Vehicles Blog

Updates from February, 2012

• What was once a single model that defined Toyota’s commitment to environmental performance and superior fuel economy has become a line of cars — an obvious sign of success. My guess, then, is that the ultimate sign of success for Toyota will be to have Prius become a verb, much like Google has. “We priused our way to Florida, averaging five litres per 100 kilometres.” OK, that’s reaching.

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  The second entrant in the Prius hybrid lineup, the Prius v, is an extension of the (third-generation) original, with essentially the same powertrain but in a more wagon-like hatchback body style designed to meet — if things go according to Toyota’s marketing plans — the needs of growing families. (The Prius c — for city — an “urban-friendly” hatchback, will be available next month; the Prius Plug-in Hybrid in 2012.)

  From a purely esthetic standpoint, the v is by far a more attractive hybrid than the four-door liftback model, said third-generation model launched for the 2010 model year. (To be fair, the liftback is much more mainstream than its two predecessors, which seemed to revel in an overt, funky green smugness.) The v, though, blends in (or stands out, depending on your interpretation) with the likes of the Mazda5 and Kia Forte5 as a more versatile — hence the v suffix — family car with minivan/crossover overtones and an emphasis on cargo space.

  In a normal review, I would start with the powertrain and then move to performance and handling dynamics. But, this is a Prius, people — it’s not an especially fun car to drive for motor heads. It’s sort of slow — especially when accelerating from a standstill — changing to glacial when in Eco mode and on an incline. Push the console-mounted Power mode button and acceleration improves noticeably, as does the ruckus from the 1.8-litre gasoline engine when big-time passing power is called for. Anybody who expects anything but is dreaming in technicolour. But people dig this car because its hybrid technology is still cool and it boasts miserly fuel consumption. Plus, it gets a big thumbs up from both Hollywood and the environmentalists.

  If you are serious about keeping your hard-earned dollars out of the hands of the oil companies, you can’t go wrong, especially with the new body style. My week with the tester generated a parsimonious 6.3 litres per 100 kilometres, without me
  going to any great lengths to be eco-friendly.

  What makes the v a better Prius than the standard model is its genuinely roomy cabin, with excellent sightlines out the front and side windows. Even with the front seats back in their tracks, there’s (just) enough room in the rear for leggy six-footers, with plenty of headroom to boot. Popping the rear hatch reveals a wide, deep cargo area with 34.3 cubic feet of space behind the rear seats, which Toyota claims makes the v the most spacious dedicated hybrid vehicle on the market. Dropping those sliding, second-row, 60/40-split perches all but doubles the hatch’s capacity. Plus, the front-passenger seat folds flat for longer items.

  Like the Prius, the v’s Hybrid Synergy Drive system uses two high-output motors, one 60-kilowatt (80-horsepower) unit that mainly works to power the transaxle and another smaller motor that primarily works as the electric power source. The nickel-metal hydride battery pack is the same as on the Prius liftback but with a cooling duct located under the rear seat. Hybrid Synergy Drive is a series-parallel hybrid system that can provide power from the gas engine alone, the motor alone or a mix of both. It uses a start/stop system and regenerative braking to conserve fuel and recharge the battery under deceleration. The drive system is built around the 98-hp 1.8L Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder engine and, working together, contri-butes to a total of 134 hp.

  In addition to the standard driving mode and Eco and Power modes, there is also the EV mode, which allows the Prius v to run on battery power alone for very short distances (1.6 kilometres maximum) and lower speeds. In Eco, the engine management system emphasizes fuel economy, manages throttle response and limits power consumption from the air conditioning.

  One of the more interesting aspects of the v’s suspension setup is Pitch and Bounce Control, which works with the beefed-up suspension bits to improve ride comfort and control, Toyota figuring that the larger v is more likely to carry loads and passengers and thus needs the upgrades. According to the automaker, Pitch and Bounce Control uses the torque of the hybrid motor to enhance ride comfort and control. The system, working with wheel-speed sensors and in tune with the suspension, helps suppress bounce and toss motions to improve passenger comfort. Because it helps control the balance and posture of the vehicle as a whole, it also functions to improve handling response.

  While it sounds like an overly complicated way to deal with a relatively minor problem, it does seem to work — the v’s ride is better than most similarly sized hybrids I’ve driven and it corners well, maintaining a reasonably flat attitude on on-ramps and the like.

  For anyone with a familiarity with the Prius liftback, the v’s cabin will prove as welcoming as an old friend. There’s the centre-mounted instrument panel, the driving controls including push-button start, parking switch, drive-by-wire shift toggle and driving mode buttons.

  Integrated into the cabin are the obligatory high-tech electronics and enhanced connectivity features, including standard Bluetooth and a USB port to play music and videos from portable audio devices, using the audio system and 6.1-inch in-dash display screen. The screen also displays the energy monitor and fuel consumption data and doubles as the monitor for the backup camera.

