SA Footy

This article is from Cairns, yet apparently Prius Taxis are now a common site in Melbourne and Sydney, it is suggested that these vehicles are actually cheaper to run and maintain than the standard Falcon & Commodore Taxis.

I hope the management of Ford and Holden are not going to continue to sit on their hands whilst Toyota continues to dominate the market with technology like this......

To crush myths and rumours about the Prius’ lacklustre battery life and overall performance, Toyota’s marketing arm has shed light on a brilliant story about the rising number of Prius Taxis getting around.

Up in north Queensland a Cairns-based Toyota Prius taxi has recently clocked up 550,000 kilometres, the highest kilometres recorded for an Australia delivered Prius to date.

According to black and white taxis (the car’s owner), in the 3 years of service the Prius has cost half the fuel and maintenance outlay compared to other conventionally-powered taxis in the fleet.

So far there are 32 Prius taxis in Cairns with another eight already in order. Each Prius averages around 200,000km per annum.

“We’ve have had almost three years great service from it, we obviously track our costs very closely and our reports show the Prius consumes half the petrol of other vehicles in our fleet and also half the service costs - it is quite amazing.” Taxi operator Graham Boundy, who owns Black and White Taxis in Cairns, said.

What about the battery life you ask? How does a Prius manage after 550,000km on its original battery? Not that badly! The car in question had a battery that recorded a “low voltage reading” which led to its replacement at 500,000km, Toyota says another Prius taxi also had its battery replaced after 350,000km. These are the only two Prius cars in Australia to have had a battery replacement to date.

500,000km? 300,000km? Both big numbers, when an average Australian car only travels 15,000km/year. We do, however, have to question the affect of time on the battery as well. Something not considered in this case.

“When you consider that the average car in Australia travels approximately 15,000km per year, the 350,000km Prius has crammed over 23 years of average driving into a couple of years, and the 550,000km Prius has fitted in 36 years into three years, which is astonishing.” said Vic Johnston, Toyota’s manager of hybrid sales and fleet strategy.

Love it or hate it, the more familiar the general population become with hybrid cars, the more the demand increases. Toyota is currently having supply issues in overseas markets delivering an unprecedented number of Prius cars to customers.

“When you consider that the Prius taxis in Cairns are generating half the fuel and service costs of other vehicles in their fleets, the Prius is significantly cheaper in whole-of-life costs. That’s why the taxi fleets use them, and continue to order them - they are simply less expensive to run and maintain than conventional vehicles in their fleet.” Johnston said.

http://www.caradvice.com.au/14639/toyot ... -champion/

I was in Cairns recently and noticed how many of these were in use.

How can you get a family of 4 and luggage from Airport to hotel in one of those?

I haven't noticed any taxis around my part of Melbourne that were not Holdens or Fords, but I rarely go into the CBD.

Back in the late 80s some Taxi owners were given Magnas to drive as a test vehicles.
All expenses were paid by the Magna makers
The drivers had to drive around on Petrol and not LPG as the only expense
I guess the owner drivers didnt like them as they stuck with Fords and Commodores after the tests

Who remembers the taxis of the early 80s ?
Some of them were Kingswoods
Drivers from that era will say that the Kingswoods were one of the most durable of all cars

Sojourner wrote:I hope the management of Ford and Holden are not going to continue to sit on their hands whilst Toyota continues to dominate the market with technology like this......

They have no incentive to change at the moment, while the government continues to subsidise the industry largely indirectly through exorbitant import taxes. I don't for one second agree with abolishing it altogether, but it should be looked at with a view to make car production in Australia more competitive.

mal wrote:Who remembers the taxis of the early 80s ?
Some of them were Kingswoods
Drivers from that era will say that the Kingswoods were one of the most durable of all cars

I don't remember them as taxi's as I was only around from '81 onwards , but my first car was a 1975 HJ GTS 4 door Monaro. It was the greatest car I've ever owned and will take something pretty blody special to top it.

It had done 290,000kms when I bought it and 320,000 when I'd sold it. It never missed a beat and LOVED destroying my back tyres (somehow ). !he only problem I could see with still ahving it would be paying $1.50 per litre. Even back then I'd chew through $60-$70 per week.

Booney wrote:I was in Cairns recently and noticed how many of these were in use.

How can you get a family of 4 and luggage from Airport to hotel in one of those?

That question reminds me of the elephant joke Boonie. how any elepnants can you get in a prius, A = 4 two in the back and two in the front.

I know, it is a very old joke

mal wrote:Who remembers the taxis of the early 80s ?
Some of them were Kingswoods
Drivers from that era will say that the Kingswoods were one of the most durable of all cars

When i was about 5 or 6 in the late 80's there was still a Valiant taxi getting around the Glenelg area.... i always looked forward to getting in it rather than a boring ef falcon or vl commodore.

XF Falcon mate, the EFs came out in the mid 90s.

Well folks I confess that my daily driver to work is a 1977 HX Kingswood and its easilly one of the best cars I have ever owned - along with the 1972 HQ that I had for 8 years.

I have had the HX for 18 months and I have had to change the oil and filter once and shock horror have had to replace a bottom radiator hose..... Starts first go in the morning, the red 202 motor just goes on forever!

I do remember the HJ-HZ Kingswood Taxis as well as the CM Valiants that used to get around, often the Valiants were sky blue ex cop cars which would be worth a fortune now if you could find one - as hard as that is I know, yet to a 1970's car enthusiast like myself the Chrysler by Chrysler 2 door is the literal pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - I love Holdens and Ford of that era of course, yet there is something about both the sound of the Chrysler starter motor and the note of the 360 Hemi that works for me!

Booney wrote:I was in Cairns recently and noticed how many of these were in use.

How can you get a family of 4 and luggage from Airport to hotel in one of those?

I used one to and from the airport in Cairns recently and the size of the boot actually surprised me. Mind you there was only myself and my girlfriend but we had a fair bit of luggage and there was still plenty of room in the boot.

On a side note, all of the seats were covered in clear vinyl, good for cleaning spew off but it wouldn't take too much heat or humidity to stick to the seats

Booney wrote:How can you get a family of 4 and luggage from Airport to hotel in one of those?

Forget it. You can hardly shuffle two people in a cab these days. I catch taxis a fair bit - and often too/from airports, and it staggers me the number of times the boot goes up and lo and behold an LPG tank consumes most of the luggage space. It annoys me no end because 4 of us with 3 days of travelling luggage each squeezed in to a cab in Melbourne as a result. Imagine a family waiting in a school holiday queue and getting a cab with no boot space?

I caught a Prius taxi in Darwin recently, but haven't seen any anywhere else as yet.

For me, the driver is the most important issue with taxis these days. There is a real problem getting to easy places - eg city to Greenhill Rd, city to Fullarton Rd, - cabbies are literally asking for directions to these significant places and also using GPS to get there! Ridiculous.

Squawk wrote:For me, the driver is the most important issue with taxis these days. There is a real problem getting to easy places - eg city to Greenhill Rd, city to Fullarton Rd, - cabbies are literally asking for directions to these significant places and also using GPS to get there! Ridiculous.

there are only 3 dirt tracks in Mogadishu, so go easy on the poor somalis!