2009 Toyota Prius (World's First 100 MPG Car!)

drfill

If you think the 2006 Toyota Prius hybrid (pictured) is popular, wait till 2009, when Toyota reportedly will bring out a 100-mpg version.

Ultra-Green: Radical 100-MPG Toyota Prius in the Works for 2009
Date posted: 04-12-2006

TOKYO — Expect something amazing from the next Toyota Prius — like fuel economy that pushes past the 100-mpg barrier.

Due in two years as a 2009 model, the next Prius is set to be an evolution, company sources say. The hybrid will retain the same basic 1.5-liter hybrid drivetrain. But Toyota is now on a mission to do two things: drive the economy ratings skyward, and cut the associated costs by 20-30 percent.

DrFill

drfill

Will they cut prices 10%? Bring it in under $20k?

DrFill

jchan2

And will they build lots of them so the line for them won't be so dang long?

drfill

They better build 200k of 'em!

Imagine if they dropped the price under $20k!

DrFill

jhknight

Long overdue! about 30 YEARS overdue! Who's holding back the mpg? see this; http://www.wanttoknow.info/carmileage

jhknight

actually it seems very strange that the US is not only allowing the Prius but also subsidizing it, even with an oil president? and this after the Reagan administration (bush holding the strings?) in 1984 slapped an import tarriff on Japanese cars not wanting the competition from the likes of the 1984 Civic CRX which got 70mpg highway to "hurt" U.S. automakers? this could only mean the world is finally truly running out of crude.

jim1462

It is my understanding that Honda will also introduce as a 2009 model Hybrid that replaces the Insight (dropped after 2006),and gets better mileage. Any of you guys known anything regarding the new Honda Hybrid?

rockylee

Dr. fill have you heard anything more on the 100 mpg wonder ?

Rocky

benjaminh

It's expected to get up to 80 mpg in the city, and may even have solar panels on the roof:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4212545.html

sdricke

Wow! The Solar Panels are a really nerdy feature, but uh, look really close, and that front end looks like it came straight off a Lamborghini Gallardo, albeit not quite as wide. SWEET!

scottsheck

Don't get your hopes up too high about the solar panels. That's complete wishful thinking. I highly doubt a car company would risk putting solar panels on a car since it could easily fail due to the elements. Any accident, rock hit, scratch, etc. would render it useless. And to protect it from these things would most likely cost or weigh too much.

Also, solar panels are not yet that efficient enough to justify risking these potential problems.

You'll likely see a plug-in option before you ever see solar panels on a car.

alpacino

The most fuel-efficient cars in Europe all have fuel efficiency over 64 miles to the gallon, which translates to 27 kilometers per liter. The car which tops the list is the Citroen C1, followed by the Toyota Aygo, Renault Clio, Citroen C2, Fiat New Panda, Toyota Prius gasoline hybrid, Citroen C3, Vauxhall Corsa, Peugeot 206, and another model of the Vauxhall Corsa. Many of these cars are available in other parts of the world including Africa and Asia, where a high premium is placed on gas efficiency as well.
In the United States, the top 10 most fuel-efficient cars have efficiency ranging from 30 miles per gallon to just over 60 (12 kilometers per liter to 25 kilometers per liter). The Prius released in the United States is less fuel efficient than the European Prius, as are the Volkswagens
so you can see that 100mpg is not that much.Most of the EU cars have 64 mpg and I am talking about cars with normal engines ,not hybrids.

If America starts to import EU cars like "Peugeot,"Renault"Skoda,Fiat,Citroen I think this will destroy your car makers but will make your life much better.
Why US car makers keep making not so good fuel efficient cars?When it is possible?
See this:

http://cars.rte.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=684376

PEUGEOT
http://www.peugeot.com/en/default.htm
CITROEN
http://www.citroen.com/CWW/fr-FR
FIAT
http://fiat.com/cgi-bin/pbrand.dll/FIAT_COM/showroom/selectModel.jsp?BV_SessionI- D=@@@@1834191029.1185316951@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccccaddlifljieicefecejgdfiidgnj.0&ca- tegoryOID=-1073761346

RENAULT
http://www.renault.co.uk/CurrentRange.aspx

SKODA
http://new.skoda-auto.com/COM/Pages/Home.aspx

eldaino

freaking rules.

to answer someones question about the hybrid from honda...its not really a 'replacement' for the insight as much as it is a brand new car that is not based off another model like the civic or accord hybrid...it WILL be an original exclusvie hybrid like the prius and insight before it.

if toyota does bring out a prius that pushes 100mpg, i don't think there will be any way to make it less than 20k.

the new honda hybrid is GOING to be slotted underneath the civic hybrid, which means it would have to be about 3k less...totally making it less than 20k. (to start at least)

nippononly

of development of a plug-in Prius seems to be moving along nicely...latest word I heard is that they are aiming for a range of 8 miles at no more than 30-35 mph, running ENTIRELY on electrics. That means it uses no gas at all during the week if your commute is less than 8 miles. That's INFINITE mpg! :-)

They have the recharge time down to 3 hours for this version too, on 110V house current.

drfill

an EV Mode for 25MPG limit for 5 miles, without plug-in. For stop-and-go traffic.

DrFill

mackabee

This looks to me like a step backwards. Wasn't this the reason electric cars never took off? :confuse: You had to plug them in. So I don't get it. Who drives less than 8 miles? I think this is a bad idea.

