The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry
214 comments
·January 18, 2025jgilias
UniverseHacker
The Prius system is an excellent design, but as someone that loves driving, it just feels and drives awful- little tactile or audible feedback on any of the controls, and really unresponsive to inputs- arguably dangerously so. My regular daily driver is an old Porsche Boxster, and by comparison the Prius feels like I’m driving a dishwasher or playing a cheap arcade game- it will get you there reliably but it’s just not any fun. Life is too short for me not to enjoy the time I have to spend driving. My sister has an Audi A3 e-tron hybrid (basically an upscale VW Golf) that is extremely fun to drive, but also a very complex drivetrain and engine.
I think a pure EV with a small range extender not connected to the drivetrain mechanically- like the BMW i3 REX is the way to go. It’s even simpler and lighter than the Prius system, allowing for a much larger battery and more powerful electric motor.
loloquwowndueo
> Life is too short for me not to enjoy the time I have to spend driving.
Or, you could reengineer your too-short life so you waste less time driving.
It’s fine if you like driving and want to have a nice car - connoisseurs abound in all fields. But for 99% of people it’s not an issue worth optimizing for.
UniverseHacker
That’s actually part of it for me- I often work from home and have very little required driving- so I do mostly see driving as a recreational activity. If I’m going to visit a remote beach or mountain lake for fun on the weekend, I want the drive down a long winding road to be fun also.
epolanski
It's fine to demand more from a car, but to most of us it has to move us from point a to b.
UniverseHacker
I honestly never quite understood this perspective or why it's so popular... in general I try to always find ways to do normal life things a little weird, or make it a little more challenging, fun, and memorable- and try to break up the routine drudgery. Even just getting groceries can be a fun adventure with my kid if we put the top down on the Porsche, play some music we love, and maybe go to a weird store that targets a different culture, or has weird surplus/unsold items.
Doing things 'weird' usually makes them cheaper and less crowded/faster as well- as a result of less demand.
sonofhans
To be fair, you are contrasting an econobox with one of the all-time great driver’s cars :) I bet I have enough fingers to count cars more fun to drive than a Boxster.
I do agree about the Prius, though. It feels like driving a dishwasher.
01HNNWZ0MV43FF
> a pure EV with a small range extender not connected to the drivetrain mechanically
That is, a series hybrid, like a diesel locomotive?
UniverseHacker
Yes, a range extender EV like the BMW i3 REx is technically a series hybrid, but it is designed to operate most of the time on electricity only and be plugged in to charge- with a large EV size battery and a very small lightweight moped engine in the extender.
The range extender basically gives you protection from range anxiety, but isn't used at all in normal use of the vehicle. On the i3, it only starts the engine when the battery is nearly empty, but some people do software mods to be able to use the vehicle as a true series hybrid, and run the engine continuously for doing long distance freeway driving without stopping to charge.
saturn8601
>I’m at a point where if I’m looking for a car that uses fuel, it’s only cars that use the Toyota hybrid tech (or similar) that I’m looking at. At the moment it’s just Toyota, Lexus, most Ford hybrids (but not all).
Don't forget the Mazda CX-50 Hybrid that was just released. Using the Toyota Hybrid from the RAV4 with the elegance and beauty of Mazda design.
Tade0
For the reason you stated in the last paragraph I eventually opted against getting a Hyundai Ioniq in favour of a Toyota.
The Hyundai felt like driving a regular automatic, so it would occasionally lunge awkwardly and spin the engine in situations where Toyotas switch to EV mode.
Sure it had better fuel economy, but I can't stand having a car not react immediately to my input or make noise when it shouldn't.
dkarl
> I can't stand having a car not react immediately to my input
I'm spoiled from years of Priuses now, and driving gas cars, even fancy and expensive ones, feels bizarrely primitive. The lag between the pedal and the response, and the complex relationship between the input and the response, feels antiquated and arcane.
Tade0
A while ago I rented a regular car and what bugged me was all the additional vibration associated with parts grinding and rolling against each other.
Also at least once I almost went "woah, horsie" as the car lunged forward because I tapped the accelerator a moment after it shifted to a lower gear without me noticing.
