2018 Interior

Mine has the roller cover. I was nervous about it after coming from cars they have a hard cover, but I'm converted. The number of times I've been able to squeeze more in, in terms of height, because the cover wasn't in the way has been huge. With two car seats in the back there would be nowhere to stow a hard cover. Never encountered a cloth cover though.

As for CDs... These have been obsolete for years. Sure, it only holds one CD, but one a USB flash drive can hold the equivalent of thousands. I personally use a "Cruzer Fit 32 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive (SDCZ33-032G-B35)" because they're physically tiny. Just rip your CDs to MP3s. Tons of free software can do this and automatically name them. It takes about a minute per CD. Copy the MP3s to the USB drive, plug it into the USB socket on the front of the arm rest on your Prius, and forget about it. You'll never notice it, you'll not have to store bulky CDs, or have the hassle of swapping them, ever again. Playing Albums, playing by Artist, Genre, or even letting the car make playlists from similar sounding music are all just a few button presses away. Personally I just stick the whole USB drive on Random most of the time.

SM-T813 ?

 

Opinions are like?...........I too went from a Gen.3 to a Gen.4 & am loving every minute!........yes, of course there are a couple things I wish were different, but of all the things that keep me awake at night, this AIN'T one of them! .......& yes, YMMV

 

We traded our 09 and we still have a 10, 3rd generation. We bought a 18 in Moonstone. We love it. It looks much higher quality like a Lexus and we both agree that the seats are more comfortable. The reviews are favorable for the 4th generation interior.

Who uses CD's? Some cars don't even a CD player anymore. Bluetooth your phone and have a huge playlist.
I will give you that there is much less storage but that is the only demerit.

 

@Miss my 2010 Prius : I can commiserate; and I accordingly stayed with 2010, I don't relish the storage deletes, cheapened hatch cover (some levels), gloss white/black trim, gargantuan touch screen (replacing more and more tactile/ergonomic controls).

I'm hoping for the pendulum to swing the other way with next Gen, but not holding my breath. Hanging with my 3rd gen 2010, sort of a Cuban phenomena.

 

welcome!

the interior should have been obvious during your test drive, but sometimes you have to live with things to decide if you like or don't.

most think the seats are more comfortable, but a few don't. i didn't really notice either way during my test drive.

mats are an individual thing.

the loss of storage spaces are a major complaint between gen 2 and 3, gen 3 and 4. gen 5 probably won't have any!

multi cd players have always been a package option. perhaps your 2010 was a higher package than the ll?

in the end, it is what it is. all the best with your new ride!

 

Mendel......go rent a Gen 4 for a week & then tell us what ya think .......DW still has a Gen 3 & I also had a 3 & now a 4......IMHO a HUGE difference for the better, in most ways that "Count" (for me)

 

I was new to PRIUS 16 months ago. I test drove a Gen3 - no, I wouldn't own one it drove so badly for 2016.

Gen 4 is a totally different platform, as well, the drive-train is extensively modified, so it ended up with an all new interior.

Yes, I agree - the seats are probably the worst aspect of the car. And the glovebox is the smallest I've seen ever.

I'm not sure about the mats - the Australian ones come with full carpeting, I didn't realise US ones only had rubber. That's odd, I haven't seen a non-carpeted car in 30 years.

I think 6 stacker CD players died about 15 years ago, though, I think you can buy one to have installed. I didn't realise they were ever supplied on a PRIUS. These days we're lucky to even have a single CD player, as many brands have either deleted them or (VW/AUDI) hidden them in the glovebox!!! I've got used to saving Podcasts or music on USB sticks.

The white is really much better than the black on the dash. The black needs dusting every few days - the white hasn't needed dusting in 26 months.

 

It's not so much the colour as the texture: hard gloss plastics...

Sounds like the fiberglass shower I'm battling with...

 

Alan, I think the OP was referring to rubber over mats rather than the carpets.

OP, the CD player does read MP3 CDs so you can copy well more than 6 CDs worth of MP3 songs on to one CD if that's your preferred media.

 

I'm happy with just the radio, as often as not.

 

As someone suggested, are you able to burn some MP3 CDs. When I go travelling, I burn one (or more) and put one in the CD player - gives about the equivalent of 10-15 LP Records of music (or comedy, tragedy etc).

