(first posted 1/8/2013. A lot has changed in ten years.) Let’s see, the average real-world fuel consumption of a Prius is about 44 mpg. So three of them would get 14.7 mpg. No; that’s not good enough…we need one more…
Bingo! Stand on a street corner in Eugene for more than 30 seconds, and one is bound to come along. So four Prii: that makes for a combined consumption of 11 mpg, just about right for the Mark V; on a good day, that is.
The hungry predator waits patiently as the herd grazes, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.
Hah! +100
The Mark looks upon the Prii with disgust….
And rightly so.
So does Exxon.
Touche. Ironically, the Prius also beats the Lincoln at all the things it was once supposed to be good at. Fashionable in a way completely inaccessible to those with restrained tastes? Power as mostly expressed in instantaneous torque? Interior quiet? Ride and steering isolation? The Prius is a sensory deprivation chamber, while the Mark V is just sloppy.
Don’t like the Prius? Well, don’t buy one. It’s the biggest seller in Japan now and these cars do best in heavily urban environments.
I have driving the Prius and I hate the way it drives but I am sure 90% of the people out there wouldn’t care. They are making a statement.
I actually thought I’d like a Prius until I had the opportunity to drive my brother-in-laws for a couple of days when they visited us.
I read a review where the reviewer described the Prius as an appliance you drive. Didn’t get it till now. Remember buying the new washer/dryer/fridge? Golly gee wow, it has all these new features and buttons and modes! But a week or month later? It still does all those spiffy things but, ho hum. The Prius is exactly like that. A transportation device, pure and simple. No passion, no excitement, no feedback or feeling whatsoever. You don’t like the car but you don’t dislike it either. It just IS, doing what you bought it for, reliably, predictably, without any emotion. Like your toaster.
ABSOLUTELY! 👍. Currently driving beautiful low mileage Town Car Signature Limited ♥. Not quite the same as 70s through 89 Town Cars, but the best available. Will drive this to the grave. Recent article called these last generation Town Cars the American ROLLS-ROYCE.
It would take all three of them to haul a wheelbarrow, unless you roped it to the top.
but if i want to drive from memphis to atlanta i rather to drive the lincoln which is more comfy for long trips&probably safer in heavy accidents.i like japanese cars but i do not think they have character&soul(but 240z&early70s 510 or 70s celicas).
The animal anology replys are worthy of the New Yorker.
Dang, Priuses are ugly! I’m a tree-hugging bicycle-riding Pacific Northwesterner, but I think I’d take that old Lincoln over a half-dozen farm-fresh Priuses. You could very easily carry a bicycle around in the trunk of that old Mark, thus making it a hybrid. The Priuses (okay, Prii) just seem deliberately ugly; like some kind of anti-fashion post-modern Big Statement. Anyone who is thinking of getting a hybrid should seriously consider paying extra to get a Chevy Volt. They’re not ugly, and the battery-only range is over 40 miles. My brother has a Volt and he’s constantly bragging about his triple-digit gas mileage. And if you can’t use your car for bragging rights, why have one?
Good idea! Get a Lincoln with a 460 and drive it to work every day. I am sure you’d love it. A car with “soul.”
Ouch! Actually, I ride a bicycle to work and back every day! Since I only drive on the weekends and rarely encounter traffic jams, gas mileage isn’t a huge concern of mine. This having been said, I drive a frickin’ Geo Prizm… I buy a tank of gas every couple of months.
In the real world, a Geo Prizm makes about the perfect weekend city car. Cheap and tough!
Harumph! A better question is how many Prii will be around in 30-35 years, and if anyone will care?
OBTW, why do I see Datsun B210 as a design root on these things, at least from some angles.
Seems like in the past 10 years they’ve hung around pretty well despite having become the go-to taxi around the time the above was written. I still see plenty of secondgen Prii, now 15 to almost 20 years old.
The Lincoln would pull a nice Airstream at 60 mph with the a/c on full blast. How many Prii would it take to do the same?
Maybe this will be the main benefit of the new breed of driverless cars – the ability to join multiple little cars together like an old fashioned team of horses was used to pull big wagons. Can you see it? A team of 4 Prii pulling an airstream. Would they be in a line or two by two?
I am not sure but I do know that a Prius could take me to a five star hotel quite nicely and I’d save a lot of money over that trailer. Be more relaxed and comfortable, too.
“You young punks! Don’t make me put my foot in your ass!”
How much could we improve the MPG of the Mark V with a megasquirt system, overdrive, tune up, and high flow catalitic converter? 🙂
A lot!
