4th generation coming 2015!

With the slightly angled down bar extending to rear wheels, I am thinking this new gen4 Prius might have a multi-link, independent rear suspension.

 

Or run A/C when it is 80F b/c the darn thing is a sun magnet. Or just see over it when parking in tight spot.

From spy pics looks like the hood/windshield/dash height in Gen4 is similar to Prius C, which is a good thing.

 

Are you sure it is Prius not Hyundai?

Toyota said it is going to be a double wishbone I am guessing similar to one used in CT200h and altis.

 

Isn't double wishbone heavier than multilink?
Pretty much every midsize sedan has what they call a multilink rear suspension. Civic has one.

Ins't it true that very few cars have a double wishbone suspension these days?

 

The problem with double-wishbone is not so much the weight, but the packaging, i.e. space requirements for both the articulation and hardpoints. Peer into the wheel well of a car with a modern double-wishbone design and you will see that the upper "wishbones" do have to intrude farther into the passenger/cargo/engine bay space. This is obviously a significant concern for mass-market vehicles. If the leverage is high (as often seen in the double-wishbone designs for the rear wheel, where the wheel knuckle is short and not long-and-cantilevered-over-the-wheel as often is in the front), you have to attach the other end of the double-wishbone to a subframe, which too takes up space away from the passenger/cargo/engine compartments.

Multi-links are only more difficult to design, but it is much easier these days with advances in computing.

If weight was the issue, double wishbones would have fallen out of favor in racing. They are still dominant in purpose-built racing vehicles at both the professional and amateur levels due to the design's versatility, ease of intellectual grasp and hence tunability. Packaging is a much more secondary (tertiary?) concern except when they need to solve specific problems, and *then* they might bust out a multi-link design.

 

I think it is more of the cost/packaging issue, but it looks like Toyota had figured way to pack it. I think they prefer it for 2 reasons: 1) the attachment points are the same as for torsion beam they use now, 2) it frees the space in the middle for battery. Last gen Altis (and Scion iM when it gets here) is actually using both, with double wishbone on diesel and HSD variants. On HSD it creates space for battery, and on diesel for after-treatment equipment.

From what I read in article comparing wishbone to multi-link both offer similar level of performance, with double-wishbone being better, but multi-link offering more motion range and adaptability to variety of conditions in street application. From the looks of it Toyota had figured out way to pack it, and the reasons they had chosen double-wishbone (which btw from the looks is more like 1.5 wishbone not double) is b/c the attachment points are similar to torsion beam, and in TNGA application it offers a better packaging for traction battery.

If you look at the pic in previous post and this one, there is a wishbone at the bottom, but on the top there is one link and one trailing arm. Multi-links are usually designed with 5 links: 2 at the bottom, 2 at the top and trailing arm.
So you could argue that this "hybrid" as much multi-link as double-wishbone.



I would speculate that TNGA platform had incorporated enough strength into frame, so the cross-members you see on pic above are probably not needed.. we will see when it is released.

 

Is This The 2016 Prius?
by Jeff Cobb

A report of what is presented as a sneak peek of a 2016 Prius Liftback (pictured top) and double-electric-range Prius Plug-in Hybrid are shown on a Taiwanese website.

If the images are real, they may be the only ones known of the much-anticipated next-generation hybrid cars.



Prius Plug-in Hybrid? The report says under JC08 it gets 50 kilometers range (31 miles). If true, this could be in the 20s under EPA

The drawings look fairly convincing, having resemblance to the silhouette of black covering-draped photos of 2016 preproduction cars floating out there, although the report leaves open room for suspicion.

It definitely is not the result of an official Toyota disclosure, and the company has taken pains to conceal the new cars’ identities. To date it’s been unclear whether the plug-in hybrid was ready to show, or would follow the Liftback.



More at Is This The 2016 Prius? - HybridCars.com

 

that's it! great find.

 

Too funny.

 

Don't like the tail lights.

 

....to me the raised hood looks like one under wraps one of our members captured (big thread under discussion). I thought maybe there would be a slot in there for air intake but OK its just raised up in the middle for some reason. I am thinking grills may be managed so we don't have to do blocking in there any more.

 

Toyota Civic si hybrid.


Hahahaha!!

 

Um, nope. Doesn't match the Autoblog camo shots from July 7th.

Those photoshops are fake all the way.

 

Prius or not, what is with those front driver windows. Does it actually have a guide or split glass?

Perhaps for a prototype but production would be nuts.

Bob Wilson

 

These rumored renders are not "sporty". If anything I'd say they make the Prius look more bland.

 

>> Is This The 2016 Prius? by Jeff Cobb

I don't think so.

There are serious weaknesses in these images making them unworthy of detailed analysis, the overall design is sub-standard all the way. Just look at the 2015 Toyota Avensis which was revealed a few days ago
2015 Toyota Avensis revealed - Toyota
I find it difficult to imagine that Toyota would come up with a below par design for their highest profile car when their other cars look much better.

The photos of the camouflaged car (which looks like the current Prius) is most likely Toyota road testing something but again, I would bet what they have done is take TNGA and dressed it up like the current Prius just for testing purposes. Just doesn't seem logical to go around openly in a camouflaged version of the final car.

 

This seems to be like it:








2016 Toyota Prius: Exclusive New Details News Car and Driver

 

Yes look at me I'm driving the new Prius, here you go I've lowered the shutters, take some shots of the interior too. Everyone is looking at me, super, life can't get better than this.

 

that looks sporty.