It used to be even worse. I had an opportunity to drive a 2005 BMW 7 series in a city where the speed limit was 30km/h. Unfortunately the gearbox was from a time way before traffic calming etc. went mainstream, so it couldn't decide which gear to pick. I ended up switching to manual gear selection mode.
bardak
I had a loaner Ford Bronco Sport when I was having some maintenance on my hybrid. It had a 8 speed transmission and a turbo. Going from the super smooth eCTV to a vehicle that would jerk from shift changes/turbo when you just thought about touching the gas pedal has has put me off buying a vehicle with a normal transmission
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jgilias
To be fair, it did take some time for me to get used to how a hybrid sounds. It’s fine when not driving aggressively. When you floor it though, it does feel weird when the engine jumps to the highest safe revs and stays there. That’s a small price to pay for reliability and smooth power delivery though.
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Tade0
I actually prefer that over the usual revs going up and down depending on speed. I'm not American so my default before hybrids was driving stick. Never liked this steampunk-esque drama of moving from a standstill in such a car
Anyway revs do go up over a certain speed, but you need to be on the Autobahn to legally test it.
esalman
Are you talking about how the CVT transmission sounds?
z3dd
check out civic 11 gen, they are almost indistinguishable from regular ice cars when sitting inside
numpad0
Can't agree more, I can't understand why any car person would not be excited about THS II system anymore ever since its executive summary finally clicked, other than because that Prius as a product used to be so badly designed until Tesla started seriously threatening Toyota.
If only Toyota made bunch of toy models for THS and built couple 2-door hybrids so that more people would get it. I suppose it's a case of innovator's dilemma, but it's so unfortunate.
dtgriscom
Not a challenge, but a plea: where's your source(s) for this? I'm about where you were, but would love to know more about the internals so I can make an informed choice when my current (ICE) car dies.
MindSpunk
The wikipedia page is quite in depth [0] but is quite dense and took me a few goes to understand. They're fascinating to understand, and they really are mechanically simpler than a standard ICE + gearbox drive line. I got nerd sniped one day figuring out how my Toyota Crown "gearbox" worked only to discover it doesn't really have one. They don't even have a real neutral gear, the wheels are always mechanically linked to the engine.
They require much more active computer control to work though so they aren't logically simpler in my opinion, but mechanical simplicity is what makes the biggest difference.
There are certainly better more approachable sources though so I leave this as an option as the info is there, but can take a moment to understand.
jgilias
I’m with you in general. Though, with the amount of electronics and “computer-complexity” that modern ICE cars have, I’m not sure there’s a meaningful difference!
bloudermilk
This video is my favorite on the topic: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O61WihMRdjM&pp=ygUKV2ViZXIgcmF...
hedgehog
That's really good, I watched one of their older videos to understand what I was getting into before I bought a Toyota a few years back. For those reading, the video is from Weber State University, they have a series of hourish long detailed videos on various automotive components including different versions of the Toyota electric transaxle and rear electric drive unit (mechanically separate but present in the AWD vehicles).
My takeaway was the same as some of the other posters here, the system is an engineering tour de force. Simpler than the gas version, proven reliability, and efficiency not too far off the theoretical limit of gas-burning drive trains.
eurekin
This video cleared up my confusion and corrected my misconceptions, giving me enough knowledge to hold a one-hour discussion with an actual Toyota mechanic.
Highly recommended!
jval43
That video is what made me get a Toyota hybrid.
Seeing how simple the whole mechanism is, I totally get why the empirical reliability is so good.
Not to mention that the lecturer shows and explains things very clearly.
jolan
This is a great series by a Toyota mechanic:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeFzfl0Q8rQUOHwFNOMTu...
He goes into the practicalities of owning/maintaining/repairing as well as the engineering.
jessekv
An accessible video that builds up the design intuitively from first-principals using a 3d model. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_xCssR8qQI
DiggyJohnson
Respectfully, why are you asking for sources on an already high effort subjective post instead of verifying the info yourself? Wikipedia is a great place to start with car spec stuff.
jgilias
Take a look at this:
Also, YouTube helps. Search for “Power Split Device” or “e-CVT”.
Regarding other hybrid tech, it’s a bit of a crapshoot. I basically use ChatGPT with search enabled to have sources, and then ask how the system works. It’s never in the marketing materials, I guess most don’t care.
lwhsiao
Naive question: aren't belts lower maintenance than chains, and don't let last longer? Why doesn't a engine with a chain drive require equal or more replacements?
hollywood_court
No. Chains are better.
My Land Cruiser has a timing belt. I replace it every 90k miles per Toyota's specifications. My Tundra has the same engine, except that it has a timing chain. I've never bothered to replace the timing chain.
A timing chain is preferable as long as it isn't something like a Jaguar/Land Rover. The chain in those doesn't matter because they use plastic tensioners that eventually become brittle at crack/fail.
analog31
Amusingly, my 1995 Saturn had a timing chain, and the chain skipped a tooth on its last day, at roughly 60k miles. Now, there wasn't necessarily anything wrong with the chain per se but it was the end of a sequence of failures involving the engine design.
