Gen 4 owners Please advise...

Like with many modern cars, lowering the drivers seat make the front view feel less cluttered. While the rear view is somewhat less than what I'm used to, the reversing camera and cross-traffic (that includes people, animals, and cars) works better than anything I've driven before. Overall, I don't find myself ever feeling like I can't see stuff well.

 

1. I don't feel like I have any trouble seeing, certainly better visibility than the Prius C I had previously. As The Professor stated, with all the safety features I feel like there is better overall visibility. Make sure to set your side mirrors correctly, most people don't, and you won't have any problems.

 

Agreed! The side mirrors should be adjusted as in Figure 1 and 4 on this image. Nearly everybody adjusts them so they can see just a tiny bit of their own car (Figure 2 and 5), but this area is covered by the central mirror and this method has a lot of unnecessary overlap between the views from all 3 mirrors. Furthermore, the 4th Gen Prius covers the areas indicated by the black asterisks in this image with its Blind Spot Monitor. If you adjust your mirrors further out, like in Figure 1 and 4, and you still want the view in Figure 2 and 5, you can just tilt your head to the side.

 

I took the back headrests off and put them in the back. Only put them on when someone gets in the back which is rare for me.

 

I came from a FORD FIESTA - the Gen 4 is good visibility in comparison, front pillars particularly. Many newer cars, trying to get safer, have thicker front pillars. Gen 4 has a good reverse camera, and good mirrors. If you can swing it, the rear blind-spot monitor for reversing should be good - mine doesn't have it, but ones I've seen in operation are great.

 

When I first sat in my gen2 I became accustomed to the rear vision aspects of the prii, the gen 3and 4 are the same, there’s no difficulty observing objects behind the car, what is weird with all prii is the way following vehicles seem to be immediatly behind, once one is accustomed to that ( ignore it) all is good.

 

Mine live in the garage.

 

wrote a different post, no replies so that shows I am bad a writing and type too much. plus reply below with confirm such.

For me, 2016 4 model and small tires, I believe they lowered the seat high maybe 1" from prior gen model. So beyond the 'it is harder to get in and out of' it also makes it feel different. Maybe just a me thing though. having power seat helps with the getting in and out though even then the way the seat moves is restricted. for instance, if I recall correctly, if one is raising the seat after a certain point it begins to tilt/move forward a drop near the end of the rise. good range overall though at one end it has you sitting very low or very very high.

as a result though it can rise the seat a lot I feel when lowered to what I would call my 'normal' driving height, I sort of feel like I am sitting too high. sort of makes me feel this selected good seat height was higher then the pain at which the car is meant for the seat to be at in relation to the belt line of the car. I am doing a bad job of explaining it and maybe such matters little to others looking for a new prius.

just test drive them until you are happy to buy else don't. My guess is getting power seat will give you the best chance of finding a 'feels right' seat height/distance to pedals. of course with 19 models coming out you could wait to see if apple car play is included. I would wait a few months to see if that is important to you.
I would not think the manual seats would offer more range of motion though I am uncertain on that point. I am 5'10" with 32" inseam. If I understand correctly some prior gen prius owners were put off by the fact they lowered the seat base about 1".

 

Since responding to this post I really looked at how much the rear headrests block my view out of the read window and I must say that they don't. Sure they block a small part of the corners when looking at the rearview window but you're not expected to a completely unobstructed view from the rearview mirror. In fact, yesterday I cleaned out the garage a bit and took a bunch of stuff to the Goodwill. I had completely blocked the rearview but thanks to the backup camera I didn't feel like it mattered in the slightest. If you're having trouble seeing because of the rear headrests you should probably visit your optometrist. I can't think of a single car I've ever driven that has had a completely unobstructed view out the back window, most are far worse than the Prius 4th gen. The dealership did give me a 3rd gen for a few days and the 4th gen definitely feels better to me.

 

It is really a pain getting both in and out.
Also don't get black softtex seats,they are incredibly hot in the summer