No, the Toyota Mirai isn't a portable bomb! Hydrogen cars have taken massive leaps in terms of efficiency and safety, but they're still quite expensive to purchase. We wanted to see what a hydrogen car would be like to drive and live with, so Paul decided to test the 2020 Toyota Mirai fuel cell car. We take it for a spin, plus explain how the hydrogen technology works and why it's safe in today's cars. Watch Paul Maric's review to find out what he thought!
Read the full review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-reviews/2020-toyota-mirai-hydrogen-review/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=review&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=single-car-review
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior: 01:28
Interior: 03:22
Infotainment: 04:44
Features: 05:23
Practicality: 06:19
Hydrogen Explained: 08:31
On the Road: 11:52
Verdict: 15:35
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#toyota #review #mirai #hydrogen #ev @toyotausa @TOYOTAglobal @toyotaaustralia
Read the full review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-reviews/2020-toyota-mirai-hydrogen-review/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=review&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=single-car-review
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior: 01:28
Interior: 03:22
Infotainment: 04:44
Features: 05:23
Practicality: 06:19
Hydrogen Explained: 08:31
On the Road: 11:52
Verdict: 15:35
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!
Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!
CarExpert:
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Paul Maric:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric
#toyota #review #mirai #hydrogen #ev @toyotausa @TOYOTAglobal @toyotaaustralia
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul Stobb. Don't close the review just because the car behind me has stickers all over it and it looks like a melted Prius.
00:07 This is the Toyota Mirai and there is a much, much, much better looking version of this car coming in 2021.
00:14 But what I wanted to do today was have a look at the Mirai because it's hydrogen-powered, it's something different.
00:20 It's not just a conventional internal combustion engine.
00:23 Now, the reason this is covered in stickers is because these aren't on sale in Australia
00:28 and they're currently on trial between Toyota and the government.
00:31 So, we've borrowed one quickly to take it for a bit of a spin to see exactly what it's like.
00:35 Now, this car, if it was for sale, would be priced at around $115,000.
00:41 That is a bucket load of money and that's because of all the technology under this car
00:45 and I'll explain that shortly in a bit more detail.
00:48 And it's estimated that Toyota loses about $80,000 for each time they sell one of these cars, which is absolutely crazy.
00:55 This competes with cars like the Honda Clarity, which we also don't get in Australia,
00:59 and the Hyundai Nexo, which we're about to get in Australia.
01:02 That'll be the first hydrogen car on sale in Australia.
01:05 Today, we're going to do a detailed review of the Mirai to see what this hydrogen tech is like.
01:10 Now, you can skip ahead to other parts of this review by using the time codes on the screen there.
01:14 Or if you're on YouTube, just scroll down below and you'll see the chapters where you can skip ahead.
01:18 If you haven't done so already, I'd love it if you could hit the subscribe button and also press the bell icon.
01:22 That's going to tell you every single time we publish a review on what looks like a melted car.
01:27 There are six colours available in the Mirai range and no, none of them include all of the stickers all over this car.
01:33 And no, this is not a sponsored review.
01:36 Let's talk about the styling.
01:38 It's interesting. I actually don't hate it.
01:40 It's so futuristic looking and I think that's what you need with a car like this that has such a futuristic drivetrain.
01:46 This was released around 2015, so while it looks futuristic now,
01:50 set yourself back about five years when this first came out and it was sort of pretty full on.
01:55 So big LED lights here in those separate clusters.
01:58 You have LED daytime running lights down the side and a full LED indicator.
02:03 If we jump down the front here, you can see these air dams here and here.
02:07 This is used to drag oxygen in for that fuel stack.
02:10 I'll run through that in a little bit more detail later on.
02:13 And of course, if you've seen our other Toyota Hybrid reviews,
02:16 you can see there is blue inside this logo, which signifies there is an electric drivetrain in there somewhere in your Toyota.
02:23 So keep an eye out for that if you ever want to know if a Toyota is hybrid or not.
02:28 Jump around to the side of the car.
02:29 So coefficient of drag of 0.29.
02:32 This needs to be able to cut through the air with as little drag as possible.
02:36 Have a look at this strafe down the side here as well.
02:38 I don't know. It's just a really, really fascinating design.
02:41 You have eco-friendly tyres here. How big are they? They look tiny.
02:44 2.15s, 55 profile on 17-inch alloy wheels.
02:49 Fuel cell badge here.
02:50 Let's travel down the side of the car.
02:53 So it's 4.9 metres long, which is pretty big for a car like this.
02:57 It feels much bigger than a Prius. 1.8 or so metres wide.
03:01 And the back is equally as funky.
