My Initial Impressions

The Prius has arrived in showrooms in Canada (and deliveries have been made as there's a few around town now). Given there's no local autoshow this year (just out east in Montreal and Toronto), I had to make my way down to the local dealership.

Here are my notes on the Gen 5 LTD if anyone's interested. For those who are unfamiliar, I've had a 2005, 2010, 2016 and Prime. I've also test driven the PiP, Prius c and v in California at Toyota HQ.However, note that I'm coming out of a Kia EV6 but I was trying to remember my Prime to use as a basis when comparing the Gen 5. The showroom also had the Crown Platinum and bZ4X XLE AWD w/ Technology Package.

Exterior

• Low and sleek design. Roof seems lower than previous cars - easier to clean
• Good proportions
• Nice washer nozzle for the backup camera but none for the digital rearview mirror camera
• The power hatch is a bit slow to open (I don't mean the actual motion but rather the delay between you pressing the hatch release and the hatch actually starting to open)
• I do like the way the power hatch closes - it's soft and quiet. But the last bit takes an extra second (it closes down to "ajar" then after 0.5-1.0 sec, it latches).
• Definitely don't have to worry about winter crud on the rear window given its slope but again, a wiper would be nice for the other scenarios of accumulating snow

Interior

• Decent front seating position. I was able to lower it quite nicely (it was originally quite high such that I was hitting the ceiling). I don't know if it was all the way to the bottom but it was pretty close to the bottom and I still had 2 inches of clearance to the moonroof (I'm just under 6')
• The SofTex material feels so much nicer than the Gen 4 SofTex. With the perforation, it almost can be convincingly sold as leather.
• Unfortunately, the steering wheel SofTex covering leaves something to be desired. It's ok but it doesn't feel as nice as my EV6's faux leather steering wheel
  
• The seat bottom has a nice depth to it. I sat in the bZ4X afterwards and the seat bottom was noticeably shorter in the bZ than in the Gen 5
• The rear outboard seat is comfortable with ok footroom (reminder: I lowered the driver's seat to the bottom). I'm brushing the ceiling. It has a much "better" carve-out than the Gen 3 or 4 but then I am brushing the ceiling so it feels like there's slightly less rear headroom. (Hopefully that made sense.. like, the carve out is better positioned than in the Gen 3 or 4). The rear seat is still somewhat upright but I feel like it's less upright than in the Gen 4/Prime. Could be wrong. Either way, it's still more upright than in a Camry for example.
• The rear centre seat is definitely not for tall people. I remembered could sit in the Gen 2/3/4's middle seat but in the Gen 5, I definitely cannot. I have to tilt my head.
• On the plus side, the rear outboard headrests are adjustable but the rear centre headrest is fixed
• The cargo area looks smaller but the open side pockets look a bit larger (It's kinda like the Prime but without the covers).
• The rear floor opens to reveal the styrofoam cubby holes but if you try to reach the ones closer to the rear seat, the "wings" of the rear floor hit the sides of the cargo area
• I like the bi-fold tonneau cover that lifts up and away. However, the level of the tonneau cover is low, so it'll limit the height of the item you can store under the tonneau cover
• Forward visibility from the driver's seat seems good but the driver's seat area feels more cramped then the Gen 3 with the flying buttress.
  
• Rear visibility is poor. Where the vertical rear window would be in Gen 2-4 is now solid plastic. Now, that wouldn't be a problem if that was part of the cargo area but the annoying thing is that the tonneau cover is BELOW that portion of the tailgate. WHY?!? Either raise the rear seatback height or lower than tailgate design or just let the tonneau cover rise so that you can have more space under the tonneau cover. Not a fan of the implementation of the interior design of the taillgate.
• The front and rear doors sound tinny. The door closing thunk sounds like something is loose inside the door panel
• The door switches (mirrors, windows and locks) as well as the centre console switches look and feel more premium. They have a satisfying click to them. The steering wheel buttons definitely look and feel more upscale. The Gen 4 had plastic buttons that had play (particularly the D-pad) that felt cheap
• The climate control has nice buttons and it's the same unit used in the Crown
• The overhead console with LED map lights looks ok and it's the same one used in the Crown
• The shifter feels different. There's more resistance/weight to it than the Gen 2/3/4. It feels the closest to the Gen 3 (given its location) but requires a more "forceful" or "intentful" hand movement to get into D or R or B.
• Nice cable cut out in the centre console armrest to run a cable to the plugs inside the centre console.
• Ok sized glovebox
• Door panels feel a downgrade from Gen 4 in the front. They're not as soft to the touch. The rear door panels get the same material as the front in the Gen 5 so it's actually an upgrade from the Gen 4 where it was hard scratchy plastic.
• The front sunvisors have an interesting "ticket" clip built into the sliding mirror cover (Rather than a strap or a plastic clip on the sunvisor itself)
• And the steering wheel feels chunky

Overall, there are some nice improvements (I like the pano roof, the nicer switches and the added features as well as the exterior design) but also a number of things that would annoy a seasoned owner (smaller cabin space, smaller cargo area, less storage overall).