Featured SPOTTED! *UNWRAPPED* 2016 Prius spotted this morning!

it does require definition because a car can perform many different functions. for me, it's all about the mpg's. after that, there are a million other vehicle choices.

 

Agree, though MPG is not everything. I'd bet you'll be in no rush to trade you Prius for 84MPG Elio.

For me car has to strike right balance of practicality, MPG, style and fun to drive. MPG is fine as long as it needs under 50gal/mo when driven 30k+ annual.

 

Many on driveaccord are having similar negative reactions to '16 refreshed Accord and its wider chrome front grill ... Ewww, yuck, never buy it, etc....

they'll buy it anyway after they calm down.

 

agreed, elio wouldn't do it. prius only. and also agree that for some, there are other areas of performance that are important. unfortunately, no car can be all things to all people. the more you can accomplish, the more you'll sell. that's what engineering is all about.

 

well that's interesting. i would like to replace my 06, but unless this is electric , i may pass

 

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CHECK OUT PHOTO GALLERIES HERE:

2016 Toyota Prius spy photos -- Automotive News Photo Gallery

This took place in Malibu, California.


Check out the photos of the new Gen IV Prius:

2016 Toyota Prius spy photos -- Automotive News Photo Gallery

The article can be found here:

Toyota's redesigned 2016 Prius hybrid exposed during photo shoot

and here:

2016 Toyota Prius Spy Shots

and here:

wot.motortrend.com/1508_spied_2016_toyota_prius_caught_without_camo.html

 

I look at the car as a pair of shoes: they need to do all the things shoes do and don't hurt in process.

EDIT: o'k maybe it is also a backpack to carry things. Shoes and backpack.

 

You are in luck, have something for you! 2016 Nissan LEAF To Get 25% Larger Battery/More Range ...

 

I agree with some of the comments in autoblog... it kinda what a 4 door Ford probe would've looked like.

Oh well, it's good we get used to it's ugliness now so we can be won over by the fuel efficiency figures when they reveal those.

 

when i heard about prius, i had to get one as soon as possible. didn't matter what it looked like, how it drove, interior, nothing. eleven years later, still feel the same. are there things i would change if i could? of course. but it's not up to me, you get what you get or you move on.
my wife on the other hand has to have a comfortable seat. nothing else matters. she found it in a camry 10 years ago, and after her second one, moved up to the hycam, now on her second.

hard to believe any one looks at prius and thinks, 'this is the best compromise of all the things i want in a car'.

 

I really like some of it, and I'm terrified of what the actual rear end will look like. From the side, it reminds me of a 4-door 1994 Ford Probe (which I actually liked back then). I think the front 3/4 view is excellent! I'm very nervous about how the rear end looks. BUT, it'll come down to feature availability (there are certain things I've come to "need" in my next car purchase) and cargo/sleeping capacity in the back, and interior design. Either way, I think a Prius will be my next car. It'll either be a 2013-2015 Plug-In Advanced, or a new one, as long as I can get adaptive cruise, lumbar support, and rain-sensing wipers would be great (have them now, don't want to give that up!) but not a deal breaker. Either the deals on the used ones will get even better, or the new one will be worth the extra money. We'll see. I think it'll be great, either way. Hope my smart can last one more winter! 111,000 miles and runnin' strong... fingers crossed...

 

I'm glad I don't purchase vehicles based on looks. My Gen 3 is quite hideous. This Gen 4 looks like they beat it further with an ugly stick. The side indentations on the rear panel are especially revolting. I assume they serve an aerodynamic purpose as the equally atrocious protruded headlights in a Leaf reduces wind noise around the side mirrors.

The only think I do like are the star fleet insignia headlights.

 

it's amazing how many people look at 60's and 70's american muscle cars and think they're beautiful.

 

Here is today's dribble of new information, including what purport to be non-camouflage pix of G4 Info about introduction date is still pretty vague.

2016 Toyota Prius caught totally uncovered

 

hmm....with the extra length the Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) version would probably be closer the Mazda MPV and hopefully offer a 3rd row for those of us needing a minivan.

