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When three automotive journalists collectively can't figure out how to start a car, the prospects are a bit worrying, at least for the magazine they work for (that is, the one you're holding). Rohin said 'I started it in the morning, but I don't remember how.' I gave it a go, with no result. Aneesh, meanwhile, was highly amused by the goings-on and was busy making videos on his cellphone, no doubt to post on YouTube. To cut a long and embarrassing story short, I sat in that car scratching my head until I discovered that you have to step on the accelerator to fire up the IC engine, which cuts out after warming up, and then step on it again to get it moving - at start up and very low speeds, the Prius switches to its electric motor, because said motor is far more efficient at providing the sort of torque needed than an IC engine. I reveal to you these details of my ignorant bumbling because many Prius first-timers are likely to do exactly the same thing – no, really.
The Prius needs no introduction, by now. It's the world's largest-selling hybrid, and it was the best-selling car in Japan last year, bar none. Last heard, it was the 13th-best selling car in the USA, where it's a favourite of the Hollywood brigade, and now it's here, in a country that could most certainly use vehicles that emit less noxious fumes. I'm not going to go into too much detail about its hybrid technology, except the basics. There's a 1.8-litre, 100 bhp, 14.5 kgm petrol engine, turning an 80 bhp, 21 kgm electric motor (there's actually two, one for propulsion and the other a generator) which charges a 36 bhp, nickel-metal hydride battery, for a combined hybrid system net output of 134 bhp. The hybrid system monitors when it's appropriate to use IC power and when the battery should kick in, and you can manually select options as well. That's really all you need to know. As for us, we drew up a long list of the things you wouldn't (and shouldn't) do with a Prius, and then promptly went and did some of them.
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