Stretch the Prius to make a better trip vehicle.
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MPG FANATIC WITH GUZZLERS
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 521
From: New Orleans
Re: Stretch the Prius to make a better trip vehicle.
Bob,
The welding/attaching a new rear end is strictly a brain exercise or something for the future (when it is waaaaay out of warranty)now.With the extra interior sleeping room, the extra interior length isnt needed.
The only reason I "like" adding close in interior space is that it might be easier to get clean aero numbers with it. However, if you can tuck your carrier load in tight, and perhaps add a simple fairing, you might do just as well-or better-since Toyota no doubt spent lots of time in the wind tunnel with that shape. There aren't any accidents there; the Prius gets 40%better real world hy mpg at 65 mph (35 vs 50) than the Matrix(the car in the Toyota lineup it is roughly equivalent to in size-interior vol ,accel.etc). Almost all that hy mpg is because of the aero shape, with a tiny bit due to the smaller motor).
I will track down an aluminum carrier so I can get most of the 100 lbs of safe tongue weight as cargo.
Earthling, yes, it would be nice to have a 2700 lb Prius-that was narrower .If it was strictly a city vehicle it could be set up with a full sized drivers seat, with a narrower pass front seat, and with a rear area with 3 kid, or 2 adult capacity.Most families are 4 people,and they are rarely in the car at the same time.They are rarely all adult either. I'm guessing you could make the Prius about 6" narower, maybe 250 lbs lighter if you did the above, and made a compromise car. The current Prius is a no compromise 5 adult vehicle.We rarely need space for 5 adults. 250 lbs lighter should add about 55 to the city mpg, and the narrower frontal area might add almost 10% to the hy mpg.
It would be tough to sell a really small vehicle at current gas and Prius prices.
Now a Diesel Prius could add about 5-10% to the mpg.
Luck,
Charlie
The welding/attaching a new rear end is strictly a brain exercise or something for the future (when it is waaaaay out of warranty)now.With the extra interior sleeping room, the extra interior length isnt needed.
The only reason I "like" adding close in interior space is that it might be easier to get clean aero numbers with it. However, if you can tuck your carrier load in tight, and perhaps add a simple fairing, you might do just as well-or better-since Toyota no doubt spent lots of time in the wind tunnel with that shape. There aren't any accidents there; the Prius gets 40%better real world hy mpg at 65 mph (35 vs 50) than the Matrix(the car in the Toyota lineup it is roughly equivalent to in size-interior vol ,accel.etc). Almost all that hy mpg is because of the aero shape, with a tiny bit due to the smaller motor).
I will track down an aluminum carrier so I can get most of the 100 lbs of safe tongue weight as cargo.
Earthling, yes, it would be nice to have a 2700 lb Prius-that was narrower .If it was strictly a city vehicle it could be set up with a full sized drivers seat, with a narrower pass front seat, and with a rear area with 3 kid, or 2 adult capacity.Most families are 4 people,and they are rarely in the car at the same time.They are rarely all adult either. I'm guessing you could make the Prius about 6" narower, maybe 250 lbs lighter if you did the above, and made a compromise car. The current Prius is a no compromise 5 adult vehicle.We rarely need space for 5 adults. 250 lbs lighter should add about 55 to the city mpg, and the narrower frontal area might add almost 10% to the hy mpg.
It would be tough to sell a really small vehicle at current gas and Prius prices.
Now a Diesel Prius could add about 5-10% to the mpg.
Luck,
Charlie
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