The 2.0 liter HSD is coming in 2014. It would be turbocharged as well and said to be even more efficient than the new 2.5 liter HSD (38.5% thermal efficiency). The GenII Prius was about 37% and Gen III was about 38% efficient so those two new engines are improvements with dual VVT-i and direct injection.
You have to wonder if that's going into the next Gen Prius or whether they'll stick with the 1.8 litre setup. Maybe the liftback will be 1.8 litres and the v will be turbocharged? Or maybe they're secretly planning a sports car...
I was in the market for a 2012 CR-V (which is nice). But brought home a v. I paid about $3000 premium for the v but will recoup the cost with gas saving in 4 years. Also, v is a nicer car to drive. Very stable and quiet on the highway at 75 mph. It has a slightly highly seating position than a regular car. Also, the v is NOT slow. It just feels slow because of the CVT and can't see the tach. The time (based on magazines) for it from 0-30 is pretty much the same as other 4-cycl CUVs. It may be 1 to 1.5 sec slow to get from 0-60. Anyway, I never need to 0-60.
