I think the current Prius has enough zip.

So I'd rather have the new European engine, but don't think I'm willing to pay for it.

Would rather Toyota just go with the European engine everywhere.

I would like the 1.8 to come to Australia as long as I can tow a small trailer with it. Do that Mr Toyoda and I'll be itching to buy one, I could even buy my first ever brand new car!!

The current Prius is no slow poke. It's got enough pep, already. Unless the new Prius is significantly heavier than the 2nd Gen, I would have no problem with a 1.5.

Anyone know about the version in Australia? According to the "Open Road" magazine (a magazine published NRMA for its members, a large Australian insurance company focusing primarily on motoring) published last November, it claims that this Prius will be driven by the 1.8L, although it's just from an article on future hybrids as a whole and it doesn't specify which version. Anyone have any other views on the Australian version, if any?

And yeah, i'd like a larger engine as well, as long as fuel economy does improve, if even just a little. A lot of us like to travel long distances on high speed roads (our places are very spaced out), so we'll like the power.

Also Danny, if you don't mind, can you please tell us where you gained this info?

And why can't Toyota just export both versions to every country so we can choose?

Yes, this news upsets me, and I'm shocked that Toyota is doing this in light of the recent spike in gas prices and the massive media and political attention given to global warming. I guess Toyota knows something about marketing that I don't, because I can't think of one single reason you would need more acceleration in the Prius. I understand the balances that must be achieved between power and mpg, and trying to maximize the car's appeal to the largest segment of the population, I'm sure is their #1 goal. I saw the Blue Man Group advertisement, and in it there was one extremely strong statement with the eye-dropper of gasoline. Offering only the higher-power / lower-mpg model in the US contradicts that statement and to me is a form of deception. If Toyota's offering is true, then I am pissed.

Changing the subject slightly, I thought that there were negative consequences to importing a car (other than cost)? The big one being warranty issues. Getting one with the steering wheel on the proper side may be difficult. Some of the car's features may be different and if service is needed, the expertise may not reside with your local Toyota shop. If the engine displacement and MPG are the only differences, and the price is the same, then this is a no-brainer. But if there are other negative consequences, why would anyone pay extra money for that?

I find it very sad that Toyota is bowing to the likes of "Car and Driver", "MotorTrend" and all the other rags that put 0-60 MPH at the top of their list of "important features".

The reason the current Prius IS peppy enough with the 1.5L engine is because it has the electric motor to assist. What REAL WORLD gain will there be having a total of 160 HP vs the current 110?? Have we learned NOTHING from the fall out of $4/gallon gas and people FINALLY heading toward more fuel efficient vehicles when they don't NEED the gas hogs?? MOST cars are currently severely over powered, why shove those that are not in that direction????? :Cry:

At the very least, I wish they would offer the 1.5L in ALL option packages even if they feel the 'need' to offer the 1.8L. I would REALLY hate to have to buy the 1.8L to get other options I WANT at the expense of worse gas mileage. Of course, based on Danny's post, we are not going to have a choice anyway.
And you KNOW the 1.5L version will get better mileage than the 1.8L, otherwise, Toyota would be putting the 1.8L in all the cars. The Europeans (or at least their wallets), with their very high gas prices, would not tolerate a lower MPG version.

First the lousy cockpit re-design and now this. Toyota clearly doesn't want to sell me another Prius any time soon.

Sometimes a larger engine is capable of better MPG at lower speeds such as those most of us use. It can just loaf along with lower RPM.

I like what I see of the cockpit.

Please stop crying everyone, I'm sure Toyota are going to look after the economy aspect. I think people forget that PC members are not the average motorist, if Toyota can position the Prius more to the centre of the car buying demographic it will also capture a bigger slice of that market. Americans and Australians want bigger cars with bigger engines than the Europeans so that is what you get. You have all seen the people that come on PC crying that Prius is slow compared to their other car, a Corvette or some other car which cost twice as much as a Prius.

I suspect Australia will get the bigger engine, I'll see what I can find out on the weekend. I may be meeting someone in the know.
I trust Toyota to come out with a car that will sell, I just hope it has a towing capacity higher than 0kg

I wonder what the economy switch will do?

i really dont care what they do with the engine, but imm, there needs to be an improvement in the mileage. i average around 53 now. make it 60 without any driving habit changes and i can accept that. since the Pri was designed to get better gas mileage (along with introducing new technology of course) a more powerful engine that creates a loss in economic performance would be a tough decision to justify (especially considering i have no issues with the power of my current Pri)

Hope the econ option allows the gearing to be setup very tall on the CVT. If it does, it might not be that big of a difference. And might be better freeway mpg.

We can all hope and see if 1/12 tells us what we want to hear.

I voted for 'Import, no thanks, I want more power' .... and I'll tell why

>> There have been more than a few occasions where I was forced to get on the Prius gas quite hard to keep from getting run down.

One occasion, I was on a rather short freeway on ramp. I noticed a V6 type SUV barrelling along fast, stuck to the slow lane I needed to merge into. There was also a car behind it. I needed to get on the gas quite hard to merge onto the freeway ahead of the SUV, and I don't like to get into the throttle quite that hard.

Another time, I started up a steep hill with commuters behind, most larger cars. I was in front. I did ok getting up the hill, but the Prius felt a bit underpowered.

I'll face it --- I'm not a total greenie, but I do want to be reasonably conservative.

To the car manufacturers ....

>> If you can find a way to make a car very efficient and clean like the Prius, and also have performance to blend in easily with other traffic anywhere, plus be quite comfortable for tall and short drivers, and have the usefulness of the current Prius, then you have a truly remarkable car.

The current 2nd Gen Prius is fairly close to the above, but not quite there.

160 would be an awfully big jump in horsepower, more than I would hope for. I was thinking more like 135 HP total, assuming curb weight almost the same.

Hope they are not ditching economy for the sake of too much power.

I personally have no interest in more HP, but I have to believe the US market is still big enough to sell both.

On a different note, perhaps this is our answer to whether a 1.8L engine may be more fuel efficient than an 1.5L.

I think those who are in it for the economy will start looking for Gen 2's and that will help my resale.

160hp...120kw... wow, :jaw:. the new Mazda 6 has a 2.5L engine which delivers 125kw...and this Prius, if rumours and speculations are true and it won't be any heavier than the outgoing prius, will be a whole 100kg lighter than the 6. And with all that torque available, it might even be faster than a 6...something which will give the Prius haters a hard time. And if what Miguel said was regarding to the 1.8L and economy does drop below 4.0l/km, let's see what Jeremy Clarkson will have to say on his next Top Gear episide. Lol, of course that fuel drinking, carbon exhaust smoking freak will find some other excuses, he'll lie for sure if he has to. :nono:

If Australia does gets the 1.8L 160hp Prius :flame:, I might find myself at a Toyota dealer the first day the Prius is out. At last, a practical and spacious fuel efficient car more power...something i definately need for my frequent motorway travelling.

If you didn't have it floored, you had power to spare. If you need to go, stop wussing out and floor the damn gas pedal. That's what it's there for.

You don't need a bigger engine so you can perform the same manoeuvres without ever using more than 50% throttle and then spend the other 98% of the time at 2% throttle and choking the engine with the closed throttle body and wasting fuel.

The only time I've wanted more power out of the Prius is when drag racing sports cars at stop lights. In every other situation the power output of the Prius has been fine.