I am looking for any information and opinions on durability between the Gen 2 and Gen 3 power plants when heavily loaded. I plan to re-power a 1984 Winnebago LeSharo RV with a Prius drive train including all systems wheel to wheel and battery pack. The gross weight on the RV is 5800 lbs.I have been watching salvage auctions for a suitable donor car. I originally was intent on a Prius v for easier fit of the dashboard without the center console and with the advantages of the Gen 3 power plant. Not a lot of v's come up and getting a good Gen 3 versus a Gen 2 will cost me about double the price for a good donor car. The Gen 3 has better performance numbers, but the Gen 2 still has better HP and torque ratings than what it will be replacing. So I am trying to judge if there is a compelling reason to pay up to get a Gen 3 donor, or go for a Gen 2. Thanks in advance for your input. Woodnowin __._,_.___
Prius naming gets confusing. I suspect you mean the Prius v (station wagon) when you say Prius 5. The real advantage of the v drive train is a higher numerical final drive which lowers top speed but gives additional acceleration. It would be the best of the Prius drive trains but a Camry Hybrid or Avalon Hybrid would be better yet.
Maybe you could get one of each and have each rear wheel in the RV with it's own power source. You could then evaluate which is the better choice by which way you have to steer to stay on the road.
i would wait on he gen IV, it's rumored to be more power, torque, efficient and built to rode hard and put up wet. shouldn't take long for people to start totaling them.
Some googling discovers this was a front wheel drive diesel or gas RV. LeSharo Land - Winnebago LeSharo - Ours will bring you home I confess I would have set my sights on a simpler engine swap, but I wish you well.
I'm thinking Prius batteries/electric motors would burn out in no time under such a load. How about VW TDI instead?
JimboPalmer - Thanks for the info on the final drive. That is a positive I didn't pickup on. I always thought it was the roman numeral for 5. The letter makes more sense, I changed the post. I want a challenge and as far as I can tell no one else has tried yet. friendly-jacek - I already have a turbo diesel. I have found records on the web where someone has used a VW diesel. I don't like the inconvenience of finding diesel on the back roads or the smell of it. Once the higher price of fuel is considered I could fuel a V6 gas engine for the same cost. The drive train will have a more difficult life but consider: the "gross weight" of a gen 2 is 3800 lbs and many people have towed 800 lb. trailers with them. By using a hybrid power train I hope to lose the rooftop AC and the generator by using the Prius systems to do the job. I can easily strip another 500 lbs. out of the RV since I will only be using it for 2 people. That said, this is the reason I am looking for info on heavy loading. Power isn't really an issue. Whatever I put in there will be better than what I have. It's an RV and should never see the other side of 70mph even on a downgrade. I even found a person selling one with a 1.6 Honda engine in it.
If you're looking for something heavy duty enough to work in an RV, and want it to be a hybrid - . I'm curious why you didn't consider pulling the nearly 3 ton vehicle with guts out of a hybrid Highlander. The all-wheel-drive version has electric motors to power both axles. It rated for towing - unlike the regular prius .
I like the Highlander idea! The Prius powertrain has a higher EPA rating overall, but that's because it's moving less weight. You'd really strain the Prius system if you were to put it in a heavier vehicles. Straining the system would result in much worse fuel economy and premature wear & tear. The Camry Hybrid system would work better, or better still, the Highlander powertrain.
Yes - both the Lexus RX(suv) and the hihy use the Camry chassis. But with the bigger traction pack and its front & rear electric motors (awd option) - you'd get a lot bigger bang for your buck. .
Very interesting idea of using a Prius-style hybrid powertrain in an RV. You could possibly replace three RV systems at once - engine, A/C, and, with an inverter, generator. I'm surprised the RV industry hasn't already tried this.
The only reason the prius gets such good fuel mileage is because it cycles the gasoline engine off while driving, or uses it in it's peak range much of the time with only short bursts of heavy use under acceleration. In your RV you would be looking at using the gas engine most of the time, under heavy load. Even if it was reliable, it wouldn't net you any better fuel economy. Your best bet is to get a VW diesel engine, your acceleration would probably be about the same, but torque would be much more capable of handling the weight. Looking at the specs, your rv came with a diesel, albeit much lower powered 66hp diesel. The early 2000's vw diesels were about 100hp, though chipping would net you around 115hp with over 200ft-lbs of torque. Plus the engines are in abundance and can usually be found in a salvage yard for about $500. The parts are also still in abundance and found everywhere, there are also mechanics nationwide that know how to work on them as well should you have a problem. The only thing you would have to do is figure out how to mount it, maybe get some custom axles as well, assuming you were keeping the fwd. If your MH was rwd, you can get an adapter from HPA motorsports to use a jeep 5 speed transmission. You just have to figure out how to mount that tranny as well.
