photos taken of the bottom of my Prius

[Boo]

With those underbody panels/floorpans, I wonder if the 2010 Prius will float, and if so, for how long?

(Remember the scene in The Dirty Dozen when the VW Beetle floats?)

[regentofthesun]

Originally Posted by Snowbell

Excellent photos! Clearly a lot of attention was paid to all the parts of the 2010 Priuses. Pretty amazing! I'm glad I now own one, too.

Thanks for posting.

Thanks for posting the photos AND providing access to the hi-res versions. VERY COOL!

[DaveinOlyWA]

Originally Posted by The Electric Me

Good god! That's a lot of underplating. Does this bother anybody?

Toyota did mention better sound proofing. i guess the panels would help with that.

Originally Posted by jay_man2

These pictures confirm to me that I'll not be driving up a friend's long dirt driveway with a seriously high hump in the middle of it, but stay on the street and hike over to his house.

why would you be concerned? its not like you will catch and rip anything off. if there was something in the road, just make sure you got enough momentum to high center and slide off the backside.

Originally Posted by bwilson4web

Somehow, I keep thinking the heat shield should follow the exhaust pipe route and protect the high voltage cables from radiant heat.
Bob Wilson

hard to tell with no 3D. the cable could be several inches away

Originally Posted by lutece7

I wanted to make available 3 hi res versions of the popular photos I took of the undercarriage of the 2010 Prius. All 3 files can be downloaded by right clicking on each of them here: Enlarged photos of bottom of 2010 Prius

they are over 3000 x 2000 in size so you can zoom in on the detail.

very cool pics. definitely one for the PC archives

[CharlesJ]

Originally Posted by The Electric Me

.... 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. ....

With all the bolts in place not just most of them

[lutece7]

I don't see how you get such great milage. I tried VERY hard, including pulse and glide, and just go 49.7 on a tank of gas. I am not driving at hight speed either, when I am on highway. I am driving slower than speed limit more often than not.

I shouldn't hijack my own thread. I will spend more time looking at the MPG form for hte 2010.

Chris

Originally Posted by DaveinOlyWA

Toyota did mention better sound proofing. i guess the panels would help with that.



why would you be concerned? its not like you will catch and rip anything off. if there was something in the road, just make sure you got enough momentum to high center and slide off the backside.



hard to tell with no 3D. the cable could be several inches away




very cool pics. definitely one for the PC archives

[Midpack]

Does anyone know how much benefit all the underplating on the Prius does provide? Has to be beneficial, but is it tenth's of an mpg or more? I did see the post below, but wonder if anyone actually knows WRT the Prius, interesting topic - great pics thanks.

Originally Posted by Dark_matter_doesn't

Many, many moons ago, the Car & Driver magazine staff had a project to try improving the mileage of a Dodge panel van. They tried front spoilers, wings on the back, blocking the radiator, and other ideas. The only thing that made a significant difference, like a few mpg so we're talking the order of 10 - 20%, was to completely cover the underside of the van to make it smooth.

[brick]

Originally Posted by lutece7

I tried VERY hard, including pulse and glide, and just go 49.7 on a tank of gas.

This might be part of the problem. Over-thinking the way you drive can lead to disappointing results. All you need to do is plan ahead to keep the car moving with a minimum of braking and keep your speeds down.

[DaveinOlyWA]

Originally Posted by lutece7

I don't see how you get such great milage. I tried VERY hard, including pulse and glide, and just go 49.7 on a tank of gas. I am not driving at hight speed either, when I am on highway. I am driving slower than speed limit more often than not.

I shouldn't hijack my own thread. I will spend more time looking at the MPG form for hte 2010.

Chris

you are a craftsman and i assume you have been doing it several years. so let me ask you. do you feel you are a better photographer now than you were when you first started? now, keep that answer in mind.

i dont go to extreme measures to get great mileage most of the time. traffic around here does not allow P&G for the most part. but i do go to extreme measures to learn how my Pri works and how what i do affects the mileage i do get. its all a learning process and it might not be as complicated as learning all the tricks of picture taking, but it is complicated enough that most cannot just jump in and do it immediately

now, i also am probably lucky in just my driving needs. for short trips, i have my Zenn. that right there eliminates those short errand runs that we all have to make which will kill a tank's mileage.

but keep at it. pay attention to what works for you. and ANTICIPATE that is the most important thing. knowing when to fold em oh wait!!...

i mean when to accelerate, when to coast and when to brake LIGHTLY, other than emergency stops, if you are not braking very lightly, you are not doing the first two things well enough

and finally... i have a 5 year head start on you

[Fujisan]

Several people have mentioned the attention to detail Toyota devoted to smoothing the air flow underneath the car. I would also like to add 'to controlling the air flow underneath the car'.

Quite a lot of time in the wind tunnel must have been spent fine tuning the three curved grooves per side underneath the passenger compartment, which appear (to my untrained eye) to direct the undercar air flow away from the rear tyres and all the extra drag they can cause.

Many thanks to orginal poster for these great photos.

[neilz]

Originally Posted by The Electric Me

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.

You are assuming that the bottom is leak proof. If that were the case, the engine would be submersed in a heavy rain storm. I am sure liquids drain just fine.