Featured OH No! Toyota Might Ditch the Prius c, v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) and Plug-In Hybrid

The choice of power. It's geared different to deliver more. That's an efficiency tradeoff.

 

is this what he means by 'bitched out' ?



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Oh yes... That's it! I'll call it my little Prius CTS-v. Can we get 50 mpg please?

 

Anything is possible with a Sawz-all...

 

Lol, Bill, I've been following your project recently. Absolutely awesome! When you're done with the Fyrbrid, can you do the Prius CTS-v? Please please please? Hopefully they're the same wheelbase!

 

No - Please don't.
There were threads a couple years ago & more .... people butch'n the pri all to heck.
Prius pick-up truck???? | PriusChat
The goals? It doesn't mean the rear doors will even work.

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Next project will be an all-electric BMW Z3 for my wife. Then, we'll see...

Not to worry. My project doesn't even have rear doors.

 

Interestingly enough, I was looking at the Rav 4 Hybrid today. This is an AWD market, so maybe even at $30 K this will sell well. I was almost in tears over the auto lift rear hatch door, which sadly, the v doesn't have.

But even though I was a potential Rav customer, there are more direct comparisons. The most direct comparison is the Subaru Forester. Same relative shape, a bit higher due to the AWD, and just a smidge more cargo room.

I think what prevent us from having the market decide what sells and what doesn't is regulations regarding the classification, CAFE and other requirements. The perfect shape for many people is the Jetta wagon. A tad higher and you have a Forester, with light-duty towing and AWD. The Prius v has the size, both for people and cargo, and the room.

Interestingly enough, we just leased a 2013 Camry Hybrid XLE today as a replacement for our 2007. The sale of the 2007 practically pays for the lease, two-thirds of it anyway.

I like my Prius v, I don't love it. Perfect would be a car that drove like the CMax, and had the reliability of a Toyota. A 30 MPG Rav4 hybrid is not on our list, probably never would be.

 

I remember that the last Focus wagon, from 2004 maybe, had the same cargo space as the Rav4 of the time. Oh, and the Jetta wagon and other cars were once capable of light towing. Still are in other markets.

 

In fact, the Prius, all generations, have been capable of light towing. The unique characteristics of the transaxle makes that practical.

Bob Wilson

 

I was referring to the fact that the Jetta once had an actual 2000# tow rating in the US. Now it doesn't, but likely does still in Germany.

 

Toyota/Scion has way too many models, it just confuses people and adds inefficiency to the factories. iA, Yaris, tC, Corolla, and Prius C all overlap more or less. Kind of silly to have Camry Hybrid and Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) too, since their MPG is the same, although i know they are very different cars.

I don't know what they should do, but I do know FCVs and more models is what they shouldn't do.

 

The FCV's could prove to be a really bad decision, time awaits. As for the Prius v? The people and cargo space attracts a lot of window shoppers. Now when people window shop, they sit in a car, look quickly at the sticker price, and the epa mileage. In this climate, people will look at Subarus and the Honda CRV. The Prius gets weighed down by no AWD, and the others have AWD and acceptable mileage now. Not to mention, the Prius tends to be scary when you look at the sticker price. That's how the masses shop. There's always the coolness factor as well.

No doubt in my mind that Toyota could produce a wagon that gets stellar mileage, is more fun to drive, at a competitive price. With as many Jetta wagons as I see on the road, I know it's possible. We might also be victims of Toyota's size. Toyota's enormous, so a nice market for VW or Subarus, would be a drop in the bucket for Toyota. A decided advantage for their competition.