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Toyota

cars

Next Generation Prius Hybrid Is Bigger, More Powerful, With More MPG

AutoObserver reports that the next generation Prius will be four inches longer, get a more powerful 1.8 liter gas engine that when combined with electrics will do a total 160 horsepower (compared with 110hp in the current 1.5 liter setup). The kicker is that it'll be more fuel efficient, too. Using Japan's metrics for fuel economy, the current setup gets 84kpg, but the next gen has been reported to run 94 kilometers under the same conditions. The car is set to be unveiled in 2009. [AutoObserver, photo above of the Prius Concept, not the next gen model, thanks Mona for realizing the KPG and MPG differences.]

prius plug-in

Hymotion Prius Plug-in Conversion Kit Gives 100+ MPG For Short Distances

Like the previously released EDrive kit, this Hymotion Prius conversion package lets you convert your stock Prius into one that can be plugged in for charging. After a 4.5-hour charge time, your Prius will be able to use more battery power over about 30-40 miles in order achieve that mileage. More »

cars

Toyota's In-Car System Watches for Sleepy Eyes (What About Asians?!)

Toyota's invention of sticking a camera in the dash of a car to monitor the eyelids for dozing off seems pretty smart, even if the concept isn't entirely new. The system would look at your upper and lower eyelids and see whether it's "properly open", which Jalopnik guesses is about 60 to 100% of max. Our question is: would the sensor beep nonstop if an Asian got into the car? Probably not. Seeing as Toyota is Asians, we think they probably took the squinty-factor into account. [Far East Gizmos via Jalopnik]

Prius Turns 10 Years Old Hard to believe the face of green cars, the Prius, is 10 years old this month. And it's still so slow. Here, mod yours with a switch to run in purely-EV Stealth mode. [Make and Gizmag]

oldie but goodie

Brain Age Creator Developing Intelligent Toyotas for Old People

First he developed Brain Age, a hit Nintendo DS game that helps keep people's brains fit well into their golden years. Now, the same guy, Ryuta Kawashima, is working with Toyota to make cars that help the older folks who perhaps didn't do all the mental calisthenics they should have. More »

clips

Toyota's Highly Advanced Driving Simulator, in Video

A week ago we told you about Toyota's new driving simulator and now we've gotten our hands on some sweet video. Labeled one of the world's most realistic virtual driving environments, we'd love to load the new Forza into the simulator's 23-foot dome that moves over 6,000 square feet. Something tells us that Toyota doesn't share our interest. Or our taste in music. [carscoop]

drive safely

Toyota's New Driving Simulator Looks Like Fairground Attraction

This is Toyota's latest toy, a 78-ton driving simulator that recreates situations too wild for real life. Consisting of a 23-foot dome perched on top of a 15-foot-high gantry, the simulator is at Toyota's Higashifuji Technical Center in Shizuoka, and will be deployed to improve safety features on Toyota cars.

More »

clips

How Gizmodo Celebrates Thanksgiving (With a Lightsaber)

Disclaimer: This commercial may be super old or something, but we're accustomed to ripping our juicy entertainment free from the stinky shell of advertising, to consume with our bare hands, the pulp and syrups flowing down our arms. And besides, any commercial that uses a lightsaber to carve a turkey is pretty much a must post on our part. Man, we'd love to see this guy go to work on the pie next. [superpunch]

cars

What Car Nuts Really Think of the Prius Hybrid Electric

The Prius is widely recognized as a technological marvel, with its regenerative braking, its hybrid electric motor setup, and the supercar-low drag coefficient of 0.26. Which is why it's sobering to geeks and treehuggers to watch Top Gear describe the Prius as so slow that "a child could run into the street, retrieve his ball, and grow to puberty, before the Prius could hit him." And at a tested 45mpg, it's actually less green than a diesel. More »

plug and chug

100 California Households Get to Test Drive Plug-In Priuses

priusplug.jpgWhile they're not getting behind the wheel of the 2009 plug-in Toyota Prius Popular Mechanics took for a spin, 100 households in Northern California are going to put rubber to asphalt next year in the first large-scale consumer test of plug-in hybrids in the country. The 100 green guinea pigs will be picked from the 4 million members of AAA of Northern California next spring and will rotate between a fleet of 10 converted Priuses loaned out for two-month intervals. More »

