The Cult Of Prius
Ah, the Toyota Prius. Much beloved of ecozealots such as the Mayor of London – Boris Johnson, marketing types, Hollywood celebrities and Lentilistas who want to be seen to care about the planet by reducing their ‘carbon footprint’
The Prius is good, right?
It is very economical
Well, if you can duplicate the claims by the manufacturer, then they are. The problem is nobody seems to be able to duplicate these according to claims in a study by What Car? Magazine. In this only 5 out of 85 cars tested matched frugality claims and the worst offender was the Prius which returned fuel consumption figures 20% worse than the claimed figures.
Interestingly, a recent comparison found the Prius less economical than the much larger BMW 520d in a back to back test. [1]
The hybrid drivetrain means it produces less CO2
Well actually, it may not be as clean as manufacturers and it‘s devotees would have you believe. In fact, in the UK the Advertising Standards Authority have recently found against Toyota in a complaint about their adverts, finding them guilty of misleading claims in an advert for the car. Toyota claimed reductions in CO2 output of up to one tonne per year over equivalent traditionally powered cars.
Unfortunately for adverts for distribution in the UK, the figures were based on the average mileage for a car in the USA (12.5K miles) as opposed to the UK (8.4K miles)
Unfortunately the comparison of the 1.5 litre Prius' emissions Look after your old one, keep it maintained properly to minimise emissions and think of all the energy costs you are saving in terms of production and transporting to the point of sale as well as the costs of recycling your old one.
Unfortunately when compared against a range of smaller engined (1.5 - 1.8) cars well over half of them emitted less than one tonne of CO2 per (American) year more than a Prius.In all, Toyota was found to have breached TV Advertising Code Rules on five counts;
All rather unfortunate I think you would agree. [2]
It is a greener car
Ermm, is it? A study by CNW Research of vehicles sold in the US which measured dust-to-dust energy costs revealed the Prius to be one of the worst in terms of lifetime energy consumption when factors such as energy cost of manufacture is added to energy cost of running the car. In fact only large luxury cars and SUVs came below the Prius (and it’s hybrid colleagues from Honda). The batteries alone contribute hugely to the numbers. Toyota buys the nickel in Canada, refines it in Wales, ships it to China for making into nickel foam, then on to Japan for battery manufacture. How big a carbon trail does that leave? There is also a massive pollution problem from the nickel smelting. [3] Then there is the problem of disposal. What on earth do you do with the batteries? Hmm, an idea for another wee article.
The majority of the ones you see on the roads these days seem to be driven by either Uber drivers who, to quote our esteemed Darthgixxer, “...makes it his mission to block me from filtering, while peering around the edge of his satnav(which is suckered onto the windscreen in front of his stupid, cuntish face)” or a company car driver who wanted a 3-series or an A4 but was told he had to have a 'green' car, so drives it everywhere like a cunt to try to break it.
Oh, I nearly forgot another reason not to buy a Prius. You look like a right twat driving around in one and your kids will disown you.
DJ
references:
[1] Toyota Prius mileage claims rebutted
[2] Toyota told they are very naughty boys
[3] Hidden cost of driving a Prius (PDF)
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