Hybrid Superstar Shines Brighter

[Tideland Prius]

hmmmmm.....good info!

I'm just wondering where the media got their info on what chassis the Prius is based on.

[usbseawolf2000]

Originally Posted by usbseawolf2000

Which are the other articles? They may just referenced Edmunds. I found a Wikipedia that said otherwise. Upon further research they may be two MC platforms. One stands for Medium Compact and the other stands for Midsize Car. Which one does the 2010 Prius based on? I guess we'll find out when the SAE paper is published.

A piece on Ward's Auto:

The Prius now is on Toyota’s new, wider MC (midsize-car) platform. As a result, it feels much more rigid than the old Prius and resists body roll during aggressive cornering.

[Tideland Prius]

Yeah they mention it's on the same platform as the xB. Prius Team hasn't confirmed anything.

[Mike Dimmick]

Originally Posted by usbseawolf2000

A piece on Ward's Auto:

The Prius now is on Toyota’s new, wider MC (midsize-car) platform. As a result, it feels much more rigid than the old Prius and resists body roll during aggressive cornering.

That's straight out of the marketing materials given out at the press day, which I think Danny posted here. However, it seems that TMS USA marketing are using a different definition of 'platform' from the one commonly used in the motor industry. Normally 'platform' means common floorpan, engine and suspension setup. The 2G and 3G Prius share a wheelbase dimension of 2700mm with the Scion tC and the Avensis (European mid-size car), but not with Corolla or Camry. If one of the most basic measurements is different, how can it be the same platform? Avensis has independent double-wishbone rear suspension, while Prius has torsion beam (ETA-beam) suspension.

Toyota's model code system ties engine and platform together in one model code. When first designed, engines and platforms both had a one letter code so the model code was simply engine code followed by model code, so a Corolla with an A-series engine would be AE, then the 'generation' code, e.g. 82.

Eventually they ran out of single-letter codes and started creating xZ and xR engine codes. Again they concatenated the two, e.g. a Supra might be JZA80 if equipped with a 2JZ engine. They also ran out of two letter platform codes, so the RAV4 was XA. Again, fine if used with a one-letter engine code.

It appears that their computer system had trouble with more than three letters, though, so they seem to have come up with a way of encoding the last character of the engine code, and first character of the platform code, into one character. NHW20 is an NZ engine with a ?W20 platform, and ZVW30 a ZR engine with a ?W30 platform. I use ? to indicate we don't know what it is - there's no reference to how the encoding works. I'm tentatively calling it XW.

I can't find any reference to any other Toyota or Lexus vehicle with an XW platform.

XW30 may well be wider than XW20 - but it's not because it shares parts with Corolla or Camry.