Red-hot and green
If you come across an '04 Prius with the keys inside, steal it. That may be the only way to get your hands on the trendy greenmobile.
A couple of years ago, Toyota's hybrid-electric sedan was a mere curiosity with a tiny constituency, mainly die-hard enviros and gearheads jazzed by the color-coded power-flow meters on the vehicle's dashboard. Then Leo DiCaprio bought one. Then some of his friends. Then came the second-generation model, introduced last fall, which crossed a threshold: It went from being an odd-looking anomaly to an odd-looking, must-have, mass-market sedan. Only nobody told Toyota: The company planned to make just 36,000 Priuses in 2004, which is why you now have to wait as long as six months to buy one.
Sounds of silence. Is the wait worth it? For now, yes. To average 50 miles per gallon in a conventional gas-powered car--and those vehicles are found only outside the United States --you invariably end up saddled with a puny, underpowered engine that's outgunned in a headwind. But the Prius zips around with puppylike friskiness. That's on account of a battery system that adds a little muscle to the 76-horsepower, 4-cylinder engine, priming itself by capturing energy released during braking. Aside from the odd silence at stops--when the gas engine shuts down to save fuel--there's nothing notably different about driving the Prius.
Except that it seems like it should cost more. Standard features, for instance, include a touch-screen LCD display for controlling the climate and audio system, radio and climate controls on the steering wheel, air conditioning vents in the rear seat, and recessed cup holders. Those kinds of amenities increasingly come standard on luxury cars--but not on $21,000 family sedans.
Auto analysts speculate that Toyota sells the Prius below its actual cost, keeping the price low while building street cred as the hybrid-electric technology leader. That might help explain the waiting lists. Toyota plans to build 11,000 additional Priuses this year, but shut-out buyers will soon have other options. Honda, which already sells a hybrid version of the Civic, plans to offer a hybrid Accord this fall. And other automakers, eyeing all those frustrated Prius seekers, will soon follow. The word seems to be out: Gas-guzzling is passe.
2004 TOYOTA PRIUS
BASE PRICE: $20,510
GAS MILEAGE: 51 mpg highway, 60 mpg city (considerably less in cold weather)
COOL FEATURES: Hybrid-electric power plant; laboratory-style power flow meters; touch-screen climate and audio controls; optional keyless electric-start system
This story appears in the February 23, 2004 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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