[Dave]

With new job , means more miles on the road, so I'm looking at options of company car for next 2 years. So, with that in mind I'm just Just off to test drive 2 cars , a Toyota Prius & a Toyota RAV4 Diesel. OK one is slightly greener than the other

Quite for the idea of Hybrid car as cheaper on overall tax, plus can honestly feel I am doing my bit for the environment Just not sure if it's gonna be powerful enough on the motorways ....we shall see

The RAV...well I've had the previous model & it did 40mpg, so still better than most cars. I tried the top of the range model recently (180bhp jobby), but they had played with the suspension & the ride was awful..... hopefully the standard car is better. Anyway , off to play with new toys

[Markulous]

So off to join the Chelsea Tractor brigade with the RAV4? But then much needed with the floods coming to a locality to you real soon now!

[_MB_]

THOSE are your luxury motorway cruisers?

[Dabhand16]

I know someone selling a 330d BMW - admittedly with high milage, but surely a proper car would be better that those two?

The Prius is surely not a long-distance motorway car, and a 1.9 diesel Octavia witll offer more comfort and economy (and probably space) than a RAV. When I had one as a company car, I could get over 60 mpg in town/urban driving.

[IanHoughton]

The Prius will be no better environmentally if your going to do a lot of motorway miles, the hybrid motor will only kick in around town, therefore your lugging around a lot of excess weight on the motorway. Father in law had a 2lt diesel Avensis, averaged around 55mpg on the motorway.

There was a feature in a recent edition of EVO mag, comparing the Prius against the new 100HP Panda, on mixed driving conditions the Prius was slightly better, but had a much higher price, so over a 3 three year period the Panda was cheaper to run.

The "greenest" thing you can do is not buy a new car.

[Hacker]

The most economical car I had was the Audi A4 1.9TDi, great motorway cruiser, enough grunt for everyday usage and 700+ miles to a tank. I've now got the A3 Sportback 2.0 TDi and that is also very good although the tank is a bit smaller, but again it is very economical and has a sixth gear for cruising. Add to that Audi build quality and they are hard to beat, my A4 had 135,000 miles on the clock by the time it went and drove as good as the day I got it.

[Dave Canon]

Dave, a friend of mine bought a Prius a few months ago. It seems to be very sophisticated and has a fairly complex computer control. It is not as some imply, electric around town and petrol on a long journey. It cleverly uses both petrol and electric motor simulataneously. The computer manages both engines to optimise output and efficiency. When he backs his car out of his drive, only the electric motor is used but as he drives off the petrol engine automatically starts and the power is combined. The batteries are charged during braking and deceleration. The car seems to have many other attractive features so worth thinking about.

I have to admit to having recently bought a more conventional saloon myself but I am intreagued as to how my friend gets on with his Prius over the next couple of years. I would certainly consider something similar next time I change my car (probably 9 years time).

[Dave]

Well that was a fun afternoon.

The Prius 1st. Not the best looking car but very light & air inside the car & lots of gizmos to play with ...lol. As DC stated the engine runs alongside the battery, although there is a button to go to battery only for town driving as long as you stay below 30mph ....above that that the engine kicks in. Stopping at traffic lights the petrol engine kicks out, which freaks you out at 1st. The gear knob has been replaced by a small joystick affair on the dash .... you push it down for "Drive" or up for "Reverse" . Being a variotronic drive, the revs stay constant when you accelerate hard ..... quite a weird sensation.

On a 20 mile drive of country roads, town traffic & motorway I managed 48mpg ....not sensational vs some diesels these days. The Auto box makes for very relaxed driving , which is earily quiet at normal acceleration, but I must admit the engine does screa a bit on the motorway when you want to overtake something. I suppose the most attractive thing about it, is the amazing low CO2 emissions, which make for very low Company car tax. This car would cost £1K less a year in tax than RAV

[Dave]

On to the RAV. It was the XTR Diesel version. Very nice to drive....quite a jump up from previous shape RAV I had. 6 speed box allows for comfortable cruising on the motorway, but the downside is lots of changing gear round town where you do notice the sound fo the diesel. One thing I could not get on with though, was the seat ..... the base seemed to be sloping forward slightly & there was no way to chage it ...even through taking the seat up & down. Had concerns of lack of support on the old thighs & what that might mean after 300 miles in a day

As 4x4's go, the RAV is still up there as one of the best on the road.

BUT, got back in the missus's BMW 120D sport & it felt so much more solid & sure footed on the road. The missus is begging me to keep the darn thing, as she loved it ...... dunno . Need to do the maths

[Dave]

Originally Posted by _MB_

THOSE are your luxury motorway cruisers?

No...... it was just I realised £15K off the mortgage saves me around £75 a month, which I take off the costs of a company car, make that option more viable. Just looking at the options, as I can take a company car for just 2 years....which might make sense if doinh high miles for next couple of years ....not sure .... need to get spreadsheet out for calcs Car costs vs Mortagge costs vs residuals at end of 2 years etc etc.

[silkstone]

I tried to go green a couple of years ago, especially since my annual mileage dropped from around 20,000 to about 7,000 when I developed a pathological hatred of the M1. So I went from a 4-litre Jeep Cherokee to a Honda Jazz , and it was the best move I ever made. The Jazz is a Tardis - holds more than the Jeep did - costs a quarter as much to run and is a doddle to drive even in traffic with the CVT-7 box.

But it probably isn't ideal if most of your time is spent on motorways - it cruises happily and quietly at illegal speeds (or it would if I did ) but fuel economy tails off as the engine has to work harder.

I like the idea of the Prius but you pay a lot for the technology, and I'm not sure how eco-friendly it really is with all those batteries. The great thing is that it recovers potential energy going down hills, instead of burning it off as heat in the brakes. But, from what I've read, a decent diesel is just about as economical overall and costs less.

Having recovered from the 4x4 phase, I'm not a fan of them unless you really need that sort of vehicle. They don't have as much room inside as a normal car because of the space taken by the drive-train, and although the high seating position gives good visibility it doesn't help stability or aerodynamics. For something with loads of space, decent power, good economy and a sensible price, I'd go with Dabhand's suggestion of an Octavia - same basic car as an Audi A3 or VW Golf, but bigger, cheaper and (according to J D Power) more reliable.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by silkstone

The great thing is that it recovers potential energy going down hills, instead of burning it off as heat in the brakes.

I see the latest 1 & 3 series Beemers have made great inroads on this kind of stuff. They only angage alternator when letting off throttle, stop the engine at lights etc. result is up to 14% better fuel economy & even more power


agree re going of 4x4's also. Fun for a while, but a decent car wins hands down on normal roads.

[Dave]

Well done the quick maths & I reckon over 2 years taking worse case scenario of 20K miles per year, against the Prius I would be

- £3K better off keeping missus's BMW 120D & using that
- £6K better off if I buy neighbours Volvo S60 D5 with 70k miles on clock

Sorry Hollywood essential ....your out of the equation

[Dabhand16]

Of the options you have mentioned so far - the Volvo looks like the best bet for a comfortable motorway car that will push most of the buttons.

The 1 Series is too small to be a practicalall-rounder which is where the volvo scores, and is no better than the Z4 in terms of comfort/ride quality which is the reson you originally propped up as getting rid of it and getting a 'comfortable motorway cruiser'.