Some spy shot are coming out of the new Prius with an interesting gas door that looks big enough to have plug-in potential. The 2010 Prius is not due out until Jan 09 at NAIAS, so these shots may be the 2009 facelifted Prius. The much larger front end makes me wonder if they bumped the 1.5 to a turbo 1.8L like earlier reports claimed. While in camo this looks like a mildly facelifted Prius, but if you look closely at the details there are some extensive differences throughout the entire car... Not going to replace my Insight anytime soon though...
The current front end looks better than this one,this is less distinctive.
I also noticed the large fuel flap seems to be partially covering the original one which can just be seen slightly on the left side. Does not look like a factory mod but a tack on one by someone that has modded into a PHEV and probably where the plug goes. Maybe they had a go at the front as well to customise it.
I think the new Prius will be noticeably different from the current one,this car is not.
Plug in? What is the benefit of the plug in? Isn't the distance on electric only very short? How much power would be sucked into the battery to go that short distance?
I have been charging my Insight nightly to roughly 8 - 10 Ah's. For the first 10 - 12 miles I can get 85 - 135 mpg, consider this is stop and go driving where I would be lucky to get 55ish mpg before. An 8 - 10Ah charge equates to about 1700 - 2000 Watt hours, or a 12 - 15 cent electric bill nightly. Consider gas costs about 7 cents a mile for 55mpg @ $3.80 / gallon.
Plug in allows you to store more energy in hopefully a larger battery. Early reports indicate Toyota is shooting for up to 8 miles of electric only and up to 62 mph.
That 8 miles is tops... or could you ween more out of it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by uhtrinity
I have been charging my Insight nightly to roughly 8 - 10 Ah's. For the first 10 - 12 miles I can get 85 - 135 mpg, consider this is stop and go driving where I would be lucky to get 55ish mpg before. An 8 - 10Ah charge equates to about 1700 - 2000 Watt hours, or a 12 - 15 cent electric bill nightly. Consider gas costs about 7 cents a mile for 55mpg @ $3.80 / gallon.
So at 8 miles (the max distance), we'd be seeing roughly 7 cents * 8 miles = 56 cents. Cost is 12 to 15 cents a night... or saving about 41 cents a day. Saving $2.05 a week... or just less than $110 a year. Granted, this would be sweet enough because I have to go uphill about 20% of my commute to work... so doing all electric there would help the mileage a lot.
It'd be nice if they could get 15 miles out of the battery though. 8 miles, it's something, but even where I'm located, in the middle of a bunch of stuff, 15 would get me everywhere. Possibly even back on electric alone. Battery regen work on electric only? I live in a valley and have hills that are good chargers. What'd also be good if the car could go all electric on large downhills.
I run two batteries and charge to roughly 10 Ah, so my heavy assisted range is closer to 12 miles. Luckily my daily commute is under 10 miles, so it works out. This is with my Insight that does not do pure EV like the Prius can.
The current front end looks better than this one,this is less distinctive.
Yes it's "distinctive" but in a "my girlfriend got run over by an ugly tree" sort of distinctiveness. The large, slanted headlights are extremely ugly in my opinion. I no more like the looks of the Prius II, then I would want to date Ugly Betty.
As for the MPG:
I fully expect, using the U.S. test cycle, the overall MPG will go *down* especially on the interstate (where I spend 99.9% of my time). I think moving too larger engines is a huge mistake. Instead Toyota should be aiming to deliver 70-80 mpg using smaller engines. (Ditto other manufacturers.)
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MY FUTURE CAR (one of them):
- Civic Diesel
- VW Jetta (60mpg)
- Geo Metro(60mpg 3-cylinder)
Electric TRoy wrote....Yes it's "distinctive" but in a "my girlfriend got run over by an ugly tree" sort of distinctiveness. The large, slanted headlights are extremely ugly in my opinion. I no more like the looks of the Prius II, then I would want to date Ugly Betty.
Car design/looks has no relation to female's of the human species.....Just because the Prius is different to what you have been conditioned to expect a car to look like is no justification for this kind of remark.
The Prius is attempting to become a one box structure with a slope beginning at the front right up to the top of the windshield and on over to the tail.
Aerodynamic demands have probably dictated a lot of the detailing which you will see more of so get used to it.
Its one of the truely new,distinctive and futuristic looks on the road and will be copied.
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2010 Prius