 

It should be noted that wheels are one of those things that are 1) standardized, 2) easily interchangeable, 3) and generally do not impart much "character" to the functionality of the car. Therefore I would not latch onto what we see here, as what shows up in the showrooms may be completely different. I mean, they are trying to disguise (unsuccessfully, but the intent is there) the identity of this car. It would not be hard to swap out different-styled but identically-sized wheels toward the end of disguising the styling without affecting the way it drives.

As for the rest of the car...

As of right now I am not a fan of this design. I wasn't one when I saw the Taiwanese spy sketches, which turned out to be be quite accurate for details, if not exactly for proportions.

For me, good design is closer to the mantra "form follows function". Of course, when there is new insight or advances in technology (even if only in the form of changes in the cost for producing a part in a certain material/size/etc.), form/engineering may change drastically, maybe even radically... in the pursuit of greater functionality/performance/economic value/etc. Then the stylist comes in and adds design that modifies (and maybe even takes advantage of) the form/engineering, and the product becomes something greater than just a utility box. It gains perceived intent, resonance... and emotion.

The extension of the tail, if only to accommodate the IRS (probably not as simple as that), at this point without hand-on-experience, seems like it fits my definition of good design. I think Toyota has always had a chubby for the airfoil shape of the greenhouse (as manifested in the 2nd gen), and I think this allows them another, arguably better try at it. For us, the car gains interior volume, and *possibly* better aerodynamics.

However, all the lights scream "styled" rather than "engineered", and seems to represent a deviation from the course of the generations up to now. Needless to say that the 1st-gen's headlights were fairly plain and typical of the wide-eyed look of the era (think EK Civic). The 2nd-gen reconfigured the headlight orientation into a more vertical shape in order to reduce and re-position the trailing transverse seam that exist at the headlight/sheetmetal junction (think Nissan Leaf for the most extreme example) for better aerodynamics. The 3rd-gen returned to a less stretched-out design (a stretched-out design requires both bigger molds, more accommodation and other complications in the mounting, is heavier, and is more liable to suffer damage in fender-benders), and instead breaks up the trailing transverse seam into a sawtooth that basically makes it into a non-transverse seam.

So now we have LEDs as the technological advance. As an inherently directional light source, LEDs can have much smaller reflectors (probably more goes into lenses), and so we don't need nearly as much surface area for the headlights. Great, we can have much smaller & lighter headlights now (think ND Miata)... but no. Instead, we've got a stretched-out shape that requires a big mold (the longest dimension looks bigger than those 17" rims) and will probably always break (if not in half, at least a mounting point) in the smallest fender-bender.

Maybe at some point I'll see the engineering and thought that went into it... but so far it eludes me. The same goes for the taillights. They seem like form without much function, i.e. contemporary tail fins. Such things do not withstand the test of time; it's just an artifact from this styling age.*

* - which would be thinner, squintier, angrier, and edgier "eyes". Surely you've noticed. Yes, cars are deliberately designed with a "face". Ever wonder why 3-headlight/single-headlight/light-bar headlight configurations never really caught on?

 

Hmm! Remember there are 2 depictions. If so and the other is the pip version then yes it is less aggressive than the gen4 but boy does it look good!

 

Hope so. In the sketch with the blue vs Sea Foam viewed front-on, the blue was clearly better. This reveal looks like it's the seafoam. I wouldn't buy another regular Prius for a couple mpgs. It's PiP or not at all.

There is nothing I like in this reveal. I hate vertical lights mostly. Gen 3's rear is vertical, and while I don't care for it, it's not a deal breaker. Gen 4's taillights reaches halfway down the rear bumper! The roofline peaks again above the driver's head like in Gen 2, which I don't like.

Wheels are important. Shoes are important. They must look good. I don't buy a car because I have to get from A to B. I buy them because I want to.

 

I wonder if I should buy stock in whatever company makes the taillights for them? Those things are going to be destroyed from the slightest bumper tap. Something that might not even scratch or craze the paint on the bumper cover. I'm guessing they are going to be extremely hard to find in boneyards.

I'm betting that we see a commercial on TV (or just YT) that shows the car driving out from under the "loose" camo. Pretty sure that's been done before, though.