Drove a Prius today....
 

One of the big ones, the Prius V. I borrowed it from my sister to drag my seabag to my new compound. Jeebus, that thing sucks. If you are starting to wonder about the awesomeness of your FR-S/BRZ, drive almost anything else to be reminded of how friggin' lucky we are to have it.

The Prius is totally isolated from the road, or at least as good as it gets in a Prius. The steering was amazing on the freeway. Here's a turn, "ten degrees left rudder". WTF, nothing is happening. "20 degrees left rudder!" Now, all of a sudden, you get all 20 degrees and bunch of roll. Now you have too much rudder on and a serious list. Correct a bit to the right. Shit! Nothing is happening! A bit more right rudder! And again, you get it all at once. I used to think Prius drivers were NDF's (Non-driving Fucks) but I am now willing to concede that the car itself is an NDF.

Passing lane? Great, I can get around this brain-dead Prius driver. Wait.... All head full! WTF. I said ALL AHEAD FULL! WTF. ALL AHEAD FLANK! Finally, with great dignity, we begin to gain on the car ahead. When finally ahead, repeat the flappy-tiller steering. I will no longer blame my sister for causing me to white-knuckle it when she is driving. It's not her fault I'm seasick and we are going so slowly that we are going to be run down by a brodozer, it's the car.

J. Clarkson was right when he said everything about the 86 is immediate. It responds instantly and predictably to the smallest steering input, and you can feel it in both the steering wheel and gut. The car rotates around my ass like my MC does. It IS like a 250cc bike. The gas pedal will not save you, and if that is the only tool (or fun you have) "you bought the wrong fucking car". Throttle response is instant (providing you are in the right gear or not in the "torque dip", and if you can't do either you suck, get a Prius). You can feel trailing and off-throttle, and you have real engine-braking. You can feel what the car is doing, unlike the totally numb Prius. Seat of the pants vs. I have become comfortably numb.

I almost crashed because of the brakes. Unlike my fellow Oregonians, I'm looking two or three cars ahead, not at the bumper of the car directly in front of me, or better yet, a cell phone. Brakes on, three cars ahead! I'm already braking before the dolt ahead notices and I was still almost too late on the brakes. I'm just short of panic-braking, and I'm thinking this must be how it feels to crash an oil tanker. Stop, you fuck!

The FR-S/BRZ/86 is a fucking BRILLIANT car. I've said it before, and will say it again, knowing full well it will bring out the 'tards: this car is a taste of supercar for us plebes. It really is a miracle it got built at all.

But can you do this with the 86??

http://i.giphy.com/uuUPYKUYhZXqw.gif

Wow Trom I didn't know you could write so much.
I with you 100%. Getting back to my car after that rental Charger was a thing of beauty.

I work with fleet cars so this is a daily occurrence for me.

The Prius and all its variants like the C and V are indeed very numb. The Audi A4 probably will satisfy most drivers...for me though apart from the quick steering, I found it not very interesting. The new Mustang GT...I didn't get enough of a drive from it but its probably the only thing that comes close to being interesting enough for me. The previous gen Mustang GT, love the engine...didn't love the wheel hop. The interior was also a bit hard to love...many weren't assembled with care. The Camaro V6 I definitely wasn't interested in, since that V6 feels overburdened thanks to the great weight in the Camaro. It also doesn't help the Camaro is like a cave inside and the center console looks really bad due to the cheapness of that plastic. The Challenger R/T...nice but way too big, too heavy and disappointing in corners.

Although because of the range of cars I get to drive at work...I must admit that I've driven some pretty awful stuff that makes even the Priuses look like amazing. The Mitsubishi Mirage for instance...the only car I've ever driven that produces body roll with a gentle 10 km/h turn. Chrysler Sebring convertible...never have I driven a car that produced so much hate filled emotions. I've even driven some really slow stuff like the Dodge Magnum with a 2.7L V6. They claim it has 190 hp...it felt like 5 hp, I actually think its even slower than a modern VW Jetta with that relic known as the 8 valve 2.0L aka 2 point slow.

This is generally why I actually consider our cars to be acceptably quick, very well built, well engineered and of course extremely fun. It could've been so much worse. So yes, I'm very pleased owning this car. Frankly the only boring thing about it is how drama free my ownership experience has been...and I'm ok with that being very boring.

