GTP Cool Wall: 2003-2009 Toyota Prius

[Roger the Horse]

Reminder: This generation of Prius can now be bought relatively cheaply secondhand, and because they were massively over engineered because Toyota didn't want embarrassing stories going around about how unreliable their "revolutionary" new technology was, you can be fairly sure that you're not buying a lemon, especially if you buy from a main dealer; and get a car which offers excellent fuel consumption, incredibly low insurance, and little or no taxes in many jurisdictions at a price lower than many brand new "budget" cars which cannot recoup costs in those ways, nor offer the same level of quality of drive or build as the Prius. Also, they accelerate alarmingly quickly because of the electric motor, compared to any comparable cars without hybrid drive.

 

[Badasp5.0]

Seriously Uncool

 

[Adamgp]

Also, they accelerate alarmingly quickly because of the electric motor, compared to any comparable cars without hybrid drive.

0-60 in ~10 seconds is alarmingly quick?

 

[Bopop4]

I'm guessing you mean the two-seat early Insight though.

Yeah, that one.

I would like that one more (Because 100mpg.), but a normal sedan is just more practical.

 

[homeforsummer]

0-60 in ~10 seconds is alarmingly quick?

It isn't, really. Though cars like the Prius do step off the line fairly quickly compared to regular equivalents - electric motor helps with low-down shove and CVT means no gearchanges.

 

[xXKingJoshXx]

Reminder: This generation of Prius can now be bought relatively cheaply secondhand, and because they were massively over engineered because Toyota didn't want embarrassing stories going around about how unreliable their "revolutionary" new technology was, you can be fairly sure that you're not buying a lemon, especially if you buy from a main dealer; and get a car which offers excellent fuel consumption, incredibly low insurance, and little or no taxes in many jurisdictions at a price lower than many brand new "budget" cars which cannot recoup costs in those ways, nor offer the same level of quality of drive or build as the Prius.

And nothing you said suggests that this car is cool.

 

[Cano]

Reminder: it sucks

Word 👍

 

[Slash]

It's good for people that don't give a hoot about cars, and think they are saving the environment. Working on one is pure hell though. Plastic oil filters that need a special $50 tool from Toyota just to replace? COME ON.

That said, when you turn it on, it's quiet and you don't even know it's running. I really don't like this car, and they are really cramped inside. Seriously uncool.

 

[homeforsummer]

Plastic oil filters that need a special $50 tool from Toyota just to replace? COME ON.

That is possibly the worst reason I've ever heard for disliking the Prius.

You make it sound like the tool just gets binned each time, rather than the fact that after a dealership has bought the tool, they can then use it on every single other Prius that comes through the door...

 

[Adamgp]

That said, when you turn it on, it's quiet and you don't even know it's running. I really don't like this car, and they are really cramped inside. Seriously uncool.

My dad got one as a rental, and I got to take it for a spin.

Cramped and uncomfortable inside, worst seats of any car I've been in.

 

[Slash]

That is possibly the worst reason I've ever heard for disliking the Prius.

You make it sound like the tool just gets binned each time, rather than the fact that after a dealership has bought the tool, they can then use it on every single other Prius that comes through the door...

No it's not really a reason for it, but it's the fact that half the stuff on the car is like that. It's really hard on shops.

My dad got one as a rental, and I got to take it for a spin.

Cramped and uncomfortable inside, worst seats of any car I've been in.

I almost got ran over by one because I didn't hear it. Inside. In a big open shop where everything echoes.

 

[Downhill Dino]

Uncool. It's nice and all with the sense of hybrid technology, gas mileage is superb so in my book that bumps it up. However, the styling brings it back down especially with the rear design. It just doesn't appeal to me. I'd rather have an Insight.

 

[Famine]

I've never really been a fan of the 2008 Lexus Toyota Prius Hybrid Synergy Drive 91cuin Atkinson Cycle With 6.5A Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor, but the 2009 Lexus Toyota Prius Hybrid Synergy Drive 91cuin Atkinson Cycle With 6.5A Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor was brilliant.

 

[Northstar]

Sub-Zero, only because it makes some people rather angry with it's mere existence.

I almost got ran over by one because I didn't hear it. Inside. In a big open shop where everything echoes.