03:03 Check this out. You've got this LED strip that runs along the back there with integrated reverse lights,
03:08 LED indicators and then LED taillights as well.
03:11 So let me know in the comments below, what do you think of the design?
03:14 I find it interesting. I don't know if I love it, but it is definitely interesting.
03:17 It stands out. A lot of people check the car out.
03:20 I'm keen to see what you think. Let me know in the comments below.
03:22 Let's talk interior. And just like the outside, this interior is very space-age.
03:28 There's a whole lot of angles and all this sort of stuff going on.
03:31 Similar to the Prius, you'll see these screens for the driver hidden under the hood.
03:34 Generally, once you design a car, it takes like five years for it to go from pen to paper
03:39 to actually designing and seeing this car in production.
03:44 So when you think that this car was released in 2015,
03:47 this was probably designed in 2010, where stuff like this was still pretty cool.
03:51 Today, it kind of looks a bit dated and doesn't look very modern.
03:54 And if I'm honest, it doesn't feel like the interior that belongs in a car with a price tag this high.
04:00 Obviously, the price is so high because of all the technology,
04:02 but I think it would have been nicer to have something a little fancier inside.
04:06 Anyway, so let's see how soft-touch, the soft-touch dashboard is
04:10 and some of these surfaces are using our durometer.
04:12 It's a hardness tester that measures from 0 to 100, where 0 is soft and 100 is hard.
04:17 Let's see what it's like on that dashboard.
04:20 So-so. And we'll try our center armrest now as well.
04:26 That's okay as well. So there you go. What about build quality?
04:31 Yeah, look, it feels pretty good. It's kind of built like a tank.
04:34 It's all sort of really put together nicely.
04:36 And I think this car has a lot of padding, a whole lot of noise insulation as well
04:40 because they want to make it as quiet as they possibly can inside the cabin.
04:44 So let's look at infotainment. This is the last generation of Toyota's infotainment system.
04:49 It is still used in some cars, but the new one replaces this.
04:52 So I'm not going to go into too much detail here because there's no real point.
04:55 If you do want to see a detailed review of the new infotainment system, you can click up here.
05:00 But let's have a look at this. So navigation, you know,
05:03 this is all the stuff that we hated about the old infotainment system.
05:06 It's a bit slow and just fiddly to use. In terms of audio, you have AM/FM, DAB plus digital radio,
05:13 but there is no smartphone mirroring. So no Apple CarPlay, no Android Auto.
05:17 And then you have the ability to add apps into the screen as well.
05:21 But really, there isn't too much to talk about here.
05:23 What about the other features that you get here? There really isn't too much to talk about.
05:27 You have dual zone climate control. And the interesting thing is, have a look at this screen.
05:31 You get like a screen that shows you the climate control settings,
05:34 but then you have these touch sensitive panels on either side to go up and down with the temperature
05:40 on this whole piano black board with Mirai fuel cell written on it.
05:44 So I guess that is kind of cool the way they've set that up.
05:46 And then this traditional gear lever, similar to what you'd find in a Prius.
05:49 There's an auto dimming rear vision mirror.
05:51 You have a wireless phone charger in here that I'll show you in a second.
05:54 One USB port with an auxiliary outlet. In terms of safety technology,
05:59 you have radar cruise control, blind spot monitoring.
06:02 There really isn't too much to talk about.
06:04 Now, what does the key look like for the Mirai?
06:06 Here it is here. Pretty basic. You have lock, unlock, boot.
06:10 And then on the other side, Toyota. It's a proximity sensing key.
06:14 So you just keep that in your pocket, grab the door handle to unlock it,
06:17 and then use the start button to kick things over.
06:19 Okay, let's talk practicality and we'll start off with storage.
06:23 Phone doesn't actually really fit anywhere. There's actually not a great deal of storage here.
06:28 You do have that wireless phone charger which lives in here.
06:31 Doesn't actually fit my phone with a phone cover on it, which is a little bit disappointing.
06:36 What about bottles? Bottle fits in there and then you have a couple of teeth to hold it in place.
06:41 And then you have bottle storage in the door as well with room either sides for bits and pieces.
06:47 You have sunglass holder up here. No extra storage there,
06:51 but you do have this glove box which holds the manual and a couple of other bits of paper.
06:55 What about comfort? The seats are really comfortable. They hug you in nicely.
06:59 They have electric adjustment. There's memory as well.
07:03 Steering column is electrically adjustable too. Steering wheel sits nicely in the hand.
07:07 In terms of reach, everything is easy to get access to. I would have just liked to see a head-up display.
07:13 So second row of the Mirai. How much space is there here?
07:17 So the seat is in my normal driving position. You can see here there isn't a great deal of knee room.
