The article written by Chris Woodyard is a review on one of Toyota's arguably most recognizable vehicle, the Prius, published on USA Today. For the last twenty years, Woodyard has been reporting for USA Today. Throughout his career, his articles focus on vehicles, whether it be through his occupation or blog, “Drive on”. His focus for this review is the most recent release for Toyota’s Prius line – the 2017 Prius Prime. The purpose that Chris Woodyard had for this article is to convince consumers that the 2017 Prius Prime is the ultimate decision to make when purchasing a plug-in vehicle. The reasons include its high MPGe, low price and different features. While his review is mostly positive in nature, he conveys an honest and unbiased view …show more content…
Early in the review, Woodyard states that the Prius Prime can drive “up to 25 miles on battery power alone” (Woodyard 1). Once the Prius Prime reaches that range, it will begin to drive like any other Prius hybrid. On the other hand, Woodyard informs its readers that the Chevrolet’s Volt is the main competition for the Prime, but also includes that Tesla is opposition as well. To illustrate this point, Woodyard states the Chevy Volt can drive more than double than the Prius Prime at 53 miles before reverting to using both engine and battery power to function. This is otherwise known as hybrid energy. However, the Prius Prime compensates for the lower miles on absolute electric driving by reaching 133 MPGe or Miles per Gallon equivalent. Chris Woodyard explains this as “…the government’s rating to try to help consumers understand how much energy an electric or hybrid is using”. Prius Prime’s MGPe is the highest of any plug-in vehicle (www.priusprime.com). Meanwhile, the Chevy Volt scores only 106 MPGe (Woodyard 1). Other plug-in vehicles tend to reach even lower than this. For example, Woodyard claims that the Tesla Model S reaches 99 MPGe. By stating that the Prius Prime achieves the highest MPGe throughout its competition, it shows that the Prius Prime is one step closer to being proven as the best choice one can choose when purchasing a plug-in …show more content…
Before any extra charges are added into the equation, the starting price point for Prius Prime is approximately $27,000. On the other hand, the Chevy Volt starts at $33,320. Woodyard credits the higher electric-only range to the increased price for the Chevy Volt. Unfortunate for the Prius Prime, Woodyard disagrees with adding different accessories, whether it be through technological additions or physical adornments. Before Woodyard starts his perpetual list of negatives, he specifies the large eleven-inch screen that “didn’t thrill”. Reasons included that while the screen proved to be informing, it left a lot to be desired. Woodyard illustrates that when the air conditioning is turned on, the screen barely shows the information. He believes that an entire tab for the A/C on the screen would be more beneficial than what he states is “a little sliver of a tab”. It can be inferred that if the screen were improved upon, Woodyard would be more welcoming of it. This is also seen when he explains that the “…center screen helps the cool factor in the premium version [of the Prius Prime]”. However, none of his arguments would influence one’s thoughts and decisions of the Prius Prime if he didn’t use any