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By
EWAN KENNEDY
19 January 2009
Toyota has used the North American International Motor Show in
Detroit to launch its third-generation Prius hybrid. An apt
location as our cousins from the other side of the Pacific have
finally come to realise that oil isn’t an infinite resource.
Though
the body of gen-three Prius is larger than that of its honourable
ancestors, it carries familiar cues to the about-to-be-superseded
model. That’s chiefly due to the need for minimum disturbance of
the air it’s passing through, and therefore lower fuel
consumption. Toyota has measured the new Prius as having a
coefficient of drag (Cd) of 0.25. While not a huge improvement on
the 0.26 reached by some cars with a more conventional shape,
every little bit helps in the quest for minimum fuel use.
And
minimum fuel use is what the new Toyota Prius is all about. The
engineers say they have managed to trim a spectacular nine per
cent off the consumption of the second-generation Prius. In
Australia the current car is rated at just 4.4 litres per hundred
kilometres on our official driving cycle so the new one may come
down into the high threes. Impressive.
However,
during on-road driving in Australia the car struggles to come
close to its official figures, most drivers reporting numbers in
the low to mid fives. The fact that the petrol engine in the
third-generation Prius has been increased in size by 20 per cent
should improve it’s consumption in real-world motoring. That
apparent contradiction – bigger engine, less fuel use –
isn’t unusual because a larger capacity engine can produce more
torque and therefore run more easily.
At
the same time, the new 1.8-litre engine will give better
performance and should make the gen-three Prius appealing to a
greater number of drivers.
Toyota
tells us a considerable amount of work has gone into improving
comfort and quietness. More performance and greater refinement
should help improve sales in Australia. To date something like
12,000 have been sold here, but most have gone to government
departments and private companies aimed at showing their
‘green’ intentions. The new model should appeal to a wider
spread of potential buyers.
Though
it uses the same successful hybrid principle as before the new
Prius drivetrain has been reworked to the extent that something
like 90 per cent of it can be described as new. As before, the
Prius can be used as both a petrol car and an electric one. As a
pure electric car it can have a range of as much as two kilometres.
Rumours
of a plug-in system to let the Prius be recharged from the
electricity mains haven’t been realised. A prototype unit will
be trialled by government used cars in some major cities, but the
plug-in isn’t scheduled for Australia in any form at this time.
A sensible move as most of our electricity is generated from
relatively dirty sources at this time.
Good
news for Australian buyers is that a solar panel on the roof
drives an electric motor to circulate air in the cabin even when
the vehicle isn’t being used. This isn’t a new idea but in a
Prius it not only makes for a more comfortable interior, but also
takes a load off the petrol engine when the car is started as the
air conditioning doesn’t have to work as hard.
Toyota
Australia plans to import the third-generation Prius to this
country in the third quarter of 2009. When it does we will carry
out a comprehensive test in local conditions and bring you a full
report.
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Marque Publishing Company
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