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DAMASCUS, MD (MarketWatch) — This is a car that sips gas, so everyone wants one.
“You can’t find one” on a dealer’s lot now, one Prius owner told me at the gas pumps. He beamed like a proud father when we asked about his car and quickly informed us how much it cost him to fill up. Fortunately, we were not testing a big SUV that day.
One can debate forever if a hybrid makes sense, but one can’t debate the fact that the Prius sips gas, is good on emissions, and lets owners save green and feel green.
According to some late reports, would-be buyers may have to wait six months or so for their Prius to come off the truck. To deal with the demand Toyota will retool a plant in Tupelo, Mississippi to produce the little hybrid when the building is ready to go in 2010. It would be the first Prius made in this country - all the current stock comes from a dedicated plant in Japan.
By the way, here’s another sign of changing times — that plant in Mississippi was being designed to produce the Highlander sport utility.
With all this going on, we thought it was high time to renew acquaintances with the hybrid. ( See slide show.)
Let’s get right down to the facts that matter. We got 42 miles a gallon with our test car, well above the average we got in our last test (carried out in the dead of a very cold winter).
This time the temperature was in the upper 80’s and low 90’s, yet we stayed nice and cool inside even when the Prius was stopped. That was not always the case in some hybrids.
In case you have forgotten, both an electric motor and a 4-cylinder gas engine power the Prius. Zero to 60 will come up somewhere north of 10 seconds, but we thought it felt faster.
The electric motor can propel the car by itself at slow speeds, as the engine shuts down at stop signs and red lights. It will quickly fire up when needed, but there was an occasional minor shutter.
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