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2010 Prius is Pri-ty Cool

I had a chance to get a close-up view of the 3rd generation Prius at GAS’ (Governor Arnold Sch.)’s Climate Summit last week. Toyota had a silver one in the exhibition hall at the conference in Century City and it drew quite a crowd. So did their hydrogen demo model but let’s face it, that one is not ready for prime time. The new Prius, however, is very much here for the mass market and hopefully this slightly larger version with some futuristic features will penetrate more deeply into the general marketplace.

The greenest aspect - beside the improved 50 mpg rating in the real world (not like the 60 mpg’s they claimed for the last Prius before the EPA made all vehicle mileage estimates reflect actual reality) would be the solar panel on the car’s roof.

The PVC does not help fuel the drive, it’s actually there to operate an air circulation feature when the inside of the vehicle gets hotter than the temperature outside the Prius. Generating cooler air, without burning any CO2, is a great idea since the Prius – with its oversized windshield – gets hotter than most interiors.

The other “cool” feature is the self-park option. While I did not get a chance to drive the vehicle – but Toyota is going to arrange that – this latest generation is able to parallel park itself by “reading” the sensors from parked vehicles. That must really be experienced first hand before any informed opinion can be generated but it sounds very ‘Jetson’-esque.

Lastly, the interior of the new Prius is quite roomy, definitely a little bigger in both width and seemingly length. The gear shift is back on the center console and looks sportier with a new shape and position.

And on a final note, couldn’t help but notice the colors for the 2010 Prius include not one shade of green. I guess after the popularity of the first two versions’ offerings, the auto company with the greenest image, decided to give the color green, a rest.

--Betsy Rosenberg

DBF Cofounder Betsy Rosenberg with the 2010 Prius

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