Quote:
Originally Posted by Galvatron1
Gen IV Prius is significantly more efficient than Gen III. I haven't seen evidence of a Gen 3 Prius getting 100+ mpg, most report getting around 40 mpg. Gen 4 Prius, with a full car and air conditioner running, is still capable of about 60 MPG at even at 70-72 MPH highway speed, which is quite impressive at significantly over a 10% improvement:
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The Gen IV is significantly more efficient, technically, but not substantially [subjective] more fuel efficient. Perhaps there are people hypermiling them to great effect, and perhaps the newer design lends itself more readily to it, but Toyota's own reported fuel economy says they improved it only 4% from the previous generation. Toyota improved 11% from Gen I to Gen II, then 8% Gen II to Gen III, then 4% Gen III to Gen IV.
For them to achieve 10% better fuel economy in the Gen V, they would need it to get 6 MPG better fuel economy. I suspect Toyota will focus on making the car trendier than emphasising the environmental aspects since it's easier to engineer sentiment than to engineer a 10% improvement in fuel economy.
