Gen 4 Looks

My coworker just rode in it and said, it's a good thing they made it look nice the same year you needed a new car!

 

This reminds me of a time my ex-wife made a dinner she found in a cookbook. When I had finished it she asked what I thought. I told her it was ok and I appreciated her effort and skill, but that given the choice I wouldn't request her to make it again. She became very angry, and stomped around for a bit, and then said that it looked so good in the cookbook. When I reminded her that looks don't rank high on the ratings scale for meals she became enraged. She finally blurted out that I wasn't such a good cook myself (a decidedly untrue statement), and when I asked her to clarify the statement she stammered for a few minutes and brought up that I had broken a cooking crock over 30 years earlier -- it was the only negative thing she could come up with regarding my cooking.

Interestingly, when she divorced me, she brought up the same incident to the judge (no kidding).

Anyway, I agree that when you are in the car, the looks just don't matter (unless you want an Aztec). For the car experience, looks are low on the scale. Reliability, comfort, quality, mileage, cost of ownership, cargo space and longevity rank higher. I love my Prius! Did I mention that I bought a medium-sized chest freezer at Lowes last weekend and it fit in the car?

 

Be proud buddy, be proud.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

If you don't need 5 seats you can also go for the Prime.

 

An interesting TOYOTA mini-YouTube:

 

I remember a few years ago when BMW radically changed their styling to what it is now, everyone saying how very ugly they were.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I suppose it is possible for a design to 'grow on you,' but my experience has been that it rarely does. I didn't like the Aztec, or the Edsel from the time I first saw them .... and I still do not like them. OTOH, the 1957 Chevy, 2 door hardtop, black with the chrome side panel is still one of the best looking cars on the road .... and I was a Ford man in those years. I did, and still admire the 1957 Thunderbird.

All designers strive to create beautiful designs that will endure through the ages. Frank Lloyd Wrights 'Falling Waters' is such a classic, and it will be marveled at for the foreseeable future. It is timeless.

IMHO, to be different .... is not valid criteria for a handsome design. Truthfully, I am not too excited about most of Toyota's designs. Not many years past, I really liked the Lexus design. But the recent trend towards enormous grilles, that far exceed the need for cooling, are not attractive. I do like the looks of my 2015 Avalon hybrid ..... but it closely resembles a formula that many mid-size 4 door sedans are following these days.

Now with all that said .... beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I am grateful for all that enjoy the G4 design ... but I believe Toyota missed the opportunity to market a car whose appearance would be equal too and complement the outstanding technical aspects of the vehicle.

 

Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes all the way to the bone!

Do I think that the G4 is ugly?
No comment, but that's not what's important here.

The G3 used to be about THE least expensive and most dependable car that you can put about 250,000 miles on.
Period.
End of discussion.

Now?
I'm thinking that if the design holds up that the G4 might be even better....AND if the automotive punditry is correct, I'm thinking that they're also more fun to drive than a G3.
Almost anything is.

The takeaway here is that every vehicle has strengths and weaknesses.
When the more angular G3 came out I remember that some people were horrified at the new look, which was (and is) more angular than the G2 and has the ever divisive center console.....pun almost unintended.
When the G4 came out, some people were (and are) horrified at how IT looks.

It's a circle of life thing.
A car is more than a transportation appliance to most people, which is why the "look" of the G4 will either be a show stopper for them, or keep them checking the internet for arrival times at their local dealership.

If you know me, then you know my opinion about the looks of the G4.....my opinion of the comfort of the G3, and whether or not they should outlaw one-use plastic bags.

If you don't know me?
Why should you care what I think about the looks of the G4?
One thing that does look good about the G4 are the EPA numbers.
Dependability is promising....although I think that Toyota dealerships are sub par.....to say the least.

BUT....as always.....YMMV.

 

I sit in the car more than I stand outside to look at it. And I absolutely love the interior. I was fearful I wouldn't like the Softex seats but they are fine and should wear well. I will say that I like the exterior much better than the previous generation. I liked it enough that I chose it over the Prius V which I was also interested in. That big bumper car nose on the V was a real turn off but ultimately it all came down to the functionality and .... the interior features and how comfortable it was to my techie senses.

 

You want ugly - try Mazda - Bugatti - Lexus - Dodge - BMW - Not sure if you get them in the US but the Korean Ssangyong Stavic was horrible

 

The Lexus is terrible. Horrific. I wouldn't want a car that ugly even if it were given to me. I participate in an auto survey program and they came out with this look a few years ago. I poo pood it then. It's holy gawdfully ugly. Can you imagine what that will look like after a low impact crash as you drive it around while you get quotes? Ugh.

 

They could have trouble trying to work out what to fix

 

Everyone I show shots to of the front thinks it's great, the back produces a marmite response, they either love it or hate it. Myself I love it, it's just so different to what else is about.

I was speaking with the dealer supplying mine and they were saying orders were good for them including mine they had 7 to go out to customers in the next week.

 

I've come to think the new Prius is a very good looking vehicle.
I don't particularly like the bellow like indents at the back....or the back very much.
But the rest of the vehicle looks great IMO.

Maybe an unfair reaction of myself, is that I've always kind of liked the polarizing "odd duck" Prius look of both Gen 2 and Gen 3, and IMO the Gen 4 almost looks too good.
It's so sporty and sharp looking, that instead of Prius uniqueness, it kind of falls into the looking good, but looking like everything else category.
Until I see the rear end...I could mistake The Prius for any of several vehicles on the road.
Wouldn't say that about Gen 2 or Gen 3.

 

OK, so you think it's butt ugly!

 

I sense a student of architecture! Yes, both G2 and G3 thoroughly follows the principle of "Form follows function" principle, hence it's honesty is it's own beauty. Enormous grills are pretentious and look ugly because people know they serve no purpose.

Design like music, requires that all movements adhere to a theme. A single stroke out of place is like a note out of place in music. It destroys the mood the music is trying to achieve. This is where G4 fails. It is a caucophy of unrelated strokes each trying to scream attention. It never consistently builds up to a consistent story. Each chapter is off tangent to the rest of the book. Singularly, each feature in this car could be argued to be attractive as some posters in other threads try to defend. But the problem is not the singular piece, the problem is there is no coherent theme or movement. And so there is no real story, no consistent movement, no one mood. That's why it fails to move the viewer.

So to appreciate this car, you either focus on one or two parts and just immerse on those parts while shutting out disturbing parts. Or turn a blind eye and give up totally, and just appreciate the astounding fuel efficiency. Which is why a lot are so distressed, because we really want to like this car. And a beautiful design would have made this car a homerun, instead of it turning us off.

Toyota should just turn over their design to an elite European team that knows art. Architecture, music, paintings....these have been worked on and perfected in that continent from the Greeks thru the great artists and great musicians of the past, to the chic ness and fashion of the present. Toyota should keep a separate design for Japan with their quirky taste, and for the rest of the more normal world.

 

Amen. That's the most eloquent summary I've heard to date!

Soon after the first uncovered shots were available (and I was still in shock), I was walking the dog, saw a nicely put together late model Jetta, muttered: "now why couldn't they do something like that?".

 

There's a lot going on in this thread and a lot of people posting....who are you yelling at? LOL....a quote might help

 

Forgive me if I've misunderstood you, but it sounds like you have dismissed Toyota's intention to reduce the overall drag coefficient by design. i.e. function over form. Regrettably, architects are not always successful at producing beautiful designs. Many lauded modern landmarks fail to please me either aesthetically, or practically.

Still, I do hope I've got hold of the wrong end of the stick.

Sorry. My finger trouble. Was quoting The Electric Me.