According to Road and Track's spyshots of the 2009 Prius, it is getting a mild redesign of the front only. Story available at yahoo and roadandtrack.com

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/auto...9-toyota-prius
http://www.roadandtrack.com/article....rticle_id=6800

The outside appearance is pretty much the same IMO. Under the hood, the gas engine gets more horsepower. Because of improvements, it is not supposed to affect the mpg. I would have preferred the same horsepower and even more mpg. The Prius2 had plenty of pep when I used to rented them.

 

The length increase will be welcome. The major reason I went to the TCH was my 6-1 frame in the Prius front seat. Not a lot of leg or headroom left over.

 

I am curious about the luxury and eco trim levels however...

 

May be additional 4 inches of lenght will be also because of expanded and enforced battery?
Yahoo!

 

Wow, I'm a bit over 6'2 & I find the Prius fine on both counts. Maybe you tried one with a sunroof?

Anyway, I was curious about the reported 3 trim levels, esp. the "eco" trim level the article mentions. I have a 2006, and there were options packages, but no trim levels. Maybe the eco trim comes with that smug sense of superiority . Soybean plastic panels? Mini wind turbine on the spoiler? Hemp upholstry? Special native plant seed modules that you can launch off to the side of the road at will? OK, that last would be really cool- sort of James Bond (or Austin Powers?) combined with Aldo Leopold or Lorrie Otto.

D

 

Perhaps a solar panel on the roof to recharge your laptop/iPod whilst plugged in... A 'green' roof with wheatgrass? Chop some out, mix in a drink... energy for you from your car, with a small DC mixer/blender as the obvious accessory! Mini wind-turbines.... great idea, but near the bottom, with air intakes?

 

My guess is NOTHING changes ... why would it really with the new 2010 re-design scheduled out next April (of '09 ... which could easily end up August/September)? Unless they are putting in a new engine partially for a trial to ease into the new redesign. I just don't see them changing ANYTHING ... there's no reason to for '09.

 

As far as the design, I think that Toyota nailed it. This generation has been out for awhile and yet doesn't look dated a bit. In my opinion. They have a unique look that looks as good as the first year of release. I think it would be hard to improve on it. But, who knows? They created the Prius so the next could have as much "wow" factor, too.

 

I guess (to me) it just doesn't make financial sense to change anything for '09 since the Prius sells so well as is ... I was thinking about waiting for the '10 to come out, but am probably taking delivery of an '08 in a month or so and then will probably trade in 3 years or so.