Well, there have been lots of complaints here regarding the 11.6, and their electronics category was less than perfect.
True, but CR generally looks at expected quality down the road, not just what has already happened. That said they have pretty much always made the assumption that most Japanese vehicles, especially Toyotas and Hondas, will have exceptional reliability.
Indeed, but it’s even more than that: The Prius Prime is based heavily upon the regular Prius, the majority of its parts being the same, and the Prius line has a long history of reliability. iPad ? Pro
Had a 1991 Civic we JUST sold. Almost no problems it's entire life. About 10 years back Honda screwed up a good thing and the Civic reliability went to hell. It's improving but has not yet recovered. Subaru has now passed both Toyota and Honda in reliability.
Subaru are great cars, but will tend to burn oil as they age, similar to Gen 3. I have owned 5 Subaru’s they will run a long time.
More recently, Accord reliability went downhill considerably, although it’s recovering now. CR’s assessment is that they changed too much when they went to a new-generation/body-style. iPad ? Pro
Off topic a bit but I think I read that the 2019 Corolla Hybrid will have Apple Carplay, etc... That seems to be a big differentiator from the Prius.
Practically all cars except the Prius, Prius Prime and Yaris (Yaris iA) will get CarPlay. 2020 trucks will get AndroidAuto as well (Tundra, Tacoma and Sequoia IIRC).
Just bad timing on the Prius’ part. I have a suspicion that the Prius’ 11.6” screen has a role. Note all other Toyotas use a 6.1”, 7” or 8” MFD. they’re common across all models including the Prius. But the Prius has an additional 11.6” MFD. To avoid having some models have CarPlay (those with the 6.1” and 7”) and those paying more for the “top of the line” 11.6” missing out on CarPlay, I suspect Toyota just decided that no trim level will get the next gen head unit.
I think you’re right on the “just bad timing” part, but I doubt if it has much to do with the 11.6”. Entune 3.x will support CarPlay, and the Gen-4 Prii have 2.x. Oh well... Similarly, my stepdaughter bought a 2016 (regular) Prius and then in 2017, TSSP became standard equipment, so I have it and she doesn’t. Again, bad timing. Again, oh well...
That’s a good point, and a likely explanation. Hopefully they figure it out for ‘20. I was at the car show in Toronto last week, and I asked the Toyota guy about why the Prius/Prime don’t have CarPlay, and he gave me some bogus story about Toyota not fully being on board with adding it, as it is a safety risk and distraction..... but still doesn’t explain why pretty much every OTHER model in the lineup has it this year. Anyway, he is just some sales guy who knows nothing. I think Tideland nailed it here. It’s just annoying that the ‘tech flagship’ car has such a glaring omission. On a side note, I had a close look at the Ioniq Electric Plus PHEV (which I had never really given serious consideration to), which has a lot of the things I wish the Prime had (CarPlay, 5 seats, moonroof, larger trunk (~4 cu ft more), physical knobs for stereo controls, better warranty (5/100k)). Fully loaded is almost identically priced to Prime. However, it is not a Toyota, and is still relatively new.... . But I digress, and don’t want to hijack the thread, LOL.
Some 2018 and newer Gen 4 Prius trims have the larger 11.6" screen. Worse that that, early 2017 Prius (like mine) have TSS-P and then mid-year they added blind spot monitoring & a couple of other features as standard.
