long before the Prius/ Volt/ etc. there were all sorts of people who did exactly as you described..

However I understand the way you think.. Form an opinion and label all of a similar sort that way.. It's easy.. mindless, and more than a little lazy..

I live on a lake. When I see BMW's Audi's and Mercedes Benz drive by I label them all as Lookee Lou' s Real estate dreamers clogging my roads at 15-20MPH (In a 40 MPH zone) when I have places to go and things that need doing..

In reply to kb58: Too bad you are so young.. If you had a little grey hair you'd understand that conservative driving in the left lane existed long before the existence of the Prius, Volt, etc.

Klayfish wrote: BTW, a 2012 i-Miev can be had with <25k miles for $5500 or less. If it'd fit my lifestyle, I'd be all over it.

where did you see them that cheap? I am seeing them for $8k. At $5k they become a serious thought

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine: How long does the battery in a Prius last? I know the battery in a 10 year old hybrid is still working perfectly.. In fact when I called The Ford parts depot a few years ago they told me the only batteries they knew replaced were the result of accidents. Storage batteries appear to be different than the lead battery used for starting..

bgkast wrote: In reply to ProDarwin: Every car is "fixed" by a V8+manual trans.

Even a Tesla Model S P90D in Ludicrous mode?

BAMF wrote:

bgkast wrote: In reply to ProDarwin: Every car is "fixed" by a V8+manual trans.

Even a Tesla Model S P90D in Ludicrous mode?

Yes.

92dxman wrote: I understand the Prius as a fuel efficient appliance but they just seem to have a neutered driving experience behind the wheel. What they need to do is put an actual shifter in it or at least a sport mode or paddle shifters. I drive almost 70 miles a day with majority of being highway. I need some interaction or i'd fall asleep driving something that boring. I'd go with something like a Chevy Cruze Eco. With some mods, it looks like you could pull mid 40's mpg on the highway. Heck, even a Mazda 6 or a CX-5 2wd could pull 35 mpg on the highway. Honda Fit gets my vote as another fuel efficient appliance.

It also enabled engineers/ bean counters to justify hybrid sports cars/super cars. Sorry but thats just not ever needed.

Flight Service wrote:

Klayfish wrote: BTW, a 2012 i-Miev can be had with <25k miles for $5500 or less. If it'd fit my lifestyle, I'd be all over it.

where did you see them that cheap? I am seeing them for $8k. At $5k they become a serious thought

Listing price is $6k, but I'll bet you can haggle and get it down close to $5k...

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?zip=30132&endYear=2016&modelCode1=MITI&showcaseOwnerId=66771631&startYear=1981&makeCode1=MIT&searchRadius=0&maxPrice=7000&showcaseListingId=410172126&mmt=%5BMIT%5BMITI%5B%5D%5D%5B%5D%5D&listingId=401417726&Log=0

Does anyone else know they run a Prius in Super GT, and it's awesome?

Trans_Maro wrote: Because electricity is totally clean. I mean, it just comes out of the wall, right?

It mostly comes out of converting the car's kinetic energy back into chemical energy instead of heat.

In reply to kb58:

Mindless conservative drivers have been pottering along in the left lane since there was a left lane. Decades before the Prius existed.. Myself I like the fact that plug ins are cheaper to operate than Internal combustion cars.. In the daily commute who cares how cool a car is? It's a Toaster. Save your money for your track car where you can actually race people trying to race you..

NOHOME wrote: What has happened is that since they get a free pass,(I believe) the Prius drivers have moved from the right hand lane where they used to just make a mess of merging, and the middle lane where they served as rolling chicanes, into the HOV lanes where they serve as a traffic cork. 100kpm max while saving the planet would appear to be a max speed for the Prius. Do the actually have a setting where the max speed where the GPS ties into the car so that it can be set to not exceed the posted limit?

