What no touring performance driving model available? Thought we wanted better gas milage so we could drive. Most of the US roads have twists.
Discussed extensively in other threads. The Prius V with the 17s is the 2010's version of the Touring. Additionally, the suspension on all 2010s is supposedly improved.
Essentially *all* of the 2010s are touring models. They all get new improved suspension and a stiffer rear end. In addition, as pointed out above, there is a package with fancy wheels. Tom
We have a mile of straight road north of town. As teenagers, that's where we would take our cars to see how fast they could go. Everything else around here is a deer trail with pavement, some without pavement. Tom
Funny that, I find the twisty roads to see how fast my car will go. The Aussie Prius handles pretty well although it has a little much body roll but it isn't all that bad.
Interesting... we have this road called the Trans-Canada Highway. Between Medicine Hat, AB and Winnipeg, MB, it's fairly straight... and boring. You can do over the limit for miles and miles and you'll just see prairie grass and landscape.
When I was a teenager, most American cars didn't do well around corners. That was an era of big iron, followed by an era of poor performance when emission controls entered the scene. I had a Jeep C-J5 that took eleven seconds to go from zero to sixty, even with a 304 cubic inch V8 engine. The Jeep was especially bad on corners. Tom
Are the 17" wheels and tires lighter than the 15's or 2009 16's? Heavier unsprung weight(wheels, tires, brakes, shocks) will hurt performance. To fix body roll one needs a stiffer front end to eliminate/reduce roll. One can add stiffer front springs or a stiffer front sway bar to achive.
I highly doubt the 17s are lighter than the 15s. The 15s are lightweight alloys (lighter than regular 15s). The 17s are regular alloys so the difference will be greater.
Will the Touring model get it's own EPA mileage rating? I have to think the larger wheels will cost some efficiency.
nope... I think EPA is using the average of units sold.. but european prius is several % less efficient with 17" (tested)... I think difference was between 2% and 3%. It is not required to test car with different numbers, Toyota did it in Europe since it is Prius. Same results are valid for any other car (increasing weight, rolling resistance increases fuel consumption).
Specifically the 15" wheel is reported as 3.9L/100km fuel consumption, the 17" as 4.0L/100km, 2.5% more. Those figures are not yet final. The fuel consumption figures are rounded to 0.1L/100km which loses quite a bit of precision at this level. The CO2 emission, 92g/km compared to 89g/km, is 3.3% higher - the CO2 emissions are reported to 1g/km. The UK government's fuel consumption site, VCACarFuelData.org.uk, has numerous models where the manufacturer has had to submit different results for different tyre sizes - where they have had to have multiple type approvals. The Mercedes C-Class saloon, for example, is shown with 51 different configurations depending on engine, rear tyre size and gearbox. The C180 Kompressor (turbo) with 5-speed automatic gearbox has three entries, for 195, 205 and 225/245/255 width tyres. (CO2 emissions for those cars are 180, 182, 185g/km respectively.)
Though I would bring this back. What does the 2010 exactly have for a suspension? After checking out my buddy's 2010, I still think the 09 Touring model has a better road feel. I'm not sure if it's just the 16 tires, or if the Touring rear suspension is a little more involved than the 2010?
Yes, a Prius II. And, from looking at the Toyota website, it appears that the Touring model rear suspension may indeed still be different from the 2010 model. If so, that would explain it.
