others tell me prius is ugly but its a beauty

While the Prius Gen II is many things, ugly is definitely not one of them. This is a vehicle with a daring yet unique aerodynamic form which looks uncannily like a prop from one of Gerry Andersons Sci-Fi TV series. Indeed, this is a car that actually dared to look like the vehicles so many designers used to depict as futuristic, decades ago.

This is a vehicle designed to cut through the air with the least amount of resistance. A futuristic body shape that achieves a very impressive Cd of 0.26. It is nothing short of amazing that the design of that hump shaped body (that has given this car's many detractors....."The Hump" by its very existence), includes a very spacious cabin with executive style leg room, excellent visibility for all passengers both front and back, and an engine compartment which does not intrude in the passenger area.

Toyota dared to produce something that looks like it rolled out of a school boy's science fiction comic magazine. Or indeed, from another planet. The car's shape looks 40 years ahead of its time - and that "Futurama" retro style dashboard up front just oozes a kind of class and character so many cars have missing today. In fact, you get the distinct impression that the designers of the Prius II had a sense of humour. And they certainly did their homework regarding what to design that would bring the buyers beating a path to their door. They succeeded with their zany Sci-Fi styling of this Petrol / Hybrid road going craft. Look at that nose! It's kind of Futurama's "Planet Express Ship" meets "Thunderbird 2"......genetically spliced with a Shuttlecraft from Star Trek the next generation. It's got a cute 21st century bug eyed face with a thin (smug?) smile that looks attractive. The way the sloped bonnet neatly flows into the windscreen and then up over the humped roof down to the tail is in certain respects still unprecedented today. Even the vague copycat, the Honda Insight, never managed to replicate that neat aerodynamic design quite as well. Then there's the way the rear of the vehicle is actually narrower than the front - creating a kind of teardrop design when studied from above. Again, a bit like Thunderbird 2. This is something other modern car manufacturers have only started doing recently. Curiously, back in the old days, car manufacturers like, say, Tatra, came out with their Tatraplan, which also followed the same rule of a narrowed tail. Then of course, there's THAT unique Kammback rear shape too! Brilliant!

Looked at with a critical, yet imaginative eye, it's not too difficult to mentally attach a small warp nacelle to each side of the Prius II, paint it white with red stripes, remove the wheels and fill in the wheel arches flush with the rest of the body......and it wouldn't look out of place in the Shuttlecraft Bay of the Galaxy Class USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D. Oh wait......a certain Doc Willie has done that already methinks.....
Another thing; you can almost imagine this vehicle's shape / design without wheels, just floating inches off the road, like 40 years in the future - as depicted in Sci-Fi movies a la "I, Robot".

So, why is the Prius II perceived as ugly by its detractors? Because it IS different! There are those who perceive it looks very like a slug on wheels - but cannot really comprehend the rules of vehicular aerodynamics. There are those who feel that cars should always look like they did in the early 1980's at most. They simply cannot accept evolution - indeed, for some, the very design of the Prius II is nothing short of Blasphemy! For them, cars should not evolve.
Is the Prius II "Butt Ugly"? Good heavens, NO...!!!
Is the Prius II ugly at all? Of course not! Unusual is certainly not ugly in this respect. Ugly in my opinion is THAT Fiat Multipla MPV (you know the one) that seats 3 abreast front and back. The front invokes the urge to liberally puke; it looks like a germ on wheels.
Please note that some people do not like science fiction as a whole. Some actually hate it. So they hate the Prius for forcing that futuristic design on their eyeballs. It's different, but it's definitely not ugly by any stretch of the imagination.

It is interesting to note that other car manufacturers are now increasingly copying the main design cues of the Prius II. Let's not even go into discussing the HSD propulsion system, which in itself is "Oh, so out of this world" - and propels this car's reputation into legend in its own right.

Toyota dared to pander to the imaginations of futurists by giving us a vehicular shape we'd thought we would never ever see on our roads for another 30 years perhaps. The fact that millions of these road going Star Trek Shuttlecraft wannabes have been sold to very satisfied owners speaks for itself. They wouldn't have gone near it if it was truly ugly. And it isn't.