Mackabee

nippononly

Well, it runs just like a regular Prius the rest of the time. Think current Prius with tweaks to the programming allowing it to run longer and at higher speeds on electric-only, so that you can potentially make that morning run to work without ever firing the gas engine. (As long as you have a short commute, at least the way it is presently.)

Several companies are now converting the existing Prius model to 100+ mpg plug-ins for $4-6K. If they can do it for that much investment, imagine how much less it might cost from a volume carmaker!

mackabee

Ok. I get it now. It's just the same as the current Prius but it will be modified to run on electric power longer?

Mackabee

nippononly

MUCH longer. And of course, these companies currently modifying the Prius don;t offer a 150K battery warranty the way Toyota does!

But results seem to have been pretty good so far. The only downside is the modified Prii run slower than the regular ones because they are programmed to run as much as possible on the electrics only. Toyota, I believe, is aiming to make its 100 mpg Prius perform to the same parameters as the existing 2004+ model.

david911

A photoshop of the next Prius. Looks better than the Hybrid X concept.

http://auto-future.blogspot.com/2007/09/2009-toyota-prius-iii.html

drfill

Before the Concept. It won't look like that.

DrFill

3earnhardt

Hey guys! I'm enjoying the info you're putting up on the forum here! If you do a Google search of: 2009 Prius hybrid, and scroll down to 2009 Prius-Spy Report there is a picture of what the 2009 Prius is going to look like. Is this the real deal DrFill?

drfill

It's just an idea. Don't bet the farm on it. No one knows.

And yes, I am!

DrFill

3earnhardt

I've read and heard many different MPG ratings for the new Prius. What is the realistic MPG going to be? If it's 80-100 MPG Toyota won't be able to build the new Prius' fast enough!

drfill

Don't expect anything over 60 MPG.

I would consider a 20% increase quite an achievement! :surprise:

I'm sure they have a similar target, based on a percentage.

With a redesign in 2009 (model year), expect Ions to get here as a mid-gen upgrade for 2011. That's part of the reason they pushed the redesign back, was to make provisions so the new Ions could just be dropped in, without having to redesign the car.

DrFill

3earnhardt

So what is all the hoopla about the aftermarket companies that are providing Li-ion battery packs for the Prius now. They supposedly jump the MPG ratings up to nearly 100MPG. Is that untrue? Or is it just the hypermilers that are pulling off 100MPG with these new Li-ion battery packs? The batteries cost anywhere from $3000-$5000 though? Could a motorhead like myself install one off these aftermarket battery packs? How about the Hybrid Camry, do you know much about the future of that car? Thanks.

drfill

You can do pretty much anything you want to the car, but will you back it with an 8-year warranty? Like the other Toyota Hybrid powertrains?

Anybody who is altering the powertrains of their cars is taking a risk. That Toyota isn't ready to subject their owners to. Toyota has to be very careful. They have a reputation, money, lives that they are responsible for, globally. :surprise:

Toyota doesn't seem to feel they can stand behind the durability, or safety, or these batteries. Sony has had a similar finding for their laptops.

All I know about the Camry Hybrid is it sells about 10-12% of all Camrys, and Toyota is going to move ALL Hybrids into less mainstream styling, and more into unique styling cues that will seperate a hybrid from other Toyotas.

Toyota sees a direct correlation between the styling of a hybrid, and it's sales. A hybrid that looks like an ICE model isn't stimulating demand, at least not like Prius.

Civic, Camry, Highlander have done well, but not in the Prius league in recognition.

DrFill

nippononly

One of the reasons that aftermarket folks can get the Prius to 100 mpg is that they change the software programming to drain the batteries much more deeply. This works in the same way as the batteries in your laptop, in that the more deeply you drain them the less useful life they will have before they need to be replaced.

Toyota has chosen not to do this so that it can guarantee 10 years and 150K miles from the battery packs in its hybrids. In the R&D for the next-gen Prius, it also is worried about the heat issues from the Li-ion batteries if they are constantly being charged and drained deeply.

For these reasons, it is not yet at the point of being able to mass-market (and warrant, as the Doc mentions) a 100 mpg plug-in Prius. I suspect the folks who have modified theirs to do this will find themselves spending all their money from gas savings on new battery packs far more frequently than owners of "regular" Priuses. But that is just speculation.

And hey, Doc: that next Prius BETTER do at least 20% better! That would only be 55 mpg for anyone who's counting. Personally I would like to see a 25% improvement, to an even 60 mpg. And just like a cell phone, I would like the factory option, maybe for $1000 or so, of an extended battery pack (and suitable software mods) that will get me 75 mpg! :-)

Heck, if you can pay $1500 for a lousy NAV system that a map will substitute perfectly well for, why not an extra 15 mpg for the same price?

mackabee

Here's a "spy pic" of the 2010 redesigned Prius. A bit camouflaged but you can see the Prius name and logo:
Mack

vegito1971

That is hilarious!!!!

gsdacre

It gets me mad when I see all this junk about who will be the first to build a 100 mpg vehicle. If people would only wake up and travel a little, even on the internet. In1994, I test drove a standard production vehicle that was abe to get 100 mpg. That was in 1994. Location Europe. Vehicle type, Daihatsu diesel, 4 door 4 seat standard production 1000 cc turbo charged diesel. The same year it was offered to the USA and was rejected...
Today Kia has a 1.3 ton cab over diesel truck which is being sold world wide [except the USA]. This truck, fully loaded at 65 mph gets an astonishng 35 mpg
Ask them why it is not sold here in the USA...By the way, Briggs and Stratton are now importing the Daihatsu engine and using it on theit tractors...