i heard the spoiler and sport springs make it go 0-60 in under 3 seconds while getting 200mpg…

Hmmm….I thought that was the ugly edition.

What a f—ing joke!

Trying to make it look like a ‘normal’ car is not going sell more cars…

Honda sells a great Hybrid that looks just like the Civic it IS, so sales are okay, but since the Prius screams “I am a Greenie and better than you” it sells through a waiting list. The Civic is just a Civic and who’d know you are “Saving the Frickin’ Planet”!!!

The Prius is the Hummer ( i.e. a car wearing a Halloween costume ) for the Greens

ching chung! fried cats ass!!

note to self…dont ever try to get laid in this ugly pos!

Why does Toyota think an efficient car has to be so ugly ?

A) It looks the same as most Prii (plural of prius I think)…
B) It’s still friggin ugly
C) Are those using the NEW EPA milage calculations, or the old ones? (b/c hybrids were going to take a milage hit under the new regs)
D) I’m still not buying one.

its a phenomenon- its ugly like the old beetle. so ugly its now iconic. the wheels were the weakest link so thats slightly improved, but did anyone notice you cant find cargo capacity with seats down on the web anywhere?

It’s still ugly as HELL. I prefer the Camry hybrid. I can hardly wait for the Lexus LS600h hits the market. Wahoo! What a hybrid ride that will be!!!!

you want to reduce foreign oil depenancy get an 2005 dodge 3500 deisel and use bio.

d d d d d d dont care!

I hope you don’t kiss your mother with that mouth, Patrick… it’s filthy!

OK first of all this car was made for productivity and to look different from most other cars.. and oh yeah aerodynamics (teardrop shape makes for good aerodynamics). It’s a GREAT car lots of storage space, GREAT milage and nice interior. Now of course none of you are going to buy it because you want to keep our independance on oil and drag us all down… Some people on this site are just a joke… too many bangers..
anyways I never even knew about the back seats folding down… I like it but actually I don’t like the new wheels.
Thank you that’s all I have to say to the third grade.

That is all nice but the Prius increases Smug emissions by a factor of 10.

And everyone knows Land Rovers only do important things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSh9uwITqVM

Thats the stupidest thing ive ever seen

In my area the Civic Hybrid has a waiting list & is sold over MSRP … they cannot build that new plant fast enough.

This does make about as much sense as paddle shifters on a Honda Fit but I am sure they will sell as many as they can make.

The shape is to create the lowest coefficinet of drag as possible. Also explains why one of the “Slipperiest” cars ever built was the Honda Insight Hybrid at something like .28. Just another step to increase efficiency.

I happen to like it. I don’t understand why so many people feel threatened by it. (Evidenced by the overwhelmingly negative attacks posted above.)

It is reliable, comfortable, roomy and efficient. My only objection is the clear tail lights. I don’t like them on any car.

Better handling has been one of the items on my Prius wish-list. The Civic is less appealing to me because it is not a full Hybrid. The engine runs all the time, and the electric motor is whimpy. The Prius has 295 Lb ft of torque. I think the Civic only has about half that much.

I live on the side of a mountain where a simple trip to the grocery store involves a 1,200 foot drop in elevation. In a Prius I can go all the way in to town without ever starting the gasoline engine. Then on my way home I would be starting out with fully charged batteries. Seems like a sensible choice in my situation.

And the Prius has a lots of room in back for taking my golden retriever with me.

Build me a proper rear drive turbo sports coupe for $25,000, Toyota, and after I buy that and can afford a second car, I’ll consider buying one of your new gas misers instead of a used four cylinder car to serve the same purpose.

Toyota Motor Company has neglected the sportscar market for too long. I sure hope some exec gets around to hearing this.

“European-tuned” suspension?

They’re joking.

So difficult is it for Toyota to turn a dime on a hybrid that they use a torsion beam across the rear end. We don’t need no independent suspension.

Memo to Toyota: tractors don’t require European tuning.

This is an image car. People who are concerned about fuel efficiency and all the cute issues that go along with it buy REAL cars like the hybrid Camry, LX400, GS400, highlander, accord, civic, escape/mariner, and the upcoming GMT 900 SUV’s and pickups, diesels , cars with cylinder deactivation,and regular economy cars( yaris, aveo, versa fit). This is a car that allows self righteous, elitist lefties to feel like martyrs for environmentalism while using a V8/12 sports or luxury car most of the time.

GAAAAAAAY!!!

