The Prius C? I could own one. And to think that I once disparaged the average Prius owner as a dork, or worse! Not entirely without reason, mind you. The original Prius was undeniably dorky in appearance, a kind of bizarre science project lacking in automotive virility or style. It was the kind of car you’d drive only if you didn’t like cars, and dorks don’t like cars. I’d have never owned a Prius back then. But now I would. Well, I might. What changed? The Prius itself, for one thing. The family has grown to four members: the original liftback Prius; the Prius V, a pleasant wagon version; the plug-in Prius; and now, the brand-new miniaturized version, the C. I’ve changed, too, having become something of an armchair expert on these cars after test-driving all iterations, plus close relatives in disguise. Like many others who initially disparaged the Prius, I’ve come, albeit grudgingly, to admire its efficiency, packaging, reliability, and, of course, fuel economy—real-world fuel economy, that is, not the vaporous fantasies of PR departments. Plus, the newer models just look better; there’s more design esthetic there.
Review: 2012 Toyota Prius V
By Roger Boylan
All hail Prius V! Actually, that’s “V,” the letter, not the Roman numeral. The various trimlines of the Toyota Prius were once designated in dynastic fashion—Prius I, Prius II, etc.–but the new V designates “versatility,” or “versatile.” Certainly not “Vroom.” Of course, the Prius was never intended to be a driver’s car.Toyota’s market demographic is the no-nonsense general public with a penchant for frugality and right thinking and no interest in cars except as A to B appliances. With over 2 million Prii sold since 2001,that seems to be a good business model.
Review: 2011 Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen TDI
By Chris Haak
I just finished reviewing a large, seven-passenger Chrysler Town & Country minivan, and now find myself moving onto my next task. In the Town & Country review, I laid out my argument for why minivans are really the ultimate family vehicles: they’re comfortable, safe, and efficient given the size of their interior.
Now, I want you to forget about everything I said about minivans, because really, you are looking at all the car an American family of four needs.
Review: 2011 Lexus CT200h
By Roger Boylan
The Lexus CT200h is a luxury economy car. At first I didn’t know what to make of it. In the old days, this would have been a contradiction in terms. If you had the dough, you bought a luxury car with a purring V8 and plush leather sofa in front, and if you were poor,like most of us, you pedaled your econobox to and from the workhouse. In the first instance, you were resigned to having a gas guzzler on your hands, because that was the price of luxury; in the latter case, “economy” meant a raucous interior and bouncy ride, but at least you were getting good mileage. And that was that, for a long time. True, there were attempts over the years to winch faux “luxury” onto an economy platform: ”Cimarron by Cadillac” and the Chrysler-Maserati TC come to mind, although I wish they wouldn’t.
Then, in the ‘90s and early ‘00s, the market expanded and SUVs became crossovers and pickups acquired leather interiors and suddenly just about every form of automotive cross-fertilization was fermenting in the lab, from the Suzuki X90 to the Porsche Cayenne. But the CT200h trumps all thosebecause it’s not only a luxury economy car, it’s a luxury hybrid economy car, and a cheap—or should I say “inexpensive?”—Lexus, to boot, with a starting sticker price a hair under $30K (and going up to just under $40K, with all the bells and whistles). OK, that’srelatively inexpensive, but it’s still miles less thanother Lexi.
Feds Find No Defects in Toyota’s Electronic Throttles
By Chris Haak
So, it was about the floormats and pedals after all.
More than a year after Toyota’s reputation for quality and safety was damaged by a tsunami of recalls (18 million vehicles worldwide) to repair sticking accelerator pedals, and after a cloud of suspicion that Toyota’s electronic throttles were somehow at least partially to blame for the runaway Priuses and Camrys featured on the six o’clock news, it turns out that there apparently aren’t any electronic gremlins causing the problems. At least, that’s the findings after a 10-month study done by the US Department of Transportation, with the help of NASA engineers.
Review: 2011 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid
By Chris Haak
Writers for Autosavant are given free reign to write about whatever they want to, as long as it’s about cars and the car business, whenever they want to. I almost never give them specific assignments, nor deadlines, unless it’s been a while since a time-sensitive event has occurred. I get many different perspectives on the issues using this approach, and also hopefully have writers opining on topics that they personally find interesting and enjoyable to write about.
Sometimes, however, this Wild West approach to editorial assignments results in interesting, or uncomfortable situations, like when two people write about the same subject. Or when two people drive the same car. (It should be noted that we never schedule the same vehicle twice at Autosavant, but some of our writers are freelancers with individual access to manufacturers’ press fleets). This happened a few years ago with the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, when one of our writers reviewed the same truck that a freelancer did. Since one guy was in the Texas Hill Country and the other on Long Island and they have very different perspectives, I think it worked. Hopefully we’ll be able to say the same about the piece that Charles Krome wrote last month on the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid and what you’re about to read below.
Toyota Sees a Future With Prius as #1 Seller
By Chris Haak
Toyota’s sales chief, Bob Carter, told analysts today on a conference call that by the end of the decade – that is, by 2020 – he expects that we will see the Prius nameplate in the US. Currently, the number-one selling vehicle is the Ford F-Series pickup line (both F-150 and Super Duty combined), which sold 473,461 units through the first eleven months of 2010. The top-selling car, Toyota’s Camry, sold 296,581 units during the same period, and Toyota sold 125,289 Priora.
