Detroit Auto Show: Building a better Prius

Toyota Motor Corp. finally lifted the veil from its completely redesigned Prius this morning in Detroit at the North American International Auto Show. The big news: 50 miles per gallon.

Spy shots leaked on the car not long ago, but Toyota's Bob Carter, group division head and general manager, did titillate the standing-room-only audience with a few details about the new car, due out in the U.S. and Japan this spring.

Carter said the third-generation Prius would beat its predecessor by 4 mpg, a 9% improvement in fuel economy, thanks to a more efficient engine and smaller, lighter components. At the same time, this Prius ups the engine-only juice to 98 horsepower thanks to new, 1.8-liter four-pot, and the combined electric/internal-combustion hybrid potency is up to 134 horsepower (the second-gen Prius pumps out 76 hp and 110 hp, respectively).

Rumors of a solar roof option proved to be true, but not as people had imagined. Instead of a solar-powered air conditioning system, the new Prius has a solar-powered ventilation system. Carter explained that this would take some of the load off the air-conditioning system by pre-cooling the interior of the car on hot days. That's nifty, we think, but not exactly game-changing.

Apparently it takes quite a bit of juice to run an air conditioner. But because the A/C typically draws on the engine thanks to belts, Toyota has invented another nifty feature: belt-less air conditioning. Instead, the new Prius will have air that runs entirely on battery power, which Carter called the first of its kind.

To further reduce parasitic drain on the engine, the Prius' water pump is also electric. Without all the hindrances, the Prius is able to drop its zero-to-60 time to 9.8 seconds from 10.4 seconds, "on par with a mid-sized sedan," Carter said.

The new car will use the same battery as the old one, but Carter said it would be able to operate in a pure-EV mode as well as "economy" and "power" settings. No word on how much range it will have on battery power alone.

Carter said the new Prius' coefficient of drag drops to 0.25, which is one-hundredth of a point better than the current model. All while increasing interior volume by 5 cubic feet.

Toyota sold about 160,000 Priusi (Priususes? Prions?) last year. In its first year of sales, Carter predicts, the new model will move about 180,000.

Take that, Honda Insight!

-- Ken Bensinger

Photo (top): The next-gen Prius will get 50 mpg, Toyota says. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Photo (botto): A roof ventilation system is designed to ease the load on the A/C.

Related photos: 2010 Toyota Prius

Comments

[Bud Raymond]

Where's the plug-in option to make it run on electricity?

[Roy from Atwater]

How much $$$?

[JohnRJ08]

Butt ugly.

[Ronin]

Prius's are a nice enough car, but they have some terrible blind spots.

[TraffficBulldog]

Hey Bud,

Where is the cord to make it a plug in?

There is no way to tax that cord...so it is in legal limbo.

[Fred]

Just when I thought that thing couldn't get any uglier. Viola!!

[Benny Gunns]

I'm glad that an efficient car has been such a hot seller -- now if we could only have a good looking efficient car.

Toyota has always been great at delivering quality products, and having tested their plug-in electric RAV4 EV for two years, I know that they have the technology to deliver more than enough daily driving range (+100 miles) on battery power alone.

Electric Vehicles need to be the future, and we already have the technology. The only obstacle left is throwing out the old mind-sets.

[Eric]

The front at least is really clumsy looking!

[MB]

We tested the Prius. Very uncomfortable in the back seat. Big hump in the floor panel in the middle for transmission on a front wheel drive car. What? Ended up with Civic Hybrid and are happy with it. If Toyota could improve interior I would buy the new Prius for daily around town driving.

[Loren A. Roberts]

I will second the comment about blind spots: the Prius is, in my mind, un-driveable unless you purchase the rear-view camera option. I like to turn around and see where I'm going when backing up, and the Prius is hands-down the worst car I test-drove when we were looking to purchase our most recent car. It was an immediate deal-breaker.

[tonye]

Toyota just committed a huge marketing blunder. In their haste to avoid being upstaged by the Honda Insight, they released their Prius a year early.... waaaay too early.

Consequently, those who want a Prius might just decide to wait and POOF! There go the sales of the 09 Prius.

The Honda will not be so affected because it's a much inexpensive car and it looks different enough.

[Maven]

This car is even uglier than it's predecessor, wildly popular with the style-challenged, liberal elite. I heard it once referred to as a "cheese wedge"... Now it looks like a cheese wedge with a goofy, pokemon inspired face that just screams "Kick sand in my face!"

[GM]

I agree about the blind spots especially the one on the back.
Also, this is not directed at the Prius alone, too many cars have a high trunk and this impairs vision.

[Mark Garcia]

I find it hard to believe that a 1986 Honda Civic Coupe HF got 51 MPG highway. This is a 23 year old car that was not a hybrid and was able to get better gas milage without an electric motor. The car companys are still screwing the consumer. We should be getting well over 100 mpg in 2009.

