ارشيف احداث عام 2009

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LAGUNA BEACH, California — The 2010 Toyota Prius is the best Prius yet, a car that's roomier, more powerful and more fuel efficient than ever before. It remains the gold standard for hybrids. But then, it has to for one simple reason: The Honda Insight.

Toyota has dominated the hybrid market since bringing the Prius to America in 2000, and for the first time it faces a legitimate threat from a car that is cheaper to buy, more fun to drive and almost — but not quite — as easy on gas. Toyota tells us it doesn't consider the Insight a competitor to the mighty Prius, but pretty much everyone else does.

"Now there's serious competition," says Mike Omotoso of JD Power and Associates. "Add the fact that the new Insight is cheaper than the existing or the new Prius, and [Toyota's] only remaining advantage is best overall fuel economy."

The Prius is synonymous with hybrid technology and Toyota holds about 75 percent of the market — there are more than 1 million on the road worldwide. But it now faces new competition from the Insight — which is expected to cost about 20 grand when it goes on sale next month. Toyota also faces a challenge from Ford, which is aiming its all-new Fusion Hybrid squarely at the Camry Hybrid. Toyota can't afford to get complacent.

Toyota will retain the fuel efficiency crown with the Prius, which the company says is good for 50 mpg around town and 49 on the highway. (The Prius does better in city traffic because it's electricity more often.) That's up from 48/45 for the current Prius. We've all heard about Prius owners getting 60 mpg or more, but we're talking about the official EPA figures on the window sticker here. We easily hit the high 40s with the pedal mashed to the floor and managed 76 mph creeping along in EV mode.

Those figures eclipse the Insight, which is estimated at 40 mpg in the city. But the Insight and Fusion use clever interactive dashboards to make maximizing efficiency a game. Toyota's bland bar graph makes saving gas about as much fun as a physics lecture. That's a problem, because industry watchers and academics say it won't be long before we're all using green gauges to make us better drivers. Toyota risks turning the Prius into an appliance by ignoring driver interactivity.

"In this class, you can’t go wrong making the car more engaging," says George Petersen, president of the auto industry analysis firm AutoPacific. "Toyota needs to stay away from letting the Prius become a utility car."

What the Prius lacks in interactivity, it makes up for in engineering smarts. The car contains so much new technology Toyota filed more than 1,000 patents worldwide to cover it all.

For starters, the battery pack, the two electric motor-generators, transaxle and electronic control module are smaller and lighter, increasing efficiency. The engine grew from 1.5 liters to 1.8, giving the Prius more oomph and, Toyota says, saving fuel because the added torque means the engine doesn't work so hard. Look under the hood and you won't find a single drive belt — the power steering, air conditioner and water pump are electric. That minimizes drag on the engine and increases fuel efficiency.

Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive gets a few refinements. The battery pack is smaller and more efficient, with 28 individual 9.6-volt nickel metal-hydride cells producing a total of 201.6 volts. The motors integrate with the planetary gear set to form a continuously variable transmission. The first motor acts as a generator, producing 42 kW; the second is a drive motor putting out 60 kW. Coupled with the engine, the package delivers 134 horsepower. The Prius finally has some zip.

The car offers three driving modes. "EV" lets you tool around on battery power alone for a mile or so provided you don’t go any faster than 25 mph. Switch to "ECO" and you maximize fuel economy, while "Power" optimizes acceleration. Keep in mind we're still talking about a hybrid that's no quicker than your average econobox. You aren't going to win any drag races in the Prius.

All the gadgetry is packed into a redesigned body. The best thing Toyota's stylists did was move the peak of the roof back four inches and rake the windshield back a little more. It gives the car a sportier, more handsome look. An underbody tray and other tweaks cut the car's drag coefficient to 0.25, making it slicker than previous models and, according to Toyota, one of the most aerodynamic cars on the market. We love the rooftop solar panel. It runs a fan that keeps the interior cool while you run into Whole Foods, reducing the load on the A/C.

The interior boasts a sweeping design that arcs over the steering wheel and flows through the center console, creating a vaguely futuristic look. The new car is roomier and features some unexpected luxury options like active cruise control. There's a lane departure system to warn you when you’re weaving. If you can’t parallel park worth a damn, the optional automatic parking system lifted from the Lexus LS will do the job for you. Just keep your foot on the brake.

Still, this is a Prius, so it retains quirky features like the funky shift lever with the dash-mounted "park" button and the centrally located dashboard display way up by the windshield. The power-split display — the screen showing how the engine, battery and electric motors are interacting — is still there, but now it sits in the instrument panel. A new display echoes the steering wheel button you're pressing. Press lightly and an image of the button layout "floats" in front of the speedometer with the button you're pressing glowing in orange. It's gimmicky, but still pretty cool.

Trouble is, for all the cool tech and luxury appointments, the Prius is boring to drive. Videogames have sharper steering. The brakes, while stronger than a Russian weightlifter, feel odd and you’re never quite sure how hard to apply the pedal. And while the car may look sporty, the suspension is softer than a down pillow. That said, the ride is comfortable.

Of course, no one buys a Prius because it's sporty. Fuel efficiency is the name of the game for this car, and on that score, the Prius delivers. But at what price?

Toyota hasn't said exactly what the Prius will cost when it goes on sale at the end of May, but it will be in the same ballpark as the current model — which has a list price of $22,000 but usually goes for a few grand more. That means the Insight will be a few thousand dollars cheaper than the Insight. Choose a Prius over an Insight and it'll be a decade before you make up the difference in gas savings, even if prices go crazy again.

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