2007 (07) Toyota Prius

I recently confirmed on here that my workplace was changing its fleet cars very soon, and indeed that has been the case and on Wednesday i decided to use one for my trip to some pointless presentation conferance thingmejig, but we dont care about that, you want to hear about the car! Now its no secret that im no greenie, i dont read the Guardian, i dont agree with most of the claptrap spoken about global warming and im definately not a fan of anything proclaiming itself to be an 'eco car' but for the purposes of this ive put my prejudices in a box and decided to develop my opinion on what its like as a car, and nothing else. Im also going to attempt to be fair to it and not compare it to the 230+bhp S-Type i usually drive too much.

Right, the car, its a 2007 07 plate Prius in black, the T3 model and its done just over 46,000 miles and was acquired from a Toyota dealer (so ive been informed). Im not a fan of the exterior looks although it may grow on me, the design of the rear lights make it look too much like a Hybrid and most notably a Prius to be able to drive it without that nagging uneasy feeling of making a political statement at the back of my mind. The interior is better, i still maintain the plastics take on a bit of a cheap feel and not having a gear stick as such is a bit strange to start off with, so is the position of the instrument panel being four miles away from the steering wheel. Despite this it feels well thought out and easy to use, function over form, typical Toyota then. The type of car you can find what you want without needing to read the manual. Ive never driven anything electric or hybrid before so i was taken aback when i started it and was silent, i thought i'd broken it. But panic over we began to move.

The drive

The drive was to be a 140 mile round trip taking in dual carraigeway and mixed outskirts and town driving, an ideal test then for the real world fuel economy of the Prius, supposedly its big selling point. I filled up its small tank from almost full anyway and set off. In town running in 'EV Mode' was a strange experience, total silence and just merely humming along to the shop, i liked that. The animation showing me where the powers coming from i dont like so i switched that off. In town its fine even if the ride could be a little smoother but its nothing to complain about. Out on the dual carraigeway its got ample power, i didnt feel like a liability on the road or anything, obviously it doesnt have the power im used to but by the same token its not a car which encourages you to drive quickly either. A steady 65-70 is perfectly fine and quiet inside the Prius and you dont go much faster than that on this sort of road at 10am on a wednesday anyway. On the more twisty roads it understeers a bit if you even slightly push it. All in all though a relaxing enough trundle, seats are better than the Astra's we used to have as i didnt need a doctor by the time i got back. And verified by re-filling when i got back i can confirm i did 52 to the gallon. Quite impressive for a big five door automatic driven by someone who's a stranger to the eco hybrid world.

Liked

Good comfortable seats, fantastic EV mode, good economy, good size and well laid out. And at 6ft i was perfectly fine in the back also.

Dont Like

Exterior styling, vague handling, even making allowances for 'eco car' i still think its slightly down on power, annoying animations on screen and political connotations creating a green halo around the car. The latter especially makes it uncomfortable to consider owning.

Conclusion

I said i'd put my prejudices aside and i think overall ive done that. Its a very good car at what it sets out to do, which is to give you the easiest drive (auto) in the biggest car possible with the lowest running costs possible. With £20 tax, congestion charge exemption (although i believe hybrids exemption will be withdrawn in 2013), excellent reliability, low insurance costs (i did a dummy quote and got quoted £284 to insure this car), excellent economy for this size of car (a diesel Fiesta will do better but thats a small car, manual, less room etc). I'd like to compare it one day to its most direct rival, the Honda Insight but with a good four year old Prius going for around 6k and the Insight only being out for a year or so if you want a big five door auto with cheap tax, insurance and fuel costs, with rock solid reliability for a reasonable price then it has to be one of these. If i really concentrate i can justify this thing. I'd have one out of a principle of not wanting to give the Government any money, and i think all of us, even staunch petrolheads could get on board with that thinking.

Score: 7.5 out of 10