[JVos]

Wake up folks! People don't buy a Prius because of styling..Who cares what it looks like, really. This is a utilitarian machine designed to get you around as economically and eco-friendly as possible. Toyota is miles ahead of anyone else when it comes to hybrid technology, even Honda. Just don't forget your Obama/Biden sticker so you can look like every other moron on the road in Southern California driving a Prius, and panic as soon as the road gets a little wet from some drizzle.

[suzkaca]

Glad I got mine in 07 - this one is too square. Yes the blind spot makes the back-up camera a must. Not comfy for very long drives but great around town.

[RobertNYC]

I haven't driven one, but from reading it does seem like Toyota has done a remarkable job with the engineering. Making a gas/electric hybrid car go and stop smoothly is quite a challenge by itself, integrating the two reliably and at an automotive price point is tough as well.

BUT... do they have to pollute the environment with something so ugly? Sure, lefties hate cars so they prefer ugly ones, but everyone is forced to see them. Make them dull and bland if that's required by the target buyer, but screamingly ugly... that's just a quiet way of saying "screw you, I'm off to a four week stint in Peru and you're going to be commuting for 15 more years".

A Prius is a luxury purchase with practical uses, not an economy car - for $12,000 less you can get a Kia or other transportation appliance and have a lower total environmental impact.

[mike]

how may people who say the prius is ugly look at, or even own, an SUV that they think is fantastic? there is nothing on the road uglier than SUVs--gigantic rectangular shoeboxes that burn too much gas, spew too much pollution, take up too much room, and block everyone else's view. at least the prius tries--and succeeds where other cars fail.

[Menlo Bob]

A lighter, uglier, more fuel efficient death trap that will make your PC neighbors proud.

[Brandon]

This is ugly... Ford fusion hybrid is way better.

[Andy]

I totally agree, you are not buying a Prius for style and looks, if so, then go buy a BMW. I purchased 2 Prius' and love them to death. I traded in my BMW for this, so ya, i gave up the style, look and power, but i care more about being green, burning less fuel and just helping the world. The Big 3 are in cahoots with oil and thus both will die a slow death, stop giving money to the middle-east and get rid of our crappy 3 automakers, since they are like 8 years behind Toyota. Asian/European car makers have it, Americans don't.

[Andy]

I totally agree, you are not buying a Prius for style and looks, if so, then go buy a BMW. I purchased 2 Prius' and love them to death. I traded in my BMW for this, so ya, i gave up the style, look and power, but i care more about being green, burning less fuel and just helping the world. The Big 3 are in cahoots with oil and thus both will die a slow death, stop giving money to the middle-east and get rid of our crappy 3 automakers, since they are like 8 years behind Toyota. Asian/European car makers have it, Americans don't.

[NQ]

Hey Mark, about your 23 year old Honda Civic Coupe HF that got 51 mpg... We had a 1985 Nissan Sentra (basic model, 4 door) that got 44 mpg!... I agree, there is something most definitely wrong about the fact that we are not getting close to 100 mpg's by now.

Can't believe this new Prius model isn't a plug-in (or at least offered as an option to add by Toyota). That is a true let-down as I was hoping the Auto industry was finally going to have a car company take a real step into the future. What was I thinking?

[QuitWhining]

"I find it hard to believe that a 1986 Honda Civic Coupe HF got 51 MPG highway. This is a 23 year old car that was not a hybrid and was able to get better gas milage without an electric motor. The car companys are still screwing the consumer. We should be getting well over 100 mpg in 2009.

Posted by: Mark Garcia | January 12, 2009 at 02:22 PM"

Hm. As an engineer I find your attitude of "I want aerospace level performance in my car right now and make it cheap" a bit comical and also sad. You could get an electric car or pre-charge an electric gas tank (battery) and call it whatever mpg you want, but that's not a "100mpg car".

"51mpg hwy". That was with a different rating system, the same car would be stickered around 40mpg today. It was also smaller, 800# lighter than a Prius and a deathtrap. The improved safety of today's small cars adds weight and costs mpg. Further, you compare hwy rather than combined mpg. Hybrid tech benefits only city mpg, many other compromises and expenses are used to boost highway mileage.
Toyota is not holding anything back with the Prius, they're using all of their considerable resources to build the car that eco-buyers tell Toyota (via their wallets) that they want.

Since you're obviously smarter than the combined engineering staff of every automaker, why don't you start building cars? Two new, independent car companies started recently, so you obviously can do the same.
Since you think you know the magic secret to getting 100mpg you really should build such a car rather than sit on the knowldegde. Maybe you're the guy hoarding the "secret 100 mpg ionic nebulizer"? Perhaps a stint at Gitmo would get you to give up some of your knowledge for the public good.

Or perhaps you're just full of sh*t.

[Roger Pariseau]

I'm with GM -- why haven't the manufacturers bettered the Honda Civic he mentions? Are they, indeed, in league with Big Oil? I had thought Mazda had a great engine to mate with an alternator and get at least 50 percent efficiency by running at a designed constant speed. The alternator would provide power to two or four electric engines driving the wheels. Hadn't thought of batteries at that time (when the Mazda first came out with its rotary engine) but t'would seem a good idea today!