Would anyone like to comment on this Prius history timeline which features on the local dealer who supports clean green cars? http://www.cleangreencar.co.nz/info_toyota-prius-history.asp Surely the Prius II was around until 2009?
That's all a nomenclature issue. Since this site is US-centric we refer to the "Classic" Prius as released in the US as Gen I (what's shown as Gen II on your chart), Then the '04-'09 model as the Gen II, and the current Prius as Gen III. Since Japan was the only place with a Prius, and one that was little more than a Prototype (my opinion) we tend to discount it here. Many refer to it as the Mark I Prius as well.
Same over here in the UK. The gen1 or classic 2000-2003 was the first official Prius sold here. Then there was the gen2 2004-2009 and the gen3 2009- (known as the 2010 in the USA). The original Prius 1997-1999 is widely available over here as a Japanese import with the price artificially high for a 10 year old car because it is eligible for free access to the inner London Congestion Charge area - normally £8 a day. This ruling changes June 2011 and I predict a glut of these old Prii hitting the second hand market. Might be tempted to get one just for fun if the prices are cheap enough.
No English-language repair documentation, no spare parts, the DTC cannot be read with OBD-II code readers...sounds like a nightmare to me. I would say that Classic (model years 2001 - 2003) is just one or two steps beyond being a science experiment. The original Prius sold only in Japan was truly at the science experiment level.
I'd call the 1997-2003 version the first generation with the 2001-2003 the midlife updated version that the rest of the world got. (No different from the Fit or Mazda2 that we got here that are midlife updates when they were first released). The Gen1.5 had a few notable upgrades... the battery was switched to NiMH and the engine output raised to 67hp as well as the MFD gained touchscreen capability.