In conclusion I would like to say…1974 called…and they want their first year engineering student project back!

2006 300c is right.University professors are driving this boat,all the while they have Jaguars and other high end vehicles tucked away in their garages.Ha!

ugly as hell. Looks like a toy.

Brandon–

i’m totally with you. can’t see why all these 5th graders feel a need to rag on one of the TECHNOLOGICALLY MOST ADVANCED cars offered for sale today.

i too live on a hill. with my “gravity drive” “hybrid”, i burn more fuel coming up. but the downhill ride is mostly FREE. even coming up, the engine is worked in a high-temperature, relatively low rpm range, the most efficient for ICEs.

this practice is emulated by my making “virtual hills” of velocity on level ground, and again taking advantage of coasting.

There’s nothing technologically advanced about a torsion beam suspension. You certainly wouldn’t put up with it on any other mainstreamer of the Prius’ price range.

And the idea that it’s been “European tuned” is a joke.

If you like the technology that it *does* focus on, that’s fine. Just consider that the price of this technology makes it less of a car in other aspects – ride and handling aspects that other people may find to be unacceptable compromises.

The Prius drives poorly, in other words.

Craig—

“Toyota Motor Company has neglected the sportscar market for too long. I sure hope some exec gets around to hearing this.”

I totally agree with you, The last MR2 could have been such a success, if they only put the more powerful Celica engine in it.

Supra- WTF? Nissan still builds the Z car

Ceilca– get rid of FWD and bring back a nice reasonble sports coupe

MR2 — make a nice 200+ hp mid-engiine backroad blaster.

the prius doesnt get nearly the claimed milage. its much closer to 40. the new VW tdi engines get over 50.

They must have hit the limit on people who buy these just to make the “I have a hybrid” statement and now they need to try to sell to different people. This car is just a statement, everyone else who wants a hybrid will buy a Civic or Camry.

The Cobalt has a live rear axle, even the SS version…

It’s ugly alright. No need to say more, since it’s a Toy Ota.

At least its safe. Not like the Chevy Aveo which is roughly the same size

This car and all other vehicles that get good mileage allow the gas-guzzling meatballs of the world to drive their suv’s. A “car” isn’t all about speed, obviously. It’s also about transportation, not all “car fanatics” have to drive a hairy-knuckled Chevy or Ford to be true “car guys”. I bought a used 2002 Saturn SL-1 4-door, 5-speed for a winter car so I didn’t have to drive my ALMS TT in the salt/snow. I’m getting 42 mpg with the Saturn, so consequently I’m driving the TT less than I did previously because of the cost of gas. That doesn’t mean that I don’t live and breath cars. I get every car magazine and watch every car show on TV (to my wife’s dismay), but I still want to get good mileage too. If I wanted a redneck-mobile I’d get my old Dodge Ramcharger back which got 6 mpg. I’m cringing, waiting for the follow-up comments on this.

the car for the non-car guy. The Japenese really don’t care about America’s reliance on foriegn oil. If they did we would’nt have the Seqouia, Tundra, Titan, Armada, Pathfiner, 4-Runner, Ridgeline, Land Crusier, Lexus and Ifiniti gas V-8′S.

The Prius never did anything for me way to complex for what advantages it offers.

The torsion beam with stabilizer bar rear suspension is of an adequate/proven design that affords packaging efficiencies for storage of the battery packs needed for the hybrid powertrain. Are there “better” suspension designs, certainly – but few that are low-cost and provide the same packaging advantages as the torsion beam suspension. This is not a defense of Toyota, rather a simple explanation of why this particular suspension design makes sense for this particular car.
“tim” is correct, “the car for the non-car guy/girl”

Pfft…safe. Ha!

LMAO! I love it when these articles come up.

i love the comments on here about the guys who live on a hill. I am glad your prius works out for you on the hill you live on. But if you were so environmentally concious, MOVE OFF THE FRICKIN HILL!! Drive your Prius all you want. I really don’t care what you drive. Just don’t tell ME what I can drive. Especially when I don’t live on some gas guzzling steep hill. But there in lays the essence of a liberal. “Don’t do as I do, do as I say.”

Basically, the Prius may be technologically advanced, but so what. It still doesn’t address any real problem. The gas milage is not as great as many believe. And it still runs on GAS. The Prius is already out of date and will be even more so when some real hybrid technology comes out of GM and Ford. There are alot of misconceptions about a barrel of oil and where it goes. Approximately 65% is used for plastics. If you really want to make a difference, stop buying plastic. Of the 35% left for fuel, only 18% is actually refined for gasoline. So if we were to somehow cut our use of gasoline by 25%, we would only be saving approximately 4.5% of a barrel of oil. You will NEVER rid our dependance on foreign oil by switching to ANY type of vehicle.

