Prius c, 2012, 61 MPG combined, $20k

[Doppel]

*WARNING* I don't believe these are absolutely confirmed figures by Toyota. I do believe at the most these cannot be far off the mark, though, as this car is close to release.

http://green.autoblog.com/2011/09/2...e-called-aqua-in-japan-expected-to-return-94/

I can tell you right now if Toyota is able to sell a 61 mpg combined car even for under $21k it's going to sell like cocaine to Charlie Sheen.

Also, given that it will absolutely, definitely (this was always going to be the case) share the same powertrain as the current Prius, we can very safely assume it will be a little quicker.

 

[Dman8777]

Looks a helluva lot better than a prius. Hopefully it drives a helluva lot better too...

 

[Zap]

If those numbers (price + MPG) pan out, this will be pretty compelling. $21,000 is not too far off from other econoboxes.

 

[KIAman]

This is synonymous to the Amazon Kindle Fire selling for $200. It will be a game changer.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Wow, that is great mpg. And pretty good looks.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

That actually looks better than pretty much every other economy car. If this thing really costs $20K and gets that fuel economy while using the same power plant as the normal Prius it'll sell like hotcakes. I like it a lot.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Double post. Damn it.

 

[Bignate603]

I think it will depend on what base equipment it comes with. If it costs $20k for an absolute bare bones thing it will be hard to stomach. If the base equipment compares well against the other small cars though it could be a good value.

 

[SandEagle]

i'd be in line to buy that if its 21k or less. my dd now gets 14-16 mpg........fml

 

[Fenixgoon]

yeah if that gets 61, it will sell like hotcakes at 21k.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

i'd be in line to buy that if its 21k or less. my dd now gets 14-16 mpg........fml

What car is it?

My car averages about 25mpg with 70% highway and 30% city. Not bad considering that EPA rated it 19 city and 24mpg highway.() It is 1998 Acura 3.5rl btw.

I am planning to replace it with something newer in a couple of years.

 

[angry hampster]

What car is it?

My car averages about 25mpg with 70% highway and 30% city. Not bad considering that EPA rated it 19 city and 24mpg highway.() It is 1998 Acura 3.5rl btw.

I am planning to replace it with something newer in a couple of years.

How has it been for reliability? I'm always intrigued by the late-90s luxo cars from Japan. I test drove an LS400 last year before I bought my Mazda6.

 

[Doppel]

This is synonymous to the Amazon Kindle Fire selling for $200. It will be a game changer.

No lie, I almost called it a kindle fire type move. Those are rare in auto industry, though. I hope these figures are real...I guess we'll know soon, but it would be doubling the city mileage of the current best crop of subcompacts (notwithstanding the scion tc or other hybrids).

Sure seems possible, it's an improvement over current Prius but believable so the only question I have is if that price is real.

 

[Eli]

Poor Honda. They really shot themselves in the foot by rushing to have the first hybrid. The "Wow, 61mpg and 21k? It will sell like hotcakes!" make me both smile and sad at the same time. Welcome to eleven years ago. The Insight sold for 20k.

Granted, I'll be the first to admit that the 1st generation Insight is an odd duck, but the fact is that gas prices were $1.25/gallon in 2000 when the Insight was released. Nobody "needed" 60-80MPG.

The concept at least is a good looking car, reminds me of the CR-Z. I hope this prompts Honda to release a CRZ HF that gets 60+MPG. And if we're lucky, a CRZ Si that has 160+HP.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Poor Honda. They really shot themselves in the foot by rushing to have the first hybrid. The "Wow, 61mpg and 21k? It will sell like hotcakes!" make me both smile and sad at the same time. Welcome to ten years ago. The Insight sold for 20k.

Granted, I'll be the first to admit that the 1st generation Insight is an odd duck, but the fact is that gas prices were $1.25/gallon in 2000 when the Insight was released. Nobody "needed" 60-80MPG.

The concept at least is a good looking car, reminds me of the CR-Z. I hope this prompts Honda to release a CRZ HF that gets 60+MPG. And if we're lucky, a CRZ Si that has 160+HP.

Your Insights are damn fine and all, probably better than this when it comes to fuel economy, but let's be honest: the first-gen Insight is probably a lot less secure, a lot slower, worse-looking, has less features, less room, and is ultimately a lot less practical. That's why this being at $20K is so good.

 

[Eli]

Your Insights are damn fine and all, probably better than this when it comes to fuel economy, but let's be honest: the first-gen Insight is probably a lot less secure, a lot slower, worse-looking, has less features, less room, and is ultimately a lot less practical. That's why this being at $20K is so good.

Can't really say I disagree. It would be pretty amazing to have four seats. The only thing I'd like in the Insight is cruise control, but it does have PDL and power windows. The Insight is actually very safe. There have only been ten people killed in Insights through 2009; a large percentage of them being elderly people at over 70 years of age.

But from a pure MPG standpoint, yeah.. welcome to over a decade ago. Though like you say, the Insight will almost certainly be able to best the Prius-C's MPG at will.

61MPG combined would be pretty impressive though, given the features and specs as you say. That means 70MPG should be attainable. I'd happily drive one if I could get 70MPG without much trouble.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Can't really say I disagree. It would be pretty amazing to have four seats. The only thing I'd like in the Insight is cruise control, but it does have PDL and power windows. The Insight is actually very safe. There have only been ten people killed in Insights through 2009; a large percentage of them being elderly people at over 70 years of age.