 

I'm really behind the times. I just use the radio. Mostly talk radio stations and sports. I even cancelled the Sirius XM deal. I have no idea how to use an MP3 (what is that?!) or "burn" a CD. Never use my cell phone in the car while driving. (The only thing I burn is my steak in the frypan.) I'm ok with the lack of storage in the Prius. The Camrys I drove for 21 years just had the one glove box. That's fine, then I won't be stuffing a lot of junk in the car.

The hard seat issue was solved by simply placing a cushion on the bottom portion. Now my Bum is happy. The "white china" bathroom fixtures have never bothered me. I like the way it brightens up the interior. I also have the tan light colored seats. I never cared for an ALL BLACK interior. It makes me feel hot, it's too dark inside, and I can't see the dirt or the pizza stains I need to clean.

 

+1 on that and usually the same station all the time.
I did try all the other media options, just to make sure they all worked, when I first got the car.

 

One of life's certainties is that over the years there will always be new technology to learn and old technology that we eventually have to say goodbye to. But usually once you learn the new you won't miss the old. In fact here's a post from ten years ago where someone was struggling to figure out the CD changer in their Prius:

"Ok I don't have an owner's manual yet and I have never had an in dash cd changer and no I didn't grow up on little house on the prairie. Before I tear something up how do I work this? Do the cds go in one at a time into the upper cd slot or do they go in in the lower where the six buttons are?"

6 cd changer-how to | PriusChat

MP3 is not exactly new but of course it's newer than CD's. You put one of your CD's into your computer and there is software that will display the track list on the screen and then by clicking a button it copies all of the songs as individual MP3 files onto your computer hard drive. From there you can copy the songs just like photos onto a USB stick, one stick can store dozens or even hundreds of CD's depending on the capacity of the stick. Then you can play them on any computer, or in your car, and even your TV set (assuming it's less than ten years old). Yes there is a place to plug in a USB stick in your Prius, there should be a USB slot behind a small cover in front of your center armrest. They also make MP3 players which is sort of like a USB stick with a headphone jack, so that you can use it like a Walkman (for those who remember those).

If you can find someone to do the initial setup for you on your computer and show you how to use it, once you get used to it I think you will find you will like it much better than lugging around CD's. The nice thing is you can keep your CD's stored safely somewhere and not worry about them getting damaged.

And if you still prefer to use the CD player in the car there is a way to copy the MP3 files to a recordable CD, most PC's have the ability to record to CD (often referred to as burning a CD). A CD filled with MP3 files will be the equivalent of multiple regular CD's, that is what alanclarkeau and kithmo were referring to. You can think of it as a "hybrid" method that combines old technology (CD) with newer technology (MP3). However since CD players are already starting to disappear from many new car models this method will eventually no longer be usable.

Hopefully any younger people on here will excuse me for referring to MP3 as new technology, since they have probably never known a world without MP3 and iPod.

 

I'm still trying to figure out how to recycle scads of cassette tapes...

 

I managed to convert my cassette tapes to MP3 (or was it CD) files a few years back, a very laborious process. I'm about to look into converting some 90s VHS tapes to MP4 next.

 

Funny - I just spent last week going through a box-full of cassettes from Mum&Dad's house - and copied maybe 10% of them to my computer (used Audacity - it's free) saved as VBR quality. They included some recordings from 30-40 yrs ago where Mum had recorded me playing piano at home and organ at Church - I didn't realise she had done them.

Then I tossed them all. I then went through my own cassettes - sent any bought pre-recorded ones to a 2nd hand Thrift Shop and tossed the rest.

My '96 VOLVO had a Cassette player. When I bought it 4yrs old, I got a 6 stacker CD put in. At the time, the installer suggested I put in an MP3 CD single instead. WHAT is an MP3? I was unconvinced - thinking it might be the BETA vs VHS thing - but MP3 is still here and doesn't look to be going away soon.

TODAY - I've got a 2xUSB hub which I have Podcasts in each - PRIUS shows them both on the selection panel. And I have an MP3 Music CD in all the time - with about 10-15 hrs of playing time if I get bored with Podcasts. I use Rewriteable CDs so I can re-do it from time to time.