How are the primacy tires on the prius lmaoo

I drove a Prius for six years before getting my frs. Get over in the right lane and stay there. The fuel mileage was great, but that stupid fuel bladder was a pain in the ass to fill. Easily the one thing I hated the most about that car. Miss the cargo room.

It's way better than my 240Z ever was. The only other remotely "interesting" car I've driven was the Formula SAE we built in college.

Also 100% with you, Trom. People either get it or they don't. Period.

Wait woah, you didn't get rid of your FR-S?!















(sorry didn't read the whole thread you made)

Clearly.

http://www.dizzlexic.com/trolls/infi...-trollface.gif

Three guesses what I traded in on MY FR-S?

What kind of weirdo would own 3 Prii? :D

Yes, "prii" is correct.... http://content.usatoday.com/communit...1#.VatBqvlVhBc

I own a gen II and a gen III Prius. Forgetting I'm not in my FR-S, I'll sometimes try to take a sharp corner in one of them a bit too aggressively, and things get a bit interesting.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

I plan tu buy a GT86 AND a Prius o:
I like both engineering

Just as I'm about to trade my FR-S in on another car...

How much OP saved in gas?

I only had one Prius.

I mentioned my Prii Gen. II (bought/sold 14 of them) experience to my local twin buddies at a couple of track days.

It's all about the tires, you know, the same family of Primacy's that are standard equipment on the twins that many like for their lack of grip. I always replaced the stock tires with performance rubber on Day 1 and they transformed the car for the better, even more of an improvement than putting the same rubber on a twin.

Anyway, during my Prii investment period from 2004-2007, I netted $7K+ on each one counting Fed/State tax incentives. That's right, nearly $100K profit tax-free over four years, not bad for a hobby and made my utter contempt for CVT's tolerable.

The world has changed and the new normal seems to be acceptance of gas over $3/gal. accounting for trucks and SUV's as industry leaders.

Yes, the twins hit the sweet spot in almost every way, but to compare them to a Prius makes no sense. It's like comparing Ellen DeGeneres to Hannah Davis.

Still, there's hope, and I'll be getting one: The 2016 Prius is rumored to have a much lower CG with the TNGA chassis, smaller motor/gen set and LiOn battery pack, gained power up to 150 hp, dropped 150-200 lbs. and improved fuel economy to almost 60 mpg. That would approach power to weight numbers of the last Celica GT, no slouch on an auto-x course. They actually have a decent launch if you stand on the brake and gas, wait for the engine to spool to stall speed and then let the DC motor instant torque "rocket" you to the first cone.

After I get the 2016 Prius, I'll wait for gas to reach $5/gal. again and laugh all the way to the bank.

FYI the Prius V has had a recent recall for about a half million vehicles. You might want to tell your sister.

Getting back in our Corolla after three weeks of driving my new FR-S made me feel the same way. The steering is AWFUL! Don't get me wrong, I love Corollas because they last fucking forever: you can totally neglect them and they just keep coming back for more punishment.

But once you've driven a car like the FR-S, you realize that most cars provide SO much power steering assist that you have absolutely no idea what the tires are doing on the road. In the Corolla, the pressure the wheel is exerting against my steering is exactly the same, whether I'm gently turning at 10 mph, or at full lock. It makes me feel like I'm driving a hovercraft.

I traded in a gen 2 prius for my brz, all the jokes about the twins being slow are lost on me

Well written, sir! Though not as shitty as your experience with the Prius, I take my old Corolla out for a spin once in a while just to see how much of an upgrade the FRS was for me.

Taking into consideration that its a 15+ year old well-maintained ecobox: brakes are crap, steering is crap, etc. How I managed to drive that car without crashing into anyone or anything is beyond me. Sounding like a broken record, people who hate on the Twins are simply missing out.

I'll get another fun toy in the future. But for now, I'm more than happy with this one.

I was hoping the Prius C would be better, having heard comparatively good things about its handling...

