Hey there, Prius! I know you're pretty successful with ecological-minded folks, but we have the feeling you're going through some kind of identity crisis. We mean, look at who everyone thinks is buying you. You know, those latte-snorting, Birkenstock-clad environmental types who smugly get behind the wheel of your zero-emission system to show off how conscious they are about trying to save the planet.
OK, the fact that you're a hybrid probably mitigates that stereotype. And we fully respect the urge you might have to break out and paint the town red instead of that signature green that underscores your reputation. So when we heard about someone named Nick Fillipedes, who runs an American Racing Headers franchise based in Long Island, we certainly had to check out what he did with you.
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Like, when he took out your 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine and electric motor with a cumulative 121 horsepower and replaced it with a Dodge Challenger Hellcat V8 engine with 707 horses to play with. Now that's playing with fire, especially when the motor was tweaked by adding a 4.5-liter Whipple piece of hardware to generate up to 800 horsepower! But it turns out that CVT transmission of yours couldn't handle all that power, so Fillipedes refit your innards with a six-speed manual version. Hot diggity! Seriously, that's like refitting a biplane with the jet capacity of an F35 warplane.
My gosh, Prius, We're not sure we can recognize you anymore. When you're in the city, we can barely hear you whirring by. But on the track with that Hellcat, we're kicking ourselves for forgetting to bring earplugs. And on the drag strip, revving up those horses and accelerating to the point where you can cover that quarter-mile track in under 10 seconds, it's the automotive equivalent of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Even more impressive is the fact that you were running on regular gas, not that top-fuel high-octane stuff that regular drag racers use.
We've gotta hand it to you, Prius. You sure demonstrated that you can handle all those horses under your hood. But we should warn you there's a lengthy contingent of some rather upset environmentalists who want to talk to you.