I have not extensively driven a hybrid since my experience in a Honda Civic in 2003 after which I wrote a guest
Editorial for
greentechZONE. I was impressed, from some points of view, but determined that it wasn’t the vehicle for me living, at the time, on a coastal stretch of US-101 where the major feature of a suitable vehicle needed to be its prowess at getting past RVs when even a medium shopping outing required 100 miles of round-trip driving. It was to me, as well, a good two-seater but not an adequate four-seater.
A green environment is important to us all and I was a little saddened that Honda’s next move in hybrids was to add it to the Accord, not really as a matter of saving gas, but to increase the low-end torque from the power plant.
We have a lot of Prius vehicles in our local taxi fleets and I have often ridden in them (have also passed one very stuck on a quite moderate slope in snow slush) but the only one that I had sat in as a driver – until last week – was a very early model that was extremely utilitarian internally. The car rental companies have been slow in recognizing the overall benefits of adding hybrids to their fleets and how they are perceived by the general public. Now, however, at least one company, Hertz, has begun offering the Prius at sensible pricing and I took advantage of the chance to drive one for four days last week in California.
Instead of automatically upgrading me – a habit I find extremely annoying – the company provided the car that I had booked, sitting in one of the President’s Circle stalls: no doubt that was to assuage my ego, instead of upgrading me to the SUV I wouldn’t have wanted.
I’m not embarrassed to say that it took me five minutes (and that using the quick-facts car manual) to get going. If it had been completely logical only a five-year old would have seen how, right? The physical key to the car is actually mounted in a block that is RF equipped and which the car recognizes as you. You push this block into the provided slot and, with your foot on the brake, you push the ON button, firmly but quickly. A READY light flashes and then lights steadily, telling you that you can now safely move about the roads…
If you don’t have your foot on the brake then you get into auxiliary functions – just like the switch position just before all-systems-ready on a conventional ignition key. Mind you, sometimes the thing just didn’t go to READY, but it didn’t not work on enough occasions for me to spot a software/hardware glitch path.
The key block is one of those emotional control units that are coming into vogue. I only realized this when I locked the car but I could still open it with the block in my pocket. I didn’t have a chance to check what distance it operated over but, of course, it is a wonderful feature to allow the vehicle to know when its master/mistress is nearby, needing help because of the baby or groceries he/she is carrying.
It also means that you cannot lock yourself out of the vehicle, but what if I am sleeping in a hotel room with the car parked right underneath (I don’t do parked right outside hotel room doors any more)? Will the unit possibly allow a thief to enter the trunk and empty it? Would it allow him to drive off? If it did, does the vehicle cruise to a stop with a dead power plant outside radio range? Surely a reader out there will let me know.
Just as I didn’t like the power output from the Honda Civic I was unimpressed by the ability to get places quickly in the Prius, and I would never take the thing on a California freeway. It is better than a few of the Korean lawn-mower-powered cars I have driven, but not much better.
What really did impress me was the overall fuel consumption under what are perfect road conditions for a hybrid: stop-and-go traffic mostly on CA 82 (El Camino Real) with a journey that started in Milpitas and ended at SFO. My average fuel consumption for the entire journey was just over 60 mpg. For a period of about fifteen minutes going through Palo Alto with smooth running at about 25 mph the vehicle was entirely on battery with a fuel consumption indicated of 99.9 mpg.
Don’t expect to drive a Prius without gas in the tank… That dangerous fact should be emphasized with a notice in the cabin of rental vehicles. It is inevitable that some renter will think the vehicle works in some direct battery manner.
The visibility out of the back of the Prius is rather limited, but a rear view camera (pretty well hidden on the trunk lid) is provided, taking over the central LCD display when reverse is selected on the strange fascia gear-toggle-thingy. Still, don’t depend on that to help you much because the display is unviewable in bright daylight conditions. Not enough battery power left for backlighting the thing on an intelligent basis, Toyota?