plug and chug

2009 Toyota Prius Prototype Plugs In, But NiMh Batteries Stick Around

Popular Mechanics took a prototype plug-in 2009 Prius for a short test drive, which might be the first PHEV to market. The Prius they ran around still uses the Prius's current nickel-metal hydride battery packs—a pair, actually, with the charging system jimmied in between them—though Toyota hopes to switch to lithium ion, which are more efficient and smaller (thankfully, since the jiggered NiMh packs leave only two medium suitcases worth of trunk space). More »

drive slow

Toyota i-Real Concept "Car"

We were pretty excited about this Toyota concept "car" called the i-Real, Toyota's successor to the way too sci-fi to be real i-Unit. Just hear the pitch: it's a car the wraps around your body, allowing you to zip through life with little encumbrance from mortal legs. Meanwhile, when going at high speeds, it will leave an upright position and allow you to lean back, increasing stability and cutting back on the face-first into the wall factor. It seemed like the better Segway because of its ability to cut the bullshit and haul ass as necessary. But alas, the i-Real only goes 18.6 mph, making it little more than the coolest wheelchair on the block. Hit up jalopnik for a full photo gallery. [jalopnik and uberreview]


apple

Toyota Releases $300 iPod Integration Kit For All Current-Model Cars

It's fantastic news for Toyota and Lexus owners, as the car company has just released an iPod adapter kit to directly link the player with your car's audio system. The kit fits into all current Toyotas and Lexuses and connects inside the glove box so you can control the iPod with your head unit (or steering wheel controls). The whole thing costs $300 (more than most iPods), and finally brings Toyota in line with GM, Ford, BMW, Mercedes and Audi in offering iPod integration. Toyota: happily being #1 by letting everyone else innovate beforehand. [Gizmag - Additional car expertise by Ray] More »

sirius 2007 line show

Box Converts XM-Ready Cars to Sirius-Ready Temples of Howard Stern

The honkin' GM Sirius box, which replaces the XM box currently found in most XM-enabled GM cars 2003 and newer. This new Sirius box is compatible with about 8 million cars on the road. There are boxes from Directed that do the same for Hondas, Toyotas and Lexus autos, too. More »

arcade

Japanese Initial D Arcade Booth Features Actual Tofu Car

Arcades are dying out here in the States, but they sure wouldn't if they were more like this Japanese Initial D cabinet. Instead of just a booth or a mockup cockpit to sit in, you get to actually drive in the tofu car from the Initial D series. Not only do you get to drive the '86, you can also ride in a Subaru Impreza WRX and Mazda RX-7 (also featured in the show). If only their Boong-Ga Boong-Ga game was so realistic. [Response via Q-Taro via Kotaku]



displays

New Sony 11" OLED TV For Sale in 2007

This time Sony doesn't want to be left behind on the display front, and they are going to ship a real ultra-thin 11-inch OLED television in 2007. Not another prototype: a real TV. A small one that will cost a few times more than a comparable LCD, but a telly nonetheless. More »

gadgets

Hybrid Concepts From Toyota and Honda Roll Out at Geneva Auto Show

Well, well. Look what those Japanese automakers are playing around with in the hybrid arena. On the left is what some wags are saying could be the next Toyota Prius, but for now it's called the Hybrid X concept, loved by many but called such epithets as "jellybean" and "suppository" by others. Inside this concept car—but maybe not ever making it to the open road in the real world—are electronically-opening doors, energy-efficient LED lights throughout, drive-by-wire steering and touchscreens all over the place. Check out our friends at Jalopnik's extensive gallery of this science fiction-like prototype. More »

gadgets

Toyota Teases With Upcoming Hybrid Concept

Toyota, you're such a tease. Unveiling the second of two of your latest hybrid vehicle prototypes at the Geneva Motor Show this month, and all you're showing us is this quarter shot of its ass end. So far, this Prius successor is called the Hybrid X, and it's said to have ideas that are so new they'll require a "new design language" to describe them. More »