The third-generation hybrid version of the Toyota Prius plug-in is brilliant indeed. Conventional Prius hybrids are always very limited in the distance they can travel and speed they can go on all-electric power, but this model, launched in 2012, is much less constrained. Buyers who only ever need their car for a short trip and are ready to do daily charging regimes often find that they rarely needed to visit a charging station. Unlike the full All-Electric vehicle though, this car can travel again as well, seamlessly switching to standard gasoline/electric hybrid power when the battery goes down. There are inexpensive routes for low-cost automotive-friendly environments – but nothing much better.Model
5DR (1.8 VVT-I hybrids [T-Spirit, T4, plug-in])History
This is tricky; it's an environmentally friendly automotive business. After all, every brand you talk to seems to have a different idea about what it's all about. If you see ' environmentally friendly ' diesel? Or maybe a pure electric vehicle was driven by battery only? Perhaps a better approach is found by combining two. Good with electric vehicles called Range Extender machine to travel again. Or with precise gasoline/electric or diesel/Electric hybrid where the battery continues to help conventional machinery. Decisions, decisions. You can fight with them all day long. Or maybe, just bought one of these, the Toyota Prius plug-in.Prius, as you probably know, is gasoline/electric hybrid-The gasoline/electric hybrid in fact, with millions sold worldwide since the car was launched at the turn of the century. Over the years, it was the automotive Eco market for itself – but not anymore. Today, potential buyers who use their car journey again show that the fuel and CO2 back can all but match the conventional diesel engine much cheaper. While those are not surprisingly short-range why it can only cover less than two miles on electric power alone when a rival model with ' Range Extender ' technology can manage almost 50.
Toyota's answer to this critic was found in the plug-in Hybrid variant we saw here, a car launched in 2012. This is one of the first PHEV models on the market, one of which can be filled not only machine while driving but also from the household power supply when stationary. This was sold until the end of the third-generation Prius model of the final production life of 2015.
What you get
You should be a Prius person committed to seeing the difference between a plug-in version and a conventional model, assuming of course that you missed the ' plug-in Hybrid ' logo on the front wing and the battery charger closes in the right rear side. Also, it is down to fine detail-the smaller front lattice parts are lower with various injectable and silver highlights, the blue smoke paint is finished in the extended section of the front light above, the silver accent on the door handle and the lens LED praises the silver plate Trim on the back.Also, the changes made to the third generation of the Prius have been kept to a minimum. Including the main differences, you may expect to find-that of boot space. This plug-in variant, after all, has a battery that is much larger than the conventional brother and all the cells have to sit somewhere, take the cargo area as they did in the early prototype version of this car. But not in this final production version. Real, the Panasonic 4.4 kWh-Developed lithium-ion unit raises the boot floor by a few inches, but it only takes two litres of luggage capacity, at 443-liter-very credited indeed. That's 50% more than you'll get a rival of ' Extended Range Electric vehicles ' like Ampera Vauxhall – or indeed something more conventional such as the diesel-powered Ford Focus ECOnetic. If you need more space, pushing the forward Split-Folding Rear Bench liberates the 1.120-liter.
On wheels, you are surrounded by ordinary high-standard Toyota, which is suitable and finished, with various switches and manage screens to embed a large amount of information very quickly easily. The Dual-Zone dashboard is the same as the regular Prius, which is designed to minimize the time the driver should spend looking away from the road.
You get the ' Top View Zone ' with Head-up Display and a cluster meter centre that includes ' Eco-Drive monitor support ' from which so much information driving plug-in models can be acquired. Further down is the so-called ' Lower Commando Zone ', dominated by the ' Toyota Touch ' multimedia screen located in the short, frontline Dash-mount automatic shift lever positioned to fall well into the hand.
What to look for
Despite the new technology of plug-in models, this proved to be very trouble-free. We found some owners who have problems with Infotainment touchscreen but also, there is not much. Skinny tires wear rather quickly, and the regenerative brakes take a little familiarize yourself, but instead, as long as you get fully stamped over the history of the service, you should be good. Most of the examples should be very well looked after, but some will be used mainly as urban scoots (they neatly avoid the costs of London congestion) and thus can bear the scarring of life on the streets.Replacement parts
(approx based on 2012 Prius plug-in) Relatively affordable spare parts. To give you some examples, you'll see paying around £15 for the drive Belt and either right above or just under £100 for the ignition coil, depending on which brand you choose. If the cap is broken, you will be able to get a replacement just under £120; If it's the front wing you have to replace, it will be around £90. A decent quality Shock absorber will get you back around £150.On the way
Since many conventional Prius hybrid owners will know, the car does not go very far on its battery power. It is so much fun to blow in virtual silence, but you need to go a few kilometres down the road before the Thrums petrol engine is smoothly into life. This Prius plug-in Hybrid maintains a regular Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive powerplant. Still, thanks to its intelligent, Rechargeable lithium-ion technology, can, at its electrical power, cover the distance-up to 15.5 miles-and achieve a higher speed, The maximum in EV mode rises from 31 to 51mph.In other words, you can use this plug-in model for most of the time as a proper electric car. Unlike ordinary Prius, it is not only a gas-powered Hatch that uses a battery to help and keeps costs running down occasionally. The difference, of course, is fundamental, offering cars that can potentially run on cheap electricity generated for most of the time, but also one that does not cause uncomfortable ' range of anxiety ' when the time comes to Further browsing. That's important. Although of course, the most distinctive trip is concise, just as accurate that a vast number of car owners do a tour again several times a month. And no one wants to run the risk of getting lost by the roadside.
