Re:The Toyota Prius Transformed the Auto Industry
by danw1979 on Sunday January 19, 2025 @05:55AM
(#42755933)
I don’t the comparison with a sports car is particular fair.
I regularly drive both a 2011 Prius and a 2023 BMW X1 “mild hybrid”, I’ve also test driven an iX1 electric and X3 “real” hybrid recently (all practical family cars).
In order of increasing accelerator-input-to-actually-moving (at low speed) delay:
iX1 electric (best)
Prius
X3 hybrid
X1 mild hybrid (worst, dangerously bad)
That is to say, every time I get into the 14 year old Prius I think “wow this is nippy” after having driven the 2 year old X1, which we’ve nicknamed “the lag wagon”.
Toyota really nailed the driving ergonomics of the gen2 Prius, given the constraints. Yes, it’s a slow to accelerate at high speeds, but it’s still really nice drive around town.
I regularly drive both a 2011 Prius and a 2023 BMW X1 “mild hybrid”, I’ve also test driven an iX1 electric and X3 “real” hybrid recently (all practical family cars).
In order of increasing accelerator-input-to-actually-moving (at low speed) delay:
iX1 electric (best) Prius X3 hybrid X1 mild hybrid (worst, dangerously bad)
That is to say, every time I get into the 14 year old Prius I think “wow this is nippy” after having driven the 2 year old X1, which we’ve nicknamed “the lag wagon”.
Toyota really nailed the driving ergonomics of the gen2 Prius, given the constraints. Yes, it’s a slow to accelerate at high speeds, but it’s still really nice drive around town.