If you want to save fuel, car pool. Make a change to your lifestyle. When I drive my Xterra to work, I get 20mpg, actual. Say I pick up 4 others on my way to work who drive vehicles that get 20mpg. I now essentially am driving an equivelent vehicle that gets 100mpg. That is better than any Prius or hybrid. How about this for Prius owners…. if you pick up 3 other people who drive a Prius, and we agree it gets 40mpg, then you will be essentially getting 160mpg. That’s saving gas. If we all did this, we all could work together and save that 4.5% of oil! LMAO!

The Japenese really don’t care about America’s reliance on foriegn oil. If they did we would’nt have the Seqouia, Tundra, Titan, Armada, Pathfiner, 4-Runner, Ridgeline, Land Crusier, Lexus and Ifiniti gas V-8′S.

Or GM with 12 GMT-900 SUV’s, 4 GMT-360’s, Two full lines of pickups, and Hummer, the brand DEVOTED to consuming as much gas as possible

Driving an SUV is like being a smoker or having a mullet: you are the only person who thinks you are being cool

don’t you have 3?

Wait a minute, Bobzooki… Are you trying to say that Mark Field’s hair isn’t cool??

Renton –

Completely agree with you. This is a Toyota Prius topic but damn, it makes me angry. Why on earth, with modern traction control, and such improved manufacturing capabilities can’t Toyota make even a 150HP RWD Corrolla AE86 successor? Gen V Supra Turbo?

I REALLY do not think it is too much to ask a car company that has built these things in the past to build a newer, safer version of them for me so I don’t have to look into 20 year old used cars to get what I want.

My money is what Toyota wants. I have been waiting six years for ANY of these Japanese car companies to produce one of their sportscars again. Sure, I’d like a fuel efficient commuter too but honestly I’ve been waiting for my driver’s car and that’ll be the first thing I purchase.

Here’s another one: Give me a diesel Corrolla or small wagon, Toyota. AWD would be smart to have standard. That’s an inexpensive small car I’d buy after you sell me a proper sportscar.

Craig, You make very valid points. My only issue would be your insistance on Japanese. It is impossible these days to purchase a *bad* car. Every manufacturer has reached a point where *almost* every vehicle offered is a good choice. Maybe not the best, but by no means bad. European or american manufacturers may be able to offer you what you are seeking.

Almost every vehicle except the half baked crap that Gm builds. Remember they are an SUV and truck company that happens to build a car here and there… Too bad the Corvette is the only one that shows any signs of life.

But they could give two ****s since they make the most money off of you buy selling you one of the dozens of gas guzzling SUV’s that they specialize (But don’t dominate) in. It’s all about the mighty $ and GM knows how to pinch every last one of them out of you. Whether it be technology, gadetology, or safety (See Horrible Aveo ratings for that one) GM will always lag behind for the sake of the mighty dollar.

riiiiight…. kappa, zeta, epsilon are all junk…

/sarc

Can’t say I care much about the Prius (either way) but:

“European-tuned suspension”

Hell yeah.

Kappa cars are cheap, chintzy, Frankenstein’d together roadsters built to a cheap price point. Piece-parts cars, the goddamn gearbox comes out of a Colorado pickup truck… Clumsy, notchy and about as refined as the shifter on my rid-on lawn mower.

The Epsilon and Zeta will enter with a splash and then will be milked along for 2 decades just like the ancient the S10/GMC pickups and the W-bodies for example. By the next decade, they will be ONCE AGAIN behind the competition, each one being rebagded a million times, probably go through about 10 name changes for each model and carry heavy rebates just to move the metal.

