Toyota has already described the primary way that they achieved 40% thermal efficiency in the engine in an SAE paper in April. They modified the cylinder head and fuel injector in order to induce the fuel/air mixture to "tumble" and create a more chaotic mix that burns more efficiently. No doubt, they tweaked a few other aspects of the engine as well. I'm wondering if we'll see the city efficiency improve at a somewhat better ratio than highway. So, maybe 60 city, 53 highway, 57 mpg EPA combined in the highest mileage trim. That would be an 18% improvement in city mileage and 10% improvement in highway.
Aerodynamics and possibly automatic grill shutters will help the highway improvement, my guess it will be higher than 53 EPA for the eco model. Did the EU press release made special emphasis on highway improvement? or am I imagining? Do not want to read twice partial info, waiting to the real thing
Toyota's got Valvematic ... brought it to North America last year in a Corolla model they called (wait for it) Eco. If that's in the package, it won't be a moment too soon for all the PriusChat denizens who've spent three Prius generations talking about having to clean their throttlebodies.... -Chap
I remember back in the fall of 1993 when I purchased a brand new 1994 Honda Civic VX(the highest mpg at the time except for the Geo Metro XFI). Honda used smaller tires, and there was no power steering, no AC, and a 92 hp VTEC-E engine to obtain 55 mpg highway. I am sure Toyota will do something similar to the 2016 Prius ECO and also charge you more for it like Honda did with the VX Civic, which by the way are the rarest Civic made during that time.
Sergiospl posts four Japanese brochure videos here: 2015 Frankfurt/IAA Auto Show Prius Second Showing | Page 7 | PriusChat and one of them is showing picture of something plausable in the lower grill.
I saw them with my own eyes and posted a picture of them. grill shutters! by TonyPSchaefer posted Sep 8, 2015 at 11:19 PM
Would active grill shutters also improve defogging the windshield faster ? MY gen. 3 does an awful job at this ! My windshield is never completely cleared in the winter . Never had any problems with my civic and I wonder how they managed to clear windshields when a/c ' where not available,because it seems to be impossible to do it without a/c nowadays . No matter which car you have !
Not just the Volt, but also the Focus SFE, Cruze ECO and diesel, and the Mazda6 with the iEloop regenerative braking. Off the top of my head. The grill shutters started showing up on non-luxury cars soon after the gen3 came out.
Other than aerodynamic improvement, it also speeds up engine warm up and provide cabin heat faster. PC members have been blocking their grills and this would be automatic.
Thanks for all the replies. Now I know. I thought that blocking the grill would impede cooling but I guess I'm wrong. iPhone ?
...these internal documents, colors like lime green, steel blonde and dark black mica make their way onto the options palette. And if you option the lime green paint, special properties within the paint suppress heat from absorbing into the metal leaving you with a cooler car. Breaking: 2016 Toyota Prius Colors Revealed With Heat Suppressing Paint - Art of Gears
That's why shutters that move are safeer. On the highway or during start up you don't need the cooling. People were able to block prius grills because they are designed for air intake in warmer weather with some engineering clearance.
