How did Toyota f*** up the Gen 5 so badly?

Seems like to me that you're just used to some familiar locations of controls or ergonomics that aren't familiar anymore. Driving the vehicle once and having such a harsh opinion seems a little rash and subjective. I've never owned or driven a Prius and I just test drove one recently and am in the process of buying one. I would have never even considered a Prius in the past because IMHO, they were just not very good looking vehicles, to put it mildly. I think the biggest draw to these vehicles is the gas mileage and Toyota quality and now they look a whole lot better, even if they sacrifice a little in visibility and familiarity to prior Prius owners liking.

 

My 2023 Prius XSE Plug-in is a great car with two exceptions: 1. tire size is ridiculous, especially limiting replacement tire options if you live in snow country and don't want dedicated snow tires (no CC 2); visibility is poor. I still love the car and getting in and out is nice physical activity. Third exception might be no spare, but I guess that is pretty standard in many cars these days.

 

Perhaps they should have moved the traction battery outside the passenger compartment like they did no the RAV4. There is a PHEV version of that and my son is very happy with his 2023 RAV4 Prime.

 

I thought it was outside on the Gen5 Prius PHEV.
Probably gets in the way of any rear motor.