[gikigill]

My lawnmower makes more torque than the Prius. I simply ride it whenever I feel like driving a Prius.

 

[ag8908]

My lawnmower makes more torque than the Prius. I simply ride it whenever I feel like driving a Prius.

 
I've actually measured its acceleration, and if I press the "Power" (for extra horsepower) button on my Prius, it will go 0-60 in under 9 seconds, which kills most british sports cars from the 60s era.

 

[gikigill]

Don't get me wrong, I like the Prius for its tech but specs aside, its boring as death to drive. My company gives these out to lower-mid mgmt and I drove one for a while for work purposes. Fell asleep quite a few times.
The HUD was cool though.

 

[ag8908]

Don't get me wrong, I like the Prius for its tech but specs aside, its boring as death to drive. My company gives these out to lower-mid mgmt and I drove one for a while for work purposes. Fell asleep quite a few times.
The HUD was cool though.

I hear you. What you need to do is lower the tire pressure to smooth out the ride, move the seat back a bunch so you have tons of room, and drive with an absolute lead foot, possibly with "pwr" always on. It can be funner that way. Not saying it will be as fun as high end sports cars, but it'll be fun.

 

[Hutnicks]

From a performance standpoint the 911 Turbo is quite exotic, anything with a 0-60 that tickles 3 seconds is well beyond the norm. In appearance it turns heads as well, though not like an Aston Martin or Ferrari. It's more about degrees, but I'd call a 911 Turbo an exotic sports car, but not a supercar, much like a Lotus Exige.

Speaking of, today I ordered an Exige S V6, because I heard that they're soon going to leave the US market (again), and possibly stop selling it all-together.

I know that buying one car is a whole lot of "too little, too late" but aside from wanting one for a long time now, I want them to know how much I appreciate them as a car company and what they've done for the whole industry. I'm not sure if this marks the last days of them as a production car builder and turning their focus to only making race cars, but it wouldn't be a great stretch to think so. Anyhow, I meant to do this earlier but I've had things to do.

 
Probably not a bad bet on the Lotus from a collectors point of view. I suspect that in order to finance the race program they will sell off the production car rights (again) to another manufacturer. That may well be a better turn in the long run for the marque itself. Not crazy on the styling of the current offerings and would really love to see them return to the euro design model.
Speaking of which, how is the Elite coming along?

 
As much as that might objectively be true to a certain extent, I don't think you're going to get any love here.
 
I'd much rather be going full-blast 90MPH in an AC Ace than in a Prius. One is just so boring, and I bet you can guess which one it is.

Now Now. Lets not start the objective vs. subjective thing going here.

  Well all wind up doing solitary in the soundsciencefiction arena

 
Did TG ever take a run at the Prius? I'd love to see that sucker on a track being reamed silly.

 

[ssrock64]

   
Did TG ever take a run at the Prius? I'd love to see that sucker on a track being reamed silly.

I don't know if they ever did a proper review, but they ran a Prius flat-out on a track with a BMW M3 keeping page behind it to prove that the M3 would get better gas mileage under conditions of speed because it wasn't being pushed as hard.

 

[gikigill]

It doesn't get reamed, just buzzes and gets on with it.
My biggest joy on getting promoted was that I wouldn't have to drive it anymore. Now I just bill for driving my own car.

 

[Muinarc]

Lol beat me to it! I was commenting on that TG BMW vs Prius episode

 

[Hutnicks]

Lol beat me to it! I was commenting on that TG BMW vs Prius episode

Well there are electric econoboxes and there are electic econoboxes
 

 

[billybob_jcv]

Hey Magick and Co.!

Long time lurker, very occasional poster. Have a car question and thought this would be the place to ask. About 2 years out of college now and have enough saved up to where I'd like to buy something I wouldn't be worried to take on long distance drives.

