Comments on: Hints of the Third-Generation Prius

By: DinahSleet

DinahSleet — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 16:28:59 +0000

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By: Brent

Brent — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:10:33 +0000

When hillary is president eh, and 200 a barrel, nope . Sorry but you’re a poor prophet. By the way nice, Obama 08 comment, proving further rednecks who love trucks are a bunhc of biggots scared of anything but liars that their ignorance excepts without question.

By: Raffy Long

Raffy Long — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:22:19 +0000

Nice concept. The car really looks good. The body kits were perfectly made and its body color really suits the ride. If you have this kind of ride you just Shut up and Drive.

By: magnaman

magnaman — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:42:50 +0000

OK, I don’t get it. To be fair I do not own a Prius but drive a hybrid Highlander. The milage (~30) way exceeds my old V8 4-runner (~17). Anyway, here’s my question to anybody who has an answer: What is the use of a plug-in for a vehicle that has an electric range of only 5 miles? My Highlander insists on running the engine any time its cold (I assume the Prius is the same way) which seems to be plenty of time to charge the battery in the morning. Seems like a range of 50 mi. at highway speed is what would be required to make plug-in desirable. Will Li batteries do that?

By: cp

cp — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:46:50 +0000

I live in Austin, Texas and within the month a local TV station ran a story about the City of Austin and a test program for the plug-in Prius. They have been on the streets of Austin for a couple of years and are getting 100 miles to the gallon. The few lucky city employees that get to drive them love them and would buy one in a minute, just like most of us. Do not know how soon they will be on the market or if they ever willl be, but nice to know at least they are being tested.

By: Prius on the Horizon

Prius on the Horizon — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:01:16 +0000

My first real entry to the high MPG thingy was a 1982 Plymouth Horizon Miser which EPA'd at 40 mpg highway. I got 40 mpg and sometimes as high as 44 mpg on my hour long commute, mostly on two laners at 40-45mph. The Miser was geared to turn 30% fewer engine rpm as the regular Horizon due to the transaxle ratio of 2.7:1 instead of 3.4:1. The drivetrain was VW with a 1.7L VW 4 cyl and a 4 speed standard tranny (properly shifted and driven, way superior to an automatic and about even with the best of the CVT's...but you have to know pulse and glide, etc., and they save your brakes) At 40 mph, the engine could just hold that speed at 1200rpm: hence 40-45mpg. That was 25 years ago...not much improvement in 25 years IMHO.

We have a 2008 Prius (Silver and charcoal) on order and "got in" before the Toyota price increase. The wife is switching from a 15-19 mpg city/hwy 4WD/AWD SUV to the Prius. She went through $240 for premium gas in 4 weeks and she works only 2.5 miles from the house! Perfect candidate for a successful hybrid swap.

Point of my post is this...most of the cars being sold today are geared for too many RPM at a given speed...designed in the era that it had to accelerate hard to be worthy of your $$$.

Now with fuel costs rising fast and catching the majority in a real $$$ crunch, here is some sage advice based upon years of long commuting:

Never exceed 1/3 of the engine rpm under any circumstances except for accident avoidance.

Never pass unless its something really slow like farm equipment.

The optimal speed is 40 mph with 95% of the vehicles on the road. That puts the vehicle in its highest gear while the engine turns an rpm barely above an idle. Fewer RPM is less CC's or Cu.In. passed through the engine per minute. This saves gas.

For most vehicles, if you are doing the freeway above 1/3 of the engine's operating rpm, you are most certainly wasting fuel. Some cars will do 60 mph at 2000 rpm, and older pickups at 2500 rpm!!!

Change your range of vision to at least 500 to 1000 ft ahead. Most people drive looking at the 100ft right in front of them. That helps to avoid potholes and squirrels, but 1000 ft ahead allows you to plan so you can save gas. Coast to all stops so you use a minimal amount of braking.

Raise your tire pressure (don't exceed maximum PSI) and reduce gradually to a level that is tolerable. Most cars have tires that are soft and waste fuel. A 20% increase above the recommended manual PSI will save gas and decrease tire wear. The car will roll and roll so you will see why you need to look 1000 ft ahead.

Most modern cars with A/C do better at 40 mph and above with the a/c on and the windows rolled up. The aerodynamics is messed up with windows down. At 40 mph and above, most cars have HP and torque higher than needed to maintain speed and it is therefore wasted. Running a/c at a speed of 45mph generally will save gas over having the windows down due to aerodynamic improvement without using additional fuel for the a/c.

If you must have a truck for your occupation, get one with a 5 or 6-speed transmission. Driven properly, they save gas in 5th or 6th gear and actually get into the twenties! Seen in done with a Toyota Tundra with a 6-speed. The motor will last forever and ever turning so slow.

By: Alibaba

Alibaba — Fri, 23 May 2008 18:41:48 +0000

Where shoud i start ? u.s. car makers fell a sleep once again only producing gas guzzling vehicles and un reliable vehicles compared to foreign vehicles. the reason they are in financial trouble is buy there ignorance not to stay ahead of the competition with smaller more economical cars. instead the want to build large suv and trucks and sell $ 4000.00 naviagational systems. then now they want the u.s. or tax payers to bail them out. for us being a smart and leading nation we did not learn of the oil crisis in the 70′s and we laughed when brazil started to invest in sugar and corn to make alcohol for there vehicles to run on. today brazil is not dependent on foreign oil. they have more than enough sugar and corn to sell us to make alcohol or ethanol but the u.s. charges a tax on the importation because of our farmers that are now ripping us off with high prices and shortages of our food staples. and yes george bush and other administrations are to blame for this bush has not done nothing than profit from this and cause the situation to be worse. we should stop sticking our noses in business that does not concern us.

By: just yada

just yada — Fri, 23 May 2008 02:53:57 +0000

I commute to work five days a week, 50 miles round trip PER DAY, in a 31/mpg Scion tC. Love the car, as a hatchback, it’s a practical and sporty looking car for me. When researching hybrids, all I find are, NO offense to anyone, ONLY butt-ugly ‘old people’ four doors. The Prius hybrid (at least it’s a hatchback) is the ugliest thing I’ve seen since the Civic hybrid. If driving hybrid means one has to give up the looks of a coupe, maybe I’ll cut something else in the budget to keep my dignity. Just a thought.

By: Priusmaniac

Priusmaniac — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:28:49 +0000

I have a Prius right now that needs a change but it won’t happen if there isn’t a plug on the new one even if I have to keep the old one for extra years.
The leaks are not very reliable since a larger engine of 1800 cc doesn’t make sense from the moment there is a continued increase in hybridization towards more motor power, less engine power, more batteries and more EV driving. A Prius III without a plug is the perfect recipe to transform a best seller into a wet cracker. All the Prius drivers I know are waiting for the plug and won’t buy a new Prius if it doesn’t come with the plug or at least the Plug-in option.

By: Uhura

Uhura — Sun, 18 May 2008 22:13:17 +0000

Here's what I've gleaned from many different sources:

The 2009 Prius will have a minor facelift.

The 2010 Prius will be the 3rd Generation with new body, etc.

Toyota will grow the Prius brand to 3 different models, one larger than the current model, one the same size as the current model and one smaller than the current model.

They will also grow the Lexus Hybrid line.

The 'Lithium Ion Plug- in' concept is not up to par and Toyota does not want to rush this to market and risk a literal melt down or explosion ... would be very bad for the brand.

They will perfect a plug- in hybrid and get it to market, in all their hybrid models sooner rather than later.

Great site, keep it up !