How much fun can an eco-car be?
Are the Toyota Prius Prime and BMW i3s more green than go, asks Richard Bosselman.
BMW takes pride in providing ultimate driving machines; Toyota is committed to making its cars far more interesting to steer.
Which is all very well for the mainstream and performance fare they each present. What about their electric cars: with these, does environmental responsibility come at the expense of driving enjoyment? Time to find out.
Toyota Prius Prime
Starting with the world’s bestselling hybrid, swapping in a bigger battery and adding plug-in functionality; Toyota has certainly followed an expedient route to create the Prime and it shows in the price. At $48,490, it’s become the country’s cheapest electric car.
But is that the only compulsion for buy-in? History shows Prius practice to date is to reward sandal wearers over hot shoes. Is it a sign that the biggest prize of significance so far won by the latest is to be named 2017 World Green Car of the Year?
Maybe not. For sure, the Prime objective is to put the planet ahead of play – and how. You’re getting a car offering a claimed 63 kilometre range (I say, from my experience, it’s more around the 50km mark) as a purely electric vehicle, a weighted combined fuel consumption as a petrol-electric hybrid of just 1.0 litre per 100km, and CO2 emissions of just 22 grams per kilometre.
But you’re also getting a Prius on the new Toyota Next Generation Architecture, a platform that has brought the Camry out of the supplies room.
The Prius ride is definitely more decent now – the choppiness that blighted the car previously seems to have been totally countered – and, yes, it’s more assertive through a bend, settling nicely, expressing not only plenty of frontend grip but also some actual steering feel.
Regrettably, that’s it. Two restrictive elements – one, the kilo count, the other the drivetrain – conspire to keep it out of the red zone.
To be fair, it’s pretty challenging to have anything but a constantly variable transmission when running a powertrain this complex.
But the weight thing? An interesting eight headlight nose (which suggests Prime’s designers took their cue from the 1990s Alfa Romeo SZ) and different tail-lights notwithstanding, the Prime is in profile at least pretty much a doppelganger for the regular hybrid. But it’s fat-shamed on the scales; the big lithium-ion battery that doubles output capacity from 4.4 to 8.8kWh adds – ahem –
150 kilograms to the kerb weight. Regal around town ride is a positive side-effect – off-line tardiness and a doughy dislike of sudden, rapid direction changes are also prices paid.
BMW i3s
It’s 1967 and BMW design director Wilhelm Hofmeister, in celebrating with stylists Georg Bertram and Manfred Rennen, the successful release of their 2002 – a car that will go on to become a brand ‘‘great’’ – are musing what their wee wonder will morph into in, say, 20, 40 even 60 years’ hence.
Today we know. The M2 could be considered a direct descendant. But perhaps, also, the weirdest, wildest looking small car Munich makes.
Four years into its lifecycle, the i3 is very likely still the BMW many brand fans don’t know how to take; partly because it looks so oddball, mainly perhaps because it points to a less fossil fuel-reliant destination they don’t really want to chart a course to.
So why not take an i3 for that ride? Not least now the car that woos with extreme fuel saving also now woo-hoos with something that adds extra sportiness and sizzle to its spec: So, the i3s.
How racy can a power tool be? Surprisingly. The motor of the pure electric edition run here is reconfigured to put pep ahead of parsimony and there’s serious reengineering; a 10mm lower and firmer suspension, a 40mm wider track, 20mm-wider tyres on 20-inch wheels rather than the usual 19s.
While it doesn’t exactly smoke the bags, the energy on getaway is pretty decent. Tesla-philes might like the world to think Musk mobiles alone can slay supercars, but in fact all EVs that facilitate 100 per cent of their torque from the second you first press the accelerator pedal will smash off F1-style. This i3s does, and it does it well.
Roadholding is seriously good for something so short, tall and square. Yes, having its battery set sited under the floor helps, but beyond that it does truly lend a more hunkered down feel with a lower centre of gravity, and that is further enhanced by new springs, dampers and anti-roll bars. A Sport setting that tweaks the power assisted steering and throttle response is a novelty item, yet fun to use, too.
For all that, the biggest surprise from the chassis changes is something that shouldn’t really have occurred: improved ride quality. I’m not complaining. That the ‘‘s’’ delivers actual compliance now and is quieter, too, is weird yet appreciated.
Catches? The i3s captures a supercar similarity in requiring recharging every 200km and, though electricity is cheap, the time cost (even fast-charging takes 40 minutes) is a pain. Plus there’s the sticker shock of this being an $85,900 ask, rising to $92,640 for the options-enhanced example on test.
So what do we think?
In a perfect world, you’d have a car that blended the best of what both offer. So, the vivaciousness and verve of the BMW with the value of a Toyota that still wears a lab coat rather than a tracksuit.
Realistically, the i3 is never going to get cheaper; budget isn’t BMW’s game.
However, you could imagine it not being beyond the realms of possibility that Toyota, especially given the interest in sports utilities, has the wherewithall to work up a CH-R or RAV4 (also TNGA-bound) with this drivetrain and, hopefully, a better transmission. That would make this world a far more interesting place.