Toyota Prius V and C (Pictures)

I'm not too crazy about the V either. Nothing too interesting... externally. I think the interior cockpit area is good though! They learned a lot after the 3rd gen. The Ev, Eco, Power buttons are better positioned near the driver. The front and back windshield heater buttons are also closer to the driver. The environmental display is lit and nicely visible. The auto button is nice and big and easy to hit (say, after you've manually adjusted the fan... how do you adjust the fans in this one? The dial seems to adjust temp.). Passenger airbag light is in a less annoying spot. Entune sounds good too. I wish I could install that in my Prius... Toyota's software has been a little behind the times. The only thing I'm not too crazy about is placement of the stick shift. I like where it is now in the 3rd gen. The 3rd gen's dash area still looks classier and cleaner overall, but in terms of usability, this new car is great.
As for the Prius C, I think it looks cool. At least the concept does...

Toyota is in desperate need of some style. I like the G3 enough to own it but I know it could be a lot better still. The rest of the Toyota stable, except the FJ and the Tundra, is downright boring. Hyundai, Kia, and Ford has really brought their game in recent years when it comes to styling. It's no wonder those companies are winning new customers. Follow the c.

I disagree - this is close to the perfect car for me. If this had an extra back seat and AWD I'd preorder one tomorrow.

I like the c. In fact, I hope they make it in 3 years when my lease is up!

The Prius C is a huge disappointment based upon pre-release information from Toyota. I'm soooo surprised that the C only delivers 13 miles on a battery charge at 60mph. Evidently, the driver can blow it all in 13 minutes, or space it out over how long? That's just not competitive based upon current technology. In addition to that, the recharge time for 110v is way too long, and who wants to bear the extra expense of installing a 220v in the garage.

I just do not see the application for a 13 mile electric mode. The pre-release information did not say whether or not the Prius C hybrid engine would help to recharge batteries in addition to plug-in.

So, with all that said, how is the Prius C any different than the current Gen III which offers some electric convenience before the hybrid engine takes over?

Come on Toyota engineering, you're better than this!

Happy Motoring,

Tom

Oh for...

1. You're clearly talking about the Prius PHV, a 3G Prius with a larger battery that can be plugged in to recharge. The Prius c is the smaller concept vehicle on show.

2. Demo PHV vehicles have been around for months, and some members of this forum have not only driven it but used it as their regular car for a few days.

3. A very large number of trips, all over the world, are very short. 13 miles would cover nearly my entire commute of 16 miles. In the US, commutes are generally further due to massive urban sprawl. The range is the result of the LA-4 test cycle, not a constant 60mph.

4. Batteries cost money and add weight. There's a compromise over range - add range and you increase the cost. Early figures suggest that Toyota's package is more efficient than GM's - you go further on the same amount of electricity. Toyota reckon their tradeoff of range versus cost is better than GM's, and they may be right.

5. Recharge times are a simple factor of battery capacity and the limitations of a household outlet. 15 amps at 110V delivers 1.65 kilowatts; 30 amps at 220V delivers 6.6 kW. Roughly, divide your battery capacity by the capability of the outlet to get charging time. To get faster charging you have to increase the voltage still further, because the losses in the cable are proportional to the square of the current carried. The limiting factor isn't how much power the battery can accept (the 3G Prius can accept 27 kW when regen-braking) but how much the wall can deliver.

6. There have been interminable discussions here about how much the battery will recharge in 'charge sustaining' mode, but basically one part of the battery (out of three) will behave like a current Prius.

Ooops...you are so correct. I am talking about the PHV and not the C! But my opinion remains about battery efficiency: 13 miles just isn't enough electric range!

Happy Motoring,

tom

I drive 2.5 miles to work. if I pick up my kids from school it's 1 mile.

Another 2.5-7 home if I get them from after school.

It works for ME!

Price it against the VOLT and you may or may not have a winner. My vehicles are leased for my company, since I'm the owner....well I get what I want. Only once has it been expensive and that was a Jeep GC with a Hemi. Never again. 12 mpg in town and 16 mpg hwy.....with 91 or better octane.

Bring on EV, partial EV and I'm happy.

I think the Prius c is something I would buy the Prius v does nothing for me. I just hope when the Prius c goes into production it looks like the picture

C looks good, but will be lamed up by production. If it was a four seater, two door but small and could pull 60 mpg city then it would be an interesting vehicle. Certainly smash that garbage that some call the CR-Z, which should have been aborted long ago. Also if the C is sufficiently light it would perform a bit better than the Prius.

Most upsetting announcement from the other day was the PHV's rollout schedule

I'm interested in the PHV too, but I'd rather Toyota get it mostly right on release than cripple the 1st Gen. As a Canadian I have to worry about cold temp performance. It would be nice to keep the same cargo capacity as the 3Gen but battey tech won't be ready for 2012 to make the battery that small, and get the same or more EV range. Best things come to those who wait.

I think the Lexus CT200H interior is much better then what I've seen of the Prius's. If you haven't seen it check it out at the Lexus site. I believe the Lexus engineers listened to us more then they did at Toyota

I never use the underfloor, I bet most rarely do. Losing an inch is no biggy, this sounds better than the focus EV's tiny trunk.

I think what everybody forgets is to get that 40 miles on the Volt you have to charge it for 10 hours. 3 hours doesn't seem too outrageous to recharge the Prius PHV, but I already have 220V in my garage, so 1 1/2 hour to fully recharge? Not too shabby. And work is only 2 miles away and even running errands at the end of the day we're talking maybe 10 - 11 miles in mostly city traffic. So that would be the perfect car for me. I have a dozen other questions for Toyota and most of those are based on what I already know about batteries. They've already answered a couple of questions relating to regen and based on those answers it seems the PHV will be a great car.

The C looks interesting, but that interior is typical concept fluff. Imagine it with a standard Toyota interior for what the real world car will look like.