A 5-seat Toyota Prius Prime is on the way

as long as the camera lens stays clear.

 

Have you noticed how many new sedans have the same rear window slope?

With the higher quality glass and impregnated rain repellent, it's not the concern one would think.

The aerodynamics of the bubble shape may help too.

 

Question - What is the rationale for the Prius sculptured rear window? Is it styling? aerodynamics? Other? Any distortion?

In the absence of a goof engineering reason .... it looks like a headache to manufacture, install and to replace.

 

Replace the back window wiper. One extra motor to delete as well as all the wiring and they may have had to reengineer the carbon fiber rear hatch if left in. Plus it enhances aerodynamics.


Unsupervised!

 

reminds me of the tesla gull wings, not worth the effort.

 

Ha ha yeah but not nearly as complicated. And Toyota took something away, not add something that required a monumental engineering effort including a crap load of software fixes. And Toyota didn't outsource it either.


Unsupervised!

 

still, i'd be happy with the lift back rear end.

 

Styling, again to make it different. Aerodynamic benefit. And surprisingly, no reported distortion from any source.

 

Re: the rear wiper. I hardly ever use the thing in my GenIII. Even when I do switch it on, I can hardly see anything through there with the split window and small size of the wiping area. Rainex and no wiper in the Prime and I'll bet it will offer more viewing area than what I have now.

 

I find rear wipers more of a need on cars where the window is more vertical, like a wagon or SUV.

 

If you turn the sound system up loud enough the water/snow will vibrate off. (I can hear -that guy- coming a block away! When I ask him why he answers "huh"?)

 

Car & Driver on line magazine has an interesting article about driving the Prime.

 

ouch, what a balky website. can you give us any clues how to find it?

nevermind, got it. meh, nothing new under the sun. i do take issue with the standard: pip sold poorly because of low amount of ev miles, and, 22 miles is not going to be enough to compete.

they were fairly positive about the driving experience though, especially for the gear heads at c&d.

 

Here is my collection of the reports from the people who attended the Japan event:

2017 Prius Prime First Drive: Best Prius Ever | PriusChat
2017 Toyota Prius Prime Plug-In Hybrid Drive – Review – Car and Driver
First Drive of the 2017 Toyota Prius Prime PHEV-22 | CleanMPG
2017 Toyota Prius Prime Prototype First Drive - Autoblog
2017 Toyota Prius Prime First Drive | Aaronmacias Car
2017 Toyota Prius Prime First Drive - Consumer Reports
2017 Toyota Prius Prime: first drive of new plug-in hybrid (Page 3)
First Drive: Toyota Prius Prime - Better Than The Original In Every Way
2017 Toyota Prius Prime First Review - Kelley Blue Book

and the CR YT criticizing the 11.6 Inch touch-screen.

Jan

 

Any news on the five-seat Prius Prime?

 

2 years and 200 posts, and all we got is bupkis.

 

If not five seats bring over the 10lb glued on semi flex solar panel and nimh charge system that makes the car fail crash tests (allegedly) but drive 4 solar miles a day.