The Toyota Prius Consumption Challenge
When
mentioning hybrid vehicles the first car that still springs to my mind is the
Toyota Prius. The fact is that hybrid technology has been around since 1665
with a priest and an astronomer at the forefront, even Austrian born Dr.
Ferdinand Porsche had a go at creating a hybrid. Over the years Toyota has done
their research and improved the hybrid technology, which has been cleverly
integrated into the Prius.
The most
obvious and important feature is the improved efficiency of the new power plant
over the old. Toyota has taken it a step further with some additional “earth
friendly” features. Let’s start with the solar sunroof, which helps keep the
car cool when parked in the hot African sun. To make
the vehicle even cooler you can use the immobilizer remote to switch the air
conditioning on before getting into the vehicle. Love that feature.
Driving the
Prius made me feel like I was doing something for the environment, but was I? A
challenge was set by Toyota on twitter to get the vehicle to 4.2 l\100km as
claimed by them. After clearing the trip I was ready for the challenge. I set
off on electric or EV mode. A few kilometers in, I was on 3.2 and thinking this
might be possible. Freewheeling as much as possible and using the regenerative
braking system I managed to keep the batteries at full capacity. Being very
frugal on the accelerator, trying to use the EV mode as much as possible, by the time I reached the half way mark of my 20km journey, the
batteries where empty. That’s when the petrol motor kicked in. I had to
use Eco mode, which meant a combination of the electric, and petrol engine.
This did not help the consumption, but at the end of the day when I reached my
destination I had managed to get 3.8 l\100km. To achieve 3.8 was no easy feat
though, I had to select my route carefully and drive at about 40 when not
freewheeling. So yes the figures are achievable, however if you trying to keep
up with the flow of Joburg traffic it makes it a bit difficult.
On average my
consumption was around the 5.0 to 5.5 l\100km under normal driving conditions in
traffic traveling from Nortcliff to Sandton every day. That’s not bad
considering it’s a 1.8 petrol however, this got me thinking with all this great
technology why not run a smaller turbo diesel or petrol motor for better
consumption? The other reason would be for power on the open road, the engine
sounds like its straining when you need to overtake or go up a hill, which
again does not help with consumption.

The Prius
definitely has its place as one of the greats when it comes to the advancement
in hybrid technology, but at R381 100,00 it’s a bit heavy on the pocket. There are other
options out there if you are looking to save fuel. The one that stands out for
me with similar consumption figures would be the VW Golf Blue Motion 1.6 TDI priced at R284 000,00.
The Toyota Prius is still a technological masterpiece showing off how far the world has come in hybrid technology and efficient motoring. But it's no longer alone.
The Toyota Prius is still a technological masterpiece showing off how far the world has come in hybrid technology and efficient motoring. But it's no longer alone.
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