Toyota Prius Alpha Hybrid (Parallel Imported)

Glad to own a new and first Hybrid car. Many new users in Singapore had wrong perception of hybrid car indeed. Let me share with you personal views: 1. Quiet car. The car started already but you can never hear any sound from the engine. It is using Electric to start. When it requires more power, the engine will generate the power and here come the normal engine sound. 2. Petrol Consumption. When we rented the same model in Hokkaido in 2016, our family of 4 adults, (Total weight more 360kgs) consumed 23km/L of petrol for a total 1600km travelled. It is very good petrol saving. My new model in SG, average the same too for the first 10,000km travelled. The highest record achieved was 30km/L, moving very slowly in fact on normal road. We pumped full tank twice a month. Each can last for 920km. 3. Stering. It is light and not stable, as compared to my previous car Estima. Must be careful not to speed. Safe if go beyond 100km. I usually goes max at 90km only. 4. Power. It can be very powerful if you shift to Power mode. It surges like Audi. Econ mode is the best. EV mode is only for fun. 5. Battery. We had a friend who owned a second hybrid car after his 10 years on the first one, showed that there is no issue on battery. Toyota is advance in Battery powered Hybrid car and not to worry. Can last for more than 10 years. If not, taxi company will not buy the whole fleet. Their usage is more than double. In Japan, Hybrid cars are very common and everywhere on the road. Petrol car is out-dated. Hybrid or Electric car is the one. My two sons 183cm / 185cm tall enjoy sitting thru the journey always. No complaints. 6. Space. Never use it for 7 pax as our family members are all giant size. Third row is usually flatten and use for more storage. Can take up to 3 x 28" Luggage + other bags easily. Huge space behind. 7. Thanks to my friends who share more good feedback on Hybrid cars. We will never look back on Petrol / Diesel car anymore. For those still considering it, you can try renting a Hybrid car and feel it first before you make the decision. Never regret buying it.... Read More

I have driven the car for 2 months and I have been getting about 17 kilometers per liter fuel efficiency. The car is lakcing im the power at only 98 bhp and I feel that this is due to it being the prior generation of the Prius engine and operating system. This is not the model which you see on the roads that have the new Boomerang tail lights. Because it's only parallel imported it depends on your parallel importer if they give you good stuff like the DVD players that can pick up telephone calls. If not the interior has many hard Plastics. It is actually quite low interior value for money compared to the excellent Korean cars nowadays. In terms of the drive, it is not great. The battery and hybrid system gives 17 kilometers per liter but the actual specification is 27 kilometers per liter. I think that can only be achieved if you drive 100% On the highways but for me it is 70 City driving 30 highway driving In terms of handling the car is not very rigid but you can't expect more from a family-oriented car unless you buy much higher end models from the European mix that have 7 seats The third row that is supposed to seat the six and seven passenger is actually reasonable but relatively squeeze. Adults can sit for short rides but if driving to Malaysia it could be a little bit cramped. If you fall the back seats down you have a lot of boot space and that's the advantage All-in I think if the are the power to about hundred and twenty BHP at least it will be a much better car and if they make it more rigid... Read More