Prius upgrade in 2008?

Well, I know what I'd "like" to see in the 2008 Prius....

 

wouldn't you rather like a huge airplane tail?

or this looovely little sketch i did a year ago

maybe i'll sketch up some new ideas. since i wont be doing anything at work (lolol) and that thing has no doors, ground clearance, or any good idea of what's inside

 

LOL. I think I'll pass on the rear tail wing. Like the sketch though.

 

Hmmm. Your prius "wagonization" actually doesn't add that much
more volume. Possibly less chance of a large rectilinear object
trying to push its way out through the hatch window, or something..
.
_H*

 

True, the length is the same. Volume wasn't the goal, I'm happy with current volume and didn't want to add weight. The rear visibility however, would be wonderful.

 

i second the rear visibility. even though i think its okay atm, i think a lot of people are turned off by the spoiler smack in the middle.. even if it does block headlights.

 

love the less rounded tailgate, more usable space and looks great... did you photoshop that yourself? If so send it to toyota

 

I'd like to see that too if only to be able to fit two dogs in the cargo area... The hatchback is a little low for them so right now I have a doggie blanket in the backseat...

 

Me too. So far it's just me and Photoshop. Wish I was close friends with a good customizer. I'm still playing around with the rear pillar, but I will send them a print when I'm done. I might work on a high-resolution version next.

 

I am not crazy about this look. Starts to look like soccer mom's car

 

What’s wrong with soccer mom cars, exactly? Do you take issue with vehicles that maximize large interior volume efficiency? Maybe you don’t like soccer, the most popular sport in the WORLD! Or is it a mommy dearest thing and you hate mommies? :angry:

 

nope, LOVE soccer, yes the most popular sport in the world!!!!!!!!!!!
nope, nothing wrong with mommies either.
Just dont' like the look. Nothing wrong with large interior. Don't like the look.
Prius is big for me already So, I think I am allowed to not like it
No offense to those who like it, but I don't.

 

I love mommies, too. Cyberhug.

 

What I really like to see with this Gen III Hybrid are these:

[Broken External Image]:http://toyota.com/images/vehicles/2006/sienna/gallery/color/photo_5.jpg
2008 Hybrid Sienna, available in Black

[Broken External Image]:http://www.toyota.com/images/vehicles/2006/sequoia/gallery/color/photo_4.jpg
2008 Hybrid Sequoia, available in Black, of course.

Hopefully about 40MPG real world, not EPA. And no price premium!

 

Well, maybe I'm in the minority on this one, but I'd like to see the next gen Prius be a performance oriented vehicle. Think about it from a business perspective for a moment. Toyota doesn't really offer a performance vehicle at this time. The Supra's been gone for how long now? The Celica just disapeared this year. With the new Hybrid Camry, does Toyota really need another smallish midsize boring car? How about a car that may get the same MPG as the current vehicle (or even a smidge less), but with LiIon batterys, and other improvements, get about 7.0 sec 0-60 times!

Ford has designed a concept car called the Reflex, which is deisel-electric that supposedly gets 65 MPG and 0-60 times of about 6.5 seconds. If Ford can do it, well then...

A car like this would fill a niche that Toyota has left vacated at the moment, and would do a fair amout of PR, changing the image of hybrids from eco-geek weenie mobiles, to high performance thoroughbred.

Could also fill the niche of many conscientious citizens mid life crisis'.

My two cents,
Cosmo

 

booo for soccer!!! GO TENNIS!
(currently has a beautiful Yonex RDX-500 Midplus in the hidden trunk) (but please don't steal it)

You know I was wondering how a performance Prius might fare. Is there a way to use both a supercapacitor with normal capacitors? Then for hard acceleration it could expend the supercap and then normal caps would be used for normal fuel economy driving.

 

I actually liked the old exterior better, so I wouldn't mind seeing something that blends in a little better come back. Either that, or something similar to the design of the Chevy HHR.

A performance upgrade (or an button/switch to change from enviromental to performance mode) would also be lovely. As would the option for built in XM.

What I'd really like to see is something with better seats. The ones in the current model look underpadded for distance driving.

 

Bigger battery (and maybe a needed electric motor enhancement) would allow updated programming to let torque go much higher before kicking in the ICE. Neve did hear if the motor was the limiting factor, hence the hedging about it needing to be upgraded too. Juice required being kept to a minimum seems to be why the ICE kicks in when you push the pedal even a tiny bit too much.

I'd like 0 to 35 in 20 seconds to never use the ICE, even uphill, but that may just be me. I'm also planning on a 2013 order for my next Prius, so no big hurry...