Nice review, so long as the reader weights the individual categories according to their own preferences and priorities.

For me, e.g, a car that is not a hatchback is SOL. I am /so/ jealous of the designs that the Europeans received.

R2-E2, 2G Prius.
Highway/City/Husband/Wife MPG: 56.5, as of 12/2005, 26K miles

Jac Nasser, Ford President: "We are planning to launch a hybrid version of
this car [P2000] within this year [1998]. We will also make FCEV available in
2004."

The Prius trumps the 2004 HCH... but I think it is a tie between the 2006 HCH.....

Honda is still losing ground over not being able to crawl in city traffic without activating the ICE. Seriously, how hard can it be to go 10mph on just electric?

Well

Terry

Geez, and it doesn't even come with a wagon fulla pancakes? It's disapointing to see the wide cap in FE between their two test vehicles since they honestly should have been closer than that. Oh well, competition can help to really drive innovation. I'm sure Honda doesn't like getting beat out by their arch-rival, which will force Honda to redouble their efforts for whatever the next thing is up their sleeve.

--

Work of art ? Perhaps.

A work of art that functions as advertised ? Not from what I see in the DB. A car that is touted at 60/51, yet returns real-world results to the 99% percentile in the area of 46-48. Similar deltas for the Highlander and LX400h, from what I see ?

Meanwhile, I look at the Honda cars, and they're very close to what's advertised, with a simpler, cheaper solution, that's just about as clean (or cleaner ?) than it's main competitor. I do know for a fact that HMC's fleet pollutes less than TMCs - that's indisputable. If it weren't for the Prius bringing up the numbers, TMC would probably have a lot higher average on the smog index than they do (500K PZEV cars sold tends to sway the average a bit).


Yes, I know about the Prius marathon. Commendable, but under very tightly controlled conditions, one would have to agree - including the selection of drivers, not to mention the course taken. People in general don't drive in 'laboratory-like' conditions, and they don't drive down the same stretch of road back and forth all day. But enough about that - this post isn't intended to attack those individuals.
It is sad, however, to see a Honda-phile go over to the 'dark side'. Weaker, the Force has become...

Speaking of the db, I see that someone has posted a 500+ mpg average into the Prius II section as of 12/17, conveniently raising the fleet average of that car. Since that is a physical impossibility, even by Xcel's capabilities, I would expect a correction would be posted, either by the 'member', or by the moderators. But I bet it doesn't, and I bet we see a few more of these, as the HCH-II gets closer and eventually surpasses the Prius' fleet average (yes, you read that right).

Yes, I'm wearing my tinfoil hat right now. Correct the anomaly, and I'll issue an apology. Until then...quid pro quo

I like both cars and could have purchased either one myself, but I recommend that we ignore the manufacturers' FE claims, or at least take them with multiple grains of salt. The numbers are typically based on the federal government NHTSA FE test which has well known problems correlating to modern real-world use and is being significantly revised soon.

You either do not understand percentiles, or were very sleepy when you wrote this.
What does this have to do with Prius ?
Feeling a bit paranoid, are we ? A realistic attempt to inflate the Prius MPG would have fake cars getting in the high 50's, where it would not be noticed. The 500 MPG is an obvious error, nothing else. Curious that you did not also see the 25 MPG newbie -- probably also an error.

Anyway, your attempt to see hybrids in black and white is unfortunate. Most of us like them both just fine, but choose based on individual tastes and priorities. My Prius is used almost all the time in light to moderate city driving, and in my hands averages over 60 MPG lifetime. Do you think an 06 HCH would offer the same ?

R2-E2, 2G Prius.
Highway/City/Husband/Wife MPG: 56.5, as of 12/2005, 26K miles

Jac Nasser, Ford President: "We are planning to launch a hybrid version of
this car [P2000] within this year [1998]. We will also make FCEV available in
2004."

Read my new biweekly column, The Western Street 7.
Visit my political debate forum, Volconvo.

I don't drive a lot of city miles, but when I do, my HCH-II trip averages have been in the high 50's with careful driving (best city trip so far was 65). I expect that to get better when the temps warm up. This is more suburban than dense urban city driving though. I expect that the Prius would do better in dense urban where there are more starts from a standstill.

But I picked the HCH over the Prius because 90% of my driving is on the freeway (and for 'fun to drive' reasons). The HCH hasn't let me down, this morning's commute (28 miles) was a personal record 60.3 MPG.