The Prius II Hybrid is one of the most iconic body forms on the road today. Even today in 2014, I still see pedestrians standing at bus stops rubber-necking at my Prius Shuttlecraft as it silently glides past them while giving off that barely audible high pitched electric whine. Ditto when in traffic. I've never seen drivers looking at it in disgust in the UK. It does however attract the sort of stares reserved for Unidentified Flying Objects of extraterrestrial origin. And you'd hardly call those ugly. UFOs usually have an efficient shape, without silly bells and whistles which detract from their aesthetic functional design. They're also likely to appear above you soundlessly, often giving you the fright of your life. Or having you gawp in awe. A bit like a Prius II that equally seems to soundlessly drop out of hyperspace and appear cheekily behind you in a shopping centre car park

The Prius II isn't ugly then. It's as unusual as an Alien Flying Saucer on wheels........or rather, your average UFO. But ugly, it is not.


iPad ? HD

 

lovable like a charlie brown Christmas tree.

 

That is strange my prior car was a Subaru Forester and I am looking for a used Toyota All Trac as the one pictured above. I think they look neat and not ugly.....

 

May I interject a couple of observations of my Prius which I purchased new in 2004. Like others have said here it is so different, most people simply do not understand what a Prius (or its Hybrid Synergy Drive) really is. I have given more rides in this car than any other I have ever owned. They all come away with the same general impression, its quiet and moves out quickly. Then, they notice how much room there is in the front seat. You can see the beauty in the engineering. Xenophobia is unreasonable fear of the unfamiliar. Prius is unfamiliar territory to most people. But I find it to be an unreasonable fear.

Ugly or butt ugly it's definitely not that, and with millions of Prii on the road, Toyota must be doing something right. I made my deposit back in November of 2003. What sold me was the look of the interior. When I saw this digital dash and all the warning lamps, then the multiple function display, I was sold on it. The question that I had was whether to get the #7 package or the #9 package. I bought the #9 with the Navigation. I never thought I would use the Navi as much as I have. I can find my way around almost anywhere. The way it works is beautiful.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder someone once said. My daughter said it best," when you are in your car you really don't see the outside or even what color is it". I love the way it looks as I sit inside my Prius. To watch the gas gauge move ever so slowly toward the Empty mark as I drive quiet and smooth down the highway. I learn everyday how to progress making the most of the energy I have left in my tank. To have a steering wheel that glows at night to show me how to increase and decrease the temp, change the radio or CD change to the next disc or next song. Prius has turned driving into an energy use game. The better you play it, the less energy you use. That is beautiful engineering.

Performance and efficiency use of fuel should go hand in hand. Prius does very well went you think the internal combustion engine put out just enough torque to help get this vehicle down the road. Motor generation one and motor generation two work together in synergy with the ICE to help get the Prius down the highway. And its amazing to ride down the highway after climbing a mountain then watch the battery gauge show an absolutely full battery with all the green bars. And, after starting my Prius up on a hot day and driving out on a slow crawl I saw the bars completely disappear. The bars all came back and the car operated normally. The high voltage battery in my car is the original one. I replaced my little battery, the small 12 volt, last year. Even with a weak battery, the car would still start and go like it always did. My fear was I would go somewhere and the car would finally not start. Though in ten years of ownership, my car has never, ever been towed or flat bedded. Built in beauty in reliability.

The haters are going to hate. I have even heard that the Prius is owned by a number of intelligent people. To all, the Prius says I care about the fuel I am using, the CO2 I am creating and even how far and how fast I drive this beautiful machine. Don't worry about it, the Prius will always be the vehicle that got the ball rolling toward a very fuel efficient future. Of course for me, the only thing better would be to have an all electric Prius. It is showing the beauty of clean emissions, at least part of the time without range anxiety.