I will never understand how someone with two working eyes manages to get ran over, especially in an area that has cars driving around it rather frequently.

 

[Slash]

Sub-Zero, only because it makes some people rather angry with it's mere existence.



I will never understand how someone with two working eyes manages to get ran over, especially in an area that has cars driving around it rather frequently.

I was working on another project, the guy in the car wasn't paying attention either. So really, it was a combination of both things.

 

[daan]

I almost got ran over by one because I didn't hear it. Inside. In a big open shop where everything echoes.

Perhaps the driver just didn't like you. If he'd been in a V8, he'd have more chance of getting you, but you'd have heard him.

Oh, and Prius is seriously uncool.

 

[Joey D]

I'm really digging the amount of stupidity posted about this car. People who care about cars can and do drive a Prius. One of my good friends daily drives a Pruis C and has a 400hp Dodge Neon and and old Z car he likes to tinker with. Also he has some old Dodge Ram from the 80's he goes and plays in the mud with.

Also, funny enough he's probably the most conservative person I know. So not everyone who drives these are a liberal d-bag, they can be a conservative d-bag too.

Sure some people buy them to save the environment, but I think there's quite a few that buy them because they're decently practical and get good fuel economy if driven correctly.

 

[Wolfe]

What bugs me about the Prius is that in the western world it built its reputation upon fuel efficiency ($$$ at the pump) when the bigger point of the powertrain is to cut emissions (as I understand it) and provide a smart transportation solution for traffic-packed city streets. It launched the hybrid fad that temporarily took the wind out of the sails of diesel's return to the united states, and it's got a boat-engine-like CVT setup which is an automatic uncool from me.

I think the first generation car was kind of plucky, but the second generation model here is a pretentious icon of self-righteous ignorance. As much as I'd like to vote Sub Zero to annoy those of equal-but-opposite ignorance (whose misguided loathing of this car only makes things worse), I have my own reasons that prevent me from giving it any better than Seriously Uncool.

 

[Joel]

I was working on another project, the guy in the car wasn't paying attention either. So really, it was a combination of both things.

And it was obviously the fault of the Prius

 

[Downhill Dino]

@Joey D If we were voting for the Prius C, I would give a cool. But alas, that is not so. Also is this Neon an SRT4? Out of curiosity.

 

[homeforsummer]

What bugs me about the Prius is that in the western world it built its reputation upon fuel efficiency ($$$ at the pump) when the bigger point of the powertrain is to cut emissions (as I understand it) and provide a smart transportation solution for traffic-packed city streets.

You've pretty much nailed it, I think. The original concept was to reduce inner-city emissions (by which I mean all emissions, rather than just CO2), and by that metric it's right up with the best. I've not looked at the most recent figures for emissions of all types but last time I did (a couple of years back) the Prius was in the top ten of cars in Europe for low emissions, so I expect electric cars aside it'd be pretty high up in the US.

Incidentally, there wasn't a diesel on that list - they just aren't as clean as gasoline or hybrid vehicles, despite how much people bang on about them being "better for the environment" because they're economical.

That said, a Prius does do pretty well on fuel too. Which really is why most people buy them.

I'm not even sure the Prius attracts the sort of owners most people think it does any more. In my experience, those kind of people have moved onto Nissan Leafs. I suspect most Prius drivers these days really do drive them just because they're good on gas. And they're reliable, of course. And relaxing and easy to drive.

 

[Roger the Horse]

@homeforsummer, you hit the nail on the head with that last part. I prefer not to travel by car at all to be honest, but that doesn't mean I'm not a car enthusiast. It's just my enthusiasm for cars comes more from a sporting and engineering viewpoint than a driving viewpoint, so something like a Prius is pretty much perfect for the sort of person I am, although I'd prefer it if it was a big practical estate.

If you've sat in a Prius and found it uncomfortable, I can only assume it had leather seats. From my experience models without leather seats are quite comfortable, however the leather seat option is terrible and not at all advisory.

 

[Slash]

If you've sat in a Prius and found it uncomfortable, I can only assume it had leather seats. From my experience models without leather seats are quite comfortable, however the leather seat option is terrible and not at all advisory.

The seats weren't the immediate problem for me (most modern seats give me a numb ass after a half hour of sitting on them), the problem was that I felt extremely cramped and squished. I'm not claustrophobic, but I have a feeling anyone that is would have a hard time in that car.

