2004 Toyota Prius

It’s first gallon of fuel cost $1.80. No wonder they’re popular

WOULDN’T YOU know it? Shortly after our millennium silver Prius was mothballed from the MT long-term fleet and mailed back to Toyota, the fuel-sipping lozenge became eligible for California's carpool lanes, sans passengers. For the second time, the Prius is the envy of steaming commuters. First was its hummingbird-appetite for petroleum—and now there's an exemption to prowl our gridlock’s car-pool short cuts without passengers. Would our 50-mile commuters love to see old VIN number JTDKB20U040009448 back in MTs stable? Yet what originally earned this ultimate case of vehicular anorexia entry into our long-term pool wasn't just its attractive habit of giving gas stations the finger. It was the car's breathtaking technology:a perhaps once-in-a-generation leap in powertrain thinking that earned it Motor Trend's 2004 Car of the Year trophy—as well as significant…

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MotorTrend (Digital) - 1 Issue, January 2006

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