Road Test: 2010 Toyota Prius II car review, living green in the real world

The icon of the hybrid automobile is the Toyota Prius, and as has been noted here and about every else in the Free World (and likely elsewhere), the third generation of the five-door full-hybrid arrived earlier this year as the 2010 model year. When we initially drove this latest Prius at a media introduction, we wrangled 73.9 mpg in an on-road hypermiling competition with other journo types (placing first, we might add modestly, as the first all journalist/no Toyota engineer aboard team).

That’s impressive, and we wouldn’t drive that way every day, but we know it can be done because we did it.

On the other hand, what is it like to drive a Prius every day in a go with the flow, go to the market and go what traffic will allow on the Interstate? That’s what we wanted to find out with a week of driving a Prius without any extraordinary attention to gas mileage.

Our tester was a 2010 Toyota Prius II. The Roman numeral refers to base-level trim, there also being Prius III through V. While the V tops out with standard features including LED (light-emitting diode) headlights, integrated fog lights and 17-inch (instead of 15-inch) wheels, even our Prius II is well equipped for a base model with proximity key keyless start, power heated outside mirrors, UV reduction glass windshield glass, water-repellant windshield and driver and front passenger side glass, auto climate control, auto up/down power windows and more.

The mechanicals are the same for all four trim levels and they’re the same as reported in our original review, so on a need to know, go back and read our first take on the 2010 Prius.

The third generation’s styling is evolutionary rather than revolutionary, most noticeable by the sharp crease running up the side and the LED taillights. Inside the Prius has a typical Toyota look of quality.

The armrest bin has a 12V power plug and an aux plug for an audio player. There’s more storage with a dual glovebox. The center stack forms a bridge down to the center console with another area that can be used to hold a purse or other medium-sized object.

The front seats are well bolstered with excellent lateral support (for comfort, not cornering). The driver’s seat is adjustable for height but the passenger seat is not; if the driver’s seat is set low, the front passenger feels perched on a stool, as we were told. Several times. The rear seat is roomy for two, however, with good leg room and the fold-flat rear seatbacks really do fold flat.

The 2010 Toyota Prius doesn't have a conventional instrument panel above the steering column, rather a digital information center centrally mounted atop the dash. This includes all the typical info such as speed and fuel and also the hybrid-specific data, such battery charge state, average fuel mileage over past five minute five minute periods, and the ever popular graphic showing where the power is coming from and where it’s going.

The 2010 Toyota Prius “starts” via pushbutton, the instrument panel coming to life with a “welcome to Prius” message. If the engine is cold, it starts a moment later. If not, everything is quiet until the accelerator pedal is pushed. It stays quiet if Reverse is selected. The Prius backs up via electric motor only. It’s the same in Drive, unless the driver presses accelerator too hard or until the Prius reaches 25 miles per hour. At 26 miles per hour, the gasoline engine kicks in, regardless of a driver’s featherfooting. Any time the batteries are low on charge the gas engine will turn on to run the generator.

Although we promised not to do anything unusual during our time with the 2010 Toyota Prius, we did keep the mode button in ECO rather than Power. The big difference in the two modes is how quickly the electronic throttle opens. It electronically makes every driver a ballonfoot, or slow to press open the throttle.

Scroll down past specs and features/prices for photo gallery of 2010 Toyota Prius II with details.

We’ll also confess to pressing the EV button every time we could. This puts the Prius into “electric vehicle” mode, allowing the Prius to ghost through parking lots and such. Great fun.

When the Prius is being powered by the gasoline engine, it power goes through a continuously variable transmission (CVT), and the Prius behaves much as any automobile so equipped, rpm rising falling more with accelerator pedal position than vehicle speed. It’s unnerving to those who expect the one-to-one relationship of a manual transmission, but those with less-than-gearhead tendencies usually don’t notice.

That said, we’d class the 2010 Toyota Prius in the middle of the “peppy” range. The electric motor gives it a good snap off the line, and due in part to its fuel economy tires and a bit of lag before full acceleration kicks in, it’s prone to squeal its tires on takeoff if the wheels are anything but perfectly straight ahead.

The tires also squealed easily when going around corners, so we never asked it to deliver much lateral force. It’s OK, just not a sports car.

The Toyota Prius suffers from much the same problem as most cars with a far-forward windshield: A-pillars block the view of the road. The Prius’ high rear window—the lower edge of the glass is chest high on the average man—would eliminate most rear view were it not for a vertical pane between the taillights. But the body structure between the two glass panels keeps a driver from seeing the tops of following cars. But then a Prius driver needn’t worry if that’s a cop back there.

A petty complaint vis a vis the smart key: Proximity unlocking only works on the driver’s door. The rear hatch must be unlocked with the fob (or the unlocking button inside the car) and then released via the rubber button. The passenger door ditto, meaning a gentleman must remove the fob from his pocket before opening a locked passenger door for a lady. Is chivalry dead!?

Of course, all the forgoing is mere detail compared to the Big Question: what was our gas mileage? Over a weeks time of Interstate and local driving, we recorded an impressive 46.6 miles per gallon. Our best five minute period, according to our test Prius’ electronics, was 54.3 mpg.

So our observed gas mileage for a week of driving was less than an hour of hypermiling, which shouldn’t surprise. It was also lower than the EPA estimate of 51 city/48 hgihway, though as we’ve noted before, we drive in a hilly area and that tends to depress fuel economy numbers, particularly so for hybrids.

Pardon us, but we’re having a hard time being disappointed.

Illustrations: 2010 Toyota Prius II. All photos by John Matras.

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