Prius Main Forum This is a discussion on Different model years within the Prius Main Forum forums, part of the Toyota Prius Forums category; Originally posted by john1701a @Dec 22 2005, 05:38 PM
NOW it does. But years ago, people couldn't handle how ahead-of-its-time ...
Originally posted by john1701a@Dec 22 2005, 05:38 PM NOW it does. But years ago, people couldn't handle how ahead-of-its-time it was. There are several vehicles with similar shape & style today, so it's no big deal anymore.
And of course, people did (and still do) have no idea that an entire generation existed before the debut in the United States. In fact, that's why they think it resembles Echo... because Echo is what they saw here first. But in reality, Prius was on the road 2 years before Echo even existed. But that was in Japan.
Back in 1999, some US auto-magazine reviewers got their hands on the "Original" model. They wrote about the aspects they found disappointing. Toyota also provided the opportunity for 20 families to drive the "Original" model for a month each. All that feedback resulted in a bunch of upgrades to the system, making the "Classic" model... which most people assume is the first, but it really isn't. Here's why: