den | Road Trip

Road Trip

Off to Sydney tomorrow to do a little work.

Petrol prices here are going to hit $1.10/litre by the start of june. Time to save up for that hybrid car. I think I like the Honda Insite more than the Toyota Prius.

betnoir has bought an Insight, so I did a little research and realized something I don't like about the Prius: Centralized Instrument Panel!

Prius dash board

Insight Dash Board

Any dashboard that makes you look left (in Aus) is wrong. I can't stand driving an Echo, and the Prius would drive me crazy. And the gear lever on the steering column? It's not really, but it might as well be. I'm pretty certain I'd go for the Insight now.

Whenever Honda starts selling them here, that is.

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One of my friends just bought the Honda even though it didn't quite have the pickup of the Prius (a rather major factor for hybrids, really). Why? The Prius controls annoyed the crap out of her on test drive.

Have Fun in Sydney, Mate! :D

Thanks to my arm-twisting,

hinoki now has a Prius, and I've had plenty of opportunity to ride in his -- and even driven it a couple of times.

The stuff in the center of the Prius is just the radio and the touchscreen that controls the A/C and all the other stuff that usually sits in the center of a dashboard.

The speedometer and everything else sits in front of the steering wheel, just like an ordinary car. It's set far forward, right under the edge of the wqindwhield, so it's hard to see in this photo -- but it's EASY to see when you're driving. Moreso than a standard dash, which requires you to look DOWN.

Personally, I prefer the Prius because the drivetrain is a better design than the bass-ackwards Honda version.

ahHA! In that case I like the Prius again. You should never have to look away to see the speedo and other dials. Still not happy with the location of the gear shift (I know it's an auto) but I could live with that.

Err...actually, I have the *Civic*, not the *Insight*

I got confused. Honda aren't even considering releasing the hybrid Civic here. They've released the Insight but it's not quite on the market.

When I went to buy a new car, I was looking at the Baby-Rhino cute Echo.

I was told that the off center display was designed so you could see it with your peripheral vision.

Uh-huh. So why make it numbers and not a dial or graph? I found I had to keep looking left while driving. sure I could see it when driving, but I couldn't tell what the damned thing said.

Oh that and the Echo I drove (Late 2002 model) felt like it was about to flip itself over on hard cornering and weaved over the road during emergency braking. Sheesh.

My Lady is seriously researching the Prius right now, this moment, and has lots of good info. The fact that it's over twice the size of the Insight (5-pass instead of 2) and gets better fuel economy in town are highlights of what she's shown me.

Pop over there and say hi!

===|==============/ Level Head

It's nothing new. The original Mini had a massive speedo stuck in the middle of the dash.

When I saw a Toyota with that layout a couple of years back I commented on how it was a step backwards, but the salesman had a precis of a research paper which he showed me. Apparently we can flick our eyes right/left some 15 to 20 percent faster than we can up/down so, at least theoretically, putting the speedo off to one side is safer, once you get used to its position.

Don't tell anyone - but - I'm definitely going to get a Prius. In red (salsa pearl). With the maxed out package.

We just took one for a test drive and I'm sold.

It'll be quite a while before they can actually deliver it, but I'll wait.

If the only one that was ever going to ride in it was me I might pay more attention to the Honda product - but - it's too small for the way we live.

I'll let you know when I get it. Meantime - be good - The Lady, Anne

I am jealous! I'd go for the Glacier White one mainly because that's the best colour for the Summer, when temperatures his 42C+

I'd go for all the bells and whistles, too. How can you not have an in-car GPS?

den

I haven't done extensive research on Prius v Honda, but I have learned this:

Our city is using the Prius in their fleet - some vehicles have nearly 100k miles - and they're still happy with the car. And, in checking with dealers in our area there are no used Prius's available at this time. When they do get them in they're virtually pre-sold.

A friend of my brother-in-law may be able to help me get one more quickly, but - if not - I'm getting my name on the waiting list.

They're still heavily subsidized (in this country, anyway) and the sticker price is about half the cost of manufacture.

I'm currently driving a 1993 Caddy and I love it. I get an average of 20 mpg and it's wonderful for driving cross country. If I can I want to keep it for long distance cruising (which I love to do) and use the Prius for local buzzing around.

The Caddy has about 160k miles on it - I'd like to run it up another 100k or so. I could do that in 4 or 5 long trips.

Let us know what you decide - inquiring minds need to know.

Best of luck - Anne

I'd like to see some Prius Road Trip data. Everyone talks about driving them around towns, but if I owned one I'd also be going for long drives. My current car is a 3 litre V6, 5 speed manual Camry. I get 35(imperial)mpg on road trips because it like the long miles, but it gets really bad milage around town.

I'd love to do everything in the Prius, but if it can't do 150kph for 14 hours then I'd have to keep the Camry.

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Road Trip

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Don't make the decision based on bad photos.

Re: Don't make the decision based on bad photos.

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Centralised Speedo

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