I got to test-drive my brother and sister-in-law’s new Prius today. (It’s probably more hers than his, since most of his drive time is in a more macho Dodge Cummins 2500). They finally got it a couple of weeks ago after about a 6-month wait. The technology is intriguing. There’s a lot of interesting engineering under the covers; it’s not just as simple as bolting two different engines together. As a driving experience, it’s, well, it’s different. It takes some getting used to.
Start with the “key”. It’s a little gizmo that looks like a typical remote car-door opener, maybe a little smaller. It slides into a slot on the dashboard. Except it doesn’t really have to. It just needs to be somewhere close enough for the car to sense its presence. You can walk towards the locked vehicle with the key in your pocket, and the doors will unlock.
With the key in the dashboard, or in your pocket, press the “Power” button on the dashboard. And, magically, absolutely nothing happens, until somebody tells you to put your foot on the brake when you press the button. Then the car comes to life, sort of. All kinds of things light up on the dashboard, including this way cool display in the center that has several functions. Probably the neatest is the power-flow display which displays the wheels, battery, electric motor, and gasoline engine, with arrows showing which way the energy is flowing.
The “gearshift” is sticking out of the dashboard, although it doesn’t really shift any gears. It’s really just a switch that tells the drive system which direction you want to go, forward or reverse, and the computer makes sure that the wheels end up turning in the correct direction, regardless of what all the other components are doing.
Press the shift lever down into “Drive”, and it springs right back to the middle position. For someone who’s used to the crisp engagement of Toyota’s slick 6-speed manual, it’s a weird feeling. You just have to have faith that the car knows you want to go forward now. Actually, there is a dashboard indicator that displays the drive direction, but I’m not used to looking at the dashboard to figure out what gear I’m in.
Take your foot off the brake, and gingerly press the accelerator. Magically, noiselessly, the car starts to move smoothly forward. But is it really driving, or just coasting? No noise from the engine. But the arrows light up on the display showing power flowing from the battery to the electric motor to the front wheels.
Picking up a little speed, the gasoline engine joins the party. More arrows light up on the display. Coasting downhill, the arrows start pointing the other direction, showing the wheels turning the motor to generate electricity to charge the battery. The MPG display reads 99.9.
It’s cool, it really is. But, on the way home in my Celica, feeling the vehicle respond, hearing the engine talk to me as I downshifted through curves, I wondered if I’m ready to give up the macho feeling of being in control of the vehicle as I drive. The hybrid system definitely takes a lot of the feeling of control away from the driver.
Of course, I suppose in one sense it’s a lot like a Macintosh. I scoffed at them when they were first introduced. It can’t be a real computer if it’s that easy to use. Don’t replace cryptic commands with cute icons and mouse clicks. Now I’m a believer. Can I ever be a believer that technology can replace much of the human effort in driving? Well, obviously, I know it can, the question is really whether I want it to. Maybe I’m just not ready to admit that driving is just another point-and-click task.