On all of our other cars (Toyota), the belts needed to be serviced at X miles, but it was actually a cheap and quick procedure.
frosted-flakes
Unlike most bicycle chains, timung chains are permanently lubricated with filtered oil. Belts are not.
bityard
Ford and a few other makers have been using oil-immersed timing belts lately. They quite reliably fail after the car's warranty is up but well before the rest of the car is junk.
jgilias
Umm.. No and no. Belts need to be changed at some service interval, usually 100k SI units. If you don’t do it, a ripped belt wreaks havoc on the engine. Chains are typically installed for the life of the engine, and need to be changed only if it’s a problem.
A caveat though. I used to have a Škoda Fabia with a chain drive, and I did end up changing it, as it started making the tell-tale sound when stop-go.
In the context of hybrids though, I fully expect that chain to last the lifetime of the engine. The engine is under significantly less load than in a traditional ICE, so less stress on the chain. Also, for 100k mileage, the motor-hours that the engine has worked are less than in an ICE due to the engine regularly being off.
loeg
I wish Toyota would make enough Siennas to satisfy demand. Instead, there's are long wait lists at dealers.
usrusr
I would not call a CVT "not a gearbox". Were Audis equipped with their multitronic option (not in any way related to hybrid or BEV) "cars without a gearbox"?
numpad0
Prius system is considered "CVT" for bureaucratic reasons only, it's slightly fancier EV style reduction gear.
jgilias
Yeah, I’d say “not a gearbox”. A gearbox to me is something where there are actual gears engaging and disengaging leading to wear and tear. Doesn’t matter what kind of fancy electronics are then used to hide the mechanical operation from me.
A mechanical CVT with belts and pulleys with changing diameters is even worse.
What the hybrids (e-CVT ones) have though is basically a planetary gear set, where the gears are put together at the factory, and stay there for the life of the car.
To me that’s not a gearbox. At least not in the traditional sense. Transmission sure.
cyberax
A traditional CVT is a different beast. Prius is more accurately described as having a power-split gearbox that can dynamically split the power between the gasoline engine and the electric motor.
gcanyon
The new Prius is really good-looking (to my eye at least), especially in person: I don't think the photos (I've seen) do it justice. Fun comparisons to the car Burt Reynolds drove in Smokey and the Bandit: Compared to the 1977 Pontiac Trans Am:
- The Prius is as fast 0-60 (~7 seconds)
- The Prius has nearly the same top speed (~115 mph)
- The Prius is 4x(!) as fuel-efficient (57mpg vs. 12-16mpg)
- The Prius has all the modern stuff: air conditioning, antilock brakes, airbags, crumple zones, information display screen, backup camera, proximity alerts, etc. etc.
- Adjusted for inflation, the Prius costs almost exactly the sameMarkusWandel
I wanted to like the 2024+ Prius, I really did. I was in the market for a new car anyway, so I went and test drove one (not that I could have got one right away, at the time). Takeaways...
- it drives really nice with plenty of power
- the "gearshift" (not that it is one, but that part of the UI) is nonintuitive
- the interior looks smaller than it is, due to massive A-pillars and little to no rearward visibility
- it looks much better than past Priuses, but the rear door handles single-handedly put back the "dork factor"
None of that would have mattered that much, but the dealbreaker: Trunk space. I mean, space to load stuff when there are already 4 people in the car so you can't just fold down the back seat. That trunk floor is high. Folded it up and what's underneath? A styrofoam spacer matrix! WTF? Why not a spare tire instead (you don't get one)? I can imagine an ugly hack, tearing all that out, just to get a bit more trunk space but really? My only guess is that the Prius Prime's extra battery goes here, and they don't want to have it have less trunk space than the regular Prius.
We are (by choice) a one-car family and we have two kids. When we travel we need a certain amount of trunk space, and the Prius doesn't have it. Aside from that, the Prime would have been lovely - enough battery to do your around-town driving entirely electrically! I never even thought of the "no heat" angle.
rssoconnor
> None of that would have mattered that much, but the dealbreaker: Trunk space.
I hear you. I got a 2022 Prius Prime and I was disappointed with the smaller trunk space compared with the 2010(ish) Prius I had before, but I still went with it. However, my understanding is that the newer models somehow have even smaller trunk space space. At least that space under the trunk floor is filled with batteries in my case.
