A thought about the 2023 Prius...

You and a lot of Prius owners have mentioned the same. The problem is, they can't live off of previous Prius owners only. It seems like they're fully committed to doing a 180° on a lot of the Prius features while keeping the foundation intact. If so many of you guys wanted the 1.8L back in there, I'm not surprised they would do the opposite of what you guys want, because they're not going after you guys anymore.

 

In Japan, there are two trim levels that come with the 2.0L M20A-FXS engine like what we got, but there are another two trims that come with the 1.8L 2ZR-FXE engine instead.

But yeah, they just needed a new way to differentiate the Prius. It had earned a reputation in the West as a slow car that's painful to drive and is only good for being eco-friendly and blocking traffic, in an era when there are numerous other hybrid/electric options (including from Toyota itself) that made the Prius redundant. It used to be THE hybrid car, but then it simply became just another hybrid, and a boring one at that. Sales had tanked. Something had to change.

 

Change the Reagan eras wrong headed gray market and platform laws and this would be a non-issue as Toyota would only need to test one car and they could sell both.

These laws effectively ban stick shift cars and option choices.
Toyota 12lb roof mounted solar panel was illegal due to these.

There is very little proof these laws as worded improve safety but there is a lot of proof they remove consumer choice and fuel efficient trims out of the us market.

Considering we refuse to reciprocate to Euro standard laws we likely are doing greavace harm to pedestrians as Euro spec cars are consistently less deadly to other humans.

Time to toss the current regulatory environment and start over.

 

You are wildly inflating the efficiency improvement that a 1.8L would bring. It's far more likely it would be 58-60mpg. An improvement certainly, but only about 4-5mpg better than the current LE trim.

Showing my work: (all FWD)
The Z and G trims in Japan(2.0L/19" tires) get 28.6km/L. The X and U trims(1.8L/17" tires) get 32.6km/L for a 14% increase in efficiency. The XLE and Limited trims in the US get 52mpg. A 14% increase in efficiency takes that out to 59.3mpg. A little variability for the differences in fuel economy testing, and you should hit somewhere in that 58-60 range. A far cry from 70+.

It actually looks like you get a larger increase in mpg from the 17" wheels than the 1.8L engine. These are very rough numbers, but it seems like the smaller wheels gets you about 7.7% better economy(comparing US trims), while the 1.8L nets around 6.3%.


(I chose to use all HEV numbers instead of PHEV for a better apples to apples comparison. While Toyota puts the 1.8L in the HEV for certain markets, all PHEVs use the 2.0L.)

 

Testing another engine option for fuel economy and emissions isn't free. At around 30k sales annually, having a second engine choice for the Prius hybrid here couldn't justify paying for it.

 

There are other good reasons to choose the newer 2L Atkinson cycle engine over the older 1.8. Car Care Nut covers these extensively in his video linked elsewhere on this forum. It's just a better design, all around.

 

I understand there are fuel economy differences between the G4 and G5. But average fuel economy is going to be improved, AS LONG as the driver drives in such a way that takes advantage of the Prius's fuel sipping ways.

I think the fun factor of this car is hurting more than a few people's actual MPGs. The G5 just wants to be driven, where the G4 was solely an appliance.

 

toyota did this with the g4 eco, and currently, the hycam base gets 50 mpg vs 45 just by using 16" wheels instead of 18 or 19.

 

But not in Canada, where the hybrid base trim keeps the slightly larger wheels of the ICE model.

 

too bad for them

 

Putting steel wheels on a midsize sedan makes it feel like a fleet special.

 

doesn't bother us in the least, we're not 'car' people, it's an appliance. weighed the extra mpg vs higher end options, and nothing jumped out at us as being worth giving up the mileage.
now, getting one in the right color and interior color may be a chore. no one is carrying base models these days, so we wait and hope. no rush as the 2013 only has 75,000 miles

 

I agree, but I think the gen 4's were so ugly that some of us simply didn't consider them. When I had a car I liked, there was no reason to trade up to one I didn't. Of course they are selling for within a couple thousand dollars of the 5's as used cars with 20000 miles on them in our part of the country (eastern Kansas).

 

yeah but sadly, who IS going after us? At this point no one. Even the argument that we should go electric doesnt hold…There are no affordable AND reliable EVs out there.