CNN and the G5 Prius......when half a loaf may be.....hotter?

It’s like the Tesla truck. Earth shattering upon first look, then the eyes adjust and see the sticker shock

 

I'll stake out the position that they would have killed the Prius altogether if they couldn't have it double as their "fun car," a role previously filled by the Celica and the 2-door Camry Solara. Nicer and more expensive than a Corolla, but close to the same overall size.

 

A former owner of Prius generations 1, 3, and Prime, I always found getting 52-56 MPG was their upper limit. I'd often day dreamed of ripping out the existing ICE and associated tank, exhaust, and radiator and replacing with an equal weight to NiMH batteries. But I got a 2014 BMW i3-REx and never looked back ... well I did buy a low-trim Prius Prime that disappointed me.

Today, the ex-wife has the BMW that makes us both happy. As I type this, I am doing a Tesla cross country from Alabama to Las Vegas.

Bob Wilson

 

I'm still surprised how many reviewers talk about the G5 look as completely different from prior gens.

It's less busy and less marred by weird ornamentation, but still the totally recognizable speedbump or "flipped-over deviled egg" shape.

And what's with reviewers, of all generations, complaining that the CVT makes a "sad, droning engine sound" so they could not "entirely enjoy[] driving it"?

As if the sound of an engine alternately lugging and racing, then shifting gears and doing it again, is the only sound that can make a person happy? Not the sound of an engine being used efficiently?

A boat or a plane sounds like a Prius: you run the engine up to the power level you want and let it do its job. Does that sound make enjoyment impossible?

 

I think some drivers like to imagine what their engine is doing while they are operating, and a simple car (or bike) gives audio feedback that is very easy to interpret.

A Prius soundtrack could be less satisfying for some to listen to because it doesn't always help the driver understand what the car is doing in response to control inputs. Works fine for the more educated/less interested listener, though.

 

Someone was putting fake engine noise in their ev. Ford? Vdumb? I wonder if they are still

 

Ford Lightning has that option; was just watching Doug Demuro’s review.

 

The retro Mustang had a tube that amplified the engine sounds in the cabin.

The Charger EV concept has a fake engine sound system that can go louder than the Hellcat model.

 

It seems pretty darned direct to me: higher engine note, more power, lower engine note, less power.

 

Well that's technically correct- the best kind of correct!

...But can you catch another driver's attention at the stoplight by blipping the throttle?

 

Reports here say we will not get it: apparently Toyota is not making the new Prius for RHD export. I think they'll be a JDM one, but it won't be exported to RHD markets.

Instead, we'll get the new CH-R, which will only be available as a hybrid.

 

I've always found this weird. I never saw a problem with the engine note of my Prius. In fact, I thought the seamlessness of the noise as you accelerated was kind of nice.

But you're right: it is in every single review of every Prius (and most other reviews of CVT cars) ever. I get that it doesn't make the same noise that you make with your voice as a five-year-old doing a car chase with two of your toy cars. But I think that's OK as I am not five any more.

 

They may not be making enough for the market in Japan.

 

That could be it. But I know that with quite a few Japanese cars, the JDM car is specced quite differently - and often even looks quite different - to the RHD export cars for places like Australia and the UK. They may have just thought it wasn't worth the bother: in Australia I think the number of Gen 4s they sold was in the hundreds, although there do seem to be quite a lot in Britain.

 

The Plain Prius was cancelled for Europe. They get a choice of three body types and two hybrid systems in the Corolla already, and it isn't subject to import tariffs. Without the UK as consideration, what other markets can support RHD. The Prime/PHV is going to be available in Europe, though it looks Toyota is making even less of those.

On the subject of RHD, I had reason to visit the Jeep Wrangler site, the US one. Right on the main page listing trims, not buried in a commercial or fleet section, was a RHD trim. Jeep made such a version once upon a time for the USPS, and those were available for rural carriers to buy.

 

That all makes sense. Thank you.

Ah, yes. USPS had RHD vans, too, didn't they?

Jeep does actually sell RHD cars here now, and in the UK and elsewhere. They're not huge sellers and they depreciate like avocados, but they do exist.

 

Yes to the USPS RHD trucks. There is s thread here on that aging model's replacement.

Heard one of the reasons FCA wanted Chrysler was because of Jeep's popularity over seas.

 

Yes, I think I remember the thread. When I first heard of the USPS RHD trucks, I really thought it was a stroke of genius. I just wouldn't have thought of that as a solution to what a postal worker needs, but it really is ideal.

It varies from place to place. Sister company Chrysler enjoyed a brief period of popularity here with the 300C, which was a lot of car for the money even if it was fairly shonky. And there are quite a few Jeep Grand Cherokee Hemis. The smaller Jeeps - the Patriots and the non-grand Cherokees - competed with offerings from Great Wall, Chery, some of the lower-end Korean-made Holdens for a while, but they didn't have the best reputation for reliability. And people thought it was hilarious when Fiat, of all people, thought they could come into Chrysler-Jeep and sort out the quality problems.

The tiniest Jeep, which I think I've heard is not available in the US, is the Renegade. It's very much an FCA (now Stellantis) car - it's built in Italy (and Brazil, I think, and maybe Poland) on a Fiat 500X platform. I noticed that they were very popular in Italy: their size and shape makes them well-suited to tiny Italian streets. They're short and narrow, but tall and boxy, which is really ideal for squeezing five people into a car that can make it down a road so narrow it will make me cry. They're not at the cutting edge of technology, but they are a useful product.

The Jeep-GAC Joint Venture in Guangzhou is something I often use as a case study for how not to run a JV. It's hilarious.