According to Toyota's website, the solar roof is not available for the Prius 5. Is this true? And exactly why would they do that?
I recommend you do a search as this has been answered multiple times. The short answer is that the weight of the tires (17") on a V in addition to the weight of the solar roof reduce the MPGs enough to warrant a different EPA categorization.
Thanks.... and sorry about a repeat question. I really did do a search, but I didn't see anything in the first few pages of results. I guess I didn't use the correct terms
No problem! I find that the search tool here is not as useful as doing as doing an advanced search through Google and limiting the queries to PriusChat | Toyota Prius Forums, News, and Accessories.
I asked my dealer the same question yesterday when I ordered my V. He said there may be some aftermarket options and I told him there would be no way I'd consider that. Sounds like a leak waiting to happen. He didn't however have any good reason like extra weight & lower MPG. Just "I do not know"
At the risk of this being another repeat question...sorry if it is. So does the solar panel option by itself lower the MPG?
it's not about mpg.. it's about legal weight of the car. the solar panel option weighs 400lbs. while it shouldn't effect mpg all that much, it will effect the handling of the car. the toyota tech me mentioned this problem a few times. in the "odd things about a prius" he mentioned that in early development there was a problem where the moonroof and the leather seats weighed too much together. so... we may think not having leather is stupid.. because it's probably only 50 extra lbs of material.. but it makes a HUGE difference when trying to get this car into production. you can't pass it's legal weight limit (as a manufacturer.. as an owner.. bah.. who cares)
When cars are tested for emissions and mileage they are tested by the manufacturers and the results are sent to the EPA. The EPA retests about 10% of them to double check the data. The cars are actually tested on a dyno while being driven by a computer program. Then the CD, vehicle weight, and maybe some other stuff is factored in and they get MPG numbers. So Toyota has all the data on their cars and they know exactly how much they can weigh for certain MPG numbers. With the Prius there was a real effort to keep the weight down so they could advertise a combined number of 50 MPG. So as previously stated when they decided to have heavier wheels on the V they needed to save by not having a sun roof. There are a lot of other little things they did to save weight and lower the CD. Some of those things probably only gave them a tenth of a MPG increase but they all add up.
Interesting.... so technically, a Prius II with nothing on it should get slightly better MPG than a Prius V or one with a solar panel. However, I guess one could say that the solar panel ventilates the vehicle during hot weather, so the A/C might not have to work as hard or as long initially, therefore increasing MPG.
400 pounds just doesn't sound right for the solar panel option. Are you sure it isn't closer to 40 pounds?
Yes I imagine a Prius II would be lighter and therefore get slightly better mileage, but not by much. So I assume they have a weight range to work with because of course all 4 versions are listed at the same MPG numbers. They must also try to keep them within that range so they don't have different MPG numbers for different models of the same car. I have noticed they do the same thing with all of their vehicle lines as long as they have the same engine transmission configurations.
Prius Team's answer found here, post #41: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...prius-option-packages-naias-2.html#post786779