In the Prius plug-in, you will not, though you may have dripping rounds on power only electricity throughout the week. Of course, you could say the same thing with a rival model called the ' Range Extender ' technology – something, for example, like Ampera Vauxhall with a small petrol engine, there is to help when the battery runs out. But then, it's a little more significant, a little more substantial and more expensive car. It is, of course, more complicated. At first glance, the concept of Hybrid plug-ins seems to offer a more straightforward approach.
Did I say ' simple '? Well, as simple as any car can be when the concept behind it is this tricky. Let's try and simmer is essential to you. The lithium-ion battery in the Prius plug-in is different from the Animal-Tech Nickel-Metal-hydride unit in a conventional car. Still, all the other elements of the system are full of the same hybrid.
The 1.8-litre VVT-I gasoline engine, a powerful electric motor, and generator, all drives through the same E-CVT automatic gearbox. Total power output is the same as the usual Prius as well-134bhp-although the additional 35kgs that have been added to the sidewalk slowly (mainly because of the powerful battery) means that the time 0-62mph is the second slower, occupying 11.4 s on the way to 112mph. Not that every typical Prius person will want to try and match the type of numbers in practice. The gentle journey, the sketchy steering wheel and the body roll cornering all is effective in shrinking the aggressive driving force in any case.
After all, in using this car, you will have another thing on your mind – not a little need to choose between three different drive modes – ' HV ', ' EV ' and ' EV-City '. Most often, you'll select the ' HV ' or ' hybrid vehicle ' setting, which allows this car to work just as ordinary Prius will, with gasoline engines continuing to cut and out to help the necessary Synergy Drive system. At any given time, a neat ' energy monitor ' at the top of the dashboard shows what is being filled or driven by what.
Now though, for the difference with this plug-in model. If you choose the ' EV ' mode (or ' electric vehicle '), the car will use the full capacity of the hybrid battery for a range of 15 miles and up to a maximum of 51mph we mentioned earlier, provided you do not use a lower throttle To moderate. That's an essential requirement in the real world of automotive, so much so in tests, ordinary users told Toyota how frustrated they were with it, with machines butting at any time when the car was supposed to be in electric mode only. So in response, Japanese engineers have added a third ' EV-city ' setting that allows more robust use of the throttle before the engine cuts in.
If you can't trust yourself to the footed glow on the throttle pedal, select the ' Eco ' setting that can operate in any of the three driving modes will limit the travel Accelerator for you. That will help you get the best out of your electric driving distance only, and your right foot sensitivity is something that you can note through the ' hybrid system indicator ' that you will find in the ' Eco-Drive support monitor '. This gives you a bar graph indicating the point at which the machine will start under acceleration. Stay just below and the period of your silent progress will be optimized, something further aided by pulling the tooth from a shorter little blue car from the D's and for this lower ' B ' slot. That would drive extra regenerative braking, reclamation more energy that would usually disappear when you brake and use it to recharge the batteries.
Of course, no matter how careful you are, your electric driving distance will be quick to use, something you will be able to watch through the ' EV Driving screen range ' you will find both on the ' hybrid indicator system ' and the primary ' energy monitor '. When the range flows to zero, the car will seamlessly switch to the gasoline-electric ' HV ' mode by barely grumbling. And at the end of your journey, if you are interested, you can refer to a particular ' EV driving ratio ' indicator that will show you what proportion it is covered in electric power alone. The screen will also show the amount of power and fuel used-and how much fuel is stored through the use of electricity from external charging.
Ah Yes, external charging: we started for it. By using the supplied five-meter cable, which is stored inside the boot floor compartment itself, the battery pack can be recharged within 90 minutes of the domestic power supply from 230V standard – or from one of many common charging points Sprung up in towns and cities across the country.
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