Toyota's Prius hybrid has been extremely successful for the company and probably did more than anything to make this kind of powertrain a viable proposition. Honda got in early with its Insight, but this was more of a sporty car than a load and people carrier. The Prius appeared as a full four door car with room for four occupants and their luggage. Toyota has sold over 150,,000 Prius models worldwide - quite an achievement for a radical automobile like this. One Prius was used as a taxi in Vancouver and logged over 300,000 km - until Toyota coaxed the owner to give it back to them for evaluation. Perhaps even Toyota was amazed at the durability of its product, which developed no powertrain or other mechanical problems at all during its long life. Incidentally, the taxi driver was rewarded for his cooperation with a new Prius which is in full operation today.

For 2004, Toyota is bringing us an all-new Prius with third-generation gas/electric hybrid powertrain technology. Toyota calls this Hybrid Synergy Drive or HSD. According to Toyota, the new system produces more power from both the gasoline engine and the electric motor, giving the Prius acceleration comparable to a 4-cylinder mid-sized car. Toyota gives the acceleration figure as 10-seconds, zero to 100 km/h, as opposed to 12.7 seconds for the old model. Mid range acceleration is said to be better too.

Toyota's hybrid system differs from Honda's in that the car will run on either gas or electricity. Honda hybrids have the gasoline engine running at all times. As a result, you'll sometimes find your Prius making almost no noise at all - which means care must be taken when there are careless pedestrians about.

Moving on to styling, the car is very attractive indeed, at least to my eyes. It looks very futuristic - rather like one of model cars architects like to use around models of spiffy new office towers. The car is bigger in most dimensions and offers more room for both passengers and cargo. The liftback design makes it exceptionally practical too. There's no more functional body design in my mind than a liftback coupled with fold-down rear seating. In fact, there's nearly as much trunk room in a Prius as there is in a Camry, a much bigger automobile.

Preliminary fuel consumption figures from Toyota indicate that the Prius (which means "to go before" in Latin) will produce a rating of 3.9-litres/100 km around town and 4.7-litres/100 km on the highway. The figures are reversed from what we're normally used to when dealing with fuel consumption because they reflect the fact that the car is maximized for best performance in stop and go driving - or commuting. It goes without saying that no mid-sized vehicle in North America gets anywhere near these figures. The transmission for this car, by the way, is also very novel. It's an electronically-controlled continuously variable unit with no fixed gear ratios.

As with other hybrid vehicles, the car has a regenerative braking system to further boost efficiency. When the car is coasting or the brakes are applied, the electric motor functions as a generator, capturing kinetic energy that would normally be lost as heat through the brakes, by transforming it into useable electricity to recharge the batteries. It all adds up to a remarkable piece of technology that will make visits to your local gas station fairly infrequent. With regular gas sitting at 84 cents a litre as I write this, long-suffering motorists need all the help they can get when it comes to fuel economy.

The 2004 Prius is a great-looking, technologically advanced, practical car that will attract attention everywhere it goes. It's probably years ahead of its time, but the taxi example shows how durable and reliable these vehicles can be. Best of all, there's no price increase for the new Prius over the old one - it costs $29,990. More on this exciting new Toyota when I get one for full road testing.
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