Featured Hyundai IONIQ - Prius competitor?

Yes, for a flying bridge.

 

bisco - Based solely on the pictures we have seen, and what has been said on this thread, the Ioniq "shifter" may be just that. A "shifter" I suspect, it is positioned right where your right hand will comfortably reach. I suspect the Prius "shifter" which is not so much used for "shifting," is more of a reach mounted up on the dash.

Based on the qualifiers mentioned above, I see nothing (visually) not to like about the Ioniq, where I am still looking for something to like (visually) with the Prius. I have no idea if the Ioniq will "kill" the Prius (I seriously doubt it), but IF serious (market share) damage is inflicted, Toyota has no one to blame but themselves. Just an opinion.

 

Bisco,

This car has 6 speed DCT, which give lot of control to user and let them choose gears if they want to(like accelerate for example to overtake). This is the best place to put the shifter, in reachable/usable spot.

I always hated prius shifter, with its ridiculous non-positional switch. Even it is small, they could have it to stay in selected position.

 

I rarely take my cell phone from my pocket when I'm driving, especially with the newest interfaces like CarPlay etc. And shifters on the dashboard have always felt awkward to me. So the Ioniq shifter location and my Gen 3 are perfectly fine.

But really it's more about styling for me. Gen 3 was purposeful, Gen 4 looks like a Pokemon character.

 

The shifter was perfectly placed in gen. 3,but people were complaining about the flying bridge .
I am glad Toyota stuck withe the jostick kind of shifter,nothing more needed !
It's very intuitive and can be used without having to look at it .
Owners will soon get used to the new position,no big deal !
I don't like the front of the Ioniq,looks kind of bulky to me !
Sideline is ok,but nothing special or head turning about it .
Dash looks very conventional.
I prefer a more futuristic look and Prius serves me with that .

 

I liked the shifter in my gen2. The reach wasn't any worse than a floor or column shifter. My wife did once put it into neutral by accident while I was driving though. Perhaps it was in a better place in the gen3, but the flying bridge itself took up plenty of space.

Manuals aside, today's transmissions are all electronically controlled, and the shifter can take any shape, size, or placement without effecting how the it controls the tranny. Buttons are even starting to come back. As long as the ergonomics of whatever form it takes, and the surrounding areas of the dash work for me, I don't care what the shifter looks like.

 

I don't like the shifter in the Prius C .
Much to big and I never understood why gen. 3 owners replaced the little shifter with a bunch of buttons .
You have to look at buttons,while the joystick shifter is intuitive.

 

haven't you seen gen4?

 

well i certainly understand that it's personal, and i have no interest in 'shifting' a car i buy to get mpg's. that being said, if i did, i would prefer paddle shifters, and give me a tray like gen4 prius.

 

... And all those who were blown away and gave incorrect feedback during secret previews you know who you are.

 

??? no idea what you are talking about. what 'secret previews'? what 'incorrect information'?

fyi, most independent reviewers are 'blown away' after driving the ten 4.

 

It comes down to overall ergonomics. The little Prius shifter makes that easier in a way for the designer. A traditional one, being larger, is more likely to block something; radio, cup holder, storage cubby, etc., but didn't the gen3 Prius manage to block cup holders with its storage cover?

Done right, buttons can be intuitive. Just look at the various buttons and toggles used on the steering wheels of differing models and brands. Poorly designed ones make the driver look down for them, while the others are easy to use by feel. But I also don't get changing a perfecting working shifter for buttons just for the sake of doing so.

I have, and I'm happy the space eating flying bridge is gone. The shifter does look to be a farther reach in the gen4 than the gen2, but that really can only be judged by sitting in the car.

Now here is a photo of Sonic's dash in the lovely brick red*sigh*

There is a little tray at the top of the center stack with two fairly deep cubbies to the sides of the center vents. There is another cubby in front of the shifter that, while in park, isn't blocked to unusability by the automatic shifter. Hard to make out in the photo, but there are two cup holders between the seats that have the cutout between them for a mug handle. The door pockets are large enough for a water bottle that won't fit the cup holders. I keep an ice scraper in the driver side one. There are two glove boxes. The top one is a little shallow for a glove box. but it has a tray, and an auxiliary and USB(unpowered) outlet so you can keep your music storage device out of site.

What would using a smaller type shifter add to this design? Though smaller, it still has a footprint of required space. Putting it in the same place as the current shifter probably won't free up enough for something useful to be added there. The lower cubby would be easier to access, but then the proportions of the new shifter could throw off the entire balance of the dash. It will be farther to reach than the larger shifter.

Move it to the dash, and we likely lose one of the cubbies up there. Not that bad of an idea, but what goes where the shifter used to be; nothing, another cup holder? A dedicated place for the phone might be wanted by some, but others just keep it in their pocket or purse. For everyday use, a proper infotainment system wanted make you take your phone out for calls, music, and even texts.

I like the Prius shifter, but the front function and aesthetic of the dash area needs to be judged as a whole.

PS The flying bridge resulted in a major shift to the layout of that front area. The cockpit feel can work. Its why many dedicated, high performance sports cars have it to some degree. The Prius is an all around family car, and a great one at that, but a different center stack and dash from the traditional family car wasn't going to cure the lack people felted it had in driving dynamics.

 

i love the trays and cubbies. hycam has the same problem with the shifter blocking the cubby in park, and taking up real estate. i don't like it, but again, personal taste. some people like big honkin' shifters.

the cup holders look too far back. my redesign would move the upholders where the shifter is, and a nice big tray behind them with those buttons on a sloped front. you can lose the hand brake too.

i don't think any interior designs make or break a cars sales numbers to a significant degree. it's something you live with if you like the car enough.

 

I think the interior is more important than the exterior; I'm not sitting on the hood when driving to work. But nothing is perfect, and there is some level of compromised. I don't like the 12 volt socket in the center, behind the shifter. It has a cover, but that won't always be in place in the event of something spilling.

Until the Prius, I never used the parking brake on a car with an automatic. The gen2 just had a lot of travel within the parking pawl, so I got in the habit of using it. A hand brake is much better than a foot one which has release low on the dash that requires you the bend over to reach it. Then a hand brake is another control that can be put to use easier while the car is in motion than a foot pedal one. Not that I actually know anything about that. Electric parking brakes are starting to make their appearance, so we might all just have a simple button for it in the future.

Which buttons are you referring too? The radio and climate control. I imagine it is much cheaper having the radio controls and display together as one unit than two separate ones.

The Prius nub works well, but can that shifter form provide all the function and control to a multispeed step transmission or DCT, and still be a reliable part? Paddle shifters are nice, but they cost extra if available to the car model. They are overkill if you just want to downshift for steep down grades and poor road conditions.

 

I checked out the 2016 Prius today. The white trim is not good, it just doesn't fit in, looks like a mini bathtub between the seats. Even the base model with black center console looks bad, boring design and cheap material. The piano black trim piece around the radio will be a nightmare to keep clean.

 

If (when) I get one, it will soon become coffee colored along with dog-hair mat covering.

Bob Wilson

 

it's kind of funny how many good reviews the white trim is getting from non prius owners. but i suppose when the same people post the same thing over and over, it sounds like an army of opinions.

 

agree on the interior vs exterior, but for me, prius is about mpg's and the idea of changing/advancing technologies. the gen3 has a push and release foot pedal. the buttons or whatever is between the shifter and the cupholders.

 

I'm not sure how a giant shiny white plastic tray can be given a good review. Maybe shock value or novelty.