A thought about the 2023 Prius...

We’re not really in an environmentally conscious era, unfortunately.

bolt is a pretty darn good ev at the right price.
As reliable as Toyota? Probably not, but the bz4x is a lot more and doesn’t get the federal tax credit

 

My priorities:

easy on gas
intuitive dash, with controls you can manage without going off the road
practical/comfortable people/cargo transport
decent visibility
"relatively" easy/cheap maintenance*
spare tire
hopefully reliable...

* nineteen inch tires for example, don't make the cut

 

Its not bad, but so damn ugly. Plus i dont get the tax credit, so i dont want to pay full price for one…id rather pay full price for a prius that doesnt get any tax credits. If it were nice id consider it but it looks like a POS and they already had a dozen horrible recalls..no thanks.

oh: plus—the bolt EV doesnt exist anymore. It is important to me that a manufacturer demonstrate they can keep a line of cars going, the way there have been tesla model 3s for years, there have been priuses for years. So people can say “hey this car has a track record”.

but you cant do that with any of chevys contenders because they dont keep them going long enough. Remember the Volt? That looked promising too. But now it is nearly forgotten. So too will the Bolt

 

they said they would continue the bolt

 

Recently?

https://www.forbes.com/wheels/news/chevrolet-bolt-discontinued/

 

With a year or two off
though the existing 2023 production was extended possibly to December.

Insiders say it will return as a 2025 but that would be record time for a new battery package.

You will be immortalized forever, no deleting allowed.

 

july:

0725-chevrolet.html

 

Oh…weird. I dont like it. I dont like a company that reverses its decisions like that. Toyota’s leadership just doesnt seem to do weird embarrassing stuff like that. Thats like Musk level.

I gotta rationalize my purchase of the Gen 5 but i do not know, these chevy cars just dont appeal to me. Everyone knows chevy cars are built like poop anyway, it is just common sense..

 

seriously? toyota has been two facing ev's for years. they even admitted it themselves, fired the ceo who was a toyoda.

it's a good thing no one's ever called the prius damn ugly in the last 20 years

 

Guess you'll go no where near a Scion then.

The Volt was a victim of declining sedan sales. It was assembled at the plant making just sedans. All those models where cancelled, do to low sales, and the factory closed. Including the Impala, which has been around for decades. With the production volume, and old fed credit running out, moving Volt production just wasn't viable.

The Bolt was the replacement for the Spark EV. The Spark was left as a compliance car in a few states because of CAFE rules. The Bolt was built on an ICE platform, and didn't use GM's latest and greatest EV tech. With the Equinox EV coming out, and limited battery supplies in the near future, keeping production of the old Bolt going didn't make sense when GM needed factory space for newer EVs.

Ultium is designed to be easily adapted to new applications. Wireless battery management system means not needing to run all those wires for example.

 

Back in 2020 there was commentary that the Bolt 2.0 would not release until several years after Bolt 1.0 ceased production and several years after the recently released Equinox EV

All that has changed is the timing,
Bolt 2 was always expected but Bolt 1 actually went on life support several years longer due to Ultium releasing much more slowly .

My guess is the pandemic modified original schedules

 

let's see now; prius v, prius c, avalon,

 

I don't think anything out there can beat my Turquoise Jewel 2021 Prius Prime Limited in fuel efficiency. MFD generally shows ~ 80 mpg.

Gen 5's engine is the most efficient engine actually. My Gen 4's is a close second.

Gen 3s are the fastest-driven Priuses—I don't know why; perhaps the pedal is calibrated for fast driving.

 

I've come to the realization that cars are tools, that nobody is going to make a car I like just for me. Car manufacturer's have to appease the majority. Trying to sell a hybrid hatchback whose basic shape was from some 20 years ago in today's world that wants crossovers seems kind of against the grain.

I'm just glad they still sell the Prius and haven't just killed the car in favor of just hybrid everything else. We could have hybrid Corolla and Camry hatchbacks instead.

 

Maybe also their financiers? Specific example: I doubt there’s ONE potential customer on the planet would prefer the slime and pump kit to a spare tire, but here we are.

 

Just completed a 1300 mile road trip in my 22 Prime (15" Bridgestone Ecos). Running with the faster traffic thru NE USA, which is to say 75-80 mph (GPS), and carefully measuring fill-up/top-off of fuel, I managed 51 mpg. No battery use to speak of. I don't think the '23 AWD could come close to that. All that in excellent comfort, visibility, and very adequate handling. It's gonna be hard to give this up. The '23 has traded off a lot of utility/efficiency for a mantle of "sportiness."

 

time and sales numbers will tell all

 

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2023/10/2023-chevy-bolt-ev-bolt-euv-final-order-cycle-pushed-back-again/

What do you know another extension, it’s like when Nissan was producing last years leaf in the current year.

 

interesting, almost makes you think they are making a profit on them

 

In Japan, they get both the 1.8L and 2.0L in the hybrid gen5.

The rated fuel economy difference is negligible.

Keep in mind, these are overly optimistic WLTC cycles.

1.8L FWD
City: 70.32mpg
Highway: 73.38mpg

2.0L FWD
City: 66.56mpg
Highway: 72.21mpg

There really isn't a meaningful difference between the two. Makes a bit more sense in Japan since there's alot of city driving and shorter trips, but with longer distances and power hungry consumers in North America, it makes no sense to bring the 1.8L here.

 

Makes even less sense when you have to pay $15M large in extra testing costs to bring another motor.

 

And that is Japan WLTC, which doesn't use the high speed test cycle.

The 1.8L is the old engine in the gen4, which was the one from the gen3 with some improvements. The 2L is from their new generation engine family using the hybrid port and direct injection. If it doesn't have better thermal efficiency than the 1.8L, it matches it.