2018 Prius wish list

we can do about 700 miles in my wife's hycam.

 

Would only be better in town. On the highway it would suffer. See c vs regular Prius.

 

yeah, this was actually a surprise for me. every car i've ever driven, with the exception of the first-gen Prius, could do Berkeley→Torrance on a single tank. The PiP became the second car that didn't. Now that I live in the south bay, the low gas light comes on about 20 miles from my parents' place in Torrance, so I don't need to stop for gas anymore.

 

why not a 30 gallon tank and 1500 mile range?

 

A pint is pound the world around.* You only have 900 pounds of cargo and people now.

*gasoline has a different density than water

 

Aye folks. 11.9 gals in the Prius. I'm sure of it. I go 550-590 miles consistently in the gen III, even a couple times filled up (without the extra click) to 11.1 and I know I'm dangerously low on gas. Theoretically, as soon as the beep occurs and the pip blinks, you have 2 gallons left so monitor your mpg. DO AT YOUR OWN RISK

I manage to always go over the 1st gal estimated and a little more...

Anyway, I do hope that the next gen increases slightly (12.9 maybe?)

PiP has 10.5 (or 10.9 is it?) instead of 11.9 - so it's not 2 gallons less...

 

every time i fill from low gas beep, it takes about 8 gallons. that's about 550-600 miles in the pip, but who cares about range when you're plugging in every day?

 

I stand corrected. PiP has 10.6.

 

I'd like to see the Prius with a little bit higher ground clearance and a suspension that is more comfortable on rough terrain. Essentially I'd like a Prius hybrid system in an XV Crosstrek.

I think they'd sell way more cars if it appealed more to the rugged outdoors crowd.

 

even if it only got 30 mpg's?

 

Nope; exactly why I haven't bought the XV Crosstrek "Hybrid" version.

A little more ruggedness and ground clearance would go a long way for me though, and I think for many folks who care about the environment but want something a little tougher.

I also have hopes for the next gen XV Crosstrek "Hybrid" to do much better with their MPGs. I'm torn right now between the two. I think there are many good aspects to both, but neither is extremely great yet.

 

How about a true series hybrid with both plug-in and plug-out capability. This is a wish list right?

 

Absolutely! It would be great to have plug-out capability from the factory, even if it is only an option.

Bill the Engineer

 

In my 2008 you can, and I have, turn it off.

 

Three things.

1) get rid of the center console.

2) put the gauges in front of the steering wheel like most other cars. I never have understood why Toyota keeps pushing the gauges toward the center of the dash.

3) put the shift lever back on the dash like my 2008. There is no need for a large shift lever as if the car was a stick shift.

I'm actually on the Toyota lot right now thinking about an upgrade. I looked and I don't like what I see. I'll wait for the 2015 model to see if the console is indeed designed out. I can live with the shift lever. Moving the gauges to where they belong is high on my list too.

 

What is "large" about the GenIII shift lever?

 

Personal opinion. I just think the little shift lever on the Gen II was sufficient. I see no need to mimic other cars that have a shift lever on the console. If Toyota wants to mimic something worth while I wish they'd mimic the dash board of most other cars.

 

I've been doing some research. What I find is it's really difficult to beat the Prius Hatchback for an all around fit to my desires and needs. Every other car I've looked into lacks some feature such as the Honda Insight, which is a pretty good value proposition, has 15.9 cubic feet while the 2014 Prius has 21.6 cubic feet. Even the 21.6 has been tight for us a couple of times. We've had to take our 2005 4Runner on a couple of thousand-mile trips (with its 12-20mpg) instead of the Prius because of lack of trunk space. That totally defeats the high mileage of the Prius.

Every car I research has some shortcoming in addition to less gas mileage. Of course nothing in the Prius price range will match or beat it for MPG. So I find that even with my pet peeves of the Flying Buttress console, large shift lever, and gauges that are not in front of me I keep coming back to the Prius.

The Volt has 10 cubic feet of cargo space. I can't take advantage of the government tax credit so the Volt would be at full cost for me. No possibility here.

I've considered the Prius V. It still has a small shift lever on the dash which I like, the console isn't as good as the open space on the 2008 (my wife puts her purse there) but it is better than the hatchback. The gauges are still toward the center ( I can't express how much I hate this ). But the V gets pretty good mileage fore a crossover. It costs a couple of $K more, but it has much more storage.

I hope Toyota shows off the Gen IV in January and not December 2015. I'm anxious to be prepared when our 2008 has sufficient mile on it for me to want to upgrade. We're at 132K miles now. I'm thinking about 150K miles will be the end of my comfort zone. I would want to sell it before it starts to cost me money keeping it alive. I'm thinking a traction battery, struts, the Toyota dealer wants $450 to adjust the valves, etc.

 

Sorry if I am redundant....and this is my first post...but my 2010 Prius III has the 'power mode' button, which I use when entering the interstate...
It has plenty of power and does not drastically impact the MPG, maybe by 0.01...
My overall MPG AVERAGE is 51.67 over two years on the App Road Trip !
Good enough for me....

 

ouch, i set off a firestorm. ^^^