Helping to boost Prius sales, aside from a sales guy’s optimism, will be an MPV with more room for passengers and cargo (making its debut in Detroit next week), the Prius PHEV (plug-in hybrid) making its production debut next year, and an “additional concept” that will debut in Detroit next week as well.
NAIAS Preview: Toyota Prius Family
By Charles Krome
After 10 years and nearly a million units sold in the U.S., the Toyota Prius is finally getting a sibling. In fact, it’s getting a whole family. The approaching North American International Auto Show in Detroit will see the introduction of an MPV version of the Prius, a plug-in hybrid model and a separate Prius concept vehicle of some sort. This will be a long overdue expansion of the Prius brand that could help Toyota recapture some of its mojo here in the U.S.—at least if fuel prices start to rise.
The MPV strikes me as a particularly interesting proposition, coming as it does when minivans in general are seeing renewed interest in the marketplace and mini-minivans, like the Ford C-MAX, are just about to hit the mainstream. Plus, both of those kinds of vehicles are typically used for extended stop-start driving routines, as parents drop off kids here, pick them up there and run to the grocery store in between. In other words, exactly the sort of driving situations in which hybrids are supposed to excel.
First Drive: 2011 Nissan Leaf SL
By Roger Boylan
GM’s short-lived electric car of the ‘90s, the EV1, was available in limited quantities as a lease-only proposition, so the 2011 Nissan Leaf is the first all-electric car the general public can buy. Its price is reasonable for such cutting-edge technology: around $25K, once Uncle Sam’s tax credit of $7500 is applied. Is it worth it? It certainly has great promise, and it’s a well-conceived little car. I spent a short while behind the wheel of Leaf a couple of days ago–a very short while, unfortunately, the actual drive time having been eaten into by a high-energy sales presentation from Nissan’s own Seinfeld-wannabe; I didn’t catch his name, and I ducked his pitch. I was there merely as an Autosavant, desirous of completing my trifecta of electric-car tests (read about the Toyota PHV Prius here and the Chevrolet Volt here).
The Leaf is powered by a lithium-ion battery pack of the type familiar to me from the Prius Plug-In and Volt. Lithium-ion batteries offer quicker acceleration and a longer range than your common or garden nickel-metal hydride battery, but unfortunately, they’re still at a fairly rudimentary stage of development, with limited range and—in the Leaf—a dead weight of about 500 lbs. We were shown cutouts and diagrams by the comedian. But I was reassured to note that, notwithstanding the futuristic technology, the Leaf is a fairly normal-looking car, a four-door hatchback with that cloyingly cute Pokémon face so typical of small Japanese cars.
The Great Hill Country Volt Jamboree
By Roger Boylan
That isn’t how GM, who organized the event, billed it. It’s just me being cute. Not quite as cute, mind you, as the herd of little Chevy Volts I found tethered to their battery-charging stations at 8 a.m. last Friday, when I arrived to participate in the Texas leg of the nationwide “Volt Unplugged” media event. About a dozen automotive writers convened at The Crossings, a plush resort hotel west of Austin, with stunning views of Lake Travis and adjoining hills and bluffs in autumnal shades that reminded me—and a German-born colleague—of the Rhine and Mosel valleys. “Wunderbar,” we exclaimed, jointly. “Jawohl.” Tears welled; thoughts of beer came, and sparkling Riesling. Then we pulled ourselves together and the drive got underway.
Coincidentally, I’d just reviewed a Plug-In Prius, which impressed me so much that I was unprepared to be equally or more impressed by the much-hyped, perhaps overly hyped, Volt, Motor Trend’s 2011 Car of the Year. And indeed, there are undeniable superficial similarities between the two futuremobiles: a starter button instead of a key; a Star Trek instrument panel; winking displays of electronic arcana on the display screens; otherworldly clicks and faint moans at ignition. But as soon as I moved onto the two-lane blacktop, the Volt came into its own. Even on uphill spurts and cruising at 70+, my power source was all electric, and I made sure that some of those spurts were fast. GM claims 0-60 in 9 seconds, but I estimate that my heavy boot application shaved nearly a half second off that figure.
Subscribe
Please subscribe to our RSS feed, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and check out our YouTube channel. If you like what you do and would like to support Autosavant please consider visiting our sponsors. If you need to buy anything on Amazon clicking on our banner first helps keep Autosavant running. Thanks!
-
Spying for Savings: Progressive Snapshot
-
Review: 2011 Ford F-150 Lariat EcoBoost 4×4
-
Can Saab Be Turned Around?
-
First Drive: 2012 Toyota Camry LE
-
The Chrysler 200: Imported from Where?
-
Mazda and Fiat To Co-Develop New Roadsters
-
Review: 2012 Chevrolet Equinox LTZ V6 FWD
-
First Drive: 2013 Volkswagen Up!
-
Porsche Reveals 918 Spyder Prototype Photos And New Details
-
Review: 2012 Nissan Quest SV
-
Ernie: I should add one scarry thing about snapshot is, w...
-
-
charly: we cant get it here because americans hate the die...
-
Tom D.: Cool! And fun, VW should do stuff like this now....
-
Kevin Gordon: George, it sounds like you've experienced the sam...