Did you know that Toyota has sold over 1 million Prius hybrids here in the U.S. over the past decade?  Go ahead and up that number to 2 million worldwide.  So with such great success why not create a whole family of automobiles around the Prius.  There is still no match for the Prius when talking hybrid gas mileage figures.  Sure the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt are out there, but these cars not only cost thousands more, they are inconvenient for most of the population.  So the Prius remains the old standby and has grown larger with the release of the 2012 Prius V in an effort to attract more buyers.  But Gas Mileage has gone down from 50 MPG combined for the standard model to 42 MPG for the Prius V.

With 50% more cargo room than the standard Toyota Prius, the V stands for Versatile.  But while the PriusV has grown, the fuel economy has shrunk.  Earlier in the year when the Lexus CT 200h, I could not figure out why a car with the same drivetrain as the Prius gets much lower gas mileage.  It’s the same conundrum for the Toyota Prius V.  The car has the same shape and the exact same drivetrain as the standard Prius but the gas mileage is lower by 15%.  Let’s take a look into the reasons for the loss in fuel economy.

1. Weight – the Prius 5 weighs over 230 pounds more than the standard Prius.  This may not seem like much but coupled with the other changes; weight does play a role in Gas Mileage loss.
2. Size – the Prius V is 6 inches longer and 3 inches taller than the standard Prius.  The wheelbase is a tad longer and by stretching the Prius V out, much was changed in the Prius V suspension to make the car more like a nice sedan.
3. Drag Coefficient – the 2011 Toyota Prius has a Drag Coefficient of 0.25 while the changes to the exterior of the Prius V have caused the Drag Coefficient to drop to 0.29.

While these changes may seem minor, they reduce the gas mileage on the Prius 5 by 15%.  Estimated figures put the Prius V gas mileage figures at 44 on the Highway and 40 in the City.  The standard Prius gets 52/48 respectively.  This goes to show that the Prius is so perfectly engineered for getting the best fuel economy possible that even a few little tweaks can drastically reduce those figures.  Good news is the Prius V will only cost a bit more but will offer you 50% more cargo room and should be a great buy for those looking to increase gas mileage without losing utility.

I crunched the numbers and if you drive an average of 15,000 miles per year; it will only cost you $200 more to drive the Prius V over the standard Prius (with gas costing $3.50).  This actually seems like a drop in the bucket considering how much more interior space you get.

A Law was passed in 2004 in order to encourage people to buy hybrid cars.  The goal was to give out the CARB stickers to any hybrid that got a fuel economy rating of 45 MPG combined or more.  Well that pretty much limited the cars to the Toyota Prius and the first generation Honda Insight.  The California Air Resources Board (CARB) gave out 85,000 of these stickers for Hybrid, Natural Gas, and electric powered cars.  Cars that have this sticker can fetch a higher resale price.  I would gladly spend up to $2000 more since the savings in time spent on the freeway would be huge.

Fast forward to the year 2008 and the program had been extended a few more years.  But still the only cars with these stickers were mostly Toyota Prius’ with a few Honda Hybrids like the: Insight and Civic.  Honda has the only Natural Gas vehicle on the road so these cars also got a white form of the carpool lane sticker.  This created some public outcry as other automobile owners with super fuel efficient cars were shut out of the program.  The Volkswagen Jetta TDi is a turbo diesel car that not only nets great MPG, but it has been named Green Car of the Year.  Ford has a great fuel efficient car with the new Ford Fusion Hybrid.  Likewise Saturn and other manufacturers have hybrid cars in their stable.  But since no more stickers were handed out after 2007; none of these new cars and hybrids are eligible.

New legislation is making its rounds that will give carpool lane exemption to new electric vehicles like the Fisker Karma or the Chevrolet Volt, natural gas automobiles, or those powered by other means of alternative fuel like hydrogen.  Hybrids may once again make this list if they are the plug-in type or if they net a more stringent highway fuel economy of 65 MPG or more.

source:http://articles.latimes.com/2009/sep/28/business/fi-hybrid-stickers28

A little history first; the Prius has one of the lowest drag coefficients of any car today. What the heck is drag coefficient and why does this matter? Well obviously the faster you go the harder a car has to push against the wind, i.e. wind resistance. While the Honda Insight with its drag coefficient of 0.25 cut through the wind like a hot knife through butter, the bulky Hummer H2 has a drag coefficient of 0.57 which obviously has a negative effect on gas mileage.

Well the 2004 Toyota Prius was just a smidge behind the insight with a 0.26 drag coefficient. Well the AutoLabo body kit lowers that drag coefficient even more; so much more that the Prius will gain 7 more miles worth of MPG with the addition of this kit! And at a price of around $2000 this body kit will pay for itself in no time.

Source: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090225/AUTO03/902250312/1149/AUTO01
http://jalopnik.com/5104713/autolabo-creates-aero-package-for-toyota-prius