07:22 I have no toe room. My feet are just literally wedged into there. Headroom, pretty disappointing as well.
07:28 So this is a big car, but there just isn't much space back here.
07:32 What about storage? So under here you have a 12-volt outlet.
07:35 You've got air vents. Center bin here for putting bits and pieces in.
07:40 You'll notice this is just a two-seater in the back.
07:43 And you have bottle storage. That fits in fine.
07:46 There's no storage inside the doors. So this is the only place your bottle can go.
07:51 What about the rest of it? Well, two ISOFIX points on these two seats.
07:55 Matte pockets, but really not a great deal to talk about back here.
08:00 Yeah, I'm sitting on a hydrogen tank, one of two. So that's why it's a little cramped.
08:04 The fuel stack is just ahead of us and there's no access to the boot because the battery pack is right there.
08:08 Let's talk cargo space. You have 360 litres available to you.
08:13 It's not a big boot, is it? So beneath the floor you have a tyre repair kit.
08:17 So no spare tyre and that's about it. There's not too much more to report in there.
08:22 Let's see how our bags fit. Let's see how the suitcase goes.
08:28 Okay, that fits fine as well. So there you go. 360 litres of cargo space.
08:32 Now before we go for a spin in the Mirai, I wanted to run you through, I guess, just the basics of how this car works.
08:38 It may look like a normal-ish looking car on the outside.
08:41 Everything in here looks normal. But what powers this car is slightly different.
08:46 And I'm still learning all this stuff myself. So I'm going to keep it as simple as I can and hopefully it makes sense.
08:51 And it's right. Let me know in the comments below if it's not.
08:53 So what is powering this car? It is hydrogen. This is called a fuel cell car or a hydrogen car.
08:58 Those two terms are interchangeable. But where does it come from?
09:01 Well, it comes from here. H2O, water. There's a process called electrolysis where you split hydrogen and oxygen to separate the two.
09:11 And later on that comes back into this car to create a chemical reaction to create electricity.
09:15 So you're kind of double handling it, but I'll get into that in a second.
09:19 So we take the hydrogen out of this water and store it separately.
09:23 Getting the hydrogen into the car requires a high-pressure process because cars use hydrogen gas as opposed to liquid.
09:30 And that means when you pump it into the car, it happens at high pressure and needs to be stored at high pressure.
09:34 That's why the two hydrogen tanks in this car operate at a crazy 10,000 psi.
09:40 They're lined with carbon fiber to help save weight and there's enough carbon fiber around those tanks to build a supercar.
09:47 Now 10,000 psi, I want to put that into context for you.
09:51 This is a can of unhealthy soda drink. When this is refrigerated, this has 30 psi of pressure.
09:57 The tanks in this car operate at 300 times the amount of pressure than this can of drink.
10:04 So you can see why it is so volatile and important to get this technology right.
10:09 So what happens from there? Once the hydrogen is in the tanks, it gets transported through to a fuel stack.
10:15 That is where the chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen drawn in from the outside takes place to create electricity.
10:22 Now this is kind of double handling because you use electricity to split hydrogen from oxygen to start with,
10:28 and then you have to use it again to create this electricity once more.
10:32 The electricity created from the fuel stack then powers a motor generator.
10:36 That motor generator can send torque to these wheels, but it also runs a generator for the batteries.
10:41 So you can store up to 1.6 kilowatt hours of energy within the batteries and that's similar to a Prius.
10:46 It means you can access that for torque boost later on. You can also charge it when you use regen braking as well.
10:52 So that is the system in a nutshell.
10:54 It's also worth noting that the byproduct of this whole process isn't noxious gases.
10:58 It's actually water. The car will emit 6 litres of water per 100 kilometers,
11:03 but you can manually purge it by hitting the H2O button.
11:06 So what are the disadvantages? Well, the main one is the efficiency of creating hydrogen.
11:11 You have to use a lot of electricity to create hydrogen,
11:14 whereas with a battery-operated electric vehicle, on the other hand, you're simply plugging it into the grid.
11:19 Here you have to use the grid to create the hydrogen and then transport it and then put it in the car.
11:23 So that is why hydrogen cars will make sense when you can use excess power supply overnight to create hydrogen,
11:30 or perhaps use solar or wind energy, because then it's effectively free to create the energy that you're plumbing into this car
11:36 and you don't need big batteries to lug around at the same time.
11:39 And I think over time, as hydrogen filling stations become more of a thing,
11:44 these cars will become popular, especially for people who don't have time to charge
11:48 or perhaps live in a home where plugging up an electric vehicle isn't a practical option.
11:52 So we've hit the road in the Mirai. What kind of power are we talking here?
