My only problem with the distinct look is that I have had several "big pickup driving guys" ride right on top of my bumper in the Prius lately. I think it is a whole "hate thing with the prius" because it never happened in my Corolla.
When I went out to buy a prius all my friends made fun of it, most notably my partner. She said she hated toyotas and would never ever ever set foot in my car. Needless to say, on day 1 of ownership, she drove it and now wants to drive it everywhere. She ate her words.:lol:
It's the little triangle window, the reverse slope on the back of the side window, the curved roof profile, short steep bonnet, the dropped centre of the roof and sexy little duck tail spoiler in the middle of the back window. At 4.3 litres per 100 kilometres, 4 comfortable seats, loads of rear leg room, good luggage space, easy access, low maintainance, tight turning circle, I can't think of a prettier 4 door family sedan.
Least we forget, our Prius is one of the very few that was designed from the ground up to be a hybrid, Pretty much everything else except the Honda Escape was retrofitted for hybrid technology. fred
When I first viewed this thread in its early stages, all I could think of was, "Give me a break! Lord, spare me from such as this." But afterwards, just like a snatch of a song that you can't not hum, the question of what means "beauty" as related to a car, specifically the Prius, would not go away. I'm standing squarely with Pat on this one:
LOL, that was me I hated Toyotas, and actually still dislike most of them. To me, Toyota's design has always been very "Oldsmobile," while Lexus is like the Japanese Cadilac. Aimed at gaudy, overweight people, who live in tract housing (or Mac-mansions, in the case of Lexus.) But the Prius is different: it's quirky, very functional design (love hatchbacks If the Prius looked like the Camry, I'd have gone for a Beemer, and would still be a Toyota-hater
You're making me blush, Pat! I can hear you saying the line above with candlelight and soft music in the background...
The basic idea of the Prius styling is the long straight slope of front wings and windshield and a matching down-slope of the roofline to the cut-off. The two lines are joined by a fairly short curve that conveniently peaks right above the drivers head. The end result has the beauty of it's simplicity, although it takes a little getting used to. The designers even managed to hide the bulge of the hood quite well. As for the front, I like the grille, which is by far the prettiest of the current generation Toyotas, but the headlights don't quite match the rest, IMHO. You could argue that as a result, the A-pillars obstruct the visibility more than neccessary, but it doesn't bother me as much as I had expected.
Hi I think it looks great. One thing that attracted me was that ALL Priuses (Prii?) are hybrids--you don't have to check for a little badge or leaf to see if it is a hybrid that you're seeing. And I guess I'm proud to drive a hybrid! (smug alert) I had a Ford Focus station wagon--it's hubby's car now--it's white like my Prius and they look quite similar together in the garage. Focus is a little longer and has a higher roof. The slope of the hood is just about the same. Just my two cents. Prius Prime
Stay with me -- I get to my point shortly. I moved to Tacoma, Washington in 1991 and started settling in. Most of the local places had wierd names that, when pronounced, would tell any local within a hundred meters that you were from out of town. The worst name for me was a great place named Puyallup. I couldn't say it correctly even after ten people tried to help me say it. One day it just came out right. A short time later I tried to remember the incorrect way of pronouncing Puyallup and couldn't do it. Even now I am trying to remember how to say it wrong and I can't do it. My point -- I remember thinking at one point that the Prius looked different and strange, now it is awesome, and I can't remember what I was thinking before.
I was just thinking back to this thread... and I wondered, "Why couldn't they make a Pontiac G5 styled more like a Porche Carrerra GT?". If they did, then I'd really like my Prius to be styled after the G5... Oh ya - and it'd also get a much better revie on "Top Gear" - Dave
JAck, I did the same thing... but now i look at Puyallup and realize that is pronounced the way its spelled... which is a good thing. not many place names can be typed into google without specifying state or country and still only come up with one result
I think there have been two cars/designs in the past ten years that have been generally recognized in the auto design world as being revolutionary and beautiful: 1999: Audi TT (and 1998 VW New Beetle) 2003: Cadillac CTS IMO, the 2004 Prius should be added to that list. When I first saw a picture of it, I was stunned. Simply gorgeous.
