Four wheel drive??

Everything we know for sure about the Gen4

 

Rumor has it that an electric motor on each rear wheel may happen, putting studded snows on your present vehicle will make it a road warrior, err, without studded snows another two wheels driving will be better but best would be studded snows and four wheels driving.
Had a hybrid highlander with electric motors on the rear wheels, good on the road, useless on steeps or in mud.(off road)

 

You could take a look at the 3.5L V6 Hybrid Highlander with Electronic On-Demand 4WD with intelligence (4WD-i)
You could think about moving south.
You could think about winter tires on steel rims.
You could hope for an AWD option for Gen IV Prius. I don't think they will add AWD to Gen IV. It gets complicated/expensive fast as shown by the first option.

I got new Michelin Premier A/S tires and that gave me what I needed to get through the long, snow-filled winter here in Syracuse NY.

 

I don't think that Prius will come out with an all wheel drive in the near future; but Toyota will be unveiling their all wheel drive hybrid Rav 4 in 2016. I just saw pictures of it from an email at the New York car show. It, reportedly will have more horse power than the regular Rav 4, and will get between 30 and 34 miles per gallon. It's motor and hybrid system will be based on the current Lexus system. My Prius v gets around 44 mpg; but I am looking forward to once again having all wheel drive up here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. My last vehicle was a 2006 Rav 4, and the past few years I've really missed all wheel drive.

 

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on AWD let alone waiting on the Gen4. Lol!

I actually gave up waiting twice in the last year and bought myself a 2015 Persona last fall and just last week traded in my wife's 2014 Rav4 4wd (crap 19 mpg!!) for the last 2014 Prius v three on the lot. Granted I live near Philly not Wisconsin or New England but I can't actually recall needing to push the 4wd button at all this winter besides just for fun.... In my opinion the Gen3 Prii are good winter cars and are even better once equipped with snow tires. I had zero issues commuting all winter with my persona on stock tires..

I can agree AWD would be a nice option (especially in the mountains or the snowbelt) on the Gen4 as long as it doesn't add too much weight and as long as it doesn't affect mpg too much...

 

suburu?

 

Carol DiPirro - The MY2016 RAV4 will be coming out with a AWD, Hybrid version powered by a 2.5-Liter I4 ICE.

• New 2016 RAV4 to Offer Eighth Hybrid in Toyota Lineup

• More Horsepower, Higher MPG Than Conventional RAV4

• Refreshed Exterior Styling and Updated Interior Across the RAV4 Lineup

• New SE Grade Provides Sport-Tuned Suspension, Premium and Sportier Styling

New features include:

• Improved interior quality with more premium materials
• Available 4.2-inch TFT multi-information display in a revised gauge cluster
• Available 7-inch touch-sensitive display audio touch screen
• Leather steering wheel (excluding LE)
• Updated interior shifter and window/lock control bezel material
• Revised cup holder design to accommodate tall mugs with handles
• New sunglasses holder
• Additional USB added to front and one 12V power outlet added to rear
• New interior colors (Tan, Beige and on SE a Tan/Black combination)
• Soft touch material on upper door panel and lower dash

 

There's an option. The new crosstreck's are cheaper than a prius c and do ok on mpg. The outback's have priced themselves too high, I liked my 2008 though. Forester is nice and I loved my 2011 xt.

Crosstreck is where it's at though at that pricepoint though. There is even a hybrid option, not sure if it's worth it though as you only gain 1 or 2 mpg over the ice version.

 

probably not, i wonder why it's so hard to improve mpg's, is it the drivetrain?

 

Not sure. All I know is subaru is good at making AWD (ancient system but it works great), not so much at mpg... And this is thier first hybrid offering so they prob just kinda suck at it right now, room for improvement...

 

maybe it's the nature of the beast. i wonder if anyone makes a higher mpg awd than suburu. in as large a package.

 

http://www.autotrader.com/research/article/best-cars/222491/top-9-fuel-efficient-suvs-and-crossovers-for-2014.jsp


Regular crosstrek vs hybrid article:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/06/07/automobiles/video-the-subaru-xv-crosstrek-hybrid-wont-save-much-green.html?referrer=

 

When first released, the hybrid Crosstrek's weren't impressive. Then the Lexus NX came out, and put it in a better light.
Compare Side-by-Side
Unless all your driving is city, or creeping along poor roads or through snow, the hybrid's cost is likely hard to justify over the ICE Crosstrek. Then if high ground clearance isn't a real must, the good old Imperza likely will get good MPG for much less.

An eAWD system could potentially have the lowest fuel economy penalty. The AWD HiHy got only 1mpg worse on the highway than the FWD version, when it was available. The beast isn't the AWD. It's the SUV shape. Cleaning up the airflow off the back end of a SUV or wagon is tough. Then they have a taller ground clearance. This increases the frontal area and lets more air go underneath. Because of the exhaust, a front engined car can't do the full belly pan. Which generally gets skipped anyway for costs. Plus, there is likely more weight.

The Impreza is inline to its competitors in size and shape. Its MPG is on par with them, while having AWD. BMW and MB offer AWD on their small cars, But I know of no one else. The BMW 328d beats the Imperza on fuel economy, but it's a diesel, and nearly twice the price.
The Fusion AWD beats the Legacy 6 cylinder, but Ford doesn't offer AWD with their more economical engines. They do that with most of their vehicles.
Compare Side-by-Side

Kai unvieled a Soul hybrid eAWD concept recently. We likely won't get it and official MPG figures, but it didn't appear to get lifted like the other hybrid SUVs.

 

My opinion: The 4th gen Prius liftback will NOT have an AWD option. There's other hybrids that get that and the upcoming Rav4 hybrid has AWD option covered.

 

I would buy an AWD Prius today if it existed. I'm waiting until Fall 2016 to see if it might happen, otherwise I'm going with the Rav 4 hybrid or a Mazda cx3.

 

A Gen IV Liftback or Gen II PiP with AWD would sell like hotcakes around the Northeast here. I'd go for a Gen II PiP with AWD in an instant.

 

I'm speculating that it won't have AWD in it, probably because all the usable engine space they have is already being used for something else. And the bigger reason is it'll be expensive to put it in, and will take away sales from the Rav4 hybrid.

That said, Tesla showed that electric AWD isn't terribly expensive, and is an incredibly popular option, so I'd imagine that more cars, most likely EV's, will utilize it, and probably the gen 5 prius, unless Toyota goes full retar-, er, hydrogen by that point.

However, if it is offered as an option, preferably one you could get after having bought the prius (and not something they have to install at the factory while building it), it would definitely be a big seller in states that have winter weather.

 

I'm getting chuckles from this thread.

The Toyota exec. who was interviewed a number of months back said there would be an AWD option for the GIV Prius. My speculation is it would probably be done like the Hybrid Highlander, with a third MG attached to a diff. driving the rear wheels (not one motor for each wheel - MUCH too expensive!). Not sure how the RAV4 Hybrid will do it. Not even sure it will be offered in Canada.

Subaru once got good mileage, even in 4WD form. I owned a wagon that got 6 l/100 km on the highway at 55 MPH. But the -majority- wanted more power, so that's the way Fuji Heavy Industries went.