My Prime wheel + sound upgrade

Toyota would likely sell a lot more Primes if they just changed the wheel+tire package. The originals are beyond a disservice to such an interesting design.





Font end good enough for the next gen Evo.





a UFO


I like their new design language. Taking a beating from Hyundai and Kia seems to have finally woken up Toyota and Honda to stay better aligned to the original concepts.





Toyota, why did you completely remove the last four side marker LEDs? Leave them on as driving lights or better yet have them serve dual purpose, driving and signal lights!




White accents on the steering wheel and shifter pod? What were you thinking? Where else in the car do you see this color?

The 11.6" screen looks great aesthetically. It functions like a 1980's Speak and Spell. No album cover artwork, laggy, the most unintuitive interface I have seen in a car, NO Volume knob!, wasted space at the top of the screen showing a Cartoon Network version of the car and just try touching the map while moving and re-center yourself again, nice touch placing the interior temp behind the hand you are adjusting it with. The voice recognition is pretty much useless without the ability to accept complex sentences - the system in a 12 year old Honda is better. The app on the iPhone is a sad joke. I could go on and on - I might resort to creating a video of this disaster. Did Toyota look at an iPad or an Android tablet when designing this absurd oddity? Can you in the very least add Apple CarPlay as an upgrade to the 2017 and 18s system?

Added bonus - no RCA out and a head unit tuned to operate only the six paper cups they call speakers.


Upgraded the cardboard originals



Bonus Model 3 and Prime

 

Forged TSW rims and Toyo rubber ~$1800

 

I think they make a huge difference which is why I upgraded. Am I the only one?

 

No reason you cannot have the EV range, MPGs, reliability and good design. My point is if you want to attract a broader audience offering a more aesthetically pleasing wheel set complementing it's futuristic, border line aggressive design language will only improve the Prime's appeal. While it seems trivial to some, it is impactful particularly on first impressions. The stock wheel set looks like it is disproportionally small for the car - almost a carricature. No excuse for Toyota to not offer a pleasing 17" or 18" wheel set from the factory particularly when they have done it on previous generation Prii.

I modified the Ferrari and BMW photos to make a point. Would someone compromise on an enthusiast vehicle? Why should they have to on a vehicle designed for efficiency and much more frequent use?

 

You can design a nice rim that delivers high MPGs. Case in point the i3.



The Prime design is polarizing up to the point where you stare incredulously at the 15" plastic hubcaps they decided to adorn on their highest tech hybrid. If they want to sell low volumes, why spend the $ on R&D and retooling when they can just buy carbon credits. The future is high efficiency hybrids until we solve this archaic battery technology we are still feeding off of.

The Tesla S is a run of the mill European luxury sedan form factor with some great bells and whistles. Nothing about the exterior design screams FUTURE. Purposely so. Nice, safe, soft lines slightly reminiscent of the large Mercedes or BMW you are trading in. You run to the edge and you risk losing a good portion of the target demographic willing to plunk down $100k+ per serving.