Prius Convertible

[Motor]

http://news.windingroad.com/aftermarket/green-soul-blue-sky-the-prius-convertible
[QUOTE]Our old friends at Newport Convertible Engineering are at it again, with yet another one-off drop-top that has people remarking,

[Motor]

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/29/next-gen-prius-coming-in-january-with-more-power-efficiency/
The current Prius is baked from a refined recipe that results in a roomy, practical and efficient vehicle lurking under an eco-statement exterior, or at least we thought so. Five years on, it's still the most popular way to conspicuously consume under the guise of saving the planet. Toyota hasn't been resting on the success of its green badge of targeted consumerism, so we're going to see a new Prius at the 2009 North American International Auto Show in January, according to Toyota President Watanabe. The 3rd-generation Prius will grow in size, and engine displacement will be bumped to 1.8 liters to increase performance. Despite the increase in size and sprightliness, weight will reportedly hold steady. Further changes are in store after the launch, with plug-in and Li-Ion updates to come.

The nameplate will also move beyond a single model and become a sub-brand during the reign of Prius the III. More body styles are coming, and if you think the Prius is a roachy-looking thing, the concept hints Toyota has given us are possibly even weirder. The sub-1,000 pound 1/X might offer a glimpse at another type of Prius, though more realistically, the sad-eyed Hybrid X vannish concept suggests the way things are headed without the ridiculous pronunciation of its featherweight companion. If things go according to Toyota's plan for world domination, the Prius will become one of the pillars upon which the marque is built, next to the Corolla and Camry institutions.
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/04/abgar_prius_anunez_hi34_opt.jpg
.

[Soo__Fuego]

ah man hippies would love this, wind in their hair while saving the enviroment, makes me wanna roll up a fatty just thinking bout it

[bps1804]

Looks terrible. I wouldn't be caught dead in that thing.

[Gas-n-Grease]

looks terrible. now why are they making some sh*tty convertible prius that's less efficient when they could use that extra dough on improving something else. With the top down, its drag coef. is no different than an xB... doesn't sound like Toyota is trying t make a fuel efficient car anymore.

[Boosted2.0]

That is both hideous and looks to have blind spots the size of Kansas.

[bman365]

Wouldn't that go against the fuel efficient aerodynamic design?

[CEGONAX-MAN]

:puke: Prius :thumbdown

[KAT_Ayanami]

looks terrible. now why are they making some sh*tty convertible prius that's less efficient when they could use that extra dough on improving something else. With the top down, its drag coef. is no different than an xB... doesn't sound like Toyota is trying t make a fuel efficient car anymore.

Although the extra weight would go against MPG, the top up or down is an option that the driver has.

So its not toyota's fault anymore.

Besides, I have read that with the battery they want to put (which goes on the trunk) they get more than 150mpg.

I do not know the impact on the electric bill though...

[neological]

Framed glass on a convertible is totally retarded.

[HOMEP666]

those doors are hedious :puke:

[Motor]

Framed glass on a convertible is totally retarded.

I want to punch Bret Michaels in the face.

[whoadizzle]

As if it wasn't gay enough looking in the first place...

[blacken]

thats
uhm
I don't think
i have anything to say
its just uhm

daam
o_O
















random monkey :monkey:

[neological]

I want to punch Bret Michaels in the face.

Don't player hate, appreciate!

[Gas-n-Grease]

Although the extra weight would go against MPG, the top up or down is an option that the driver has.

So its not toyota's fault anymore.

Besides, I have read that with the battery they want to put (which goes on the trunk) they get more than 150mpg.

I do not know the impact on the electric bill though...
convertibles in general have really poor drag coef. top up or down. it would be toyota's fault for designing such a thing. they're hypocrites. build something for best fuel economy and they haul this out. might as well put 14" chrome spinner rims while they're at it.
the battery is probably nickel metal hydride... from my understanding, its the best battery currently out there.

[Motor]

Don't player hate, appreciate!

what's he hiding underneath that bandanna?

[Motor]

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FirstDrives/articleId=126592
[QUOTE]Solar Power Comes to the Toyota Prius

* Power-operated fabric top
* Heated glass rear window
* Still a lovable lunk of a hybrid

Clever in Yet Another Way
As the flagship of Hybrid Synergy Drive, the Toyota Prius represents some pretty clever engineering on the part of Toyota. Yet it's taken another dimension of cleverness by Newport Convertible Engineering in Placentia, California, to transform the five-door Prius hatchback into a four-door convertible.

Al Zadeh, the owner and chief engineer of NCE has a degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Southern California, but for the last 25 years he's chosen instead to turn cars, trucks and SUVs into convertibles. Some of the decapitated machinery he's produced has been dang near brilliant, and his convertible conversion of the Acura NSX is so sweet it's hard to believe that Honda didn't intend for the midengine sports car to be built that way. Meanwhile, some of the conversions are just plain bizarre, as he's built a full-size Chevy Express van convertible that is awkward in ways it would take Isaac Asimov to imagine. But by now, NCE's Zadeh knows every trick in the beheading book.

We drove NCE's flip-top Toyota FJ Cruiser last year and found it to be generally sturdy and heinously fun. But the FJ is basically a truck, a body-on-frame vehicle that requires only straightforward reinforcement to retain its structural integrity. The Prius, on the other hand, is a front-wheel-drive package built within a sardine-shape unibody that could implode if not judiciously reinforced once the roof is removed.

Considering how much amperage runs through the Prius, that act of lopping off the roof isn't something to be done lightly. But cut it Zadeh does, taking the roof off completely from aft of the rear doors right up to the windshield header. He retains the window frames around the side glass, however, and then neatly incorporates a stub of the excised hatchback to form a trunk lid. He also builds up a reinforced hoop out of two sections of 1-by-2-inch steel to brace the sides of the body.

Keeping the window frames intact does mean that there's a lot of structure visible above the beltline of the Prius even with the top down. But this design also means the windows seal securely, and that means a lot less wind noise when the top is up.

Tops in Tops
While the rage in production convertibles these days is retractable hardtops, Zadeh still has faith in the classic fabric soft top. Not only is it more straightforward to design a soft roof that stacks behind a car's seats, but also there's much less in the way of expensive hardware and labor.

The Prius convertible's power-operated top is a five-bow design that incorporates the windshield-header latches from a Toyota Solara convertible. It's covered in three layers of material

[Boosted2.0]

Just what the world needs. A car with almost 300 volts worth of battery sitting under the largest water leak possible.

[2000 XYR]

That's the worst convertible I've seen. It's even worse than the PT Cruiser convertible.

[GSBoek]

^ By a large margin no less.

[Carbonized_GT]

That's the worst convertible I've seen. It's even worse than the PT Cruiser convertible.

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/6500/vlcsnap1839689ns.png?

[GSBoek]

It's even worse than that Espace too, although by a smaller margin than the PT Cruiser.

[Dash]

Too bad it's not about to be April, then we could hope that this is a joke.