Ever better would be a 7.3 Powerstroke or 3.9 Cummins.
If you work hard enough, and spend enough money on it, maybe you could get its consumption to equal three instead of four Prii!
Sure, swapping out a Cummins would only cost $50,0000 or so and think of all the gas you’ll save!
No way should it cost that much. Two years ago my friend swapped a 1.9TDI from a 97 Passat into his 84 SFA Toyota PU. It cost him $6-7k on a DIY basis. Figure $3-5k for a running motor on Flea Bay or a surplus Bread Van.
A turn key job from a decent customs shop should not run more than $25k.
Only $25,000, boy what a deal. Think about the fuel savings!
I’ve been bitten by used motors more than once, it’s crate engine long blocks for me.
Wow, looks like the taxi rank down the road from my place- Prii and Camry hybrids are fast displacing the LPG fueled Falcons that have been the staple of taxi fleets in Oz for so long!
Ditto in NZ Glen. All my recent taxi rides have been Prii – with the exception of one solitary ’08 Caprice. And to be honest, the Prii have actually been nice to be in – spacious (for what they are), comfortable and very quiet around town. I’m still a RWD 6-cylinder man though!
In Vancouver BC where I live, 90% of all the taxis are Prii. They routinely go over a million km on the original battery and powertrain.
There’s a wolf amongst the sheep!
Such bah-humbuggery! Actually, I suspect the gen-2 Prius will be the subject of many a Curbside Classic in 2040, given that it’s this generation’s anti-fashion, conservationist icon–a la late ’60s VW Beetle or Japanese import–and it already seems likely to have set a considerable tech precedent for mainstream cars.
I’d also wager those Prii would leave the Mark in the dust in a drag race, despite its extra cylinders–they do 0-60 in 10 seconds or so IIRC.
A bit defensive? Probably, my wife bought one in 2004 and it was great, many fond memories of it.
Interesting points you make. I tend to agree we may be looking at them differently in 2040, and the comparison with the Beetle’s status is one I hadn’t considered and is certainly thought-provoking. My brother-in-law had a 2001 gen 1 Prius from 2006-8. He loved it (my petrol-head sister not so much), and it was an interesting place to be. The dash graphics of what was charging and where were absolutely fascinating, and it was quiet and comfy. The few times I drove, it drove fine, let down only by too-narrow factory tyres that made it feel like it was on tippy-toes. Of course I’m still a RWD 6-cylinder fan, but let’s see what happens in 2040!
Lincoln’s log, day three: so far, they don’t suspect a thing. Tomorrow I shall try get a little closer and see if they accept me as one of their own, Then, I shall strike, ha-ha!
😀
This makes me think of the 1960s Disney movie The Ugly Dachshund. It was about a Great Dane who lived in a family with several dachshunds and thought he was one of them.
I am also not a fan of the looks of the Prius, but there has always been just enough of a 1956 Chrysler in the taillights that it calms me down.
The only place around here that has a higher density of Prii is the parking lot of Congregation Neveh Shalom in SW Portland, which speaks to the truth of Southpark’s Pious joke.
So I have to wonder, which has the greater environmental impact overall, in a negative way: The fuel consumption and emissions of the Lincoln, which was manufactured decades ago (I forget my Mark chronology; the Mark V was mid-70s, correct?), or the making of three new Prii and all their rare-earth-element-requiring electronic components?
I did actually enjoy my one experience with a Prius (I rented one–got free valet parking for driving a hybrid!), and it is the gold standard at this point for the hybrid concept (with the Volt breathing down its neck, maybe). But just illustrating that it’s not a zero-sum game when comparing a new hybrid to an old, long-paid for car in terms of “greenness”. (Although a Falcon might be a better alternative to a Prius than a Mark.)
Have you ever considered what it would take to actually use a Mark V as your daily driver, for years on end? Makes your question pretty abstract.
Now to come back to reality, I wouldn’t trade my 10-year-old Subaru for either of them. 😉
Talking about driving a 40 year old car with 460 cublic inch V-8 as your daily driver is just that: talking. Actually doing it is rather different.
I had a 1972 Cutlass Supreme with the 350 Rocket V-8 in the 1990s. Even with the much lower gas prices of that era, I still felt the effect on my wallet when it drove it regularly.
I’d take either the Ford Fusion or Honda Civic hybrids over the Prius, though. I just like the styling of those two better.
I’ve been driving my 67 Buick and my 77 Cadillac as daily drivers for years. The Buick have been in my ownership for 10 years now.
In Norway the gas prices are around 2.5 USD for each liter or about 9,4 USD for a gallon of petrol.