  The Prius v retails for $27,200, a reasonable price for a hybrid of its size and intent and with the number of standard features it carries. The tester, however, was loaded to the max with a $9,675 Touring + Technology package (a combination of three separate available packages), weighing it down with a far heftier $36,875 sticker. A panoramic sunroof, heated front seats, premium audio system, Intelligent Parking Assist, Dynamic Radar Cruise Control, voice-activated DVD navigation system, synthetic leather seats and a ton of stuff more are all included. Maybe it’s just me, but I felt this was overkill, trying to turn the v into some sort of luxury hybrid, which  it’s not.

  That aside, the hatchback proved to be a pleasant driving experience. While still maintaining a portion of the Prius iconoclasm that isn’t present in more mainstream-oriented hybrid sedans (Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata and Kia Optima, for example), the v’s design and space utility make it an easy fit into the hybrid segment. It’s a welcome addition, one that will help evolve the Prius line.

  
  

  

  
  9:00 am on February 25, 2012
   

• It’s been a long, sweet ride, this decade-long rant against all things hybrid.

  The monumental lack of return on complication — my new copyrighted term denoting the futility of automakers adding more gizmos with little effect — of the first generations of gasoline/electric vehicles has allowed me to offend enviroweenies, castigate the media and ridicule Hollywood celebrity shills alike, all to great glee. We journalists — or maybe it’s just me — are obvious creatures: Give us windmills to tilt at and our inherent righteous indignation gives our fingers the strength, or at least the stamina, of a thousand hands.

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  Unfortunately, I may be losing my favourite whipping boy. Oh, don’t worry, I am not about to change my opinion on hybrids past. But there’s a new electrified vehicle and, alert the media, it lives up to the hype of the last 10 years, providing real-world fuel economy gains at an economical price and in a package that’s actually sort of fun to drive.

  That car, the 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid.

  OK, so it’s no surprise. After all, two-thirds of all hybrids sold in Canada since the introduction of the first Prius in 2001 have been Toyotas. The reason for my change of heart — conversion, if you will, since environmentalism is quickly becoming a religion — is simple. It’s the result of just one number: 6.6. As in the number of litres per 100 kilometres I averaged over a 10-day-long, almost-2,000-kilometre test. It’s such a phenomenal figure — remember I am a lead-footed gear head — outshining all cars of even remotely equivalent size/performance that I actually reset the darned mileage meter numerous times so skeptical was I that the onboard computer was lying to me. The end result, despite that leaden foot, was always the same, the electrically boosted Camry averaging 6.6 litres per 100 kilometres regardless of the type of driving — urban or rural — or, within reason, the speeds involved. It is the most impressive instance of fuel-sipping stinginess I can recollect.

  The biggest surprise of the 2012 Camry’s performance is that its highway fuel economy — at, say, 120 kilometres an hour or higher — was excellent if not quite stellar. Hybrids have long eked out some in-town fuel savings, but they have floundered on the open road. Their electric motors have little or no effect at sustained elevated cruising speeds and, since little braking occurs, there’s no battery rejuvenation. Despite all the hype surrounding the advantages of electrification, at highway speeds, hybrids are essentially gasoline powered.

  And, yet, the new Camry Hybrid regularly posted fuel economy ratings of 6.0 L/100 km at a steady 120 km/h and barely more than seven while cruising at 130. Eagle-eyed readers with long memories will note that those numbers still trail a diesel-powered Passat by a tick, but the diesel’s normal long-haul advantage is much reduced, enough that my normal admonition that long-distance commuters should always opt for oil burners is no longer necessarily true.

  The Camry Hybrid, for instance, regularly racked up more than 850 km from its 64-litre tank before needing refuelling. Indeed, more intrepidly light-footed testers than I achieved an amazing 5.0-L/100-km average, extending that range even further.
  What’s perhaps more surprising is that there’s been no radical rejigging of the hybrid’s inner workings. Most of the tricks improving the highway fuel economy are garden-variety internal-combustion upgrades. The intake and exhaust manifold plumbing has been improved, there’s lighter-weight oil in the crankcase (for reduced drag) and the engine is beltless, i.e., the air conditioning system, power steering, et al are powered electrically rather than via a serpentine (and drag-inducing) belt off the motor. And Toyota has also resorted to the oldest trick in the automotive engineering handbook — the 2012 Camry Hybrid is almost 120 kilograms lighter than the old.
  There’s no magic to the Toyota’s dramatically increased parsimony; the Camry’s 1.6-kilowatt-hour battery is still old school nickel metal hydride as opposed to the lithium ions that are all the rage in electric cars these days. Indeed, as a dedicated skeptic, it’s hard to come to terms with Toyota’s ability to claim a whopping 39% increase in fuel economy with such simple evolutionary — not revolutionary — changes.

  The other alluring piece of the puzzle is that the new Camry Hybrid is actually enjoyable to drive. Despite that big boost in fuel economy, Toyota actually increased the displacement of the Camry’s gasoline engine to 2.5 litres from 2.4, bringing with it an increase to 156 horsepower and 156 pound-feet of torque. Combined with the Hybrid Synergy System’s electric motor, Toyota Canada claims a 200- horsepower total output. That means the Camry is now the hot rod of the hybrid set, sprinting — OK, jogging really fast — to 100 km/h in just 8.1 seconds.

