Before taking the wheel of the Toyota Prius, I was skeptical with the idea of hybrid cars in general.  I thought of them as a needlessly complicated solution to a very simple problem.  The problem of greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption, I thought, could easily be rectified with the use of clean diesels.  And it has worked too, just look at Europe, where over 65 percent of the cars sold run on diesel fuel.  But that was then.  After sampling the Prius for a little over a week, I thought, maybe Toyota did hit on something here.

Of all the cars available on the planet today, the Toyota Prius is indeed the best balance between eco-friendliness and practicality.  The advanced technology under the hood works seamlessly, making the Prius as sensible as it is practical.  It starts out with a sophisticated drive-by-wire system that connects the gas pedal to an intelligent computer system that controls two power plants (gasoline and electric) as well as the continuously variable transmission, effectively stretching the Prius’s mileage without compromises.  When it works together (its called “Synergy” after all) it delivers 110 horsepower—with an aural quality as smooth and silent as your home split-type air conditioning.  For pure pulling power, the motor taps into the 500-volt battery pack for pure electric energy.  It then switches to the 1.5-liter gasoline engine when needed and uses the combination of fuel and electric power for quick maneuvers (i.e. overtaking).  While the electric to gas transition usually occurs at around 20 km/h, if you’re gentle on the throttle, you can push with pure electric power to around 40-50 km/h.  The battery gets charged when you’re cruising or braking via its regenerative braking system.  It’s a big plus too that you can watch all the engine action via a computer screen that shows an animated power-flow diagram.  Be careful though, staring at the monitor can get a bit addicting, especially if you’re wagering which driver can squeeze more mileage.

Completely silent at idle (it runs on pure electric then), it scoots to 100 km/h in around 10.3 seconds, a suitable number for a compact car.  There’s some hesitation though when it comes to combining both electric and gasoline during overtaking maneuvers—creating a need for traffic planning on a two-lane highway.  With independent MacPherson struts upfront and a torsion beam axle at the back, the Prius handles tidily, but it doesn’t manage to smoothen all the bumps.  The Prius cruises calmly at speeds and brakes well, though the pedal feels a tad mushy.  The most unnerving quirk for the uninitiated must be the way the engine shuts completely off after a second at a stoplight.  Fear not, this auto stop function brings the engine back to life automatically when needed.  The silence itself is an audible sign that you’re saving fuel.  And what savings; after the 900 or so odd kilometers with the Prius, we just consumed 44.94 liters of fuel—good for an astounding 21.27 km/L (you can opt to drain the battery completely with an EV mode button that saves even more fuel).

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