Gen III Material Quality - Cheap?

My previous car was a Porsche with full leather and sport seats. The Prius interior looks and feels alright to me, maybe they could have used softer plastic in some areas but overall is nice.

 

Hi Dean, I have not read through this entire thread, so I did not see what prompted a recent revival of this conversation. It looks like you might have the 2010 V by now and I hope you are happy with your Prius.

I want to add that there is a different between the quality of the metal and the specification. The specifications could be a thinner high quality metal, and other materials, used in the manufacture of Prius' to enable Toyota to achieve the 51 MPG rating for the 2010. --TK

 

I have to agree that quality of interior materials in the 2010 Prius is probably the worse in my last 4-5 cars in the past 10 years. Everything seems so fragile and, some things, like the sound system knob and sunglasses holder looks toy-like and I’m always afraid to break them. Toyota needed to make this car as light as possible, decided that compromising safety or technology was probably not a good thing then the obvious target was interior materials. Frankly, check any car from a reliable brand that costs about half of the price of the Prius and don't be surprised to found better quality for the interior materials in those compared to the Prius…

 

DeanFL,

I too own a Gen III, Model V/w Leather and Nav. I find it to be a BIG improvement from my GEN I, and a step up from my Honda Civic Hybrid which I traded to get this car.

I have noticed some interior attributes which I wish were better and when I closed the drivers door the other day I noticed a little movement to the door panel. It however did not make me think buying the V was a bad idea as a result. I too, in my past owned a Lexus and it's not a Lexus, and it doesn't get Lexus Mileage nor does it have the Lexus Price Tag :mod:

But the V is quite a nice car, I can't complain about it, I enjoy getting into it and driving every day. I know some people can't say that about there cars, but I can. I smile at the gas pump each time, and that's not but every 2 weeks. And no sticker shock when filling up.

I have a lot of nice interior treatments as part of the V, I have the LED Headlights which are GREAT! I have heated leather seats for the winters in Buffalo, the 17" tires/Wheels, (Improvement over the 15" with covers), and closer turning ratio on the V as well.

All in all I am pleased with my purchase. I think you will be too. Could Toyota put a little better detail into the interior?? Sure, but it's not such a negative to not move forward with the car. I think in the end you will be quite happy. I am driving a Winter Gray, with Dark Grey Leather interior. Sharp!

 

The first thing I noticed actually is the inordinate use of plastics compared to a mercedes that i used.

Then i found out toyota was using something called ECOPLASTICS, which is plastic derived from grown plants as opposed to fossile fuel-derived plastics.

So, that made it ok to me.

Btw, you'd be the FIRST person who ever said a G2 looked more substantial than a G3, considering the latter is actually physically larger and heavier driving (I've driven both as well).

 

I see nothing wrong with the Prius leather. Most of the issues people are having with material quality are the same across all lines of the Toyota models (I currently have 3 different). Cheap plastics and rattles. (although the grained pastic on my V's door does not look all that bad) Regardless of what you think about German reliability, they seem to have cornered the market on interiors. They know how to make an interior feel like "quality". A cheap Audi interior is a lot better than a loaded Toyota's IMO.

 

Problem is when you look at non-hybrid Toyota's they have the same cheap interior as the Prius, so it's not really an issue of the money going towards the technology, it's just Toyota. My $30K TCH had the same interior of a $30K SE. The $30K SE interior does not compare to cars in that price range. I would have never bought the camry without the hybrid option.

 

Agree 100%.