We need to get something straight: the vast majority of automotive consumers neither know, nor care what’s powering their vehicle. They want reliability, comfort, efficiency, adequate room, style and some perception of safety. They prefer infotainment to chassis dynamics, crossovers to wagons and attractive lease rates to aftermarket support. We are not these people. We buy used, we do our own maintenance, and we know more about a vehicle than whoever’s selling it to us. We are, from the perspective of auto companies, dealers and government regulators, a statistical anomaly, barely worthy of attention. We refuse to buy cars as commuting appliances, beasts of burden to get from A to B, the way They do.
But let’s imagine a world where these vehicles get double the mileage they do now. This is a world where reduced demand pushes fuel prices downward and increased sales of high mileage vehicles leave more room under the CAFE ceiling for kickass sports cars. Fewer emissions from the masses could lead to a loosening of smog regulations, too. With this in mind, we should love a car like the Prius Plug-in, so long as They are driving it.
With that in mind, we’ve set out to see if we, as the Resident Car Guys and Gals wherever we go, can really recommend the Prius Plug-in for Them.
The third generation Prius debuted as a 2010, but has been in the wild since early 2009. You’ve seen them, you’ve read the reviews. The mileage is up, the styling is arbitrarily lumpier. The Prius Plug-In (Toyota calls it the Prius PHV) takes an evolutionary baby step and adds extra battery capacity in the form of lithium-ion packs with the ability to top off the cells over night. Per the manual, it takes about 3 hours on a hefty 110V connection. Faster 220V charging doesn’t currently appear to be part of the picture. Alas, as the Prius PHEV is pre-production, they’re not yet releasing pricing, either.
Given a full battery charge, the PHV is good for about 13 miles of all-EV driving, provided you keep the speed below about 45mph. This proved true in our experience, though most of our full-charge driving wasn’t just low-speed putting about town. Hit the freeway with a full charge and the extra electrons will help you climb hills or pass with less lethargy. It took roughly 35 miles (conveniently, half of a round-trip) of hilly 70-80mph freeway driving to drain the battery back down to regular hybrid mode. With the batteries in effect, we got a little over 55mpg, without, just under 50.
Lucky for us, but unfortunately for you, we were never able to get stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic with a full battery. Slogging through the particularly congested intersection of the 91 and 15 freeways, we were getting over 75mpg in regular hybrid mode. In general, the Prius largely alternates between getting an instantaneous 75-100mpg and low-to-mid 20s under load. String enough hills or high speed stop and gos together and you’ll get startlingly unimpressive mileage, given how hard the 1.8L gas motor works for its 98hp.
In my introductory rant, I suggested that a Prius PHV could replace many of the compact or midsize cars out there. While many Camrys, Accords, Malibus and Maximas are bought for one or two-person hauling duty, those owners that actually put the fullness of their back seat to use (or haul lots of passengers…hiyo!), will need to look past the Prius PHV for family-hauler duty. With the tyranny of Junior’s center-mounted rear-facing car seat in full effect, space was in short supply between the seat and the door. Additionally, the rear side passenger seat belts were almost impossible to reach under the car seat.
Seating complications aside, the way-back doesn’t offer any more room than a typical trunk, given the sloped hatch and slightly raised floor (thanks to the larger battery). Buddy, our 55lb boxer couldn’t fit back there, at least in any alignment that wouldn’t result in a call from animal services. Unfortunately, we can’t recommend transporting larger items with the hatch partially open (but tied down), as the “door ajar” beeper never stops beeping. This can make a 15 minute drive home from the Christmas tree lot feel like the longest 15 minutes of your life (just ask my wife).
It appears even the smallest families will be looking to the forthcoming Prius V (vee? five?) for their low-consumption motoring. So what of motorists doing single or double-passenger service? To that end, the Prius PHEV is perfectly acceptable, despite a cornucopia of minor annoyances. First off, going from a manual-transmission WRX to a Prius makes for some dicey moments in traffic when you’re used to acceleration that simply never comes in the Prius. Beyond that, it’s unclear what problems the time-tested PRNDL shifter layout had, but the Prius’ weird joystick-in-a-maze is no improvement. In addition to unnecessarily deviating from convention, it springs “home” after every selection, requiring a glance at the display to determine what gear you’re in. God forbid that gear be reverse, or you’ll be treated to an incessant, obnoxiously loud, in-car backup beeper. It’s unclear what scenarios Toyota felt necessitated this “feature”, but waiting to back out of a spot in the mall parking structure (where your backup lights are the only indication you want out) was not one of them. Sitting. Waiting. Beeping. The Beeper from Hell can actually be defeated (exclusively) by your dealer, but it’ll cost $50 and an hour of your time.
The last Prius-in-general gripe is the display. Specifically, the mint-green LCD getup that feels like a mashup of early ’90s GM and a Game and Watch. At the least, it feels like a step back from the second generation Prius’ color screen and, frankly, is an embarrassment compared to the Volt and Fusion Hybrid’s mpg/charge displays.
But what of the PHV specifics of the Prius PHV? Provided you’ve garage to park in or in front of, complications are minimal. As expected, you just plug it in. While Toyota’s been kind enough to move the monitor brick off the plug and onto the cord, it’s not quite far enough down the cord to rest comfortably on the floor. While charging, it’d be nice to see a bit more of an indicator than the one light on the dash that turns green once charged. Lastly, the manual warns of dire consequences should the charge controller vents be blocked, but locating them under the passenger seat in prime small bag storage space suggests this might be a regular occurrence.
Wow. Five paragraphs of complaints, some more nit-picky than others. It’s not that the Prius PHEV is so awful, it’s just that, save its ability to get great mileage, it’s without the redeeming features that earn a car kind words around these parts. But remember, this car’s not for us, it’s for them. Despite its original dorkmobile status, the Prius is now the hybrid standard-bearer, nearly a genericized trademark. As such, a Prius PHEV represents an evolutionary leap They can easily wrap Their heads around as a consumer purchase, in contrast to hype surrounding the (arguably superior) Volt. To that end, eliminating roughly $100 per month in fuel costs in a comfy, easy to operate car constitutes a redeeming feature. For Them, that is.
More info on the Prius PHV can be found from Toyota’s Environmental Safety & Quality Group: Overview, FAQ.
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