1.8 li, 115mph, 0-60 in 9.5 sec, longer, redesigned front, same price! Road & Track Magazine - Exposed: 2009 Toyota Prius (5/2008)
I don't think much of the spy shots... looks suspiciously like a Gen two with tape and a heavy battery in the boot.
for 2004 owners, the 09 might be a nice upgrade. But for say 2007 forget it, im waiting for the real GEN 3..2010 model..hopefully with plug ins
Of coarse its enviromentallly responsible, what do think, that they are going to grind up your worthless 1 year old Prius and turn it in to landfill? Of coarse not, it will get sold to someone who is driving a big fat gas guzzleing turd and can't afford a new Prius. Score one for the enviroment, hopefully somewhere down the food chain a guzzler gets gound up.
Road and Track is pretty slick in the little 'expose''. They mention the '2009 Prius'. Questions.. ..does that mean the 2009 MY which should be here this Fall? ..does that mean the Prius which will be available in CY 2009? The leave the misconceptions to the reader. It generates interest and discussion ( nice Marketing ploy Toyota ). I'm willing to bet 3 white chocolate Macadamia nut cookies that we do not see this in showrooms during this calendar year. Further for another 3 such cookies I'm going out on a limb and say that this is the final form of the Next Gen 3 which will be around for another 5 years. And to really deplete my stash of w-c-m cookies the Toyota announcement in Jan 09 will lay out the debut dates of this Gen3 and the estimates of when the plugin option will be available along with Li-ion batteries....late 2010 or 2011. Everything in the R&T article and the Auto Observer article mesh well together as if each was given a peek at a crystal ball with only a few clouds in it. It's good to have friends in high places. BTW I love the new look...swoopier and longer, but it's still a 5 door hatch which is critical to the success of the Prius.