But from a pure MPG standpoint, yeah.. welcome to over a decade ago. Though like you say, the Insight will almost certainly be able to best the Prius-C's MPG at will.

61MPG combined would be pretty impressive though, given the features and specs as you say. That means 70MPG should be attainable. I'd happily drive one if I could get 70MPG without much trouble.

The main factor that has kept cars from reaching levels of the Insight in fuel economy is that due to more safety features (govt regulation) and interior features weight and horsepower have gone up considerably. To counter the weight, they needed more horsepower, so it was a lose-lose in fuel efficiency. Most people in the US are used to having more HP than other parts of the world, too.

The thing this has going for it is the styling, the power train, the features, practicality and the price. Fuel economy, too, since IIRC this would be the car with the highest or close to highest MPG being sold in the US.

 

[Knavish]

I can tell you right now if Toyota is able to sell a 61 mpg combined car even for under $21k it's going to sell like cocaine to Charlie Sheen.

Also, given that it will absolutely, definitely (this was always going to be the case) share the same powertrain as the current Prius, we can very safely assume it will be a little quicker.

I've seen the Prius C described as a "city car". Does it really have a 100 inch wheelbase? That is smaller than the Corolla. If it's only $1000-$2000 below the normal Prius, I don't see this being a hot seller in the US: small and pricey city cars typically don't do so well when compared with standard compact econo cars.

 

[Corporate Thug]

If the numbers pan out, this will likely be my next car.

 

[Throckmorton]

I've seen the Prius C described as a "city car". Does it really have a 100 inch wheelbase? That is smaller than the Corolla. If it's only $1000-$2000 below the normal Prius, I don't see this being a hot seller in the US: small and pricey city cars typically don't do so well when compared with standard compact econo cars.

I've seen a lot of Fits, Yarises, and Fiestas. You're thinking of a few years ago when gas was $2.50.

 

[Doppel]

The Insight sold for 20k.

$10k/seat. In fact for most people it shot itself in the foot by being a two seater, even if we ignore its appearance. I don't know where the hell Honda thinks their hybrid program is going but whoever is in charge of it should be forced to walk the plank. Honda was barely behind Toyota to market with their hybrid a decade+ ago and the best they have now is the clearly second-rate Insight and this ghastly CR-Z mess (fvck's sake, the Sonata hybrid gets better mileage than that thing while being much, much larger and faster as well and that's Hyundai's first damn attempt!). Toyota is manhandling the entire hybrid market. The Prius alone is responsible for half of all hybrid sales and within the next year they'll have a production plug-in, c, and larger wagon.

There have only been ten people killed in Insights through 2009

There are hardly any on the road. It's an impressive car in that it has stunning MPG and was a car brought to production and has stood the test of time of being a real, usable vehicle, but its niche was always too small being a two seater to ever gain much traction.

If it's only $1000-$2000 below the normal Prius

IF it's really at $20k it should be more like $4k cheaper.

 

[vi edit]

Hot damn...I've been interested in since it was announced earlier this year. Now I'm *really* interested. The milage, the price and kind of sporty little hatch.... Yeh I'm game.

 

[Via]

If these figures are true you won't be able to find one under anywhere near that price.

I can't find a new Prius under $25000 right now in my hometown.

 

[Eli]

There are hardly any on the road.

Yes, but the statistics are still good. From the Insight forums:

"According to this page: http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Trends/TrendsGeneral.aspx Fatality rate from 2000-2008 suggests an annual average fatality rate of 1.771 per 10,000 vehicles on the road. Assuming the insight has an average safety rating, and assuming there are 14,000 insights in the US, this would suggest there should be 2.479 deaths in a 1st gen insight per annum, meaning that over the 10 year window I checked (2000-2009), there should have been about 25 deaths. There were only 10. This leads me to the conclusion that the 1st gen Insight is about 2.5 times safer than the average car in the USA, in terms of annual deaths per vehicle on the road.

Calculating it another way, according to that page, in 2008, the average vehicle travelled 11549 miles. Assume 14,000 insights travelled that far, multiply the resulting 1.6169 (x100,000,000) miles by the 1.26 fatality / 100,000,000 vmt, and you get a fatality rate of 2.037 insight deaths average per annum, which is STILL fully double the actual insight fatality rate."

 

[Doppel]

Yes, but the statistics are still good. From the Insight forums:

"According to this page: http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Trends/TrendsGeneral.aspx Fatality rate from 2000-2008 suggests an annual average fatality rate of 1.771 per 10,000 vehicles on the road. Assuming the insight has an average safety rating, and assuming there are 14,000 insights in the US, this would suggest there should be 2.479 deaths in a 1st gen insight per annum, meaning that over the 10 year window I checked (2000-2009), there should have been about 25 deaths. There were only 10. This leads me to the conclusion that the 1st gen Insight is about 2.5 times safer than the average car in the USA, in terms of annual deaths per vehicle on the road.

Calculating it another way, according to that page, in 2008, the average vehicle travelled 11549 miles. Assume 14,000 insights travelled that far, multiply the resulting 1.6169 (x100,000,000) miles by the 1.26 fatality / 100,000,000 vmt, and you get a fatality rate of 2.037 insight deaths average per annum, which is STILL fully double the actual insight fatality rate."

It leads ME to the conclusion that 1st gen Insight drivers are 2.5 times safer