"When you place a cubic block of parafin in a stream of water, the cube slowly mutates to a fusiform shape - one that offers the least resistance to the fluid." Much like a raindrop does as it falls from the sky - therefore a drop of rain must be extremely aerodynamic. Automotive engineers knew about this years ago. A 1940 magazine cover. [attachmentid=6611]
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lowlander @ Feb 14 2007, 09:07 AM) [snapback]390109[/snapback]</div> Actually I am curious about car in the small picture: front grille looks like Lexus and text under the picture says something about 250hp... Looks like Lexus version of the Prius. Now, that's really interesting.... <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Feb 14 2007, 08:47 PM) [snapback]390580[/snapback]</div> Front grille looks like Lexus. it may be a new small hybrid Lexus ie Prius with bigger engine and more options.
It looks plausible. The design isn't going to change that dramatically because of the aerodynamics. Not like the change from gen1 to gen2. Now if it had Lithium Ion batteries (and that's a big IF) and the mileage was significantly better, then yes, I'd consider it. But my HOV stickers are good until Jan 1 2011, so I might wait a few years to see if a plug in eventually came on the market.
Looks pretty much like what I'm driving now but with a Yaris front end and a somewhat updated rear. Drivetrain improvements and hard numbers are what I really want to know about. Not that either would cause me to get rid of mine (the plan is to keep it for 150k+ barring unusual circumstances). But serious improvement to highway FE would be encouraging.