Sorry, the trend is there, GM effort is like a fat dude jumping into a pool. Woosh, BIG SPLASH then everything just settles down to a ripple until the next fat dude falls in the pool 20 years later. That “FAT DUDE” I am referring to is GM managment btw. The only reason you are seeing ANY efferts is because the buying public has a candle so far up GM’s asses, they needed to do something, ANYTHING just to avoid the axe.

anonymous, your an idiot. when I earlier was stating that the Asians do not care about America’s reliance on foriegn oil, because if they did, they would not offer these built for the states only vehicle’s I mentioned. Yes , of course the dometics have there share of SUV’s and pickup’s , how else did the Asian auto makers get the idea to copy these vehicles? It’s funny how you often bash domestic buyers as being all rednecks, what then is someone like you who feels it’s O.K. to run into the ground American manufacturung? If GM were wiped off the map as you put it, the automotive industry worldwide and the economy of any type of business affiliated with doestic automalers.
Perhaps you hate America and dispise American workers.
Your the lind of little boy that gets his ass kicked alot.
My point earlier was that Toyota boast about how “green” they are but continue to build gas guzzlers for our market only.
Your community college degree is showing.

anonymous, your an idiot. when I earlier was stating that the Asians do not care about America’s reliance on foriegn oil, because if they did, they would not offer these built for the states only vehicle’s I mentioned. Yes , of course the dometics have there share of SUV’s and pickup’s , how else did the Asian auto makers get the idea to copy these vehicles? It’s funny how you often bash domestic buyers as being all rednecks, what then is someone like you who feels it’s O.K. to run into the ground American manufacturung? If GM were wiped off the map as you put it, the automotive industry worldwide and the economy of any type of business affiliated with doestic automalers.
Perhaps you hate America and dispise American workers.
Your the kind of little boy that gets his ass kicked alot.
My point earlier was that Toyota boast about how “green” they are but continue to build gas guzzlers for our market only.
Your community college degree is showing.

For the record tim, that response that you are referring to was some other “anonymous” or somebody who forgot to put their name in. Not me.

Guess I am not the only one who isn’t looking throught the rose colored glasses as the GM fanbois

All of Anonymous’s points were spot on. Save for the Corvette, GM cars are forgettable.

And Toyota does have a lot of SUV’s but I gaurantee, if Toyota never made even one successful SUV, you GM fans would be ranting about Toyota’s inability to build a full size SUV. But now that they have succeeded, they threaten the very thread that is holding GM and the rest of Detroit together. It is their own damn fault they dismissed the car market to go after the higher profit SUV’s and trucks. That’s what happens when you let greed and arrogance get the best of you. And right now it has gotten the best and the absolute worst of them.

It bothers me to know that you car enthusiasts are just so stupid. So unforgivably idiotic and plagueing to society. It pains me to know that people, incapable of writing a coherent thought, or proving their point without name calling, were able to get their license. I don’t know how a collective group, so stupid, so self-absorbed, so inane, can get a multi-ton vehicle and pilot it next to the iniated and intelligent.

So stop ****ting up the roads, and please stop ****ting up a good website with your idiotic banter.

HEY PIABLO! The Prius is already out of date and just wait until GM and Ford com out with some real hybrid technology? Are you KIDDING? Just so you know, the 2007 Camry is Toyota’s FOURTH GENERATION of hybrid technology since the Prius was introduced in 2000. Your pal Ford has hybrid technology in the Escape/Mariner…THAT IT IS LICENSING parts of FROM TOYOTA!!! You think Ford cam up with that?!? Toyota/Lexus has control of SIXTY (6-0) PERCENT of the hybrid market, and is selling hybrids at a record pace (over 60,000 in the U.S. alone JUST in the first six months of the year!). Get your facts straight! Toyota and Lexus are leading the world in the development of hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell technology, as well as safety. AND, they are doing it while passing your beloved Ford as the #2 automaker in the world, setting sales records EVERY month, and posting record profits!

I love the car.
With 110,000 miles on the ‘classic’(2001) version and I am very happy. Still, I don’t like the banana look of the new one but it is much larger. Brakes are still at 70% with a 300K expectation. Oil is still see thru at 7500 mile changes.

I replaced the 20K (45 psi) life tires with Firestone 70K tires, stiffer, better handling and the car is much more fun to drive. Wore them out and bought another set. I fill them to 40 psi to wear evenly. Other tires are even better I hear.

They say not to change the tires, but the original tires are not for handling, just for high mileage. I gave up (2) MPG to get better handling and this is very much worth it to me.

At 14 miles to work I go three ways for 42 miles a gallon. In town driving (hills) all the way but I get 60+ to work and 38 home. Who cares about other factors.

Carpooling doesn’t work for most.
Who are you kidding?
As we in S California know, everyone gets to work from every direction. Even when I drove 20 miles to work I was never able to find anyone to carpool with. I did save $150+ each month toward car payments, though (at $1.50 a gallon, too).

