4th generation coming 2015!

Now THAT paper looks like something definitely worth reading!

 

G3 has cooled EGR also. I wonder what's different. Gotta read it. Too bad I don't have SAE subscription anymore.

 

Yeah, I let my membership lapse.

 

If you read the free preview it looks like they are changing the way the air intake is designed in order to create an increase in air turbulence which leads to better combustion. The new design causes the air flowing into the cylinder to "tumble" over itself instead swirling or just being disorganized.

 

That SAE paper is not yet published, it will be 2015-04-14, we can expect a summary with nce pictures on Green Car Congress

 

Assume 50mpg: Gas will cost $2.50/50 = 5 cents per mile.
Assume 4 miles/kWh (250Wh/mile): EV will cost $0.20/4 = 5 cents per mile.

In other words, it's close enough to a wash that which one wins will depend on the details of your particular efficiency (including HVAC use) in each mode and cost of electricity and gas in your area. You want to assume 400Wh/mile? Electricity will lose. You want to assume $0.11/kWh like I pay? Electricity will win.

Now, let's do some other math.

Initial capital cost: $30,000. Use for 200,000 miles. $30,000/200,000 = 15 cents per mile.
Insurance: $800/year. Use for 10 years. $8,000/200,000 = 4 cents per mile.

This little exercise tells you why efficiency isn't a top priority among most buyers - the total cost of ownership is largely dictated by initial capital cost. Cars just don't use a lot of energy over their lifetimes. Think about it - a $30,000 Prius will use $10,000 worth of gas over its lifetime ($2.50 a gallon, 50mpg, 200,000 miles - use other assumptions if you like).

You know why airliner sales are largely driven by fuel efficiency? A typical airliner will use in the neighborhood of 20 times it's capital cost in fuel over its lifetime. Cars just aren't like that. They're too efficient and we use them too little.

 

Fuel efficient cars don't use a lot of energy but others do. A car that gets 25mpg, as even many new cars do, will use $20,000 over 200,000 miles. That's a saving of $10,000 on a $30,000 car.

When you are comparing one fuel efficient vehicle to another, your point is well taken. Increases in fuel efficiency beyond the current 50mpg don't result in much saving.

 

Everybody here seems to have "forgotten" the higher gasolines prices ($4+) of the recent past...and what "goes around" will "come around"...again. That's why (and when) fuel efficiency beyond 50mpg REALLY starts gaining appreciation (monetary as well as social).

 

I just found these pictures from a magazine on the prius-club.su site.

http://prius-club.su/index.php/topic,105.255/msg,53883.html

 

Just looks like some big rims on a gen3....

 

4th generation coming 2015! | Page 99 | PriusChat

 

2015 New York Auto Show April 2015. Why is there no 2016 Prius to display? Other manufactures are currently producing 2016 models.
We purchased our 2010 Prius in May of 2009. This was the next generation model as we all know.

Toyota should have introduced the 2016 at the NY Auto Show and began shipping new 2016 Prius vehicles in May or June 2015. The Volt 2016 and 2016 Malibu Hybrid were on display. Whats up Toyota???

 

Photoshopped with the 2012 FCV wheels: http://photo.netcarshow.com/Toyota-FCV-R_Concept_2012_photo_01.jpg

 

Going from 50 to 55mpg doesn't reduce gas consumption for society than a Tundra getting what its competitors gets, though.

 

It's actually worse than all it's competitors @ 13/15/18 mpg I believe. It almost makes a Titan look fuel efficient.

They are bad nice person though! Lol

Or are they 12/13/15 mpg??....

 

I guess it doesn't matter that the 4g Prius does not go on sale this Summer: Gas prices are going to be low.

... But I'll betcha gas prices go way up in 2016, the election year.If the 4g seat is anything like Corolla, that's a deal breaker. I sat in a 2015 Corolla S premium other day, has 8 way pwr seat. Does Toyota think the car is going to be driven on a road race track? Why the over-bolstered bottom cushion that juts into my hips? Make upper seatback / shoulder support that's where driver will lean in a turn otherwise, but just about no one will slide out of seat bottom in a Corolla.
Toyota makes the hybrids but eeek their seats, yuck. Except for Avalon Limited, that's a good one ..... For $40k

And that's what is needed to sell Prius in bigger numbers, high gas prices, cause the price / 'car you get ' equation isn't great.
Paper showing $5k plus discounts on some liftbacks.

A 6 month delay was announced last Fall. Low gas prices this Summer anyway.

Trouble is the hardcore greenies don't get that. They would rather have a smaller, noisier liftback that feeds their hypermiling fantasies with 60 MPG epa combined than a more robust liftback at 53 that would draw more customers away from the 33 MPG sedans.

 

It's a little better than that. Here's the best case and worst case comparison to the new F150.
Compare Side-by-Side

 

Ford has been known to inflate MPG numbers. Like with the 47/47/47 on Fusion and C-Max which not many could obtain.


iPhone ?

 

Surprised! the mpg of a 4.6L V8 is less than a 2.7L V6.

 

Gosh I wish Toyota would reveal something, anything, about the new G4. This thread desperately needs something to talk about other than all the side issues and vehicles, many of which are not even in the same category as the Prius.

That said, I really do not understand Toyota's marketing strategy. Are they so confident in their "mouse-trap" that they believe the world will beat a path to their door? demanding the dealers sell them a copy at over MSRP?

I hope I am wrong, but their behavior makes me wonder if there are still some "kinks" that they are having problems resolving.