I decided to celebrate my newfound freedom of shopping (and having a car!) by going to Whole Foods. Turns out Toyota was there with some 2010 Priuses and an example of the 2012 Prius, which has the plug-in option, all for test drive. Since they gave me a nice gift card to Whole Foods, it's only fair I repay the favor by plugging (ha...no.) them. Hell, that's probably what they were looking for in the first place....
Anyway, I test drove a 2010 Prius! It was pretty sweet.
Pros: eco-friendly--not only does it get fantastic mileage, the interior was leather free, and they're using recyclable eco-plastics (also on the 2012 model)!
It's pretty comfortable in the front, too. There was actually too much legroom, I had to move the seat forward....
Drives with serious silence. I don't know if this feature is on the 2010 or the 2012 one, but one of them can have a solar sunroof that keeps the air circulating once you activate it.
Cons: accelerates like a little bitch. 0 to 60 in 9.8 seconds is really no fun, though it's great for the environment...also the deceleration felt a little weird. I think it's supposed to, I've heard these things recharge when they're braked.
No trunk space. There's a giant battery in the back and an engine in the front...obviously, this wouldn't be an issue with a purely electric car.
Anyway, it's really a city car. I heard it (maybe the new one) actually gets better mileage in the city than in the highway--because the electric engine maxes out speedwise at around 60mph (the 2012 model can drive 13 miles on pure electricity at 60mph). So if you have one and you want to go on a road trip, you'll have to rent a car. Or if you need to buy a lot of groceries, or transport four fat people....
Cool stuff, either way!
No comments:
Post a Comment