Gentoo is alive!
Posted By matt on March 28, 2004
I'm posting this from inside my Gentoo laptop. W00t!
I also had another thought.
Background – My next vehicle is probably going to be a 2005 Toyota Highlander Hybrid. Nice, big, comfortable, good for hauling stuff, but getting the fuel economy of a small car.
Looking in to it however, I see that the system will peak at 270hp – about 30hp more than the V6 highlander (the most powerful one they currently have). Looking at the Prius, we see that the 67hp electic motor generates 295lb-ft of torque, which is much more than a normal engine putting out that much hp. By extension, I would assume that the Highlander Hybrid would be putting out 500+lb-ft of torque. No wonder it's expected to beat the V6 Highlander's 0-60 time!
However, this gets one thinking – the Prius peaks at 110hp (with the gas engine running and feeding current to the electric motors) , in a 3,000lb car. What if, you could somehow shoehorn the 4 wheel drive from the Highlander (it uses 2 motors, BTW – one for the front pair, one for the rear pair) plus the larger gasoline motor. While we're at it, why not pull the back seats, make it a convertable, and maybe increase the size of the batteries. Widen the tires, beef up the suspension, and we're there.
Poof – the Prius Sport Coupe. Super trick, should be pretty fast.
Oh, but wait – a 270hp car with gobs of torque in a sub 4,000 lb car? (3,500 would be ideal).
Can someone say “smoke a mustang GT in the quarter mile”?
Maybe. Would be fun to see the Prius blow the doors off a mustang.
Oh well, time to drop the network and get wireless working.
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