To go before and that is what the Prius does. Its not a pickup truck or an sport utility vehicle. I can't tell you the number of these vehicles I see with one person behind the wheel and driving like they just do not care. Prius has the beauty of rewarding its owner with spending half as much at the fuel pump. Or not having to use two credit card at the pump to get a full tank. now that is ugly.

Sorry for the long reply. In these ten years, I believe that even if you think the Prius is ugly, you probably wouldn't own one anyway. Tell them that they only wished them could get the fuel mileage that most of us do. The Prius has beautiful from the inside out, its wind cheating design has caused it to look that way. Its a Prius thing, you wouldn't understand. My apologies to Jeep owners for the stealing their upside down windshield sticker.

 

That was beautiful Janstheman . You heard right. Most Prii ARE driven by highly intelligent people!

I often say the Prius is "Much more than a car, a little less than a Spacecraft". You don't quite drive a Prius.....you fly it

 

Efficient, effective design is beautiful. I see that in the exterior, most of the interior, not so much with the center located instrumentation. From the start this has been the ugliest part of the car for me: the off-to-my-right, pale-green display of vital info.

 

Form that follows function can have a beauty all it's own. I agree.

 

Just needed a few finishing touches.

 

I have thoughts about this you wouldn't want to know about.

 

Wow this is far out!

 

To my eye, the Gen II is the best-styled Prius. And within the Gen IIs, the 04-05 headlight and taillights are the best - the dark brake light continues the line of the tinted lower rear window. I'll never understand why they eliminated that feature in every Prius since then. The headlights are simpler and purer than the updated ones. The lack of the "hybrid" badge on the front quarter panels is also a plus for the same reason, cleaner and purer. I have to say that the 2006-2009 chrome grille insert was an improvement over the body-colored 04-05, and I'm seriously considering changing mine to that if I can get confirmation that it is a 100% compatible fit.

I do understand where the people who say the Prius is ugly are coming from. The shape can remind me of the DustBuster handheld vacuums from the '80s. This is most pronounced when the body color is silver, which is why that is my least favorite color for the Prius. Somehow, the blue and red Prius colors bring out the pleasing aspects of the body's shape and trim better. The remaining colors are less flattering, but again, to my taste, preferable to silver. Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of silver Prii, so can the haters be blamed? Truly, color has a huge influence on a car's attractiveness, not just because you prefer a particular color in general, but how a particular color contrasts (or doesn't contrast) with the features of the car.

And then there's Doc Willie's car. It looks like a trim package Chrysler of the 70's might have put into production, only better. That is to say, bold, well crafted, playing off easily recognizable pop culture, without ruining the car. I'm not sure if I'd have the cojones to drive it to work or on a date, but if I owned that car, you can bet I'd be driving it to my dream job at NASA, and picking up the woman of my dreams for dinner afterwards. As I am a trekkie from the beginning, I can proudly say "Live long and prosper, Doc!" Proof I'm not being sarcastic? I gave my Prius a name, and I am not in the habit of naming my cars, but I named mine the "Galileo", after the shuttlecraft (and episode) in the original series. This brings me back to the topic at hand: I wouldn't give that name to an ugly car.

 

Sleek!

 

The Prius really is quite beautiful when the light hits her just right.
Of course you can't always depend on that light.

 

The Gen III in that pic DOES look good in silver. It is a well-shot photo. I drove a silver 2015 Gen III for a week recently, and I was very excited to be behind the wheel of one of the coolest cars on the road. Though I find a few faults in the Gen III styling, I never once felt it was ugly.

The real highlight for me was the powertrain, which is stronger and smoother than mine. I found that I prefer to drive in Power mode. Maintaining position in traffic when moving away from a stoplight is easier because of less pedal travel, yet my MPG wasn't significantly worse than Eco mode. I was disappointed that it wouldn't remember and power up in that mode, though. Made for a rather inconsistent driving experience.

 

Sounds just like Mrs Cabbie

 

I thought the concept drawing was cool looking. The production model came close.

 

It's pretty ugly, but can't complain when you're getting 50 mpg!