2010 Toyota Prius Coming To The Melbourne Motor Show

Better yet - is Pat inviting any of his numerous friends from NA to the show? Hey Pat I invited you to the Toronto reveal! :welcome:

 

Its nearly the same distance for AussieOwner to go,
but there's also a new PC member Gooch who lives around Melbourne we could ask.

Pat, if you do attend, will you please post the models that will be on offer in Oz?
As KiwiBruce said - there's little chance of any on show here.

 

Finally we'll get to see the right-hand drive version and probably a true-blue JDM, or is it not?

 

I'm off work that weekend but I may have some commitments, damn!
I'll see what I can do about changing that and driving to Melbourne, it's only 7.5 hours away!! God I hate Melbourne!!

Aussie cars are not JDM cars, it isn't easy to get a JDM car registered here and impossible to have a car which is sold here new bought in unless it's a collectible car because that particular car is special for some outstanding reason like a rally winning car. Not the model but the actual car.

Oh anyone from anywhere feel free to attend, this isn't like a Prius Connection event it's just a motor show. I should contact Toyota and see if there is any special event I could sneak an invite to.

I have posted about this in another thread somewhere.

 

27th? damn, I wish i could, but i'm too busy to drive 9+ hours throughout February and March. I wish they didn't cancel this year's Sydney motor show. Oh well, that's what you get when the economy's in bad shape

 

How will it take you 2 months to drive for 9+ hours? That is one big plus!!

Oh, anyone lurking who lives between Adelaide and Melbourne care to make the trip with me shout out.

 

Yes I am aware the Australian registered vehicles aren't JDM.

I am making an educated guess that since this is the 1st time that Toyota is promoting the 2010 in a left-lane driven country, there just might be a chance they gonna bring in at least a JDM for the show, considering the fact domestic model is widely expected to be available in May and this can be quickly ordered (thru non-official channel) to some Asia Pacific region which happens to drive on the same side of the road.

 

working. Very busy.

 

Wont happen.
It would be too confusing for the Australian motoring public to cope with a JDM car on display when the Australian Prius is displayed as well.

Oh by the way, it won't be a 2010 in Australia, the first cars on the road, in fact all those made before this 31st of December will be late 2009 models. We are too simple to understand how a 2010 model can be on the showroom floor in 2009 so we just use the model number and year of manufacture. It may be known as the Third Generation but not 2010, at least not until 2010.

 

Us too. If its first sold in 2009, its registered as an '09 and that's what counts legally. Could be a southern hemisphere thing.
Also (like elsewhere) the first letter of your rego plate will reflect the year it is first registered here.

 

The first letter of my rego stands for Sparks like the other 5 digits represent the rest of my name. My plate reads SPARK5.
I believe that is an English thing, the first letter thing but I stand to be corrected. It was so funny when I had a pom in England telling me all about how he wanted a H plate car rather than a G plate, I thought he hated the letter G!

 

It is a NZ thing too, but we have been known to speak a version of english from time to time, so maybe that's the link.

I believe we are currently in an "F" year. The plate stays with the car for the life of the car - only personalised plates are transferrable.

By the way, here is the reply I got from Toyota NZ when I asked when the new model would be coming to NZ.

********** EDIT **********
After posting the information originally in this space I noticed that there was a footnote to the email reply I received that said I was not to copy it or disclose its contents to any other person.
Ooops, my bad Toyota. Sorry. I've removed it now.

 

I hear New Zealand and Tasmania are more English than the English, I was kind of trying to imply that. I have no doubt that is where Kiwiland picked it up from. I wonder if Tazzie does the same?

I enquired with Toyota about the gen III some months back and was told I couldn't be told, much as you were. No one expects it to come out earlier this year do they?
How secret are the specs really? Toyota distributors in NZ and Oz never heard of the internet.

 

Yes, but were you told that you weren't allowed to tell that you couldn't be told?

My head hurts a little.

Pat can you tell us whether you are going to the Melbourne show? If you do go, please PM me the specs they have at the show. OK?

I'll keep it seekreet...

 

You must have had this discussion in about 1990. Or possibly in 1970 depending on whether it was an H prefix or suffix (suffixes came first).