No, it unfortunately doesn't handle much better than a Yaris does and the Yaris is as generic as a car can be. A huge minus for the C is the interior. Its probably Toyota's worst interior currently simply due to the low quality and depressing nature of it. There is zero soft touch plastic, all of it is easily scratched hard plastic or cloth insert. The regular Prius is worth the extra simply to avoid the C's terrible interior. The Prius V is ok in the context of, if you wanted a Prius but need a wagon or hated the stupid rear spoiler blocking the rear vision.

If you wanted a car from this category and the mainstream range that isn't horrid to drive. Its going to have to be either the Nissan Leaf which is very normal to drive or the Chevrolet Volt which I actually think drives reasonably well.

for what? ...I mean the recall, not for telling his sister.

Isn't Leaf full electric with <100 mile range and Volt hybrid <400 mile range? Prius hybrid range is >600 miles with no recharging needed, Plug-In Prius not sure, EV rated 95 mpg for 11 miles but needs 1.5-3.0 hours (120v-240v) recharging time to resume EV mode.

I haven't driven the electrics though, just going by 'net reviews. Prius hybrid is from personal experience with no hypermiling.

I guess we'll need to embrace these type of cars in time with the US CAFE mandate of 54 mpg on the horizon.

WEC, F1, and soon other series will be racing hybrids to podiums. Soon we'll be debating types of battery construction, energy densities and specific power outputs.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMjsAMlXGBI"]Rhys Millen Wins Pikes Peak First Electric Car Victory - YouTube[/ame]

Sounds like the Titanic did a better job of avoiding the iceberg than a Prius V would.


:)


To be fair... must be nice never having morons wanting to race you and since there's no chance of spirited driving even less reason to tank up & buy tires as often.

Don't worry, they'll be just as fun. Maybe even more so.

Less worry than concern that those who can least afford it will be forced to pay thousands more and be less safe in smaller, lighter cars when we're facing a glut of fossil fuel inventory.

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editor...ar-mandate.htm

That said, I'm planning to auto-x my 2016 Prius if it arrives in time for the season opener. I think it might do well depending on classification.

First World Problems. For our kids' sake we need to start riding our bicycles.

http://www.climate.gov/maps-data#glo...mate-dashboard

Aye, I actually put nearly as many miles on my bikes as cars annually, although many of those are on an indoor trainer during Winter doing my pre-season gerbil imitation.

You're doing better than I am. No excuse here. I live 8 miles from work and it's pretty much a straight shot by bike.

@speedy is the serious cyclist here. I'm more of a fair weather outdoor rider with indoor trainer backup. He's also blindingly quick on track in his f/i, bbk BRZ.

Try Tesla next and report back

Never been in one. I can only assume they are as good as I have heard, and comparing a Tesla to an FR-S would be stupid.

ETA: Or maybe not. Tell us about your experience in a Tesla. Willing to bet the FR-S fares well in comparison, if you disregard the very obvious differences.

The Leaf's range is its biggest problem. Being a pure EV with no quick refueling option limits it from doing anything but city driving. As a car though its not that slow, its really quiet and reasonably comfortable. This is definitely the least polluting option though if that's why you went with Priuses in the first place. The Volt on the other hand keeps the engine and despite how complicated the system seems, it feels more refined and never have I encountered a situation where it actually seemed slow. In comparison the Prius becomes a bit of a dog once it gets to highway speeds since the engine is gutless and noisy.

I'd take a Prius as a second car or family car. 2015 V or plug in <3

32mpg in town and 58mpg @ 70mph were real time numbers on a rental (Prius V).

I've bettered the in-town average over 60K miles in my FRS (32.6MPG mixed driving) and have gotten as high as 35MPG on the highway.


Seems like a fair trade to not make the 58MPG to not have to drive a Prius.

I have Prius v also. It was my daily for 3 months before FR-S. I still drive it on the weekends. I was getting 55 mpg on it. I get 27 mpg on FR-S. I would be saving $130 a month on gas. If you don't care about the driving feel, that's a great car. If you care about the driving feel even a tiny bit, then you know what that means... :)

I agree. But i still like the sexy mpg of the hipster Prius. I do 22-24mpg in town and 32 in hwy but i drive 75mph. If i did 65 or anything below 3k rpm id be close to you.

I think that may be the first time in recorded history "sexy" was used to describe "mpg"!