Toyota’s new Prius model to get record 40 km per liter

From what I recall the India Pale Ale deliveries (to India) were the reason gallon was increased to compensate for evaporation. Or maybe it was b/c of the beer foam, they increased the size of the pint sold in pubs.

Back to subject: I am not convinced the double wishbone rear suspension will improve Gen4 handling. Most of the handling issues in Gen3 are due to front understeer, and the front set up in US dictated by lawyers not engineers. I don't see that changing with new model. Not to say that Gen4 won't handle better once you understeer; just saying.

 

I thought IPA was made in India. It's character came from the grain starting to sprout enroute.

 

I can't remember the 1.33 ever powering the Auris - I was thinking of the output in Yaris. Wether the 1.6 will carry on is unsure. It is down on both torque and emissions compared to the turbo 1.2. The cost of ownership might be lower, but with our emission standards :S

As for the suspension, the current Auris also has a more advanced setup compared to Prius (and Corolla). My time behind the wheel makes me think it's about equal to Lexus CT. But I'm not a good judge of this since I have not been pushing the Auris to its limits (demo model).

 

Not of interest. After having tried many different IPAs, and plain Pale Ales, I've come to the distinct conclusion I don't like IPAs or Pale Ales.

If I can quote the Toyota Europe web site:
"The new, Auris range benefits from further suspension and steering revisions designed to improve ride comfort and handling. Numerous measures have also been introduced to reduce the transmission of Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) into the cabin.

Components of the front MacPherson strut suspension have been revised, including the design of the coil spring, shock absorber, upper insulator, bound stopper and stabiliser bush."

Reads like the improvements done to CT200h, but not as detailed. For instance they didn't detail whether the lateral damping system was added.

 

From what I recall the double wishbone setup is made to be interchangeable with twist beam and uses same trailing arm mount points.

That aside everyone disses on twist beam rear... while it is ceirtenly not on par with more advanced designs, it isn't root of Prius handling issues. It is virtually impossible to get rear loose in stock form; lack of negative camber, pivot placement and excessive toe-in in front are main concern.

 

the manhole hop is typical of solid axle and twist beam, but these are usually "special cases" - not every day occurrences. Multi-link and DWB will be also affected due to sway-bar perhaps to lesser degree.

The turn-in camber increase is dependent on caster angle, and (don't have specs) Smart's caster is 6deg+.. vs 5.1 on Prius. So ~1deg more caster, and <0.7deg camber increase at <45deg front wheel turn. IMHO it is important but not enough to attribute to, the other factors (body roll, static camber, toe-in, lower CG) are probably in the play.

I can tell you that with rear sway bar, braces and camber kit Gen3 handling improves greatly. O'k I understand that rear anti-roll bar costs money, and some things like lower CG are hard to achieve. What bugs me changes to caster/camber wouldn't have cost Toyota anything, yet they've chosen to screw their buyers - they just don't care.

Edit: here is an article on car suspension: Car Suspension Tuning: geometry setting guide

 

The link to the article didn't go anywhere, so I didn't get to read it.

But if they are talking about the new generation of Prius, I can't see why it couldn't grow to be 1,600 kg (curb weight). The original was 1,200 kg only, while the plug-in is now 1,400 kg, never mind the wagon, which (in its European 7-seat configuration) is already 1,600 kg.

 

if it's going to be on the camry platform, it may very well be.

 

You cannot go on toe-in more then 1/8" without causing excessive tire wear. Most likely they put more negative camber and play with steering geometry (pivot points) to get more out of it. Here is Smart's suspension review 2008 Smart Fortwo: Suspension Walkaround
If you look it has even worse setup then Prius (Dion axle in the back, similar McPherson in front) yet it manages more out of it. Just by look the MB in general seems to have more neg camber than Toyos but looks are deceptive sometimes as you judge by fender line.

I am curious to try Auris when it comes here as Scion iM to see if "...new Auris ... further suspension and steering revisions designed to improve ride comfort and handling." actually include changes to front set up.

 

When we went x-country last summer we had one pass in NorCA in Cascades. Gen3 front was on the limit. Granted Mich savers are not known for grip still rear was hooked well. Since then Ilve got camber kit installed and it had been big improvement. Unfortunately no chance to test outside of parking lot and typical city/burb stuff.