Tanabe R&D session on Prius C

wow.. my friend was supposed to be home like over 3 hrs ago.. he's getting massive overtime.. but yea.. looks like i won't see the car until tomorrow morning... and i had planned to head back home tonight too.. oh well.. long drive tomorrow..

 

the ones that were pictured in the blog are on the car from what i can tell.. however i was told they were the S-0Cs.. not the Z40.. i was also told i guess they had the Z40's to test.. but there were some fitment issues.. along with the exhaust.

the exhaust they might not end up producing, because it'd be something completely different as the one they had (I assume for the AQUA).. was not lining up properly for the Prius C.. and they think the market for it isn't strong enough to warrant producing it.

also, not that i can find on their blog, is the front underbody chassis that i took a photo of here:


items i ended up with: coilovers (i guess the S-0C (i can't tell..)), front strut tower, front sway, and the front underbody chassis brace.

no center brace exists on the car stock (hmm.. didn't notice until now).. and Tanabe told me there were no plans to produce it.

also.. since i got the car back, there has been a much more pronounced electrical motor noise in the cabin.. i think it's the vibrations from the electrical motor reverberating from the stiffened chassis.. but i called Tanabe up and they aren't sure what it might be.. waiting to hear back from them about that.

otherwise, the car handles beautifully on high speed turns

though i DEFINITELY have to angle the car going thru driveways and speed bumps.. they left the coilover settings at the lowest i think.. it's a pain.. and i still scrape the exhaust i think.. but i can live with it.. along with the mystery electrical motor vibration/noise i'm still wondering what the source and cause is.

many thanks to Tanaba USA for the wonderful opportunity to use my car as a guinea pig.

 

sure thing.. i'm mostly at work during that time, but for the most part you can stop by and check out the ride. i'll let you know.

 

yea.. the sway bar is pretty deep and hidden in there.. so it's really difficult to take a picture of how it looks... especially with it installed in the car already.

the ETA should be really soon.. and i think they mentioned a few things were already available, so you might want to call them up and ask.

 

lowering, as most people see it.. is an aesthetic thing.. which is definitely not just the case.

when it comes to handling.. not only does the car's center of gravity sit more close to the ground (which improves the vehicle's handling characteristics)... it's also improved by the stiffer chassis..

when it comes to fuel economy.. though aerodynamic numbers cannot be really determined without some fancy equipment... hypermiling techniques like going around and through turns without braking and losing momentum... can affect mileage and improve it.

suspension upgrades improve your vehicle's handling characteristics.. duh.