Davrobin

Just adding to the "real life" figures on the fuel consumption debate.... I've had 2 Prius for the past 8 years, driving around 80,000 miles in each, with a mix of motorway cruising and driving around town. The first Prius logged 51.7 MPG over its life. My next Prius averaged 53.8 MPG over 83000 miles. I've had an IS300h (year old) since September, in which time I've covered 5300 miles and averaged 44.8 mpg. Experience showed that the trip computer on the Prius was about 10% over-optimistic (it kept telling me I was achieving 55-60mpg). I completely subscribe to the view that a diesel may be more economical for motorway cruising (my previous car was a Diesel Volvo V40). Also, with the Prius, I found that consumption started to get significantly worse at speeds over 65-70 mph (but, that said, a colleague tried driving the Prius one time and got it up to 105 on the M40 - not to be recommended! - & consumption was still in the low 50's). Comparing the Prius with the Lexus - actual fuel running costs are not massively different - 10.1p/mile for the Prius, 11.2 for the Lexus. As I do quite a lot of business miles, and the company mileage rate for the 2.5l Lexus is about 7p/mile more than for the 1.8 Prius, this is not a problem. The Prius feels a lot lighter and flimisier to drive, BUT I'm finding it a bit irritating that the Lexus doesn't have much storage space for odds and ends (I miss the big centre console and 2 glove boxes in the Prius). I'm also having to get used to not having a reversing camera - though the parking sensors seem to do a good job. As far as braking is concerned, the real trick is not to brake at all but to decelerate in time to stop, or to brake very gently in order to use regenerative braking. re brake noise - what I am finding a bit annoying is the whine from the compressor motor that seems to be charging up the brakes just after I've stopped, or am stuck in traffic!