While I'm happy enough with my purchase, I suspect I won't be getting a Prius in the future. If I want a PHEV, I might look at the Rav4 Prime, but I think I'm more likely to look for a full EV when the time comes.
SweetLlamaMyth
Oh wow, the 2024 Prius Prime has a full 3 seats in back. When we were Prius shopping in 2018, we were disappointed to learn that getting plug-in capability cost an extra $10K and removed the rear center seat. We ultimately just bought a "regular" Prius. I'm sure we _would have_ figured it how to install a car seat in such a tight space, but I don't regret missing that frustration.
hedgehog
Was the RAV4 bigger than you wanted? Solves the space issue and the footprint is not much more than the Prius.
silverlake
The new Prius looks good, but I love my old Prius’s spacious hatchback. With the backseat down we can stick 3 giant dogs back there. I don’t know if there’s a hybrid with similar internal space.
timbit42
I got my 65" TV in the back of mine, although it was a tight fit.
bityard
I fit a fully assembled entertainment center in mine. Only an inch or two to spare in every dimension but it fit!
ariwilson
RAV4
hammock
Doesn’t sound as cool though. Maybe the Mustang team was onto something when they were playing supplementary fake engine sounds in the cabin speakers
recursive
Will people always think vroom vroom sounds cool? As far as I'm concerned, we can't get rid of it soon enough. When I rent an ICE car, I'm always annoyed by the engine revving sounds.
smitelli
I mean, I’m not really a fan of the spaceship whine that the newest Honda CR-V models put out in electric mode. It’s going to be hard to please everybody on this planet.
dgfitz
I’d much prefer to hear a car coming than not, personally.
mitthrowaway2
Could you imagine if the Ford Model T had coconuts installed to mimic the sound of a horse's feet?
cyberax
Or a pile of manure in the trunk to simulate the smell.
Alex3917
The problems with the Prius are basically:
- Terrible in snow and ice
- No way to defrost your windshield, unless you're already driving
- Poor rear window visibility
rssoconnor
> - No way to defrost your windshield, unless you're already driving
I have a 2022 Prius Prime, and I am moderately sure with the car on and in park I can press the front window defrost button, and the ICE will turn on and start blowing hot air on the front window.
Also, while parked and plugged in at home, I can use the remote A/C button to start heating the cabin and front windshield while clearing off snow and clearing the driveway, and will be powered from my house. I'm not sure if this also works without being plugged in.
blacksmith_tb
Can confirm, I have a 2017 Prius Prime, I keep it set to prefer all-EV driving, but I just got in and turned on the defroster to melt some frost off the windshield, it switches on the ICE engine. My only complaint is that it is not terribly smart about turning it back off during the same session of driving, if I turn off the defrost. I think in theory the heat pump would be able to provide the heat to do the job, but it'd use the charge in the traction battery up quickly...
Aurornis
> - Terrible in snow and ice
I don’t know what gave you that idea, unless this is a complaint about FWD vs AWD. They do fine around here in snow and ice.
Snow and ice performance is primarily (by a wide margin) about the tires. Next is the diffs and/or traction control for keeping both wheels moving when one starts slipping.
A Prius on snow tires does about as well as any other common FWD car.
timbit42
I expect they are referring to the traction control system. On ice, it's really hard to get started moving when it's constantly kicking in. If you're trying to get across one or more lanes of traffic to turn left (driving on right), then you can be in danger of getting hit unless you leave a lot more time to get across.
singron
Ours with snow tires does great. Most people probably don't have snow tires though, and they may have tires that perform worse-than-normal like LRR tires or full summer tires.
Snow tires are great on all FWD and are probably way cheaper than buying a new AWD car.
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mplanchard
I own a Prius and live in Vermont. It does just fine with snow and ice. As others have pointed out, proper snow tires make a huge difference, way more than any car tech. I also think the newer models have AWD as an option.
To defrost, you can just turn the car on, switch out of EV mode, and turn on the defroster. It works like every other car.
The rear window visibility is not the best. I do agree there.
ilamont
> Terrible in snow and ice
New Englander here. I've owned two Priuses (2004 and 2010) and both have been surprisingly able to handle winter weather quite well. Not as good as my Outback, but in light to medium conditions and driven by an experienced winter driver they performed admirably.
The older one made it through a major blizzard in rural road and interstate driving across 4 states, albeit at a reduced rate of speed (45 mph, which drove up the MPG to 52, a record for that car).