  Even the Camry’s comportment has been improved. Toyota still uses one of those infernal continuously variable transmissions — they are more efficient! — that normally has small engines droning on long with the endless monotony of a funeral dirge. But thanks to the extra torque, which sees the 2.5L engine spinning slower, as well as extra sound deadening, the Camry Hybrid doesn’t start sounding busy until the throttle is matted for maximum acceleration.

  There’s also a surprise in the pricing department. My normal criticism of hybrids, as I have mentioned, is not only their paltry fuel economy gains but the relatively large price hikes all their electronics engender. Well, the new Camry flips that equation on its head as well, offering the fuel economy advantages I’ve detailed yet costing $26,990, a figure that would have barely bought you a Prius five years ago.

  Only one aspect of the new hybrid’s performance disappoints. Toyota claims that by flipping an “EV” button one can get up to two kilometres of electric-only propulsion; I never made it past the end of my block, the disappointment enough for me to suggest that Toyota should remove the switch. But the 2012 Camry Hybrid delivers where it counts: superior real- world fuel economy at an affordable price.
  Numbers don’t lie and, in my estimation, 6.6 is a very powerful number indeed.

  
  

  

  
  7:42 pm on February 24, 2012
   

• By Bill Savadove

  Import and domestic automakers are struggling to sell environmentally friendly vehicles in China, the world’s largest auto market, even as Beijing pumps billions into clean energy.

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  China wants five million “new energy” vehicles on the streets by 2020 to ease chronic pollution and reduce reliance on oil imports, but high prices, lack of infrastructure and consumer reluctance are creating major roadblocks.

  The number of electric and hybrid vehicles in the country is tiny at about 100,000, mostly in government fleets, according to an industry estimate.

  A salesman at the main Shanghai showroom of Chinese automaker BYD says the dealer sold only one electric car and two hybrid cars — which combine a conventional internal-combustion engine and an electric motor — last year.

  BYD, which is backed by United States investment titan Warren Buffett, launched a fully electric vehicle for private buyers in October priced at 370,000 yuan (US$60,000), though subsidies cut the cost by at least 16%.

  “People hesitate to choose cars with a high price,” says BYD sales manager Zhang Jiankun. “Although the government can provide subsidies for alternative-energy cars, the lack of charging stations is a main concern.”

  China had an estimated 243 charging stations at the end of 2011, but Beijing plans to invest 100-billion yuan over the next 10 years to build up the new-energy vehicle sector as a whole, focusing on electric models.

  Import automakers are also promoting the new technology in China.

  General Motors imported its first Chevrolet Volts into China in December and will begin selling the hybrids in early 2012 at 13 dealerships in eight cities.

  But the Volt could suffer a potential image problem even as sales get underway in China as the vehicle faces a U.S. government probe after damaged lithium batteries caught fire following crash tests. GM says it has addressed the safety issue by reinforcing the battery.

  The company is also developing a separate electric vehicle with its Chinese partner, domestic auto giant SAIC Motor, which itself launched five new energy vehicles in November.

  “It seems every major company has its own electric vehicle program,” Ray Bierzynski, executive director for electrification strategy of GM China, told reporters last year.

  China overtook the U.S. to become the world’s top auto market in 2009, and is increasingly important for global players as economic turmoil hits demand in developed markets.

  But the push for clean energy cars comes as China’s overall sales slow. Auto sales rose just 2.5% to 18.5 million units last year, compared with an increase of more than 32% in 2010.

  China had hoped to vault its car companies into the top ranks of electric vehicle producers, but in recent months has reconsidered that strategy given the technological lead of foreign firms, and is now focusing more on hybrids.

  The government is keen to build up its domestic auto industry so it has slapped import tariffs on some U.S. passenger cars and sports utility vehicles, and says it will “withdraw support” for foreign investment in the sector.

  “At the beginning the objective was, literally, to leapfrog. They have realized this is far too over ambitious,” says Klaus Paur, director for automotive analysis at market research agency Ipsos in China.

  “Currently, the government is re-visiting the strategy on [fully] electric vehicles. This is why they push more into the hybrids,” he says.

  However, one industry executive says the move does not indicate a “dramatic shift” in China’s commitment to electrification.

  “As we move down that path, there’s a more realistic view of how quickly people can move and how some of the challenges can be addressed,” says Kevin Wale, president and managing director of GM China Group.

  The challenge includes building the infrastructure for charging batteries and convincing consumers to trust the technology. China has set up 15 pilot zones for electric vehicles across the country to this aim.

  But in a country where car culture is only two decades old and fuel prices are controlled by the government, flashy luxury brands carry more appeal.

  “To me, the performance of a car is the top priority, including how powerful it is,” says marketing manager Gu Jiahuan, who is shopping for a car.

  “Alternative energy cars are not mature enough. And pure electric cars cannot go very far.”

  
  

  

  
  12:09 pm on January 18, 2012