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I realize Best Car is just a rumor mill, but still. It's a disconcerting rumor, especially with 2011 not that far off and noticeable lack of news on this car. I'll say this much. I plan to buy my next car cash, as I have done with all my cars. If Toyota screws with this car too much, I'm out. I don't want to see them de-ball the car like Honda did the CR-Z. The production CR-Z looks like crap compared to the prototype, the ruined the front end of the car on the production model with that nose. They should have kept the prototype front end. Then there's the hybrid drive-train. It went from a 180hp overall hybrid with a base 140hp R series to a 1.5L 102hp fit power engine with a 22hp electric motor for a whopping 122hp hybrid, which only gets slightly better mileage than a standard fit. The base civic gets better mileage and isn't much slower. The probably could have achieved similar gas mileage with a lightweight chassis and a high revving K-series, but no, Honda screwed this up. It may be selling in Japan, but it'll be a bomb in the US unless the Prius loving crowd jumps on it. That's why the rumors worry me. Toyota has shown over the years they cater to the Prius lover crowd they helped create. I don't want to see a hybrid drive-train, or tame looks. It Toyota puts it out with a weak motor or a hybrid drive-train, I'm out. If they mess with looks like Honda did, I'm out. They presented us with a car people actually wanted (for the first time in a decade...), and it set the blogs on fire. If they de-ball it like Honda did, I'll get a 370Z, an Evo, or an STi...unless Subaru's version of this is true to the Prototype...then Subaru will get my money.
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