New Prius goes ‘way beyond being ‘science project’
There were three of us, sharing a 42-mile test loop on the highways surrounding Orlando, Fla., in order to evaluate the new 2010 Toyota Prius. We were on rural and suburban roadways, and our speed and routine varied considerably. We drove with a bit of care, hoping to get optimum fuel economy, and when we got back, a Toyota official located the proper button to get the proper meter to read our proper performance.
We had gotten 59.3 miles per gallon during out test run of the restyled hybrid sedan. That wasn’t good enough to win the media high-mileage contest – somebody on the previous wave had gotten 77 miles per gallon, and we figured he must have paid for a tow – but 60 miles per gallon is sensational in its own right. The Prius EPA figures claim 50 miles per gallon in town. We proved that is definitely attainable.
The new-for-2010 Prius is improved in virtually every characteristic, befitting the third generation of the car that has sold 700,000 units in the U.S., and 1.2 million worldwide, in its campaign on changing the way drivers drive. When you shop for a hybrid, make sure it has a small engine and can attain high gas mileage numbers. The beauty is that the Toyota system could be adapted to any and every model.
The new car is 90 percent all new, and will also make it an easier transition for skeptics who haven’t yet accepted that the electric energy generated by the gas engine in a hybrid is cleaner and more potent than the power from the gas engine. As if to underscore that, Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive system has advanced its battery-pack technique to gain power while losing weight and size, while the interlocked system remains uniquely the same – a concept many journalists and even major auto magazines apparently continue to misconstrue.
The gasoline engine in the Prius, or any Toyota/Lexus hybrid, will NEVER turn a wheel on the vehicle by itself. It only serves to send power through a generator, which generates the electricity to power two electric-drive motors that propel the car. The explanation at the press briefing was slightly confusing, because in EV mode, the Prius is all-electric up to 25 mph and can go that way for about one mile, with the hybrid batter working through the electric motors. In ECO mode, power is combined with input from the gas engine increased and working with – but still through – the generator for smoother throttle and power adjustments in congested traffic. And in Power mode, increased power allows more punch for easier access to freeway entries and added sportiness.
While many apparently think that means the Power mode is gas-engine only – as it is in Ford’s system – it isn’t. I simply asked the Toyota engineers, at the press briefing, and they acknowledged that even when the gas engine is used at its maximum, it still is combined with electric and runs through the generator.
The 1.8-liter gas engine is free of accessory belts, because Toyota designed it to make the power steering electric, and, coupled with improved suspension design, it allows the new car to have a much improved on-center feel compared to the fairly numb feeling of its predecessor.
As for moving the Prius, the system has a much smaller inverter, but as for the power, Motor Generator 1 (MG1) is lighter, smaller and more effective in starting the car and controlling the gas/electric coordination; Motor Generator 2 (MG2) is also smaller and has higher RPM capability; the battery pack itself is the same as in the current car. That, in fact, is the 10 percent of the renovated car that is not all-new.
If you don’t believe we have to switch from driving large-engined, hefty vehicles for everyday use, check the news for the daily crisis reports about General Motors, and how the government has had to make shocking moves to prevent what it feels could be a total collapse of the company – bailout loans or not. We also have to change our mindset, because it’s become trendy for large-vehicle drivers to treat hybrid drivers with scorn, for being tree-huggers, and “environmentalists†– a word gas-hog drivers spit out as if it’s the lowest form of wimpism.
It tells a lot about U.S. society that we bought a steady stream of Prius vehicles until gasoline spiked at $4 per gallon, and then we bought every Prius and Honda Civic hybrid available and created a waiting list. However, when gas prices subsided in recent months, we quit buying the Prius and other small, high-mileage cars. Of course, we quit buying any cars. Thankfully, we didn’t return to buying enormous trucks and SUVs, because there is an excellent chance gasoline prices will rise again as summer approaches.
Some cynic challenged Toyota officials because hybrid sales dropped more than the norm; obviously, because they had increased by a greater margin during the gas hike, they had more to decrease when the prices went back under $2.
In a capsule, the most significant improvements to the new Prius include: three selectable driving modes, EV for low-speed electric operation when fully charged, Eco for normal traffic, and Power for more performance; it has standard 4-wheel disc brakes, traction control, antilock brakes with electronic brake distribution; it has a solar-powered ventilation system that can exchange interior air via the energy from a solar panel’ in the roof; remote pre-air-conditioning ; lane-keep assist to warn if you wander across the lane-dividing line without signalling or turning the steering wheel; intelligent parking assist with an amazing hands-off system that parks itself, just like the big Lexus LS600; dynamic radar cruise control, which can set and maintain a safe interval behind the car ahead; and a precollisin system that warns you if an object is in the way ahead, and will prepare for a panic stop and even apply the brakes if necessary.
