photos taken of the bottom of my Prius

[lutece7]

sorry, I don't have time to find an 09 Prius, arrange with my friend, take the photos, then do the post processing, OR be President of the former Republic of Texas. Glad you liked them, though.

[Boo]

Great photos. Thanks.

Originally Posted by The Electric Me

It looks like the bottom of a toy car.

LOL. So true. I put one on a lift and took this photo:

[octavia]

Originally Posted by Boo

Great photos. Thanks.



LOL. So true. I put one on a lift and took this photo:

LOL! Exactly what I was going to do, but you beat me to it. With two boys in the house, I recognize the bottom of a hot wheel when I see one!

[Tideland Prius]

Thanks for the pics! The first pic got me fooled too. I thought it was on a rotating lift that allowed it to be sideways!

[hobbit]

Interesting distortion out at the wheels. What sort of camera/lens?
.
Oil changes and the like are easily done through an openable
hatch door in the front underbelly panel -- nothing to *remove*
except a few clips. See the block heater page where FireEngineer
is reaching right up into the engine area -- the oil drain plug
and filter are right next to where his arm is.
.
_H*

[lutece7]

I used a 14mm lens on a full frame Nikon D700 DSLR.

[Old Bald Guy]

Originally Posted by The Electric Me

Good god! That's a lot of underplating. Does this bother anybody? For me this is one of the big reasons I say I'm not a D.I.Y.er when it comes to oil changes on the new Prius. But it also makes me nervous that I'm going to have to trust a technician to take the time and carefully remove the plating, and carefully replace the plating everytime plating needs to be removed. Seems nightmarish.

I know Toyota is proud of the designation of lowest CD of a production automobile but given that it is only microfractions higher than the second generation Prius, and only microfractions higher than The Insight, I have to question if all that underplating is worth it.

It looks like the bottom of a toy car. I also don't like the idea that my Prius could be leaking a fluid from the top down, onto the plating and I'd concievably never know.

Maybe it's the inevitable evolution of Hybrids and EV's to have so much underplating, but I'd be curious as to as far as CD and gas mileage, what the tangible benefits actually translate into being.

Seems like the future of automobiles is becoming Open the Hood see a big slab of plastic, look underneath see several slabs of metal and plastic.

If you go to this site John's Stuff - Toyota Prius and more you can learn more about the Prius than just about anywhere you could go. On the site is a fully illustrated 'how to" on changing the oil in the 2010.

You DON"T have to remove the entire cover. The engine cover has three (3) fasteners only.

Also, the undercovering is not just for airflow. It also is a great sound silencer. My 2010 is SO muct quiter than my 2008 was. My 2010 is maybe about the quietest car I have driven in over 40 years.

[SlowTurd]

you need a good 4 wheel alignment.



interesting curves in those bottom center panels

[bwilson4web]

Originally Posted by lutece7

. . .

Thank you for the photos but one thing has me scratching my head. Notice the orange power cables pass under exhaust pipe just before the rear axle, stability bar and the curious shape of the heat shield that appears to take a much tighter bend. Somehow, I keep thinking the heat shield should follow the exhaust pipe route and protect the high voltage cables from radiant heat. I will ask the Toyota shop take a close look at that area when I take it in for service.

Bob Wilson

[adamace1]

Originally Posted by bwilson4web

Thank you for the photos but one thing has me scratching my head. Notice the orange power cables pass under exhaust pipe just before the rear axle, stability bar and the curious shape of the heat shield that appears to take a much tighter bend. Somehow, I keep thinking the heat shield should follow the exhaust pipe route and protect the high voltage cables from radiant heat. I will ask the Toyota shop take a close look at that area when I take it in for service.

Bob Wilson

it looks like the heat sheild is only there to protect the gas tank.