PriusChat or ToyotaChat?

unlikely, other than announcements and reviews, there doesn't seem to be much interest. plus, there are already a few toyota sites

 

It was first.

That counts for stuff like domain names.

 

most drivers of more mainstream models aren't interested in participating in an online car forum.
when camry owners pose questions here, they don't get much help because there aren't any other camry drivers participating.
if you go to the other toyota sites, there isn't anywhere near the participation you see from prius drivers.

 

Um... Prius is a model.

There is a GR86 stand-alone forum; Tundra too.
Even Hyundai has a stand-alone Santa Cruz Forum.

Having more segments, the entire Toyota Hybrid line, may make this forum too cluttered.
Above FWIW

 

A lot of questions get crickets here too.
Prius is now in Gen 5 and with each new Gen there is a learning curve for both new owners and owner of older Gens that feel like sharing knowledge of the previous Gen Prius. And some members here have a distaste for info they believe is wrong or bad, for whatever reason(s).
There would be a lot more wrong responses in posts without enough member owners available to compare notes and experiences.
If you want to share more about your Avalon Hybrid here, don't be shy. List stuff you know well and how it compares to what you read in threads here about the closest Prius relative to your Avalon like maybe a V wagon?

 

Kick (or start) some threads within the Avalon section. You never know who saved bookmarks or triggers on them. Post useful stuff you've figured out, fun pictures of yours, whatever makes sense.

The point is, if you add value to those threads, they'll get bumped up in the rankings and get some more lift on their own.

 

It would not be very wise to change such an established domain name into a completely new one. The amount of visitors would likely dramatically drop, changing the title & description of the website would be sufficient i think.

 

Plus, pretty much any "improvements" seem to break something, and they stay broken for months, years.

 

i started here when I researched before buying my 2017 Prius. I was driven away, primarily by the persistent popup ads, but I know Danny does not care.
I came back here for research again, after my 2017 Prius was destroyed in an accident & I started looking for a replacement vehicle. I have endured the ads again but will likely disappear again when I get my 2025 Camry XLE (HyCam) next month. The Toyota Hybris forum here is too dead to be useful and the ads are too intrusive.

So far, the 9th Gen Camry forum on ToyotaNation appears to be reasonably useful.

 

This site single-handedly motivated me to look into ad blockers.

 

Since I do not have the instructive popups anywhere else, this site was not worth it to me.
BTW, this site led my son to our preferred Toyota salesman. next month, when I pick up my Camry, our family will have been dealing with him and the dealership employing him for 20 years even though they are 150 miles away from where we live.

 

You aren't wrong, but making the jump from niche to brand may not be natural or easy. There's some cultural cohesion to a niche that is not likely to be present in an assortment of buyers linked only by brand. When VW diesels were still a thing, there was a community of people with a shared interest and some technical expertise that wouldn't have meant anything to a gasoline new Beetle buyer.

A Sienna might be described as the new Prius V, but I'll guess that lots of Sienna shoppers aren't even aware its a hybrid. It's a population who may not find the car they buy interesting the way people in a chosen niche would.

FWIW, I've been on the Toyota Nation Forum. There are a few people with pretty good knowledge of the products, but it's largely a transient population asking how to repair something. It isn't that it's a bad place, but the broad topic doesn't invite the sort of focus to which you may be habituated.

 

FWIW My son decided to trade his Prius V for a RAV4 Prime. The RAV4 was the closest he found, functionality wise to the Prius V. He transports his Papillon dogs in crates to dog agility events in the car. For outside trials, he uses the remote start to keep his furry creatures cool, even in the summer sun while waiting to compete.

His Prius V had factory remote start too. He could leave tye car running & locked and the engine would run whenever needed.

 

I used to change my own oil back when people did that every 3000 miles. I didn't have any spare money, and I could do it pretty quickly for just a few dollars. It was also about as mechanically complex as a hammer. When the ignition tumbler wore out, I rewired it with an old lamp cord.

Now learning to use a new car is largely about figuring out how to run the computer. My kids raised on iPhones understand this easily. I do lot of swearing.