Autoblog (note - NOT AutoblogGreen) has posted a review of a 2007 Prius Touring, written by a self-described Prius "hater" who dissed the car regularly... until he drove one.
Read his review here.
I always find it interesting to gain insight (no pun intended) into what the "other side" thinks about efficiency. This review is good for that. (It's the same reason I liked reading
many of the comments people have been leaving on other car enthusiast forums about basjoos' Aerocivic.)
But the key point I took from the piece was...
Quote:
Highway merging isn't a problem at all, and in most cases, you'll find yourself resisting the urge to bomb about, anyway. The reason for this -- and to me, it's the most impressive thing about the Prius -- is the car's innate ability to encourage economical driving.
This is largely due to the aforementioned "video game" screen ... that gives occupants a graphical representation of which elements of the drivetrain are doing what, as well as showing the battery's state of charge. ... I soon found myself using the Consumption screen ... It displays your current fuel economy, overall average fuel economy and a bar graph representation of fuel economy and recharging activity in 5-minute increments. This made it easy to see how consistently good (or bad) I was doing with regard to my fuel consumption
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The Prius of course has much more to tell you about its operation than a non-hybrid, but the key remains: when it comes to getting people to consider efficiency & the impact of their behaviour on it, it's all about the instrumentation.