We still drive the 2010 model. I'm hoping that Subaru will get its act together on hybrid by the time we have to retire the Prius, but I would definitely get another Toyoya hybrid.
argulane
I own a 2024 Toyota Corolla Hybrid (similar drive train to Prius) and it defrost the window way faster than my previous Volkswagen Passat. Ice and snow handling has been pretty similar here in North Europe compared to my previous car, studded winter tires are the key. Visibility is also quite comprareble.
dtgriscom
> Terrible in snow and ice
Are they worse than most front-drive cars? (And what about compared with a Trans Am?)
> No way to defrost your windshield, unless you're already driving
I've wondered about that. The Prius still gets its cabin heating from the ICE?
> Poor rear window visibility
Agree completely.
jazzyjackson
Cabin heating is done by heat pump but the gas engine kicks on for the front defrost. I don't know what parent is referring to wrt not being able to run defroster.
janetmissed
My experience with a prius in the north east was that it wasn't particularly bad in ice and snow and the few times I got caught in snowstorms it handled about as well as any front wheel drive car. I certainly wouldn't go out into a snowstorm with it if I had the choice, but thats true of almost any non-awd drive. The windshield defrosting situation was also a non issue for me.
Man I miss my prius, I sold it when gas was under $2...
Mistletoe
I haven't found any of the Prius I've owned to be terrible in snow and ice. They are front wheel drive and have traction control and it works fine.
airstrike
I rode in one when I called an Uber once and was über amazed... it's so spacious too! Pics really don't do it justice
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likeabatterycar
The Trans Am also had simple analogue controls - including for the heat & AC - while the new Prius has evidently succumbed to the overcomplicated "let's take away buttons" phenomenon.
Also, you're not getting a bride to leave her husband at the altar if you pull up alongside in a Prius. Just sayin'.
alephnerd
I'll toast a Coors Banquet to that!
---------
Amen to that though! I agree that the new gen Prius looks really sleek! I tried EVs but the range and lack of after-market parts was really limiting, so I've been fairly happy with the Prius Prime.
bison3
I love my Prius. What amazes me about the car is how “idiot-proof” or “smart” it is. I try my best to hypermile and squeeze out every last MPG, while my wife doesn’t make any effort to baby it—and yet, we both consistently get about 57 MPG combined. The car adapts to how you drive it, which is really impressive.
I think Toyota deserves as much credit as Apple for its “it just works” ethos. The way they design the technology to be seamless and work so well behind the scenes is remarkable. Additionally, many Toyota mechanics consider the Prius to be the most reliable car Toyota makes. This often surprises people because of the perceived complexity of hybrids, but in reality, they are elegantly engineered and surprisingly simple.
quanto
I would go even further and say comparing Apple to Toyota is a high praise for Apple. Toyota, one of the world's largest manufacturers of any product, created its own management and engineering style (e.g. TPS) that continue to edify engineers to this day. Toyota survived and thrived this long in a highly competitive field, especially on a global stage -- a rare instance for a Japanese company. Steve Jobs in his peak had great admiration for Japanese manufacturers like Toyota and wanted to emulate them.
j_bum
I love to hypermile my accord hybrid, but when my wife pulls the exact same mileage without doing anything special, it makes me feel so goofy.
I’ll continue to hypermile for fun anyway lol
quanto
It's difficult to overstate how ground breaking Prius was when it came out; arguably more surprising than Tesla's success and paradigm shift. Before Prius came out, people questioned whether it was even physically possible to have a any working hybrid system in a commercial car, let alone a non-serial hybrid system. At least Tesla had seen working prior art in commercial EVs (albeit far less famed than Tesla).
Toyota was mocked in recent years for not going head-first into EVs. As the EVs are becoming less popular and the geopolitics of battery and raw materials escalates, Toyota is having the last laugh.
JeremyNT
Plug in hybrids really remain the sweet spot for usability.
If you can cover the 50 mile typical commute round trip range on grid electric and then switch to the ICE for longer trips, that's a lot more practical. It's like having the best of both worlds.
Yes, you sacrifice in weight and complexity, but Toyota has absolutely mastered this design and their reliability is great.
sandoze
I know all cars can’t be perfect but as a 2010 Prius owner (I probably shouldn’t complain given it’s 15 years old) it has had several well documented issues that never prompted a recall.
I was hit with a bad oil gasket that causes the engine to burn oil. It’s so much work to replace their solution is to replace the entire engine. My solution is to keep putting oil in it. I was told by the dealer this is common over 70k miles.
The steering controls (heat, volume, cruise) stopped working pretty early on. It was well over $1k to fix, mostly labor. Apparently the connection they use is prone to failure.
