My Prius

A few days after my Prius arrived in Athens in October 2003

Chronicle of My Prius

Early 2003. We first heard about the Toyota Prius through our friend Jean. We rode in her 2002 Prius and were impressed by the hybrid concept, the fuel economy, and its cool computer monitor (or “driver information system” as we later learned).

We had considered the Honda Civic Hybrid earlier, but a Toyota brochure that Jean handed to us converted us to favoring the Prius: a new generation of Prius will be introduced in fall 2003 with a more powerful engine, better fuel economy, and a hatchback version. We owned a station wagon and knew how handy a hatchback could be.

We signed up for Toyota’s email list for updates on the status of the new Prius. After moving to Ohio, one day we received an email from Toyota indicating the 2004 Prius would arrive at the dealers in October 17, 2003.

October 18, 2003. We became the first people to test-drive the only one Prius in Athens. We were blown away when the engine shut off automatically upon stopping and it was absolute silent. We wanted to buy it. Unfortunately the Athens dealer said they’d keep it as a “program car” and would not sell it until 3 months later, when we could go back and buy it at sticker price.

Figuring there would be more dealers (and thus more Priuses/Prii) available in the city, we drove up to Columbus and visited all 4 Toyota dealers there. Still no luck. All of them had either sold their only Prius or would keep it for showing as the Athens dealer did. Not until this point did we realize that each dealer was assigned only 1 Prius or 2, and that this car was in much higher demand than we had expected. It seemed impossible to get one.

October 20, 2003. We test drove a Honda Civic Hybrid in Athens. It is a solid car with great acceleration, but we still loved the Prius better for its innovative design and greater interior space, and, of course, the hatchback. The problem is: how do you get one?

It came to us that we should probably try dealers in neighboring towns. The reasoning went like this: Certainly there would be more dealers in the city, however there would be more people interested in the car too. The level of interest might not be that great in smaller towns, as people in general prefer larger, more powerful vehicles.

This intuition proved correct. We started calling Toyota dealers within a 60 miles radius from Athens. Parkersburg had one but was sold out. Logan had one, so did Lancaster, but those two were not the color/package we wanted. Finally, Chillicothe had one with the right color and package. We drove there and again became the first people to test drive it, and we drove it back to Athens.

December 2003. My Prius made her first trip from Athens to Boston and back.

July 2004. My Prius made her second trip from Athens to Boston and back.

August 2004. My Prius made her third trip from Athens to Boston and back.

November 2004. My Prius made her first trip from Athens to Chicago and back.

My 2004 Prius along with my friend Jean’s 2002 Prius in Boston

Why Prius?

People have said that the Prius (or hybrids in general) is not practical. In particular, it is not powerful enough and it is too small.

I agree, if power and space are absolutely critical to you.

Fortunately they are not to me. 99.9% of the time I use the Prius for commuting on paved roadways, for grocery shopping, and occasionally for showing it off to my friends. For these purposes the Prius is as competent as any vehicle.

Perhaps 0.01% of the time I would need a V8 engine or 4WD. But it simply does not make sense to drive a Hummer for that 0.01% of my total use of vehicle.

Hybrids do not need my defense after all. The Prius is in such high demand that the wait period is 8-12 months now. Ford, based on the Toyota technology, has rolled out a hybrid SUV, the Escape, in late 2004. GM is also planning to introduce a hybrid truck in the near future. The market has spoken.

A winter visit to Champaign, Illinois

2004 Prius in Athens

Since I acquired my Prius, the number of Priuses (or Prii?) in Athens has grown tremendously. I would say Athens has one of the highest concentration of Priuses in the country

I am happy to report that at least four friends of mine decided to purchase a Prius after seeing/driving mine!

Still in Champaign, Illinois. The hatchback is one of the most useful features of this car.

Fuel Economy

Toyota claims the EPA estimate to be 60 (city) and 51 (highway). The reason that the city mileage is higher is that at low speed, the Prius system (as a manual calls it) can rely solely on the electric motor without power from the gas engine.

Many have challenged the EPA estimates as unrealistic. For example, Time magazine and U.S. News & World Report had published test drive reviews obtaining estimates at around 48 mpg. However, the discrepancy is understandable if we look into how the EPA estimates are arrived. For example, the so-called “highway” estimate is actually obtained by driving the vehicle on a treadmill at 48 mph for about 10 miles, which is hardly your regular highway speed. If we the EPA estimate for Prius is too high, the EPA estimates for all vehicles are all equally over-enthusiastic.

From my own experience, outside temperature and driving habits are the most critical factors to fuel economy. The general rules of thumb: (1) The lower the outside temperature, the worse the mpg. This makes sense because in colder weather the gas engine needs to be on most of the time in order to provide interior heat. (2) Aggressive acceleration decreases the mpg. When the gas pedal is pressed hard, the gas engine would kick in sooner. (3) The more often the Prius system is turned on and off within a given period of time, the worse the mpg. The gas engine simply needs time to warm up every time the system is turned out, which inevitably decreases the mpg.

Having said these, it is definitely possible to achieve the EPA fuel economy estimates with certain driving tips! In a non-winter day I can normally get 52 mpg out of a trip from Athens to Columbus (about 160 miles roundtrip) at 60-64 mph.

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