Toyota Cuts Weight of New Prius by Using More High-tensile Steel Plates

A 5 mpg gain is a 10% gain, any such that could gain 10% would do backflips, why the hate?

 

cyclopathic must have a new email.

 

Sorry. I misread your post.

 

I don't know if it was meant to be hateful but Chinna can address that.

A 10% gain is important for marketing purposes but doesn't make much difference in fuel cost. It actually represents about a 9% reduction in an already low fuel cost. If you drive 12,000 miles per year you would use about 22 fewer gallons, about $44 at today's prices.

That said, I think the improvement will be more than 10% for those of us who live in a place with a real winter and do short drives. The current Prius takes a big hit under those conditions. The Gen 4 should reach efficient hybrid temp sooner and therefore get better winter mileage that may not show up in official figures.

 

I will also reach comfortable cabin temp sooner...but I cannot quantify this in $.

 

I is doing the same in G3 with the secondary planetary set. If they have changed the ratio (as compared to G3) then the motor can be smaller.

 

think globally. what if every vehicle accomplishes these kinds of improvements with each generation? we're not going to leap to 100 mpg in 10 years, it's baby steps. congrats to toyota for trying and succeeding.