John Rumm wrote:
Edward W. Thompson wrote:

Think they calim 122bhp now... but its only 78 of your real bhp
though - since the engine is the only source of power ultimately.
The claimed output can only be sustained until the batteries are
low on juice. An enthusiastic drive round some B roads ought to see
to that ;-)


Not sure I understand your point/obsession with horsepower. The
horsepower required to maintain the vehicle at a constant 60 mph in
still conditions will be about, say 15 hp (maybe less but not more)
so 78 hp available seems adequate.

There are two answers to that question: there is the semi serious, it
winds up Drivel so what the hell - it is fun to watch him clap his
little cymbals together.

However there is a real answer as well:

In short, It depends on the type of driving conditions and what is
around you.

For a nice constant speed on a flat motorway with no wind, yup 78bhp
is fine. But there are other situations you need to consider:

For short overtaking bursts, is is verging on the ponderous (the
official figures for the 0-60 is just under 12 secs for the new model
- not the 10 that Drivel mentions). Real life is probably worse than
the figures suggest, since the electric motor can generate massive
torque - but only at low speed (under 25 mph). That will tend to have
the effect of skewing the 0-60 time such that the latter half is less
impressive than the first half. 0-60 times are not a good benchmarks
for useful power in real driving (unless getting away first from the
lights is your "thing"), where the 30 to 50 time is far more
important. So for the purposes of getting safely past slower vehicles
it does not look promising. Many reviews have also made this
observation and do not rate it favourably against even a turbo diesel
in this respect.

Hmm. Found on the web:

=========================
C&D Test Results:

Prius Top-gear acceleration
30-50 mph 5.5
50-70 mph 7.9

BMW 530I Top-gear acceleration
30-50 mph: 13.3
50-70 mph: 12.3
=========================

Not sure if it's right, haven't got time to go find the original. But it
adds interest to the debate.

And what the hell 'Top Gear' is on a Prius....