Leaves me wondering if my next car will be a Toyota. Maybe if they adopted Apple CarPlay.
That being said, batteries are still good and I’ve been pretty impressed how low the maintenance has been.
fy20
Another 2010 owner here. I'm at 280,000km, and other than burning some oil everything still works fine. Usually by this age cars here are pretty rusty, but so far my Prius has held up well. There's a few spots of surface rust in places, but nothing serious.
We had to replace the inverter a few years ago (apparently there was a software update to prevent this failure, but we didn't have it), but even when that broke the car was still driveable, just the ICE engine was running all the time.
The biggest issue I've had is with brakes. Three times now the rear pads have got rusty and I've had to replace both the pads and rotors. My theory is that as they are hardly used, they don't get hot enough to dry out any moisture. Last year I rebuild the rear calipers, so let's see if that fairs any better.
mplanchard
FWIW they have adopted carplay. I have a 2019 prius prime, which was I think the last year before they swapped over. My neighbor has a 2024 model, and it has resolved my two main complaints about my car, in that it has carplay and they have three seats in the back now instead of two.
ezfe
All Toyotas have CarPlay for years now
philwelch
My 2024 Corolla supports Apple CarPlay.
brianbest101
Good news! They have CarPlay on all their vehicles now
haunter
I'm almost 40 and never had a car in my life. But recently I'm thinking about buying one and probably it will be a Toyota hybrid (Lexus if I get a windfall lol)
coffeebeqn
I recently bought the 2012 Prius and at least in Europe it has features that not many 2024 cars have here. HUD, backup camera, regen breaking, automatic transmission, multiple digital displays, Bluetooth, stop-start at lights, EV drive mode on the tiny battery for a few minutes..
daft_pink
Honestly, I think it’s actually the second generation Prius that transformed the auto industry. The first generation was quirky, had poor crash test ratings, and was full of compromises.
The second generation showed that they could produce a sedan with high reliability, a decent sized passenger cabin, high crash test ratings, and very little compromises over a regular car except speed and sell it at a massive scale with incredible gas mileage, lower maintenance costs and great reliability.
I think it also showed that you could build a smaller car, throw in all the technology features and young people would buy it where previously, manufacturers would only put the latest and greatest features on their largest vehicles. For example, if you wanted the latest and greatest features from Mercedes, you would have to buy the S class, so even if you wanted a smaller more efficient car, if you were an early adopter, you had to buy the largest model. I think the Prius was a point where people realized that the youngest people wanted these tech features but they didn’t want a giant car.
jonathantf2
Absolutely love my 2014 PHEV Prius, will do about 7 miles on battery which will get me to the shops and back. Never had a problem with it, about to hit 200k miles and still pretty much perfect
timbit42
> A driver not employing such techniques still can expect fuel economy as high as 4.06 L per 100 km from the latest generation of Prius models.
I think they meant "as low as".
blackoil
Hope Toyota get their mojo back for EVs.
CharlieDigital
I'm kinda OK with them just dominating hybrids; especially plugins.
I own a 2024 Prius Prime (PHEV) and the setup works great. No range anxiety, no special charging infra (I just plug in on a normal 120v overnight). I got the car in Feb 24 and maybe pumped gas a total of 8 times? If I didn't make two longer trips, it would have been 6.
But also, the power output is pretty great and an upgrade over the hybrid only model.
It feels like the sweet spot for most Americans and doesn't require any real lifestyle change.
Big shame is that dealers aren't necessarily charging them on the lot. So if you test drive one, you might only feel the hybrid and not the EV mode.
inciampati
A regular EV also requires no special infrastructure. Just your regular house electrical system (e.g. 120v wall outlet in the US). Only on long trips do you need fast chargers or does range anxiety kick in. If you do a lot of long drives I can see that being a problem. But if not I'd be willing to bet you'd lose less time charging than taking your vehicle to the mechanic for maintenance and repairs. Because the EV, when built well, requires a frighteningly low amount of maintenance.
CharlieDigital
Problem is that because it's a full EV, it might leave me at a deficit charging only on 120v.
On the other hand, two days a week I make a drive that's just beyond EV range and the hybrid just kicks in afterwards.
thaw13579
For many people in cities, it’s hard to secure parking with reliable access to an electrical outlet.
skeeter2020
>> If you do a lot of long drives
>> the EV, when built well
Home charging at 120v for an EV is only practical for the most minimal & predictable use. And I'll add "as long as you don't want to sell it used..."
jajko
Not really. Living in Switzerland, colleague has Model S, and over whole night plugged in his house he can charge only around 9km/h. That basically covers his commute but he can't build up charge for the weekend if he started week empty. Not even going into the fact that most folks here live in apartments and not standalone houses, and charging situation there is usually terrible and overhead of owning electric car is significant.
