i will buy except for the HUGE buttress console

Not true -

 

not in the uk.

 

And several other markets around the world where the Brits made their mark!

OP should have waited for the 2016 Prius... will probably come out with a totally like every other car interior. I think if you look at new Toyota offerings, you'll get an idea of the corporate interior "theme" we might be looking at inside the next Prius? I'm already not liking the strange nose jobs on most of the Toyota/Lexus line ups.

Hopefully the new Prius will be to everyone's liking. I still like ours just fine. 52,000 or so miles, and it's still tight, tracks straight and continues to deliver excellent mileage. Can't complain yet.

 

With all due respect, I suspect Toyota's design team has access to rather more market research than we do, and with their meticulous approach to everything in the development of successive Prius models, I'd bet they tested the flying buttress on consumers and found that in the context of designing the cockpit of an advanced and modern car, the buttress proved a very popular element.

That isn't to say it would be to everyone's liking of course, because everyone has a different idea of what they like and what they don't, but to my mind the buttress gives the gen 3 Prius a very distinctive, almost futuristic, feel.

BTW, I hardly think the cup holders in the gen 2 were a masterpiece of design either.

 

The Flying Butress design seemed kooky-yet-harmless until this happened to me:
1. my work place has very tight parking slots, although the parking lots are the largest in the county.
2. one day, coming from another work site, I had to park between two SUV/trucks which filled up both adjacent slots and "grew" into my slot - the last remaining one.
3. I saw that if I parked so that I could inch out my door, I'd block the driver's door of my oversized neighbor to the right.
4. ...therefore I could only get out easily if I climbed across the passenger seat to the passenger door (not hard, right?).
5. It was last Winter so in addition to a suit I wore a trench coat.
6. ...and unlike in a normal car, I found I COULD NOT get my legs out from under the steering wheel and high enough to swing into the passenger seat because of that $#%^& Flying Buttress. No way out across the Flying Buttress or through the driver's window, because my legs were trapped by the Flying Buttress, the steering wheel and the driver's door (I'm six foot tall).

Yes, I did get out... eventually. It took over 15 minutes, via the back seat & back passenger door. I was late for a meeting and pretty p'd off. I felt like taking a chain saw to that thing.

So, my conclusion is: the Flying Buttress is a safety hazard should the driver's door be blocked somehow in an accident, when a cold wintry climate and a job cause wear of bulky, long clothes.

 

I am 6'2" 330# and it doesn't bother me. I did ram my knee into it a few times at first when getting into the car, actually rub some of the paint off with my knee. I bought the little Japanese organizer tray for the bottom and like it even better. I also hated the shifter and bought the OSG shifter before taking delivery of the car. A car that presents itself as a computer but then you put a faux mechanical shifter in front of me. Cars are just tools to me (hammer) and this hammer only takes half a swing to hit like a sledge.

 

osg is a great move.

 

That's proof enough for me. If my driver door gets t-boned and couldn't be opened, I'd have to do gymnastics to get out the passenger door.

... that and if I slide back the armrest to reveal the 2nd cupholder, the armrest is then useless.

Holding the wheel while using center armrest easy to do when your arms need 35" sleeves.

 

The new Porsche 918 Spyder has one...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BBOuN08-KGk/UjavVwp9PWI/AAAAAAAAAuo/3f_Jp7s88fE/s1600/918+Spyder+Interior+Console+Passenger.jpg



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Nice find!

And I've been looking for a winter rat

 

I personally love it. But had a bunch of problems with it squeaking and rattling for the first year. After 18 repair attempts they finally took it out and put foam tape between every connection and sprayed some sound deadening stuff inside it. That was 3 years ago and its been perfect ever since.

 

rickinoc, I've seen others too on MotorWeek on the Velocity Channel, but that is the most expensive one to date, I saw a price of $845,000.

 

wow! now that is ugly. makes the pri look elegant.

 

This sounded like a potential problem so I thought I'd try to get out over the bridge myself and see if I had a problem.

I'm 68, 6'2" (now heading toward 6'1" ), 195 lb, long legs and not unusually fit or flexible. I didn't replicate all conditions as I gave my top coat to the Canadian Diabetes collectors last week and didn't want to put on my sole remaining suit .

As it happened, I had no problem at all moving to and getting out the passenger side so I'm wondering if its a question of technique or something else.

The way I did it was with the seat right back and the steering wheel set as high and close to me as it would go, I sat on the center arm rest (2010 type) swung my feet up onto the console and then down on the passenger side then moved my butt into the passenger seat. It was quicker than typing this paragraph.

Maybe different footwear, clothing, or body proportions would have made a difference but I seemed to have lots of clearance.

FWIW I noticed that setting the seat right down made it harder for me as I didn't need the extra room and the lower the seat, the deeper the well you need to climb out of.

Bottom line is, I still dislike the aesthetics of the flying buttress and strongly dislike it for ergonomic and acoustic reasons but I'm not concerned about its safety at least for the people I expect to be driving our car.

Any thoughts on why our experiences might have been so different?

 

Over 15 minutes has to be one of the longest car exit exercises I've ever read about. Just in case I ever get into that kind of a parking "jam" and was "pressed" to get somewhere in a hurry, I might have to see if I could exit the Prius using the sun roof or even the rear hatch!

Unfortunate as it was that this was the last available parking space, and was so tight, wouldn't it have been easier just to back into the space so you could egress normally, using the driver's side door, while at the same time not blocking access to the car to the right (facing into the parking space)?

I'd guess it might have saved about 14 minutes?

 

Can you elaborate?

 

The buttress really isn't that much taller than the center consoles on countless other cars. A flat, unobstructed floor between the front seats is a serious rarity these days. Modern interior design has mostly gone to a "cockpit" style, with taller and taller center consoles to accommodate all the gizmos and buttons new car buyers seem to love so much.

I can't see how scrambling over my Prius' buttress would be any more of "safety hazard" than scrambling over the center console of my 4Runner. Sure it won't be an elegant departure, but in an emergency, you could absolutely do it.

All that being said, I'd park around the block before I'd take a parking space that required me to scramble out the passenger's side door to get out. Parking that close to someone is just asking for door dings or other damage.

If it means that much to you, buy a Prius v.

 

Just measured the vertical drop from console just left of shifter to floorboard a tick over .....

11 inches in our 2005 Accord sedan

18 inches in 2011 Prius