Toyota & Chevy Hybrid Minivan Coming in 2011

[Daox]

Saw this today on one of the sites I frequent. IMO its about time. I know minivans aren't all that popular, but the utility of one far surpasses any SUV IMO. Throw a smaller engine with hybrid drivetrain in there and you'll even get good mileage.

Report: Toyota Prius Minivan Coming in 2011 With Lithium-Ion Battery : Auto News

Voltec-Powered Chevy Orlando Concept to Debut at Beijing Auto Show

[payne171]

It might do the impossible and make a minivan cool...well, less uncool.

Seriously, you live in Wisconsin and consider minivans to have more utility than an SUV? Not from mid November to mid March.

[Daox]

Yes, seriously. I've driven my Paseo, which is lowered, through Wisconsin winters for quite a few years with zero problems, and nothing short of a complete blizzard keeps me from going to work. My wife also drove a lowered Matrix for a couple years with zero problems and she drives a ton for work. You don't need ground clearance to have utility.

[tasdrouille]

You just need good winter tires, that's all.

Back to the hybrid minivan topic, that's great news. The market is really lacking a fuel efficient minivan. It's about time Toyota does something about it, the 2010 sienna 4wd being the minivan with the worst FE of all.

[MetroMPG]

+1 on winter tires being all you need unless you're going off road. Been driving FWD subcompacts forever through Canadian winters.

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I originally had high hopes that the Mazda 5 would offer better fuel economy than it did - particularly since it was also available with a manual transmission.

Didn't turn out that way.

But looks like the ship is slowly turning. Hybrid options in the segment will ratchet up competition and more efficient conventional powertrain options will probably appear too.

[tasdrouille]

The Mazda 5 is not too bad. I had high hopes for the upcoming redesign, wishing for a direct injection engine. I was really disapointed when I saw it would grow its engine from the 2.3 to the 2.5.

Lets see the Ford grand c-max now.

[Rokeby]

The Chevy hybrid mini-van is bound for the Chinese market only.

What's up with that?

[RobertSmalls]

Lots of Mazdas deliver really poor gas mileage. Maybe it's just the engines we get in the US, but it seems like they're tuned for Zoom-Zoom, and not putt-putt.

[cfg83]

RobertSmalls -

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

Lots of Mazdas deliver really poor gas mileage. Maybe it's just the engines we get in the US, but it seems like they're tuned for Zoom-Zoom, and not putt-putt.

Yeah, that's my feeling as well. I like to compare Mazda to Pontiac in terms of they're target audience. I would look at the Mazda 3 mini wagons at the car show and like what I saw until I looked at the MPG figures. ... I just looked at the base figures of a 2010 Mazda 3 mini wagon. It's 21/29 *with* a manual tranny. That's terrible. You'd think they'd offer a thrifty-miser mode that delivers 25/35.

CarloSW2

[orange4boy]

I know minivans aren't all that popular, but the utility of one far surpasses any SUV IMO.

I'll give a BIG second on that one. That's why I chose a Minivan for my business vehicle. How many SUVs can carry full 4X8 sheets of ply, drywall, corplast, INSIDE the vehicle?

Previa: 157.8 cubic feet of unobstructed cargo space.

The Ford Explorer’s cargo space is quite good for its class. In base models without the third row, the Explorer provides 45.1 cubic feet of cargo space with all seats in use and 85.8 cubic feet with the rear seats folded down.

The Previa can also fit up to twelve foot long 2x6 studs, steel tubes, 2 kayaks etc inside the vehicle and it can tow up to 3000 lbs.

It has the rollover resistance of a Volvo 240 and seats 8 adults comfortably.

SUVs: No sport. No utility. All anchor.