Looking for something in the high teens, low twenties that is fun to drive and has affordable maintenance costs/doesn't break down as long as you get routine check ups. Totally open to the idea of used cars as well if that makes a difference. I've been looking at a Mazda 3 because I enjoyed a recent test drive immensely, but wanted to ask a more knowledgable crowd about other options that I might have missed.

Ahhh - someone in my price range...

In that price range there are lots of options if you go used. You might want to look for a BMW 3-series. Another option would be a Mini - I think they are a blast to drive. Look for a low-mileage Cooper S with a manual transmission. Also, there's nothing wrong with a Mazda or Hyundai - they both make tight little cars. The interiors are nothing to get excited about, but you can't expect supple leather and a nav system for under $20K...

 

[ag8908]

Ahhh - someone in my price range...

In that price range there are lots of options if you go used. You might want to look for a BMW 3-series. Another option would be a Mini - I think they are a blast to drive. Look for a low-mileage Cooper S with a manual transmission. Also, there's nothing wrong with a Mazda or Hyundai - they both make tight little cars. The interiors are nothing to get excited about, but you can't expect supple leather and a nav system for under $20K...

Please save yourself the aggravation and get a nice Prius.
 
Use the trick I described above to make it fun to drive (move the seat back, let air out of the tires, press the "power" button to get extra HP, and floor it at every opportunity).
 
Edit: In case anyone is wondering, even driving it like this I get 37-40 mpg, down from 55mpg if I drive it in a more boring way.

 

[gikigill]

ag8908, you know what's the best part of driving all my cars is:

No rituals involved in getting decent performance. Floor the throttle gently and we are in business. No messing with tyres, seats or silly buttons to get a car to do what it should be doing anyways besides as someone who suffered from bronchitis and was thankfully pulled back from the brink of asthma, the Prius reminds me of my previous self. Asthmatic, weezy and tired. Weird analogy but I identify with it.

 

[Magick Man]

Ahhh - someone in my price range...

In that price range there are lots of options if you go used. You might want to look for a BMW 3-series. Another option would be a Mini - I think they are a blast to drive. Look for a low-mileage Cooper S with a manual transmission. Also, there's nothing wrong with a Mazda or Hyundai - they both make tight little cars. The interiors are nothing to get excited about, but you can't expect supple leather and a nav system for under $20K...

Used Miata too, or even a Z3 or S2000, if you can find one that's mostly unmolested. Another is an E30 or E28 M, they're getting scarce but still pop up for <20k. Gotta say no to the Prius, simply the worst handling car I've ever driven, just awful. If gas mileage is key then a used Fiat 500 could be an option.

The P1800S needs much work, but is put away, it might be a while before we get to it. The Elite is fine as is, runs like a top with its tiny 1.4L with dual Webers. Of course it doesn't have power anything but it's so light it doesn't matter, it's very precise and sharp little car. We're not doing anything to it, they detailed it and checked the fluids, but it's perfect as is.

 

[gikigill]

The Abarth 500, thanks Magick for reminding me.

 

[Hutnicks]

Used Miata too, or even a Z3 or S2000, if you can find one that's mostly unmolested. Another is an E30 or E28 M, they're getting scarce but still pop up for <20k. Gotta say no to the Prius, simply the worst handling car I've ever driven, just awful. If gas mileage is key then a used Fiat 500 could be an option.

The P1800S needs much work, but is put away, it might be a while before we get to it. The Elite is fine as is, runs like a top with its tiny 1.4L with dual Webers. Of course it doesn't have power anything but it's so light it doesn't matter, it's very precise and sharp little car. We're not doing anything to it, they detailed it and checked the fluids, but it's perfect as is.

At that price range you'd be looking at an older Z3 and I'd have to caution about the maintenance costs. They were not the most reliable cars BMW made your other 2 picks are a better choice. S2k for sure the Miata absolutely. Might also want to have a look round the Toyota stable in that zone. I'd venture Subaru, but once again maintenance is the killer there.