Taking my Gen 4 for granted

So I spent yesterday driving a 2017 Prius plug in hybrid (also called as Prime) - it felt heavier than my Gen 4 (especially the steering) and the battery seemed be fine driving on the motorway at 70mph, although the range of the battery declined rather quickly with all my overtaking on the motorway. Didn't feel as smooth to drive as my Gen 4 though.

It was the top model so I tried out the parking thing where it backed up into a space in a car park by itself, and it did well. Not as well as the Volvo XC90's park assist, but way better than the VW Arteon's park assist.

Bottom line: I still love my Gen 4. Apparently, Toyota have got their EVs ready to go into production, market forces have brought their timing years forward. Well that's what a little bird told me. I think I would prefer to replace my Gen 4 with a Toyota EV (rather than the Prius PHEV) if they do bring something out next year.

 

I am test driving a bunch of EVs now as there are huge financial savings for me in London if I were driving an EV (or even a plug in hybrid) every day. I have test driven the Prius plug in, but it's lower down my list because it's longer than my Gen 4 and ideally I want to get something a bit shorter.

I test drove the new Nissan Leaf today. It has a range of 150-170 miles in the real world, some kind of semi autonomous tech (brakes, accelerates and steers on the highway) and one pedal braking.

Overall, I think I will be crossing that car off my list. Compared to my Gen 4.

Pros
The silence as you waft around
Felt more spacious (especially legroom in rear)
Instant torque off the line (but runs out of puff quite quickly)
E pedal braking was fun (driving with only one pedal was fun but a bit weird at very low speeds)
A bit shorter so better for parking at home/my travels in London
Less tyre roar at high speeds from rear

Cons
Steering wheel only adjusts for rake, not reach. Plus the seat wouldn't go low enough for my knees (I'm 6'2") and the driving position was seriously odd, where my knees were up in the air near the wheel and my hips were really low down. I got knee pain and general discomfort during the 45 minute test drive.
Feels like a much cheaper car in terms of build quality
Missing the essentials (such as Auto windows for ALL 4 windows, it just had auto for the driver's window)
Road sign recognition was silly. The speed limit sign is tiny on the dashboard compared to the Gen4. What's the point of making it that small?
Much firmer ride on 17inches (50 profile tyres vs 65 profile tyres with 15 inch on mine) - it made my Gen4 feel like a Cadillac. This was the worst part of the Leaf, the way it crashed over ridges/bumps in the road that I would barely feel in the Gen 4)
No Heads up display
Larger turning circle
The Propilot seemed less smooth than DRCC on the Gen 4 when following a truck. The auto steering in the lane was less confident than either Tesla or Volvo's systems that I've tried.
Blind spot monitoring was not as good. Only a small red dot appears. I like the Gen 4 where it's solid orange light but also then flashes to indicate changing scenario.

Oh and the sales person who took me on the test drive didn't know anything about the car and the technology, often providing me with BS answers, claiming that he'd driven every car on the market as part of Nissan training, and he remarked at the end of the Gen 4 Prius drives really poorly compared to any Nissan on the market.

I then drove around 100 miles the rest of today in my Prius and there are so many small things in which I really notice and appreciate Toyota's approach to the car.