While I can buy and drive any new car, I prefer my 14 year old Prius v.

You know you want a Gen 5.
You only live once. Maybe.

 

You'd love the way the Gen 5 wants to steer itself, lol.

 

Toyota keeps stripping out content with each successive gen, imposing increasingly puzzling styling exercises, and foisting cost-cutting changes as improvements.

I’d be interested, but don’t like where they’re going. Gen 3 has more than its share of foibles, the two main ones totally their short sighted and untested lapses, but at least I know them.

 

Comma4 is the droid you're looking for.

 

Regarding the problems with new cars video, I can say my Camry avoids most of them. It’s got physical HVAC controls, 16” tires in the LE trim, and Toyota has been making hybrids reliable for a couple decades so no engine or transmission problems. It does offer pay to play services, but I just ignore them in favor of free alternatives from (in my case) Android Auto.

In fact, the physical HVAC controls are a functional improvement of the 2026 Camry over my previous 2009 Prius, which was a real pain when the screen went out because I could no longer directly control the HVAC system. If the screen on the Camry goes out, it only controls entertainment and maps. It’s much less of a problem.

 

I had a look at the owner's manual. To be kind: they are physical buttons, but hardly eyes-on-the-road capable. Just for example, say you want to change vent mode: you need to look down, identify one diminutive button in a row of identical buttons, push it, decipher the glyph to determine if it's the mode you want, and if not, repeat.

This is what I'd like to see:

 

The front of the last generation 4Runner includes a black strip (I would prefer to call it a gash), drooping down from the headlights. The rear of the Camry of that generation exhibits the same styling feature. Who was behind that? Was the designer hoping to start a trend, reminiscent of the tailfins on the late 50's cars? Fortunately, I was not interested in purchasing either of those vehicles, and in the current generation of those models they wised-up and eliminated the "gash". Unfortunately, a similar styling embellishment seems to have migrated to the new BZ (which I could be interested in purchasing). Hopefully, they will get rid of it by the time I am ready to buy.

 

i loved my 2012, but the gen 4 and 5 turned me off. very happy with my 2023 bolt. i have to say, gm really surprised me.

 

At least the BZ lost the garish wheel well "protection":

 

I like it, but it’s uge

 

The Prius V is a fine car. Not my flavor but still an excellent taxi.

Bob Wilson

 

+1

 

Out an about yesterday, our gen 3 parked beside a gen 4, silver compatriates.

 

With all the updates Toyota has for a gen3 it becomes a good car. Especially the 2017-21 v's sold overseas.


2021 Sold in Singapore

2021 Prius v/+/alpha

Does this mean the "value" seeking used car buyer should buy a 2010-15 Prius with 150k or more miles? No.

 

mrs b is a toyota hybrid driver, that's why i married her

 

All modern cars feel very appliancy to me, including the Gen 5.

Modern cars are designed to appeal to three main audiences, those that like fast cars, those that like techy stuff, and those that like cars that look enormous.

That leaves out those of us who love small, practical, simple cars.

The Gen 1 and Gen 2 Prius are more or less a small, practical simple type of car. But then Gen 3 came along and the design seems to look more and more like a sports car. And now the Gen 5 has the acceleration to boot. That's great for those who secretly wish they owned a Corvette. But it's not so great for those of us who miss driving our air-cooled VWs.

One thing I love to drive is a stick-shift. I understand that those aren't for everyone, but I sure do miss owning one.

In all honest truth, I might buy a brand new Corolla hybrid or Camry if I had the money to buy any car. But I would wait until my current car died beyond what it's worth to repair, and even then I'd be hard pressed to not look for a used car instead. After all, new cars are just appliances, boring to drive, unlike the fun cars of the past. At least fun for me, the guy who enjoys underpowered, stick-shift vehicles with spartan interiors.

 

Hey, I got 50 mpg in my Ford Festiva.

 

• I got 60 mpg in my VW Golf naturally aspirated diesel. (That's a 53 gasoline mpg equivalent).
• I also got 50 mpg in my Mazda 323. Those both were highway mileages though.
• But I averaged 30 mpg in my air-cooled VW Beetle with mixed driving.
• I'm currently averaging about 38 mpg in my Avalon hybrid. But it doesn't have a stick shift so it doesn't count.