11:58 It's 113 kilowatts of power, 335 newton meters of torque.
12:04 Doesn't sound like a lot, but keep in mind the car weighs around 1800 kilograms,
12:08 so it's not a huge amount of power, but it's enough torque for a car that weighs this much.
12:14 And that means when you're behind the wheel, it feels pretty energetic.
12:17 Just in its normal driving mode, you can lean on the throttle and it sort of just whisks you away.
12:23 It makes the weirdest sound. It's...
12:27 It's like a distant scream or something.
12:29 It's very quiet and subdued, but you can hear that it's doing something in the background.
12:33 And that means it is good for a 0-100 dash of 9 seconds.
12:39 And this is what that looks like.
12:54 Now, this is a little bit confusing, but one litre of hydrogen is equal to around 3.8 litres of fuel.
13:02 And that means this car has a technical fuel economy of 3.6 litres of hydrogen per 100 kilometres.
13:11 Let's talk about driving range. You have 500 kilometres of range.
13:16 Realistic range, though, if you drive normally, which is what we've been trying to do,
13:21 is around the 350 to 400 kilometre mark, which is pretty reasonable for what is a first-generation hydrogen car.
13:28 The next gen of Mirai is rumoured to have almost 1,000 kilometres of driving range, which is a massive step forward.
13:35 Now, in terms of drive modes, you've got an Eco mode, which just makes the throttle sort of do nothing
13:40 and makes the air conditioning die down.
13:43 I'm more interested in the Power mode. We'll flick that on.
13:45 So, in the Power mode, everything sharpens up.
13:50 And it does some more screaming, so...
13:51 It just makes even more noise. So, the Power mode is pretty fun.
13:56 There is also a BR mode, which is the mode that allows you to generate electricity from momentum,
14:02 and that is plumbed back into that small battery that's occasionally used for boosting you along
14:07 when the hydrogen motor needs a little bit of a kick along.
14:10 These driver displays are interesting. So, you have speed on one side, shows you how fast you're going,
14:15 but in the centre, you have a gauge that will tell you when you transition from Eco to Power.
14:20 That's where you're getting that assistance from, the additional battery pack.
14:23 It's actually quite fun to just keep it in Eco mode, so you can take off as gently as possible
14:29 and waft along nicely without upsetting any of the score gods there that give you a rating out of 100.
14:35 And then you have a whole stack of other menus there.
14:37 You've got your consumption record, further trip computer details, a compass, pretty much anything you want.
14:42 And then at night time, it lights up blue on the left-hand side.
14:46 It's just an interesting-looking display, I reckon.
14:49 Now, the thing that's most impressive about this car, if you look beyond all the tech beneath the skin,
14:53 is the ride. The ride is fantastic. It is just gliding over everything.
14:58 It's no sports car, and I don't think it's ever meant to be that, but if you collect potholes
15:02 and just nasty bits of road out here in the country, it just goes over it with no dramas.
15:07 Out on the highway, it is dead silent in here.
15:09 So all of that money has bought you a lot of noise suppression, so it is very quiet.
15:14 You can't hear any of the engine or any of those components working.
15:18 It is just silent as it wafts along. Visibility is good out the front, the rear, the side.
15:23 You have that blind spot monitor built into the wing mirror.
15:26 It really is hard to complain, and it is just very easy to drive.
15:30 It just feels like a normal car, which is what's important for these hydrogen cars.
15:35 So the Toyota Mirai, from the point of view of just a car, this is perfectly normal.
15:39 It rides really well. It drives just like any other car.
15:42 You'd never know that it has an alternative fuel stack and all this other gizmo-gadgety stuff
15:48 under the bonnet and also in the back here.
15:50 So what about from future sustainability? Hydrogen is really resource-intensive to produce,
15:55 so that's going to be the biggest hurdle for this over something like an electric car or just an internal combustion car.
16:00 But once they start rolling out hydrogen and figure out ways of doing it greenly,
16:04 I think these could really take off, especially in just consumer cars, buses, trains,
16:09 all of those big applications where you're returning to a base and you're easily able to fill it.
16:13 The charging time is much quicker than an electric car as well.
16:15 So I'm excited to drive the new version of the Mirai,
16:18 and I'm looking forward to seeing more hydrogen cars on the road in Australia and around the world.
16:22 Let me know in the comments below, what do you think about this?
16:25 Are you completely against all of this alternative fuel technology,
16:29 or do you reckon stuff like hydrogen has legs once it comes down in price?
16:33 Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
16:35 If you enjoyed this video, I'd love it if you could share it.
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16:40 Press the bell icon so you can find out every single time we drive something new and something fun.
16:45 But until next time, take it easy.