That sucks tremendously (on top of other tesla-related suck like extremely expensive OEM replacement parts that nobody else can service), and considering we talk about Switzerland here (and expensive well developed part of it), other countries are not that better off if at all.
As a backup, non-critical second car, why not if you feel like an early adopter and paying >40k for a function a used 5k car can perform even better. Main family car? No thank you, maybe for half the cost but probably even that's too much in this decade.
goosejuice
I was planning on buying the highest trim '24 Prius prime but availability and dealership markup made it unreasonable even in a large city. The lower trims didn't seem worth it. Instead I bought a used '23 model 3 long range with every upgrade (accel & fsd) and still saved money. Car had a few thousand miles.
I'm super happy I didn't get the Prius. Spec wise the Tesla is superior. Driving our other ice car is less enjoyable for me now. I use 120v but I work from home so it works. I still like the Prius/RAV4 prime but at its price point and limited availability I just don't see the value over Tesla.
CharlieDigital
The trick with the Prius Prime (and all PHEVs) is to lease and buy out the lease. That's a $7500 discount.
celsoazevedo
The downside of plugins is that it has both systems (more things that can go wrong, added cost, weight) and they're not amazing at being an ICE car (small fuel tank) or electric car (small battery).
In your case it seems that a pure EV would be fine? Maybe not one with a small battery, but 300-400 miles of range isn't that uncommon these days.
In any case, the important thing is that it works well for you.
boutell
It's also not great that people sometimes buy them because of breaks on price and then keep them where they can't plug them in, which is the worst of both worlds. But a properly used plug-in hybrid can be a good thing for some yeah
nullhole
Re: being a gas-powered car: they seem fine in terms of tank size, 11 litres for a prius prime vs 13 litres for a gas corolla from the 2010s. You get better fuel efficiency, too, so your effective range is likely at least as good as a regular gasoline car.
The added complexity / part count is definitely a downside, though.
Edit: er, now I'm not sure about my second statement: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42748610
tzs
How well do Prius Primes (or other PHEVs) handle long periods where one's daily mileage is well under the EV mode range and one is able to charge at home every night? I think it has been 5+ years since I've driven more than 25 miles in a day and even longer since I was away from home overnight.
I've read ICEs can have problems if you go too long without running them. Will the Prime's software automatically run the ICE on occasion to keep it in good shape?
saltcured
Also, have they sorted out the 12V battery management for this low use scenario?
Our family has an older Hybrid Camry from around 2010 and it will destroy 12V batteries with too much local driving and parking. A typical regular ICE does better in the same conditions.
From the behavior, I assume it's because they only charged the 12V via a weak alternator when the ICE runs, rather than also keeping it charged via DC-DC conversion from the larger electric traction power system.
CharlieDigital
The engine still kicks on once in a while. Notably now in winter, it kicks on if I have multiple seat heaters and the steering wheel heater on. But my use case also has two days where it's over the battery range so I know it'll kick on.
You can manually control it if you want and I do it once in a while when I need more acceleration since max power is delivered with both drivetrains.
mplanchard
We had this situation when we lived in a big city, before we moved somewhere that we drive longer distances regularly. We’d often go over a year without filling up. The engine runs occasionally to keep the gas from going stale, and in the winter the engine will kick on for the defroster. We never had any issues with it, and still have the car now.
tonyedgecombe
The VW PHEV’s will run the combustion engine regularly, mainly to avoid the fuel going stale. I assume the Toyota does the same.
arwhatever
Also importantly, it’s now quite good-looking, too.
CharlieDigital
And as much power as an early 2000's V6 Maxima. Great daily driver; seats are just so-so though.
rsanheim
The Sienna is a great hybrid if you are wanting something larger for families or hauling stuff. Tons of space, really nice cabin, and far more practical for 90% of uses than a huge pickup or any of the large SUVs. I can haul groceries and my large dog in the back cargo area w/ the 3rd row down, or put the row up for seating seven.
Oh, and mileage is 30-34 mpg, at least when its not the middle of midwest winter.
I do wish they'd release their PHEV vans over here (https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/toyota/41970489.html), which also look like something out of Blade Runner.
duxup
I wish the Sienna had a plug in option. I’m ready for a new van.
alephnerd
The Alphard and Vellfires are the equivalent of an Escalade in Japan and ASEAN. I don't think that PMF would translate in the US. Sucks becuase the seats are really comfy.