The first registration scheme here started in 1903. One- and two-letter codes were allocated to areas (e.g Reading was RD) and a serial number within that area was issued, from one to four digits, the plate being the area code followed by the numbers: AA 9999. When the four digits were exhausted (9,999 cars registered) a new two-letter code was allocated for that area, using the next available code, so many areas had multiple codes and it wasn't clear what the area was. In the early 1930s they ran out of letters as well and had to come up with a new scheme.

From 1932 they added a third letter, prefixing the existing area letters, so the last two letters still indicated the area. (I, Q and Z were unused: I and Z reserved for Ireland, Q reserved for temporary imports or other cases where the age is uncertain.) The number field was limited to three digits, plates reading AAA 1 to YYY 999. That scheme also ran out in many areas and they had the idea of reversing the order to 1 AAA to 999 YYY. Again that ran out in popular areas and they went back to the 1901 scheme, but reversed: 1 AA to 9999 YY.

By the early 1960s this had become a complete mess and the numbers were still running out. Someone had the bright idea of adding a yearly sequence indicator, a suffix year character, to the original 1932 scheme. Again, I, Q and Z were omitted, along with O and U, for 21 characters total. The format was AAA 1A through YYY 999A for any particular year. It originally ran January to January, but the motor trade complained it was causing much activity in December as people switched cars to get the new letter (got to keep up with those Joneses) and it was changed to August.

The scheme hit letter Y in July 1983 and a new scheme was needed. They simply reversed the order again and issued A1 AAA through A999 YYY. However, in the 1990s the numbers started to run out again in some areas, and from 1998's 'S' sequence they changed every six months, 'T' running from March 1999 to August 1999, the shift in the second half of the year changing to September. At this point there were only four letters, two years, left.

The numbers I recall from my parents' cars, of this scheme:

FJM 17V - JM = Reading, 1979/80 (Morris Marina - ick)
D*** AMO - MO = Reading, 1986/7 (can't remember the numbers) (Ford Orion - 4-door sedan Escort MkIV)
H546 JDP - DP = Reading, 1990/1 (Ford Orion, MkV)
N registered Ford Escort estate/wagon MkVb, 1995/6 (can't recall the rest, oddly considering this is the one I drove the most!)

The Escort was actually an older shape - it's date of first registration, not manufacture. The new shape had been introduced in 1994, M plate.

My only other car was Y*** xNM (not filling in completely as this was probably auctioned after trade-in) - 2001, Newcastle (approved used Ford Focus, formerly a fleet vehicle/lease by Budget Rent-A-Car but that's not the name they used on the registration form )

From September 2001 a new scheme was created which is easier to determine the age, and original registration area. The first two characters indicate the registration office, which is generally a major area letter with a range of second characters allocated to different offices in that area (Reading handles RA through RY - I, Q and Z are still not used but O and U are). The second two digits indicate the year - last two digits of the year for March to September, plus 50 for September to March. The last three characters are I think sequential as Reading Buses have many sequential registrations (although generally starting YN as the coachbuilder is in East Lancashire). Therefore my car RA57 OZW was first registered between September '07 and March '08 (actually 1 January 2008).

Registrations are transferrable between cars as long as you don't make a car look newer than it actually is, so you could transfer a 52 plate to a car built in 2009, but can't put an 09 plate on a 2003 car. The owner of the building my employer's renting has a 'K' plate he's transferred to a new Jaguar XF. 'Personalized' plates here are just plates from one of the above sequences which are taken to have a given meaning - DVLA now runs an auction site where they hold back some numbers that might have a meaning, to sell them at higher than usual prices. Numbers from cars that have been totalled, broken up or otherwise disposed of go back in the pool, to be assigned to vehicles of the appropriate age that haven't been registered in the UK before, or for sale to anyone who wants them.

The spacing and now character set (font) are specified and the plate must conform to this by law. However, people do change the spacing, or add black or yellow/white screwcaps and the placing of screws, or the shape of some of the letters or digits, to try to make it spell something else. An incorrect plate is supposed to be a reason for failing the yearly MoT test (basic car check) and can attract up to a £1,000 fine, and possibly having the registration number revoked.

Anyway the point is that a '2010' car has virtually no meaning here. Car manufacturers normally simply call a new model 'the New xxx' up until the old one is completely phased out. Toyota are advertising minor changes to Yaris, Aygo and Auris as '2009' cars though.

 

No, actually, I guess we have very little in common with them