Compared to driving a Prius from Anaheim to LA (50+ mpg on 40mph freeways) at $3.05 a gallon I can get there and home on a gallon and a half. Nobody at work lived on my route so I could not pick anyone up. The train didn’t run even close to my route and the bus took 3 hours to get there, arriving at work one hour late. Then the trip home, also. The car was the best and cheapest choice. 450 miles on 10 gallons a week. KOOL

Sean, if you are not a car enthusiast than why the hell are you on this website? Go back to moveon.org please. Oh everyone knows that GM has messed up but people with long memories, who judge something based upon what happened decades ago are the same people that perpetuate wars in the Middle East and Northern Ireland. If MODERN GM product is up to standard or superior I, along with even headed, intelligent customers shall purchase their product, and some current and all future product looks to be very good. A zeta roadmaster may take the place of my 300C one day.

I own a 2005 Prius and I have found that although it doesn’t get as good of gas mileage as they claim, it does get about 50mpg on average in the city. It is comfortable,and great to drive.I think it is a nice looking car, although the wheels aren’t great looking, so I changed them.All you guys that own the SUV’s and other gas guzzlers, I laugh at you as I pass by the gas station.

1952 MG TD – Perhaps so but since there is such a boon of rear drive cars today (finally) I don’t feel I should have to settle on what has become available first. Personally, I’d like a small turbocharged sportscar. Japanese companies have ususally made these in the past. Chrysler’s hemi engines are indeed very nice but I am not personally attracted to driving a 6.1 liter car around town. That has more to do with my own style and preference than the need to stick to one manufacturer.

I suppose the other side of the coin is that I find it easy to criticize Toyota for dropping the ball. The only cars they sell are high resale “efficiency” economy cars, big SUVs and trucks and then their trendy, very expensive but ultimately boring Lexuses. Those just aren’t the only two product segments they can sell to, yet all they do is advertise hybrid cars that are either pure luxury cruisers or inexpensive economy vehicles with extremely cheap suspensions.

And yes, I did forget to check for errors in my post before clicking “Submit” :p

Amazing to watch how Toyota has managed to raise emotions with their hybrid technology.

Congratulations to the engineers at Toyota, clearly on their way to one day replace the traditional gas engine
when affordable hydrocarbon/mineral oil will run out. Watch them closely…

Love or hate the Prius. If you want a car that puts a smile on your face with exciting state of the art technology to get you comfortably from ‘A’ to ‘B’ without fuss or worry have a closer look.

All you still have to do is the steering…

The Toyota technology will prove to be the ‘one that comes before’. Isn’t that what ‘Prius’ stands for?

This back and forth is so much more stupid than any of the cars brought up in the argument.
I’m just going to voice my opinion.
The Toyota Prius is a car which has a definte selling point in the marketplace, because it is fuel-efficient, and range convenience, low emissions and saving money on gas all make it a worthwhile car to buy, and even if none of those items individually make up for the extra cost, combined, they do.
However…putting a touring package on an efficiency oriented car makes absolutely no sense.

I do want to say that I agree with the above comments regarding Toyota and sports cars…they’ve completely dropped out of that market as of ‘05, and considering the quality of some of their offerings in that department (AW11 and SW20 MR2, Supras, pre 1986 and Alltrac Celicas, AE86), that is a serious mistake on their part.

[...] But then there’s the issue of actually getting one. The tax break on the Prius is set to be reduced by 50% starting October 1st. That means I have to have the car in my possession by September 30th to qualify. And this tax break is by no means a small sum of money. So we’re trying to hunt down an 06 with the package that we want and we actually found two in acceptable colors today in our area. But we don’t want to pay full MSRP, which is what they want. Even more bothersome is the fact that the 2007 model is coming out soon (but not in time to meet the tax break deadline). It’s not much different from the 2006 model and I wouldn’t care except for the fact that they’re offering a Touring edition, which is supposed to be sportier, which is awfully tempting. It just might give me what I need to not feel like I switched over to driving a granny car. So the ultimate question is: get a 2006 Prius and the big tax break or wait for the 2007 Touring edition and get half the tax break? Gah. I can’t decide. Don’t even get me started on the carpool access thing. These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

I just bought a 2006 toyota prius and I also have a new ford freestyle and I’am happy to say that I drive the prius much more than the freestyle for the gas mileage.
Prius gets me 54 mpg in town.
Ford freestyle 18 mpg in town.
So the prius is driven more for just screwing around town and the freestyle is my going to dinner and pulling my boat and fishing car. DAVE