Yes everyone can test drive an official 2010 PHV just like we did at Green Drive Expo 2010! All you have to do is go to your local Toyota dealer and get into a 2010 Prius, force charge it, put it in EV mode, and then drive it around the dealers lot. Just don't go above about 15MPH and don't leave the lot. That is the exact experience you would have received if you test drove an official Prius PHV at Green Drive Expo. It was nothing special at least to me. I would have liked to seen how it performed out on the highway but what you going do?. So don't feel bad if you did not get to test drive it. That is all.
Except that you can do 60mph, not 25mph. Getting up to 60mph on the onramp in EV mode is quite the experience for those of us who never got to drive the EV1 or RAV4EV or Ranger EV.
Jon, I'm guessing he's saying they didn't allow them the opportunity to experience it at 60 or a longer drive. That is a shame, though they'd never have kept 2 of them charged with longer faster drives.
Yes Evan is right. It was a small test course in the parking lot. The max speed would be 15MPH if you were lucky and really floored it and the distance would have been around .1 miles or less.
For those who have never driven an EV or experienced stealth - in other words, the entire non-hybrid population - it might have been a treat. For all registered GDE members, it was an experience of minimal impact at best. Though I suppose we have to keep in mind that of all the places they set up this course with these vehicles, GDE is the exception.
It wasn't a small test course for the Toyota test drives, it was smaller than my high school driver ed run-over-the-cones course. Now Ford had a prototype of a PHEV Escape Hybrid charged up to drive. Through the parking lot and into the streets. Test acceleration till you scared your Ford ride buddy. Go up to 50 MPH if you dared on the streets. A real test drive. And a very nice ride too. Wayne
In case anyone reading this who wasn't there thinks "oh it couldn't have been that bad; they're just messing with us" I can assure you I had one of the worst imaginable test drive experiences. First, they put me in the wrong car. They didn't know I wanted to drive the PHV and put me in a regular Prius. I didn't figure it out until the end of the two minute test drive. Then I complained and we switched to the plug-in. The only differences I could determine was that it was a bit quieter and there was a big green light on the dash. I didn't get a chance to ask any questions at that point. They wanted me to talk to someone off to the side (Garrett), who could show me what all of those displays mean and how all the controls worked. Once I got out of the car, everyone tried to immediately steer me directly to the computer survey table instead, including Garrett, until I asked for him by name. Then he did show me some stuff and that was somewhat informative. Next it was on to the survey table, where you enter your comments on a laptop computer. The interface was not working very well for me at all and I had to go through it at least 5 times to actually give Toyota a little piece of my mind (while turning down the chance each time to give them my email and phone number). The difference between this "test drive" and high school driver's ed was that instead of the instructor giving me a failing grade, I gave Toyota a failing grade. Incidentally, when I was driving the regular Prius, they tried to make it into a game to see how much I could use the battery and avoid using the ICE, which, as we all know, is kind of messed up. Oh, well. I did get to test drive a Ford Fusion Hybrid, and it was a pretty good little drive through the parking lot and into the street for a few blocks. It was especially good because I brought along a friend who owns one and showed me how to set the displays for most interesting information.
That is a pity... It was the merge onto the highway that impressed me (because I'm not used to accelerating anything harder than a light foot, let alone accelerate to 60mph in pure electric).
