When I look at the engineering, I love the basic idea of the Prius - they did a much better job than the Honda Civic hybrid...but when I rented one to drive for a week...I think I can out accelerate it in reverse (0-60 in 10+ seconds!), what a dog and incredibly cheap interior, no thank you.

When I looked up the specs, 30 HP electric (way too small should've been 100 hp) and a 110 hp gas engine in a 3000 lb car...not a very good drive IMHO.


Then I recently ended up renting a Ford Fusion hybrid, only car left - OMG, what a freaking great drive, I wouldn't know it's a hybrid - smooth, reasonable accelleration. I had it for 4 days and I can say that if every hybrid drove this well, it would be easy to see why people wanted them. IF you know someone thinking about a hybrid, look at this one, not fancy and it's a Ford, but it out drives every other hybrid I've seen. I hate the bluetooth phone interface though.

 

I owned a Civic hybrid 5 speed. It was a Civic. It was fun to drive in the sense that it was a car and transported me. I also liked the fact that it wasn't all OMGLOOKATMEIMBETTERTHANYOU in it's styling like the Prius. I actually thought it drove better than the Prius as well. My mom's Prius is one of the worst piles of junk I've ever driven. It actually wasn't as slow as you'd assume either. I loved that I could get a 5 speed also.

The weirdest thing about it though... pull up to a light, put tranny in neutral and the car dies. Completely shuts the engine off. Push in clutch, engage first and let out clutch and it is suddenly back on. That took some getting used to. In no way did it affect how the car drove or how I drove it, it was still like driving a regular manual. You didn't have to 'wait' or anything, just drive like you normally would. Just really eerie the first few times it shuts off.

Word.

 

Drove a 09 NIssan Altima Hybrid to LA and back. Best rental ever

 

I drive one.. Done up ej20 heads on a built 2.5!!

Now for something real, a 2009 4 runner with a 280hp v6 and I loved it!! So much power and it drove great!

 

What year prius did you drive and if it was the new one, what version was it?

 

My wife and I were shopping for a new car a couple of months ago. She's a real estate agent so she spends quite of bit of time on the road. Creature comforts are important to her. Fuel economy was important to me as it is a major expense. The Lexus hybrid was top on our list for cars to test drive. It seemed to fit what we were looking for.

First thing we noticed, hybrids seem to have a distinct shape. The ride height was very high and the seat seemed like so were sitting in a bus or SUV or something. Neither of us liked this. Yasemin was the first to drive it she put the key in the ignition and hit the start button. "Now what, is it on?" She didn't care for the lack of motor noise, neither did I. So we set out down Stevens Creek. The tiny little motor seemed almost impossible to adapt to. It had a continually variable transmission (no shifting) so when you're on it, it doesn't shift. It just sounds like the motor is going to explode. Keeps reving and reving. All the while I'm irritated that the car didn't shift. Of course it's a hybrid so you are always aware of how much you are killing the planet, as it shows you MPG, in yo face. Neither my wife or myself could adjust our driving style to achieve respectable fuel numbers.

We've got lead feet and this car would simply not work or us. My wife was so irritated with the car that when it was time to switch drivers shye quickly pulled to the side of the road and said "whatever just get me out of this thing" She was in disgust. Her hatred for Hybrid drivers went up 10 points. " Not only do the hybrids look stupid, the drivers must be retarded to drives these day in and day out" she said to the salesman.

Needless to say we will not be looking at another hybrid. We will however be looking into BMW diesel. She should enjoy that quite a bit. Frankly so will I.

 

Of course the Lexus hybrid is high and SUV-like. It's an SUV. No real :lightbulb: moment there.

CVT transmissions can be awkward for sure.

Of course, the only benefit to the Lexus and Toyota hybrids is snob-factor. Awesome. Diesel is a much better option in my opinion.

 

I have not drove one but I think a tesla would be great! the sedan looks GREAT!

 

This is not an SUV

 

HAHA I knew this was coming. ME TOO ME TOO.

 

Ah. Forgot about that thing. Meh.

 

This story started out badly, but ended quite nicely. I was actually saying "NO NO NO NO" When I read "the new Lexus hybrid" after reading some reports on them and seeing them on the road.

Retch. It's based on the Avensis which is not really a bad or bad-looking car, but they managed to homelie-fy it pretty bad.

I have driven a 2010 Prius around for a day - my buddy moved to Texas and came back to visit, and rented one. It was about as exciting as watching my refridgerator door close, and each time he or I did the "key in the ignition, START button..... now what" thing too. Sometimes if you hit the START button twice, it would fire right up and the "READY" light would be on, but sometimes not.

And the shifter thingy... BWAHAHAHAHAHA... It has it's own tacky LED spotlight... Why not just put the LED in the shifter and not make it look like a freaking child's toy.

What I enjoyed the most about the car though was when I was a passenger, I could mess with the "EV, ECON, and POWER" mode buttons without the driver seeing. He would just start out on a hill in SF and I would press EV and suddenly - no power... he's like: "WTF?" Then other times just creep up on the "POWER" button and the car just takes off. That was fun.

For the day of driving the car did a little better than my wife's '09 Honda Fit Sport. Compared to the Prius, the Fit is a freaking rocketship on rails. So. Yeah.

BMW Diesel is the way to go IMHO. The 335d is pretty flippin sweet and the torque is beefy. Then there's always that Tour-Egg twinturbo diesel V10 should you need to tow your house around or something..

I got a ride home from SF last month in a Ford Fusion Hybrid and it seemed pretty nice - like a normal car. My sister has a Civic hybrid and it seems like that too, normal-ish car, just missing a lot of trunk space and honestly does not do much better mileage than the Fit.

 

Jeff and Jacob Cliff notes:
There are many options for economical vehicles that don't make you look or feel like a total tool.

 

LOL. For sure and nice use of brevity!

 

Luxury prius. It was weird being in one actually because I knew it wasn't a prius, but it was a prius. I hate how ****ty the gas motors in those things are too! I've had to pull priui up some pretty steep driveways and it's required almost flooring it for the gas motor to put out enough power to climb the hill, it literally sounds like the motor is about to explode.

I get so many people at work that go "Now, it's one of those electric cars, do you know how to drive them?" Yeah, I'm a valet in California and I haven't driven a damn hybrid.