Sorry to dredge this up, from the depths of the thread from hell...

Back in mid January, we were talking about the Prius (still) when Dribble
asserted that the Prius was

silent and brill to drive

To which I replied :-

Like that's relevant to Grandma who just pootles down the shops... If
it's true - which many (less biased) people dispute. I haven't driven
one.

Well, I have now. I've just done a 10-15mile test drive from a local
dealer. Mix of small-town-large-village roads, twisty country roads, and
fast dual-carriageway A-road.

The most obvious thing is that it is FAR from "silent".

In EV mode, it is certainly quiet. EV mode automatically cuts out at ~
30mph, however, and it's actually fairly difficult to tell (apart from the
annoying bingly-bongly) when that happens, due to the road noise - it
starts to become audible at just about the point at which the car starts to
move, and is definitely audible by 10mph+. As I said, EV mode kicks out at
30mph, but also kicks out if you require any acceleration more than
glacial. Once it's dropped out of EV mode, you need to press the (hidden)
button again to get it back into EV mode.

Once you get on the move, though, it is certainly not quiet. It's a typical
CVT, in that once you get any form of acceleration going, it sits at peak
torque, making you think that the clutch is slipping really badly, and
dulling the sensation of acceleration. And it sounds bloody thrashy while
it's doing it. Massively intrusive.

Most entertaining was the instant MPG on the display. No *way* is that
thing going to get 50mpg averages. Accelerating brought it below 15mpg,
cruising at 80mph was roughly 35mpg.

Is it "brill to drive"? You have to judge it on that as a normal car. If
you do, then it's beige personified. It's just bland.

The ride is mediocre - it's OK most of the time, but then it just
embarrasses itself, especially on cat's eyes as you change lane. That's
about as much of the dynamics as I can remember. It's that... bland.

Dribble also asserted that it's hugely roomy inside - claiming it's Camry
sized rather than Avensis or Corolla. It's certainly got plenty of rear
legroom - I'm 6'2" and could comfortably sit "behind myself" - but it's
cramped on width (shoulder and, strangely, thigh/leg for the driver) and
the back seat was HIDEOUOSLY cramped in headroom. The boot is long and
reasonably wide, but very shallow. In all, it's not as spacious as the
Avensis, but better than the Corolla.

It's quite claustrophobic to drive, too - the thick pillars and steeply
raked screen draw the roofline in badly, and that's with a pale grey
headlining. The rear view is just plain limited because of the two-part
rear window.

Finally, Dribb's claims of huge waiting lists - The dealer I popped into
reckoned no real supply problems, but there's no stock new ones - so six
weeks for a Japan order. As well as the 55-plate demo I drove, they had two
pre-reg 05-plate 4k mile top-spec cars in stock at £19k.