These are major upgrades, although it hit me that maybe one of the reasons that Toyota wasn’t ready to divulge the price of the new car is that some of those features are also quite expensive to install. For the first time, the Prius is available with a sunroof, and adding the solar panels means the interior will be ventilated by solar energy without using the air conditioning. Holding the remote button will activate the air-conditioning, which will run off the hybrid batteryfor three minutes, or until the door is opened.
Toyota has done a fantastic job creating the hybrid Prius and placing it high on a pedestal , and it has done an even more fantastic job of marketing to Prius, in its hand-to-hand combat with Honda’s top hybrids. So good has Toyota’s marketing been that many people know the Prius as the only true hybrid available, which helps explain why the Prius accounts for 50 percent of all hybrids sold.
By comparison, many consumers don’t even know the Honda Civic comes in a hybrid version and is extremely competitilve with the Prius for performance and fuel economy. Honda is about to bring out its new Insight, a smaller, sleeker 4-door hybrid sedan, although I’ll have to test one to convince myself it will get the same fuel economy as I’ve been able to attain with the Civic Hybrid.
Toyota has now come out with an entirely new and revised Prius, and while it retains the distinctive angular shape, it is improved from virtually every angle. Its roofline now reaches its peak 4 inches rearward from where the current car hits its highest spot, improving rear seat head and legroom slightly but significantly. The grille is smaller, but the lower airscoop under the bumper is larger and more boldly styled. The side has a slightly altered silhouette, and it comes to a higher, flatter rear deck.
Underside trays improve the aerodynamics and disperse the passing wind with strategically located splitters. It is longer and wider, but by less than an inch in both cases. Careful wind-tunnel testing has delivered a Prius with a sensational 0.25 coefficient of drag.
It seems odd that the Prius has, of all things, a larger gasoline engine, but the 1.8-liter, which has a valve-altering Atkinson Cycle system, has more torque and works less strenuously on the highway.
It might be quicker, it handles better, and for certain it will get better fuel economy, and the Toyota marketing machine is charging full-speed ahead.
{IMG2}
I like the existing Prius, angular shape and all. Honda, which took a different path since being first on the U.S. market with the Insight 2-seat hybrid, makes the Civic Hybrid as a model of the Civic, so it looks the same as other Civics. Whether it’s better to make your hybrid look mainstream, like the Civic, or distinctly difference, like the Prius, is open to debate. But without a doubt, the new Prius is better than the current model.
The last time I drove a Prius for a week’s test in Minnesota, I was able to coax it up to 43 or 44 miles per gallon. I know owners who have gotten better than that, but I was driving it on my normal swing that includes driving in both the Twin Cities and Duluth, as well as the freeway drive between the two cities and back. I got 47.7 miles per gallon with the Civic Hybrid, but the fact that it is comparatively unknown comes under the heading that if a hybrid car is capable of 50 mpg, but nobody knows it exists, does it really happen?
The Prius was introduced in its latest form at Orlando, Fla., home of Disney World. Which was fitting, because Fantasyland seems a great regional attraction for a car that runs on both a gasoline and electric power, with the gas engine rejuvenating the electrical energy while you drive.
The lone drawback to the Prius, and the Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive in all applications, is in extreme cold, if the car is left outside. Power from the batteries can drain to zero, and the gas engine will start up, but will not move the car. Similarly, if anything happens to the electric system, the car won’t budge and you need a tow.Thw Honda system will keep running on the gas engine even if the eectric system fails. But in either vehicle, the electric power system is pretty much bulletproof.
Living with a garage at home and at work, and avoiding lengthy outside parking when it’s 20 below in Minnesota, can lead to a long and profitable relationship with any Prius. In 2008, 1,734 Priuses were sold in the Minneapolis area, which is 8 percent of the size segment, and makes it second highest in penetration in the Upper Midwest to Madison, which sold enough Priuses to make up 14.2 percent of midsize sales. In Chicago, by comparison, Prius sales were 5.6 percent of the segment.
The third generation Prius is better than ever by comparison. Which is saying something. As Toyota small car manager Ed LaRocque said: “The Prius has become an icon, and has proven that it’s not some kind of science project.Ââ€
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
For those who want to keep up with John Gilbert's view of sports, mainly hockey with a Minnesota slant, click on the following:
Click here for sports