4 ms·

At one time, the Prius was the top-rated vehicle.

jeffbee 5y ago
Toyota killed the Prius in the USA with the RAV4 hybrid, which kinda sucks because being heavy and brick-shaped and equipped with a larger engine, the latter burns much more fuel. The Highlander is even worse: with its huge V6, it is a hybrid that gets only 25 MPG. Ridiculous. Toyota owns about half the US hybrid vehicle market but the Prius is now a small part of that.
- mcast 5y ago
  The Highlander Hybrid gets 36/35 mpg, but that’s not much better than the all-gas model at 21/29 mpg. But if you drive in constant traffic the regenerative braking gives you better mileage than coasting at a constant speed (sometimes better than MPG stats which Toyota underreports), which also means less pollution on traffic congested roads. For many families, a Prius quickly becomes impractical if you need to fit in more than one car seat for kids and carry around bulky items. Toyota’s hybrid offering is a good middle ground between full-gas and EV cars and very reliable considering how many old Prius’s are still on the road at 200k+ miles.
  - jeffbee 5y ago
    Was just going from Fuelly. I think sticker MPG is almost useless. Fuelly says the 3.5L is the most common hybrid and the mode is 26 MPG[1], while the same-displacement without the hybrid reports 21 MPG[2]. 1: https://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/highlander?engineconfig_id=364&bodytype_id=&submodel_id= https://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/highlander?engineconfig_id... 2: https://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/highlander?engineconfig_id=102&bodytype_id=&submodel_id= https://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/highlander?engineconfig_id...
    - mcast 5y ago
      It seems the 2019 hybrid model used to come in a more powerful V6 engine, but the latest Toyota hybrids seem to downgrade back to V4 engines to improve efficiency.
    - lostmsu 5y ago
      It looks like 2020 and 2021 models all use L4 with MPG around 32, if I am not mistaken.
  - novok 5y ago
    I think the Prius V was their attempt at addressing that market, but they never made a 3 row Prius. I'm guessing at that point your making a hybrid minivan.
- novok 5y ago
  I think the more accurate assertion is US customers really loathe the Prius body style and LOVE their SUV body styles via what they buy. I think it's unfair to Toyota to say they killed it, US consumers did. Ford stopped making sedans for a reason. Living in California, it's surprising how much people seem to loathe the prius type of car. They make fun of people who have them as people who have died inside or similar.
- jrsj 5y ago
  This is a bit hyperbolic, I still see Prius & Camry hybrids way more often than rav4 hybrids
  - jeffbee 5y ago
    Market share is instant and fleet composition is the integral of it. In the USA the median fleet age is now over 12 years, so you should expect it to be a while before the sales leader is the most common car in the fleet.
    - jrsj 5y ago
      That is a bad position for Toyota to be in then; this aggressive shift in consumer preference to SUVs and crossovers has been incredibly stupid and bad for just about everything. The way this stuff is regulated and taxed probably doesn’t encourage people to buy smaller vehicles as much as it should.

Toyota killed the Prius in the USA with the RAV4 hybrid, which kinda sucks because being heavy and brick-shaped and equipped with a larger engine, the latter burns much more fuel. The Highlander is even worse: with its huge V6, it is a hybrid that gets only 25 MPG. Ridiculous. Toyota owns about half the US hybrid vehicle market but the Prius is now a small part of that.

mcast 5y ago
The Highlander Hybrid gets 36/35 mpg, but that’s not much better than the all-gas model at 21/29 mpg. But if you drive in constant traffic the regenerative braking gives you better mileage than coasting at a constant speed (sometimes better than MPG stats which Toyota underreports), which also means less pollution on traffic congested roads. For many families, a Prius quickly becomes impractical if you need to fit in more than one car seat for kids and carry around bulky items. Toyota’s hybrid offering is a good middle ground between full-gas and EV cars and very reliable considering how many old Prius’s are still on the road at 200k+ miles.
- jeffbee 5y ago
  Was just going from Fuelly. I think sticker MPG is almost useless. Fuelly says the 3.5L is the most common hybrid and the mode is 26 MPG[1], while the same-displacement without the hybrid reports 21 MPG[2]. 1: https://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/highlander?engineconfig_id=364&bodytype_id=&submodel_id= https://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/highlander?engineconfig_id... 2: https://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/highlander?engineconfig_id=102&bodytype_id=&submodel_id= https://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/highlander?engineconfig_id...
  - mcast 5y ago
    It seems the 2019 hybrid model used to come in a more powerful V6 engine, but the latest Toyota hybrids seem to downgrade back to V4 engines to improve efficiency.
  - lostmsu 5y ago
    It looks like 2020 and 2021 models all use L4 with MPG around 32, if I am not mistaken.
- novok 5y ago
  I think the Prius V was their attempt at addressing that market, but they never made a 3 row Prius. I'm guessing at that point your making a hybrid minivan.
novok 5y ago
I think the more accurate assertion is US customers really loathe the Prius body style and LOVE their SUV body styles via what they buy. I think it's unfair to Toyota to say they killed it, US consumers did. Ford stopped making sedans for a reason. Living in California, it's surprising how much people seem to loathe the prius type of car. They make fun of people who have them as people who have died inside or similar.
jrsj 5y ago
This is a bit hyperbolic, I still see Prius & Camry hybrids way more often than rav4 hybrids
- jeffbee 5y ago
  Market share is instant and fleet composition is the integral of it. In the USA the median fleet age is now over 12 years, so you should expect it to be a while before the sales leader is the most common car in the fleet.
  - jrsj 5y ago
    That is a bad position for Toyota to be in then; this aggressive shift in consumer preference to SUVs and crossovers has been incredibly stupid and bad for just about everything. The way this stuff is regulated and taxed probably doesn’t encourage people to buy smaller vehicles as much as it should.