From the press release: "The Aqua uses the same 1.5-liter Toyota Hybrid System II engine found in some of the most recent Prius cars, which has returned a touch over 35 km/l or 82mpg in Japanese tests. This will be revised to between 50mpg and 60mpg for the US launch though." Can anyone explain the last sentence PLEASE!? How did it go from 82mpg in Japan to 50-60 here????
A different method of otaining MPG's. Here in U.S. MPG's are more realistic. In Japan I believe the vehicle is driven at very slow speeds with glass smooth dry roads, 70 degree weather, and probably no ETHANOL in the gas.....
EPA uses 100% gas in their tests. I've heard that it is a very specific chemical composition, to guarantee uniform results across the years, but I can't find any specific reference.
EPA testing does use it's own gasoline blend. With differing formulation requirements across the country, it's probably easier politically.
So ... did anyone recognize, hazard a guess (or does anyone know for sure) on the new or not-so new colors that Toyota will be offering on the Prius C later this year?
I'd love to see that dark purple color they have on the Scion xD and iQ! I'm sure we can bet on the orange they keep showing the car with, and probably a lot of the same colors they're offering in Japan.
According to the Japanese brochure, there's Blue Streak Metallic, Absolutely Red, Citrus Orange, Yellow, Silver Metallic (prob Classic Silver) and Lime White (Not sure if it's a new colour). There's also another light blue but I don't know the name.
EPA cheers the great benefit of Ethanol in our gasoline. Well, if Ethanol is sooooo great: test all new cars for EPA fuel economy rating with 10% Ethanol mixture Ethanol is great for politicians not for the enviorment. Remember it takes two gallons of diesel fuel to make one gallon of Ethanol. A gallon of diesel has about 130,00 BTU of energy A gallon of Ethanol about 68,000 BTU's of energy. Honestly, what reasonable person can see the sense in that. If you ran a business with this type of operation you would be bankrupt before you started. A financial instituion would never lend you money. But remember the money for Ethanol tax breaks is our money. We have no choice but to hand it over.... al
Huh ??? Diesel is not a source fuel for ethanol. Period. You might be referring to energy inputs in corn production, some of which may use diesel, but in that case the total energy input/output ratio is .9 - 1.2/1.0 Ethanol. So while ethanol makes about as much sense as dirty coal, it is best not to mix in nonsense.
There are total ten colors. Aqua body colors super white II (040) lime white pearl crystal shine (082) silver metallic (1F7) gray metallic (1G3) black mica (209) super red V (3P0) citrus orange mica metallic (4V7) yellow (5A3) blue metallic (8T7) cool soda metallic (8V7) Ken@Japan
Black mica!!!! why not on the Prius!?!?!?!!! Super red V - a red that is really red - why not on the Prius???!?! And a blue that is finally more toned down than the one on the Prius... (frustrated....especially for the lack of a metallic/mica black on the Prius instead of the dull matte black available.... ) Thanks for the listing Ken!
Barcelona Red is fairly close to Absolutely Red in terms of "brightness" of the colour but IIRC, Absolutely Red is redder (deeper red). They're both ok for me. It would be nice if there were metallic/mica blacks instead of the flat black.
FYI, The final drive ratio of JP Aqua (model number NHP10) is 3.190. This number seems a high-geared configuration same as Gen3 Prius (ZVW30). Following is some comparison table how the engine torque applies at tires. NHW20 ZVW30 NHP10 1 engine torque Nm 110 142 111 2 ring gear torque Nm 79.2 102.2 79.9 3 final drive ratio 4.113 3.267 3.190 4 drive torque Nm 326 334 255 5 tire radius m 0.311 0.317 0.304 6 tire drive force N 1048 1053 838 7 curb weight kg 1260 1350 1080 8 drive force ratio N/kg 0.832 0.780 0.776 some formula... ring gear torque = engine torque X 72% drive torque = ring gear torque X final drive ratio tire drive force = drive torque / tire radius drive force ratio = tire drive force / curb weight The JP Aqua has higher final drive gears than the Gen2 (NHW20), so I believe the engine rpm is lower than Gen2 at highway cruising. Ken@Japan
Interesting, the final drive ratio is lower than Gen3. That's because the car is so light! Yhe gas engine has potential to rev slower than Gen3 at the same speed.
Ken, being that you live in Japan can you take the Aqua for a test drive and give us an initial report to all us forum members? Alfon