Carry the two, times pi... Our local speed limit is just under 100km/h (not 100km/minute!) but I rarely see a Prius doing under 130 or so. Seems that around here the people who buy them want to haul more ass for a given amount of fuel.

You see that wrong,
look again that isn't wood grain...

Anybody around here drive a Prius V?

Never owned a Prius or even driven one. But if I did the main goal would be to consistently get as high mpg as possible. Not to make some statement that no one cares about anyway, but gas savings that keeps my wallet as fat as possible. That would be the fun of it for me much in the way some people like to race stop sign to stop sign.

The gas savings would be spent on my big block summer only vehicle.

I'll tell you why I hate them. They represent everything that is wrong with consumers and marketing. People think they are saving the world with their little Hybrid, but it is made with...

• copious amounts of virgin plastic that required crude oil
• batteries that put so much sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere that they have to be produced in countries that have no emissions regulations
• batteries that use raw materials from one place, shipped on fuel-guzzling boats that also have little or no emissions regulation, produced, then shipped to the final assembly country on the same boats.
• batteries that have a limited life and few recyclable parts

They don't save the environment, they just displace the responsibility away from the miniscule amount of time that the owner is driving it. Sure, it saves a couple MPG, but marketing and consumer stupidity makes people think they are saving the world.

If you have a prius getting 38 mpg on the highway, you're allowed in the HOV/commuter lane in most cities. A WVO mercedes diesel getting 40mpg? No. You are shunned for driving a hideous, air-destroying monster despite the fact that you are burning carbon that was first removed from the atmosphere by plants before it was even fuel. But drive your plastic Prius that required tons of nasty E36 M3 be spewed into the atmosphere before it is even built and you are a goddamned tree-hugging hero.

berkeley Hybrids. Driving a hybrid and thinking you're doing any good for the world is like operating a coal power plant and shutting it down for one day and saying "look at all the good I did for the environment." No. You just supported years of environment-raping activity and paused it for a second so you could pat your own back.

Sorry.

/rant.

curtis73 wrote: They don't save the environment

Over a 160,000 mile energy cycle (that includes manufacturing, producing the fuel, and operating the vehicle), a hybrid will emit about 2/3 of the emissions of a regular vehicle.

http://www.transportation.anl.gov/pdfs/TA/378.PDF

So yeah, they don't save the environment, but they do objectively have a lower impact on it if you look at the big picture. Extracting, refining and shipping an extra 1700 gallons of fuel (assuming 28 vs 40mpg) causes significantly more emissions than manufacturing the batteries.

I like this Prius.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/xzzkbc3IrQ8

curtis73 wrote: I'll tell you why I hate them.... ...They don't save the environment, they just displace the responsibility away from the miniscule amount of time that the owner is driving it. Sure, it saves a couple MPG, but marketing and consumer stupidity makes people think they are saving the world.... ... drive your plastic Prius that required tons of nasty E36 M3 be spewed into the atmosphere before it is even built and you are a goddamned tree-hugging hero. Berkeley Hybrids. Driving a hybrid and thinking you're doing any good for the world is like operating a coal power plant and shutting it down for one day and saying "look at all the good I did for the environment." No. You just supported years of environment-raping activity and paused it for a second so you could pat your own back. Sorry.

Curtis, I don't know what reaction you are trying to get. My thought after reading that rant was "Jeez Curtis that's an awfully high horse you just rode in on. I don't want to fall off and hurt yourself or damage that camera you like to take to biker rallies." You sound angry and judgmental. This is not what I have come to expect from you.

As someone who has been driving a Prius lately, can buy you a beer or something? Its Friday and you sound like you have not had the best week.

Curt is. Like said I don't even own one but I'm pretty sure not everyone that drives one is a "tree hugger" or is out to save the environment. If they are like my way of thinking its to save $$$$ for each tank of fuel, then spending that savings on my fun cars. Today is a Friday= end of work week=payday=happy hour, sounds like you have more unresolved issues than hating on Prius's.