Toyota Plots Comeback for Prius After Tesla Takes Spotlight

Here's some blog thoughts about the Prius. I was looking around to make sure I'm not the only one thinking this :

Drove my Prius today. WOW | Forums | Tesla Motors

 

how would we know, do you have a p85d?

hmm, i have this $90,000. car, and this $25,000. car. why isn't the $25,000. as nice.

 

It would be wiser for Prius drivers who sense their car bores them, to say something about it than try to sweep that under the carpet forever. Now the Prius needs to become a better car since gas doesn't always just go up in price.

 

as far as prius owners speaking up, i think they do. you can see how many agree with you by their replies. just look at the gen IV wish list.

the only ones i don't understand are the ones who say, 'i test drove the prius, and fell in love with it, but after i bought it, i noticed how slow, uncomfortable and noisy it was. and it rattles, the interior is cheap and it handles poorly.'

 

okay, our Japanese exchange student doesn't understand technical words, but this is what she can tell me from the picture that I posted above, and the accompanying kanji terms; roughly translated........ - The Gen 4cabin is moved forward a bit, to give even MORE interior cabin room ... the overall outer dimensions are a tad bigger ... AND, best of all ... better "handling /feel" ... for those that are into that. Hopefully some of that's helpful to those who value non epa features as being extra important. That's the latest update from Japan as translated by our exchange student.
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Holly CARP!

Is that a built-in, automatic sun screen???

"Bubba" Bob Wilson

 

Coming from a old Toyota 4WD pickup with 31" tires that was so stable it practically drove itself down the highway I had forgotten how to sit up hold a steering wheel properly to drive. Went right over into Prius test drives. I just sold the old pickup last Summer.

 

I think the experience Tesla owners get over Prius is a lot more than just acceleration.

I've heard (here at Priuschat) so many times 'performance' driving getting reduced to only standing on the gas pedal, racing from light to light, 0 to 60 times and such. Gets old to hear.
A 'fine driving car' has more than acceleration: It's the front / rear wheel weight distribution of the car, how it handles going into, through turns, feel of the steering, the interior design, exterior design, how the brakes feel, etc...

 

One word I have for you "Lexus"

 

Closer, but still light years away from the experience Tesla offers (I've owned both).

This really isn't about comparing the Tesla and Toyota/Lexus vehicles, feature for feature.
It is about the splash in the media that Toyota used to have with the Prius, and that Tesla has now.

I don't see any way that Toyota can reclaim that limelight with the 4th gen Prius.
Possibly with the hydrogen, although that will, IMHO, be a short lived headline.

And the closer and closer we get to the second gen electrics with 150-250 miles range for $30k - $40k, the less time Toyota has for holding any spotlight.

 

it looked like the headliner was falling apart to me.

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i don't see that much media splash about the tesla. sure, it's the latest and greatest for rich folk, and sure, the prius is on the back burner and will be until gas prices go way up. what does media splash have to do with anything? i hear more about how tesla is bleeding money, and looking for a buyer, than i do about how great the car itself is.

 

still waiting for the majority of prius owners hear to chime in about all the poor qualities of the car.

 

Here is the problem for toyota. The prius used to be the green tech halo, but the hsd no longer seems high tech, and the dash and car design seems dated. Tech halos need to keep up with tech advances, but toyota has been pushing dependability and low price of nimh, and update is taking 6 1/2 years. It pushes the prius from halo to econobox where it needs to compete with the corolla, fit, etc with fuel savings. Not a good thing when fuel cprices are low. The Lexus LSh is a fail for a luxury hybrid, The best toyota does, the ct200h is a lexus but it is far from a luxury car. THe ct200h could definitely use better aerodynamics and more power, but the dash is modern and the suspension uses the latest tech.

Toyota has handed the green tech halo to tesla, by killing the roll out of the prius phv, and pushing the mirai. Most don't even think the mirai is green let alone a car they want in the garage.

Tesla does get a bunch of the false negative stories that the prius got when it was the green halo in the 2000s, it also gets all kind of free pr every time musk sneezes. The north american toyota team, carter and lentz seem to always put their foot in their mouth criticizing tesla, kind of like lutz did when attacking the toyota hybrids.

The prius is never going to be a green halo again, unless they add a big battery and a plug. The mirai team just hired morgan spurlock to make a video to make brown the new green.

Toyota needs to move beyond the prius being a green tech halo, and perhaps focus less on fuel economy and more on making it a better tech car. We should find out soon, when details of the gen IV come out.

 

The gen2 had uncomfortable seats.

 

The third generation is still a noisy car, didn't improve much; road noise travels uncomfortable to the cabin. To mitigate this, I increase the radio sound volume.