 

[Bo]

Put this gen Prius against the gen 1 Insight - bearing in mind the Insight design stems from 1999:

One is bright and fresh, the other is grey and predictable. It has no soul.

 

[Mikeybc]

Sub-Zero, only because it makes some people rather angry with it's mere existence.



I will never understand how someone with two working eyes manages to get ran over, especially in an area that has cars driving around it rather frequently.

Until we start growing eyes in the back of our heads there's a 50/50 chance we won't notice a Prius sneaking up on us

Seriously uncool, and I can fully understand a mechanics hatred for a vehicle.

 

[Wolfe]

You've pretty much nailed it, I think. The original concept was to reduce inner-city emissions (by which I mean all emissions, rather than just CO2), and by that metric it's right up with the best. I've not looked at the most recent figures for emissions of all types but last time I did (a couple of years back) the Prius was in the top ten of cars in Europe for low emissions, so I expect electric cars aside it'd be pretty high up in the US.

Incidentally, there wasn't a diesel on that list - they just aren't as clean as gasoline or hybrid vehicles, despite how much people bang on about them being "better for the environment" because they're economical.

I remember headlines that the Mini Cooper D matched the Prius (the generation here) in CO2 emissions, at least. As you well know, diesels are way cleaner than they used to be. I'll admit I have my bias of believing bio-grown diesel to be the fuel source of the future.

What's silly is how the Prius is bought specifically for fuel economy, and then you see them zooming down highways at 80mph (because it's unusually quiet?) when a diesel would do better.

I'm not even sure the Prius attracts the sort of owners most people think it does any more. In my experience, those kind of people have moved onto Nissan Leafs. I suspect most Prius drivers these days really do drive them just because they're good on gas. And they're reliable, of course. And relaxing and easy to drive.

Probably true. Certainly at this point the 2nd-gen Prius is a used economy car pretty much like any other, and as @Roger the Horse pointed out, they were very well made. I don't have a problem with those who appreciate the car for what it is, but the combined portrait painted by its most vocal advocates and antagonists, as a planet-wallet-saving hero and a demon plague upon the car industry, constituted an intolerable chest-thumping shouting match over a car that really wasn't that influential (though one can't deny it made some waves).

I'd be happy to spend the rest of my life hearing as little about it as any other mild-mannered, unassuming 4-cylinder FWD car.

 

[Sage Ages]

The Burning Gates to Hell

• It's a Prius
• It's dull and boring
• Batteries
• It's a Prius

 

[homeforsummer]

I remember headlines that the Mini Cooper D matched the Prius (the generation here) in CO2 emissions, at least. As you well know, diesels are way cleaner than they used to be. I'll admit I have my bias of believing bio-grown diesel to be the fuel source of the future.

As a car enthusiast I'm not a big fan of diesel. It's economical and they can offer good performance, but they go about it in such an unenthusiastic way. There's absolutely no fun to be had winding a diesel to the red line. There's no fun to be had doing so in a Prius either admittedly, but at least the rest of the time it's near-silent. Even the best diesels still grumble away most of the time.

I'd be happy to spend the rest of my life hearing as little about it as any other mild-mannered, unassuming 4-cylinder FWD car.

Well, quite. Though honestly I don't mind them. Most econocars are pretty good these days, though I'll drive basically anything without prejudice. Even an anonymous box of a car is better than no car...

• Batteries

What about them?

 

[Slash]

As a car enthusiast I'm not a big fan of diesel. It's economical and they can offer good performance, but they go about it in such an unenthusiastic way. There's absolutely no fun to be had winding a diesel to the red line. There's no fun to be had doing so in a Prius either admittedly, but at least the rest of the time it's near-silent. Even the best diesels still grumble away most of the time.

I'm kind of the same way. I argue that with my friends who are big into diesel all the time.

 

[Beeblebrox237]

My neighbours in Pittsburgh have one car, a green Prius. They have three children, and have taken the car on road trips. They use it for everything, like an ordinary car. They're incredibly nice people, and the reason they have a Prius is because it's cheap to run, reliable, relatively childproof, and spacious. They let me drive it one time, and it's not as soulless as people think.