[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

A prius claims 50mpg highway. Which comes to about 15kmpl on highway.
Most diesels and some petrols do much better than that, so I wonder if its going to save any "oil money".

Isn't 50mpg equal to 21 kmpl?

1 mile = 1.6 km
1 G (US) = 3.78 L


21kmpl is quite good IMHO.

[tsk1979]

Oh ok, I was talking UK.
Anyways I drove a hybrid in the US (SFO-LA-SFO). We got 31mpg.
Similar mileage I also got from The Chevrolet Cobalt which has a smaller 4 cylinder engine.
I think in similar scenario the Prius would do around 38-40mpg. 50mpg claimed is just hogwash/

[shankar.balan]

they say 18-22 lacs will the price of PRIUS in India as they will import CBU kits only

how many people can afford that kind of money?

I sincerely wish Scorpio makes its Hybrid available reasonably soon so I can try and buy that!

[whatcanthisbe]

a loaded prius is 28kUS *2 in india ~50k = 20 Lakhs ...

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Oh ok, I was talking UK.
Anyways I drove a hybrid in the US (SFO-LA-SFO). We got 31mpg.
Similar mileage I also got from The Chevrolet Cobalt which has a smaller 4 cylinder engine.
I think in similar scenario the Prius would do around 38-40mpg. 50mpg claimed is just hogwash/

Well, hybrids have the FE advantage in stop & go City traffic.

On the highway, hybrids are nothing but the regular IC engine powered cars carrying the additional weight of the big battery and motor.

I think there are certain distict advantages of hybrids:
1) "Battery only" power mode during crawling.
2) Battery providing additional torque whenever needed (start from idle, sudden need for accelration/overtaking, etc).
3) Regenrative braking
4) Recharging while on the move (including braking)

I think hybrid is just a logical evolution of IC engines - an evolution that HAS TO HAPPEN. It's time has come. There is simply no point in wasting all this energy that can be accumulated/put to effective use.

Highway FE is not really the appropriate measurement criteria here.
Of course, like with any technology, hybrids have to come at the right price.

[tsk1979]

Actally we drove it quite a bit in city traffic too. It gave 35mpg.
Chevy cobalt gave us 32mpg in city conditions, and same in mountain highway conditions(SJC-Lake Tahoe and back).

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Actally we drove it quite a bit in city traffic too. It gave 35mpg.
Chevy cobalt gave us 32mpg in city conditions, and same in mountain highway conditions(SJC-Lake Tahoe and back).

Wow...
So Prius is just a myth

Did you try the Civic hybrid?

[tsk1979]

No we could not try the Civic hybrid.
As for Prius myth, the Prius has a small 4 cylinder engine, so I am guessing around 40mpg.
EPA ratings are usually slightly on the higher side.
In stop go traffic where a typical petrol sedan gives around 8-9kmph, a prius could give about 16-17kmpl easily.
On our highways too the figures will be similar(compared to 14-15 of a inline 4).

[abhinav.gupta88]

Where all is civic hybrid sold. and also will that too be a CBU for india?

[GTO - Touring]

Some of Toyota India's decisions leave me pretty damn baffled. So Honda announces that the Civic Hybrid is coming, and Toyota doesn't want to lose out any PR points. Here comes the Prius, people!

Don't they have more important things to work on? Like creating a better position for the Camry, which as a CBU just cannot compete with the Accord? Or bring in the Fortuner for which there are a long list of ready buyers for? Or fill the void created by the Qualis with a MUV thats one slot lower than the Innova? Or bring in the new Corolla fast as the current offering has gotten seriously long in the tooth? Or rake in the volumes with a 5.5 lakh hatchback and a 7.5 lakh sedan?

Considering the giant that Toyota is in other global markets, they are becoming incredibly slow in India. They will move one day...but exactly when is that? Heck Toyota, this is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. Wake up!

[aaggoswami]

Pruis is Hybrid vehicle. Now, GOI didnt give freedom from n number of taxes, to even the Indian Pride Reva, will they do it for Toyota. NO, no chance for this.
They know that then the fuel consumption will go down and more and more people would go for Pruis.
This is where the pontetial lies:
Many of existing 10lakh bracket customers will now opt for Pruis and given the rate of rise and in fact if I say what is grapewine in Reliance ( my father works in reliance ) or HP, then the sales of Pruis will go up.
Pruis has a lot of hidden potential, but then GOI should at least now for the sake of environment, do something.

Where is Vios ? If launched in time with that proper 1.5 engine, NNHC will face some serious competetion.
Oh can I forget the Forutner.

[abhiram7912]

i think civic hybrid gives close to 40 MPG or may be more. i drove a normal US Civic Coupe i got nearly 35 MPG on highway and close to 28 in city

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by WhiteKnight

Prius is selling pretty well in US, especially in California. Last time I checked, it had very good resale value due to rather long waiting period for Prius
So, I don't think Toyota will launch it in India, especially through import route. Also, Toyota seems to be pretty conservative/play safe in product launches- remember Fortuner?

The other reason its popular in CA is that they can travel in car pool lane even if there are just one person. This is because govt decided to do this based on the fact that the per person pollution limit is lesser in this. This how govt promotes those green vehicle in other countries. And here I dont think govt will do anything for this duty. If they wanted to "really" promote green cars, they should have did that with Indian made Reva cars...

[agbenny]

I do not think is news is correct. Apart from New Corolla, I do not think Toyota India has any plans for new cars until next one or two years.

[ajmat]

Can understand why Mr Swamy left Toyota. He cannot make product decisions, only production decisions yet he gets the can due to poor market share.

VW are hungry and in his home town Pune - Don't blame him