[bob in va.]

i'm very interested in turning a 04 prius into a car that i can use for open track driving on road couses. has anyone had any experience or seen any info on such a project?

 

[lasrx]

Haven't seen any private party do it yet. But Toyota did make a Prius race edition before. http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp ... e_number=1

 

[wizardbill]

Prius Race Car, Vague Steering, 16" Wheels and Crappy S

Very interesting article. It substantiates other references to "Vague Steering" found elsewhere in this forum. The solution? Stiffer/lower springs, better shock absorbers, geometry modifications and "stabilizers from the Euro-spec model". Why does the US market not get the good stabilizers? Because presumably we don't know any better?

195/55R-16 Wheels apparently are the hot setup once you get the suspension sorted out.

And then there are those crappy seats. Out the door with those, put in something reasonable and you have...a race car? Probably not, given the weight and (relatively) small engine in the Prius, but a good handling, high efficiency multi-purpose car.

The Prius will never be a race car in any meaningful sense of the word because at 1.5L capacity, you would be up against a Hondal Del Sol w/ VTEC that gets about 130+BHP w/o turbo, weighs a hella less and still gets mid-to-upper 30's on the MPG.

 

[lasrx]

The Euro spec Prius is very nice and is considerably more sporty than the US counterpart. It would be nice of Toyota to bring it over to the US as a Prius SE / Sport Edition. I think the reason it wasn't introduced here was the extreemly high price tag. A top of the line Prius in the UK with DVD and Bluetooth costs GBP20,345 or USD35,944.66! They get a GBP1,000, PowerShift Grant (tax credit?) though, after Apr 1 it drops to GBP700. Their entry model Prius, costs GBP17,845.00, or USD31,512.63, still way over the MSRP + markup we pay here for a loaded Prius with DVD.

The Japanese Prius comes with the larger wheels and also has the same four wheel disc brakes the Euro spec version has. The Prius Grand Touring Edition starts at Y2,698,500 or USD24,456.26. For an additional Y291,900 you can have 17" aluminum wheels! Although not quite an essential need for race cars, the Japanese Prius has an optional automatic parallel park ability!

Sources: http://www.toyota.co.uk/cgi-bin/toyota/ ... rnal_Prius
http://www.toyota.co.jp/Showroom/All_to ... index.html
http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi

 

[bob in va.]

THANKS FOR THE INFO. AFTER READING THE DAR AND DRIVER ARTICLE. I'M EVEN MORE INTERESTED IN TOP SPEEDS AND O-60,ECT. I KNOW THIS THING WON'T HAVE THE POWER OF MY COBRA COUPE BUT, IT COULD BE MADE TO RUN WITH SOME OF THE "MOMENTUM CARS THAT I SEE ON THE TRACK. ANY OTHER INFO WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

 

[lasrx]

They put the Prius in a special edition of GT4, http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/doc ... 23/gt4.htm

 

[fugitiveALiEN]

2002 Rally Prius

I remember this was quite an interesting article on the 1g prius
http://www.supercars.net/cars/[email protected]$Toy ... allyg.html
gotta love those racing seats! i'd love to change out my 2003's seats

 

[KMO]

The Euro spec Prius is very nice and is considerably more sporty than the US counterpart. It would be nice of Toyota to bring it over to the US as a Prius SE / Sport Edition. I think the reason it wasn't introduced here was the extreemly high price tag. A top of the line Prius in the UK with DVD and Bluetooth costs GBP20,345 or USD35,944.66! They get a GBP1,000, PowerShift Grant (tax credit?) though, after Apr 1 it drops to GBP700. Their entry model Prius, costs GBP17,845.00, or USD31,512.63, still way over the MSRP + markup we pay here for a loaded Prius with DVD.

Those prices aren't directly comparable, if you're trying to compare the manufacturer's cost of the car itself, because they include 17.5% VAT and 1 years' car tax. Also, the dollar is at an historically low level at the moment, skewing the currency conversion somewhat.

Taking the tax off, that brings the minimum cost to 14877 = $26286. That does include VSC+ and all-round airbags though. The top end price is 17260 = $30498. Most of the remaining price difference from the US can be accounted for by the recent shift in US/UK exchange rates, and is probably typical of the general difference in car prices anyway.

But think how much more money we save on fuel by having a Prius! Our average price is $5.26 per US gallon at the moment, and rising.