Video: 2016 Prius vs 2015 Prius - Dynamic Driving Autocross

We'll see but as far as the general car buying audience is concerned, the Prius name means good gas mileage and practicality. I really don't think the target demographic is going to care about lower center of gravity or independent rear suspension. Not enough to make a meaningful impact on sales, anyway.

 

There have been articles suggesting the CEO is a performance car enthusast and a senior Toyota engineer died at Nurburgring. I suspect it was 'selling' to management first. Since Toyota wants this to be a standard body, the other cars will need to meet their customer expectations.

Bob Wilson

 

^ Executive politics keeps coming to mind when I try to understand various facets of the 4th gen.

 

it has certainly been a hit with many auto blogs that have dissed it before, and that will mean something to their readers.

 

What I think we are seeing is something we shouldn't be too surprised about seeing.

How does Toyota evolve The Prius?

Well, handling, refinement, styling all are area's that The Prius needed improvement. And I say that as an owner of a Gen 3.

I always look for an improvement in efficiency, but really Toyota already sets the standard, and by any comparative hybrid measure they are doing fine in that area.

Who do they hope this appeals to?
Well handling, styling, refinement....is a big package.
My guess is that they hope it appeals to all of us. From a young first time buyer to eventually a returning or repeat buyer.

 

New and incrementally improved, with no radical shift in styling, that'd work for me.

 

Indeed... they meant to improve it for everyone, not just hypermilers... but lets not forget that Prius G4 has huge improvements for hyper milers, as Wayne from cleanmpg.com found out at his steady mph tests + new electric cut off at 70mph.

So it is better for everyone.

G3 owners who try to paint this as Danny being biased and then ticking it off as if thats not important to them are really poor sports. Point of new vehicle is to improve on old one, it does not make G3 worse car than what it was at launch in 2009 but at the same time we should not shy away from the fact how much improved G4 is.

 

Oh my! How in the world did Toyota manage to sell 3-4 Million bad "handling" Prius's? Maybe because they "handle" just fine.

Want bad "handling" try the auto cross course in:

a full size pickup
a full size SUV
a mini van

American's love bad handling vehicles.

 

not able to appreciate good handling while busy sending txt msgs whilst driving.

 

I have a feeling that reviewers are making videos just to get paid, nothing else. Most of the time they just copy something they heard somewhere and give half assed review. I mean look at Ford Focus, carbuyer.co.uk has concluded that this is the best car in the category, while users gave it one of the worst rankings....hmmm.
Ford Focus hatchback review | Carbuyer

I have a feeling that focusing on horsepower and handling as many of those reviewers do should be reserved for mainly for sport cars. They review McLaren P1 and Nissan Maxima in about the same way.... lol