Different model years

From 2001 to 2003. Cute as a button, too, especially in aqua ice opalescent. Salutations from Escondido.

 

Cute as a button? :huh: HAHA JK I just think the newer Prius' look SO much better. But I respect your opinion and I am sure others agree with you 100%

 

I like the look of the Gen 1s myself. Before I knew sh*t from shine-ola about the Prius (OK, OK I still don't) I thought that perhaps you could pick different body types and was thinking that if I had the choice I'd pick the sedan over the hatchback. Later I realized the true difference and besides, the hatchback is just SO functionally superior to the sedan.

 

IMO, I think the 2001-3 Prius is one of the uglier cars I've seen produced recently. It looks 5+ years older than it is. But then I'm European - we've got somewhat different tastes in cars. The new Prius is much sharper, but it looks far more conventional to European eyes than it does to US eyes (hardly anyone ever gives it a second glance).

 

I don't know any way to tell an '05 from an '04.

With the '06, the easiest way to tell one from the other years, besides the chromed grille bar, is the "hybrid" emblem on each front quarter-panel. The other, less obvious changes are the headlight and taillight treatments (inside the lenses) and the tiny rear-facing camera lens near the rear license plate frame. Those who know about the new '06 colors will be able to tell by that, too.

It's funny how perceptions can change in a short time. I never liked the looks of my '01 or '02. The car looks pretty conventional from the rear, but I think the front echoes a VW Beetle more than anything, with the radically-sloping hood. I liked the interiors of mine a lot---more than the Gen 2. Better-looking dash and door materials (I have no use for black plastic), plus smaller MFD, recessed into the dash.

The Gen 2 exterior struck me as so radical at first that, as KMO says, it quickly made the Gen 1 look older than it is. It looks even more "vertical" than the Gen 1. The placement of the rear window, necessitated by the aerodynamic shape, looks almost bizarre to me. (But I quickly got to love the hatchback functionality!) With the tinted plastic in the rear, together with the other features, the Prius is now easier to spot from the rear than almost any other car.

But it still looks "ungainly" to me: something perhaps designed as a college engineering class project by a committee with wildly different tastes. But it sure raises the bar for "functional design".

 

Rear wiper was not standard for 04 and was not on lower packages. It became standard in 05.

 

Good news! It's not plastic! It's tinted glass.

 

The 05 will have little plastic buttons holding the head-liner up.

Also, if the Center Console cover is peeling off or the Brake Light Vanes are melting it's an 04

 

ITA...the Gen1's remind me of a cross between a Tercel and a Corolla. Cute, but not much personality. The Gen2's are so much more easily identifiable as Prii. I see 5-15 Prii (both Gen1 and Gen2) every day out and around town. The most I've seen in a day was ~20, in the Irvine/Lake Forest area. All colors, all Gens.

 

the gen1 is based on the echo, i think. i always confuse the two when i see them. 'hey, that's a prius! wait, no. aww.'

i like the hatchback, it's just so damn useful. never thought i'd have that much use for a hatch but now i couldn't imagine having a trunk again.

 

My brother gets the "Is that a hybrid?" with his Echo a lot.
I haven’t seen a whole lot of Gen1's in Florida, probably because the A/C uses the ICE, making the mileage go down. Gen1's also don't have folding rear seats, the reason I wouldn't get one. If it's a hatch with no rear wiper, it's a '04. If it has pins near the front windshield, it's a '05. If it has clear back lights and a hybrid badge on the side, it's a '06. If you've never seen it, it's a '07.

 

LOL, me too! I go, "Ooh, it's an older Prius!", then look again and say "Nope, Tercel/Echo/etc..." Oops. And I'm sure I've seen quite a few Gen1's and completely overlooked them, assuming they were regular cars. Gen2's stand out in a crowd.

 

Another easy way to spot a 2006 is the taillights. 2004-2005 taillights are black on the top, and the 2006's are white at the top.

 

Isn't the Gen1 the one without the split rear window? And by that I mean, the lower part doesn't exist.

 

Over the holidays, I'm planning on posting a "Sibley's Guide to '06 Prius Identification". (Sibley's is a top-notch-A-Number-One bird identification book for birders that came out a couple of years ago.)

Since Heidi and I are parking our Priuses ('05 and '06) next to each other each evening, we've been discussing how you can quickly differentiate a '04/'05 from an '06 Prius:

• From the front (head-on)
• From the rear
• From the side

To my surprise, it's a lot easier to tell an '05 from an '06 from the rear than I thought -- there's a small, but key (and easily identifiable) difference.

However, I need to scrounge some pictures up to demonstrate.

 

I've been wondering the same thing since I got my new '06. Looking forward to the pics, bookrats!

 

That's the easiest way from the rear. From the front, the chrome strip and the amber extending the length of the front headlights, from the side, the emblem.

Easy enough.

 

Yes, please do! I'm looking forward to visually identifying the small differences. I've heard the various changes/differences discussed around PC the last few weeks, but seeing them compared side-by-side would help out alot.