Well holy shit that’s a sight to see. MotorTrend praising a Toyota? Hell has frozen over.

I took this photo when it first came out earlier this year in Japan:https://i.imgur.com/q1DnYx6.jpg

With a bright color like that it looks sleeker than most cars on the road. Well done Toyota design team.

Glad that the Prius got the win! I’ve had the opportunity to own some great cars like a NB Miata, S2000 AP2, G37XS, and E90 M3, but the Prius is a special one to me.

My most “fun” memories is my 2012 Prius C equipped with Michelin Pilot Sport tires from the crazy track times on COTA, to roadtrips to Mountains, to moving apartments in college in a tiny hatch. The car was able to do everything and give me the most value from my gas. It made me laugh how it did everything and the ridiculousness of using an economy car in all these situations.

Unfortunately, it had a part go out (not the battery) that was too expensive to repair so I had to buy a new car.

I just took delivery of a Prius Prime XSE a little over a month ago. So far it’s a really great car with a couple of annoyances. My main impressions so far:

What I like:

• The increased power without sacrificing fuel economy is amazing. The 0-60 time dropped from around 10 seconds to something like 7 seconds. That by itself is a game-changer for anyone who likes to drive. Handling is vastly better than any Prius before as well. The driving experience is utterly transformed.
• The car is comfortable, quiet, and smooth. Engine noise is unobtrusive, there’s no droning sound.
• Efficiency is still outstanding. My wife’s commute is 40 miles each way, which happens to be the EV range of the Prime. She burns a bit of gas when it’s cold in the morning, but can usually get home on battery alone. Being able to do almost all our daily driving on electricity but having the gas option to avoid hassles on road trips makes this the perfect one-car solution for a lot of people. I’d love a full EV, but I often take trips of 200+ miles and can’t accept the hassles and uncertainties of public chargers.
• Reliability and ease of maintenance for Priuses have been excellent for decades. This is really important to me.
• Styling. This is 100% subjective, of course. But the 4th-generation Prius was so awful looking that I would have preferred a used 3rd-gen instead. This car is shockingly attractive from every angle. The interior is also nice - not luxury, of course, but not cheap or spartan either.

Concerns:

• Visibility. This is my biggest complaint, particularly to the rear. Those lovely sloped C-pillars hide some pretty wide viewing angles even when I turn my head to look, so I need to rely heavily on the side-view mirrors when changing lanes. The rear window is too small, and I sometimes wish I had the digital rearview mirror to compensate. Even the A-pillar, because of the rake of the windshield, is close enough to my eyes that I sometimes have to tilt my head to see around it. I hope I will get used to these limitations, but everything around me is much more visible in my other car (VW Golf wagon).
• Interior space. My wife and I are about to be empty nesters, so we don’t need room for child seats or a ton of cargo. But I’m 6 feet tall and can comfortably sit behind myself in the back seat, and the hatchback with folding seats means we can haul boxes or a bookshelf when needed. (I haven’t tried my bike back there yet, but videos show this isn’t a problem.) We will do a family road trip for Thanksgiving next week, and we’ll see how the space holds up for 4 people + bags. I think it should be fine.
• Options availability. The base (SE) trim doesn’t have heated seats, which I think are essential for an EV in winter. (Heating the cabin is inefficient.) But moving up to the XSE brings 19" wheels instead of 17", which drops EV range by about 10%. Also, the car is so scarce that you’re stuck with whatever options happen to be installed on the car that is allocated to your dealer. I was lucky to get one with minimal added junk, but these “port-installed options” can easily add $2K or more to the sticker.

Neat, but I’d never ever ever ever pay ADM on a Prius and that’s the situation if you want one…

Rented one from Turo, drove 1300 miles in it. A huge improvement from previous models. Drove from Las Vegas to Sedona. Handles great in the canyon.

Some issues, Infotainment center was very glitchy. The front A pillar blind spots are huge, really annoying. And top of steering wheel blocks the gauge pod if positioned to be comfortable. I had to put it all the way down to see gauge, which then caused me to hit my knee on it when getting inside. They should have positioned it higher.

The Prius looks a lot like my 2016 Chevy Volt.

damn the Prius is so hideous that its competing with the M2 on looks

Wish Toyota carried more of the new Prius’s design language to their other cars, like the new Camry instead of whatever the fuck it is they did.

Genuinely, not surprised, it looks good and isn’t bad (like previous Prii) lol

Half this sub head’s just exploded

While I’m not a Toyota fan, I do like that a sedan and a hybrid won; my favorite combo.

Yawn