But with these old american irons parts are cheap,and they’ll run forever. Never had any problems with my american cars. But with my former BMW’s , Audi’s and Toyota’s I have had a lot of problems. Especially with the European cars and among them the Audies was the worst.
Yes, these old american boats are gas guzzlers, but other than buying gas it don’t cost any money at all. Things never go wrong with these cars. Why don’t you americans use these cars as daily drivers? In your country the gas is so incredibly cheap as well.
Its Swank vs Smug.
I’ll take Swank.
Canucknucklehead has major prius boner.
Is that a form of priapism?
What does that mean, “A Prius boner?”
Pretty highbrow stuff there, TW; reminds me a lot of fifth grade.
Hey, I love old sleds, but you know, even the guys posting here don’t drive them for some odd reason.
I would never own a Prius but I see them as an extremely well engineered product, the first new technology out of the car companies since the Otto Cycle engine. When Toyota introduced them, they were universally laughed at and told they would never sell nor make money.
They sell well and they make money.
As an enthusiast the Prius does nothing for me.
As a student of all things transportation related its a remarkable engineering achievement. The hybrid system is well suited for how most people in urban and suburban areas drive.
+1
LOL Niedermeyer, too funny. Seriously though, you’d need major viagra dosage to maintain Canucknucklehead’s everlasting prius boner.
We’ll try to take this as lighthearted as I assume you meant it, but…that will be all. Class dismissed.
Hahaha, thanks for indulging my juvenile humor, hope it brought a chuckle or two. Seriously though, nothing but love for all the CC community!
“Nothing but love for the CC community” What kind of love, exactly 🙂
I was never a Prius fan and grew to hate them more for reasons not related to the cars themselves…but for the demographic that lapped them up when they came out. However, I ended up growing to really like this Prius-driving coworker who fit my Prius-driver stereotype. This (platonic) relationship forced me to open my mind up a little.
Then a guy I work with bought a red one which very much surprised me…but he bought it out of necessity — his commute is around two hours each way. I kidded him about it at first & he admitted that he wasn’t married to it…but appreciates it for the appliance that it is.
A few of us loaded into it & went to lunch one day. I asked questions while he showed us some of the really unusual features it had. I was blown away by how smooth, seamless & quiet the car drove and immediately understood why Toyota sold so many of them.
With that being said, I think I’ll drive the ’73 Pontiac to work tomorrow.
Wow, I never expected four Priuses could get some of you guys so excited. But then, you can’t do this in a Mark V. (Habitent)
No, you couldn’t do that in a MkV. It would sleep at least twice as many people! 😉
I did that a couple of times in my Nash!!
I’ve been a Prius driver over 12 years, since buying one of the very first to hit US shores at the Port of Portland, build date 8/1/00. Now I drive a red 2010. They’ve both been great all-around cars for us. The 2010 is a fine long-legged road trip car, PDX to SLC in one day, 70 mph avg, 48 mpg. Highest technology on the road (until the Tesla S showed up).
No it’s not a sports car. That’s what my ’93 Miata is for. The two make a perfect combination.
That’s a great combination but I have been looking around for a used 560SL for my fun car. They go surprisingly cheap from their rich West Vancouver owners selling their garage space. A good one can be had for $6000 or so, not bad for the last of the real Mercedes Benz cars. Problem is I have no place to park it unless I put the Acura on the street.
Funny, that’s almost the same as our last two cars: ’99 Miata (mine) and ’04 Prius (wife’s). Both sold now, but they were a great combo.
You could not PRY US loose from current Town Car Signature Limited. Although this Town Car is not quite as OTT as 70s through 89 Town Cars, it is the last great American Luxury Sedan. Recent article called these last generation Town Cars the American ROLLS-ROYCE. Have NO interest in any current new vehicles available. Most of all anything close to this little piece of CRAP! 🤮👎🤮👎🤮. 😁 😎
Please reveal which recent article called the last Town Car the “American Rolls Royce”? I’ve asked before but never received (or at least didn’t see) a response. Having driven one of the last Town Cars I’d like to read that article.
Will try to find article. Believe it was? COLLECTIBLE AUTOMOBILE or one of the two HEMMINGS magazines? 🤔 May take a while to find as I tend to save all.
I think I found it. Was it this article?: https://tinyurl.com/2hk3433z
Isn’t that the car that Ronald McDonald drove to pick up Grimace and Mayor Mc Cheese for Bingo on Tuesdays and Fridays?
Why maintain three or four cars if you can exterminate the same quantity of fuel with just one ?