Ironically, if you're looking forward to an Electric SUV, you're more likely to find that in India where macho SUV culture is massive.
numpad0
Kind of tangential TIL: Toyota sells 3x more bZ4X in US(18k/yr) than all Tesla models combined in Japan(6k/yr), before counting in Subaru Solterra.
DoneWithAllThat
“Hope <the number two by sales in the US vehicle manufacturer> gets their mojo back” is certainly a take.
warner25
I feel the same way as the parent comment. They're number two for now, but seem screwed in a world that's moving towards outlawing gasoline-powered cars. Their bets on hydrogen fuel cells haven't yielded anything, and now they're a decade behind on developing EV experience and expertise.
I've owned three Toyotas because they've always seemed to be the lowest total-cost-of-ownership option, being especially good in the compact and midsize segments. American manufacturers are trying as hard as possible to abandon those segments. So what will we be left with? I don't want a giant, luxury sports car that costs $50k+.
philwelch
> They're number two for now, but seem screwed in a world that's moving towards outlawing gasoline-powered cars.
I wouldn’t worry about that anymore.
Cumpiler69
Kinda doubt it. They also suffer from large company inertia where their hybrid powertrains gave them a market leadership, similar to German cars and diesel engines, making difficult to pivot to a market where there's much stronger competition and they don't have the crown anymore.
hedora
My German EV was introduced a decade ago, and it’s still great!
I think a better comparison is to the Italians.
Stellantis bought up a bunch of iconic brands when they got Chrysler and then integrated a bunch of new technology from Fiat. Since then, they’ve focused on creature comforts and margin expansion, but neglected everything else.
They recently realized their sales projections are headed for a cliff and unceremoniously fired their CEO.
jfim
What EV model would that be, out of curiosity? I wasn't aware the Germans were making EVs back then.
kla-s
Yeah its a mixed bag in germany in my eyes. All of the big brands have a real electric platform minus BMW. 800V isnt pioneered with them either.
VDA is pressuring for HVO100 bs. Mercedes just pulled back on the electric only strategy. I guess they figured that most of the added value is with the batteries and being deeply integrated there and thats not really their cup of tea, so far at least.
There where Taycans for 30k$ which was a real great deal if your the second buyer and not the first.
On the other hand the id family looks ok, facelift good. The a6 is pricey at 100k but is the first really capable german highway ev, not as premature as the eqs…
pfdietz
Maybe if their solid state batteries work out? How has that Hail Mary move been going?
epolanski
Probably the most influential vehicle in the last century along the Model S.
hedora
Also, the minvan (suv), and probably other body styles. When were pickup trucks introduced?
actionfromafar
Last sliding window century?
epolanski
Yes, otherwise none can match the Model T under some "most influential" umbrella.
I agree it was somewhat confusing taking a "sliding" century as to mean century, should've said something else.
cmcconomy
the definition of century would have have to include the release date of the prius and the model s, hope this helps
null
gnkyfrg
[dead]
I sometimes chuckle that most of the cool Lexuses are now Priuses under the hood!
But that’s a good thing. I own a Toyota Corolla hybrid myself, and hybrids are one of those things that I can say I’ve completely changed my mind about. I used to dislike the idea of hybrids, because I assumed that the overall system complexity must be higher than either an ICE, or an EV. And I’m a sucker for simple systems, so I thought it’s either EV, or nothing.
Then I looked into how hybrids work. Specifically Toyota hybrids. And came away totally amazed. It’s an amazing system, and much simpler than a traditional ICE car. It doesn’t really have a gearbox, or a clutch, or a starter. The engine is a normal atmospheric engine, so no turbines, overcompression, and the issues that come with it. Furthermore, the engine is typically configured to use the Atkinson cycle, which puts less stress on it. And, the engine has a chain drive, so no belts to change, and by design gets stressed a lot less than in a traditional ICE, because the stop-start load is carried by the electric motor. Also, it can’t really have trouble starting in cold weather, much like an EV. All of that boils down to crazy reliability.
I’m at a point where if I’m looking for a car that uses fuel, it’s only cars that use the Toyota hybrid tech (or similar) that I’m looking at. At the moment it’s just Toyota, Lexus, most Ford hybrids (but not all).
Other companies have hybrids that are liable to my original concerns about massively increased complexity. As an example, VW hybrids have an electric motor within their DSG gearbox. So you have all the complexity of their modern ICEs (turbines, DSG, whatnot) plus additional hybrid related complexity.