Efficiency gains in City or Highway driving?

Weight reduction benefit is more pronounced with city driving.

Aerodynamic benefit is more pronounced with larger vehicles.

Not sure how one could draw a conclusion about being more for one or the other. Prius has always strived for balance, offering gains in a variety of conditions.
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versus the prius liftback the prius C is much lighter, which means less energy lost accelerating and decelerating and likely lower rolling resistance. This will increase city mpg.

The prius c has a cd of 0.28 versus 0.25 on the prius lift back. Although the frontal area is lower in the prius c, aerodynamic drag is higher. The 1.5L engine likely is not anymore efficient than the 1.8L at highway speeds, so I would not expect much change at high speed driving. The epa test may be slightly better because of weight, but I would not expect much change. If you are going 70 for long distances the prius c may return lower mileage than the gen III prius.

 

The c may have a sightly higher cd value, but there might be a TRD spring set that could lower the c a little, possibly making cd values nearly the same? The c might be able to equal the gen III, in highway MPG. We'll have to see when it gets here. That 1.5 could be pretty thrifty, plus there's that weight difference, too.

In any case, it could set the MPG standard for hybrid powered commuters.

 

Re: SAME Combined 50 mpg as Prius

The Prius c weighs more than 500 pounds LESS than the Prius, yet they get the SAME combined gas mileage of 50 mpg. I am very disappointed.

53 MPG City / 46 MPG Hwy / 50 MPG Combined

Toyota Prius c: 53 MPG city / 46 MPG Hwy; Under $19,000 | PriusChat

 

Really disappointing. I was anticipating this car, as I thought with lessons learned, lighter weight, smaller profile, it would have easily outperformed my Gen III. But, alas, I am bummed.

 

With our Prius we always get more mpg's highway than city driving.

Even during the winter some of our highway trips approach the calculated 50 mpg area, and calcualted city driving in winter is 45mpg or so.

I bet you that the Prius C in summer on the highway will be high 50's to low 60's mpg calculated.

A few months from now we will all no the truth.....

al

 

Per Toyota release C is rated at 53/46/50.

Yes .28 Cd should affect hwy but not by much due to lesser frontal area (C is narrower and lower by 2") it is equivalent of 0.26 of Prius. Independent testing found the value for the GenIII model with 17" wheels to be around 0.30 (based on tests in GM, Ford, and Chrysler wind tunnels). So the reduction should have been less then 2MPG, if the stated 0.28 Cd correct. More over 500lbs weight reduction should improve MPG by 12-18% in city, but it only improved by 4%.

My guess the "C" powertrain is less efficient. Perhaps due to higher friction % in 1ZR 1.5L engine design, smaller battery, simplified valve timing.

 

I had angered some when I said the prius c would be worse on the highway, so was more diplomatic on this thread. If you look at the bsfc of the prius II engine versus the prius III, the 1.5L has close to the same peak efficient (37% versus 38%) but is less efficient at both low and high power levels. Does anyone know when the 1.5L is due for a redesign

 

from what I understand it is a different 1.5L.. Gen II used 1NZ and Prius C is equipped with 1ZR, same design as GenIII 2ZR.

Perhaps it is less efficient b/c it still maintains 80mm bores, as all ZR engines? or maybe the information is incorrect and they based design on Daihatsu 3SZ engine?

using 3SZ would make sense since it is a cheaper/smaller/lighter package designed for Kei car, and it had been used in Yaris and xB, so the mounting would be compatible with ZR.

 

I thought from previous press on the aqua it was a "new" 1NZ-FXE, the same designation as in the Gen II prius, with egr and ehr from the genIII. The engine block heater hole has moved, and there may be other changes. The gen III engine was lower friction and reved lower for the same horsepower, which makes it more efficient at higher power levels. I am unsure if the changes improve the 1nz-fxe at lower power levels, which was the real surprise of the gen III. I'm sure someone in Japan will get us a bsfc on this engine soon, and then we will know.

Mazda is doing a change to a more efficient engine, in the mazda 3 in a midcycle refresh. The mazda changes include di, lower friction, and better valve control allowing for additional compression. The package allows both more efficiency and more power, which greatly boosts highway mileage. I would not be surprised if toyota did something similar say in 2014 on their 1NZ engined cars.

 

goodling it yeah looks like it is 1NZ from GenII.. that explains lower then expected MPG.. and aren't 1NZ build in Tianjin now too?

Thing is that mid-cycle 3 is compromise. Mazda had to lower compression (no space for long running headers), and you get ~40MPG on highway.

What makes Prius C attractive that for the same 19K you get the same cargo as Mazda-3 hatchback (17cu.ft), better fuel economy on hwy, way better in city All that albeit less power. Could be a good choice if suspension is tuned better then GenIII.

 

Well yes, but even without the redesign to include the exhaust manifold, higway mpg jumped from 33 to 40 Dropping a more technologically advanced engine in the prius c also wouldn't get its full advancement, but..... maybe with a lithium battery and that you can get to 55/49 with a 9.5sec 0-60.

I doubt the prius c will attract the zoom zoom set, but they are a small part of the segment. The big guns are corola, cruze, civic, fit. A redesigned engine might help both the corola and the prius c.

 

I'm interested in knowing how the smaller battery will effect the ability to pulse and glide.
With gen II Prius you can glide around 35 mph. I read some where the Prius C can go EV up to 25 mph for just under a mile. Does that mean we can only glide under 25 mph?

 

I gotta say that the overall estimated MPG is very disappointing. I was hoping for something closer to 60, and the overall is no better than the liftback.

The 53/46 average 51 is just too low for the size of the car. I ordered a liftback (2012-4) in late December when my husband convinced me that the heavier car would be safer on the highway (and the C IS considered a city car) and more comfortable for him to drive and ride it. I now am sure I made the right decision. If the overall had been closer to 60 I might have had buyer's regret. I know the initial cost is much higher, but we will be able to use it for family travel making it a wiser purchase for us.

 

it is not gonna limit it by the speed but will cycle more, hence less efficient.

On Gen II top speed was limited by final drive, and it looks like C has final drive even lower then Gen III.

Anyone knows if HSD is from Gen III or Gen II carry over?

 

HSD is all new to be less expensive and lighter - less hybrid premium. hp is 100 with ice 74hp. Battery has 20 versus 28 cells. Motors are smaller, lighter, and less powerful.

 

HSD is all new to be less expensive and lighter - less hybrid premium. hp is 100 with ice 74hp. Battery has 20 versus 28 cells. Motors are smaller, lighter, and less powerful.

 

You people are getting way to wrapped around the axle about the EPA ratings. Wait until CR and some others get their hands on it to do some real world back to back gas mileage tests. I think that it will do a lot better than the EPA ratings say.