A cool looking Toyota Prius? Who would’ve thought. Apparently it’s possible and the folks at Conversions and Accessories (C&A) in Toyota Japan have had a go.
First up, there is no extra power, which as far as we can see is a mandatory requirement for making not so ‘cool’ cars, cooler. Doesn’t matter if it’s unreliable or can only drive 2km down the road before its engine explodes, we’d like to see a Prius with 250+ kW, please.
Alas, C&A has taken a right-hand drive normal Prius and gifted it with light-weight carbon fibre panels (minus the doors). The exterior carbon fibre panels include:
- Side skirts with vertical spoilers,
- Front bumper and fender flares with large air intakes,
- Bonnet,
- Roof,
- Rear hatch and spoiler (translucent sides),
- Rear bumper with vertical spoiler,
- Rear garnish.
On top of that the rear lights have been given the ‘smoked’ treatment. It also comes with shining Toyota badges and a modified exhaust to help it deliver all that extra power…
It sits a good 10 cm lower in the front and 15 cm in the rear. We can’t help but admit the Prius does look good when riding on 18-inch forged wheels, but the Big T says it’s wrapped them in 215/40R18 ‘eco sport’ tyres. Perhaps the C&A team need to look at the wide tyres (245/45-R16 Toyo Proxes RA-1 R-compound) used on the Mazda sports cars revealed at SEMA to get the ‘point’.
Moving inside, the C&A Custom Prius gains Recaro seats as well as a new gauge to display “G” output. There is also mileage meters, a water thermometer and voltmeter.
The car’s overall eco-system display that tells you if you’re using the battery, engine or both has been enhanced to also display speed, steering angle and total electric motor and engine kilowatt output.
Of course, the Toyota Prius isn’t a sports car and as a day to day vehicle it’s one of the most comfortable and efficient cars on the market today. However, if you’re going to attempt to make it cool, may we suggest less eco-tyres and more kW?
