2020 Prime Tidbits (North America)

Right. We had quite a flurry of responses to that.

 

Fantastic! Finally some concrete proof of the hallowed 5th seat, and that it is a 2020 model. Now, when will it be available? Looks like ‘19 will be a short run, I suspect they were trying to get it into ‘19 but ran into some sort of issue doing so (maybe relating to crash testing with the 5th seat?) so it became a carryover launch in January. I like the change to black trim as well.

Now... did I notice a missing EV Auto button?


*duck*


LOL.

 

For the automaker to make such a change, with the potential of requiring new emission and safety testing, is a big deal.

 

It was a joke...

 

FYI, if you read the comments on the YouTube video above, someone asked if CarPlay was added, and the lady in the video responded that Toyota did NOT add CarPlay for 2020. Do we believe this is accurate? That contradicts what @Tideland Prius reported earlier.

 

And red is the worst at dawn/dusk.

Oh God, please no. Or if they offer one make it a separate option on the car, do not include it in any trim level. I absolutely do not need or want extra light beating down into the car.

According to the Toyota site when I was looking at the Primes, the 2019 got rid of the white "accent" areas and moved the heater switches so they could actually be seen and used while driving the car. It only took them 9 years, minimally that should have been fixed in the Gen IV first release.

Lady said the center back seat looked comfortable. Looked anything but to me since the other seats are still "bucket". But it would do for short trips with an extra person.

And I see they have visor extenders. Don't know if those are in the 2019s or not. They are smaller than the aftermarket one I bought and will block less light but at least they are trying! Have to be an improvement over the nothing in the current version.

 

Some may find the 5th seat a big welcome. Personally think getting back some cargo space would be a bigger and more useful achievement. USB ports for the back seats are nice to keep the passengers there happily charged.

 

Cargo space and weight rating are my top wants. Those are why I'm watching for changes to these specs in the Euro-market units with the 5th seat, hoping (or grasping at straws) for improvement.

 

Agreed, a bit more cargo space would be nice, but I also see this as a minor inconvenience with alternative options (I.e. add a roof rack & box or hitch & cargo tray to add capacity for travelling for whenever I need a bit more space). 95%+ of my driving is for commuting, or doing exciting things like running errands or shuttling the kids somewhere, so most of the time I wouldn’t actually use most of the available ~20 cu ft of space*. On the other hand, not having a 5th seat is a hard limit that requires a second vehicle if you have 5 people to transport.

* - similar logic to why I don’t see a spare tire as critical, since this is added weight to lug around all the time for the extremely unlikely scenario of experiencing a tire blowout (that cannot be resolved by adding air with a 12v pump). Rather, I would prefer to use that space/weight for a larger battery which provides me a daily benefit of low cost and clean “fuel” to get me around. I do own a compact spare, but generally leave it in the garage (and I would just have someone bring it to me or get towed home with my Premium CAA (AAA) if I ever need it), unless I am travelling where I will throw it in the trunk and sacrifice a bit of space for the peace of mind. But I digress.

Back to the 5 seats.... For me, the added seat for flexibility is important as we are a family of four with two young boys, plus a dog. We normally use a seatbelt and dog cushion in the middle when we take the dog (Cocker Spaniel) with us, or occasionally bring an extra passenger, like my mother in law, and the third seat in the back fits perfectly for that need. Another other use case from last week - we bought a water cooler at Costco that required folding the seat to fit in the PiP, and since we had both kids with us, we folded the 40% side to slide in the cooler, and the boys sat in the 60% side (and at ages 11 & 7, they fit fine). With the 4-seat configuration of the current Prime, this would not have been possible, and would have had to make another trip alone to bring home the purchase.

Sure, these situations are not the case for everyone, but those are the reasons this is important for me in my situation, and I don’t think it is that unique. Yeah, I probably wouldn’t be buying a Prius I feel we were a family of 5 all the time (probably be looking at the Pacifica hybrid instead ), but that’s a story for another day.

Sorry for the long post.

 

I’m really confused by her channel. Check out this video at 0:50:

Apparently she is/was a spokesperson for Toyota at auto shows? But then the channel also has other random videos. And “Motor City Maggie” car series looks like she’s trying to start her own auto review YouTube channel.

 

Interesting... and her LinkedIn also mentions nothing about Toyota either. She describes herself as an actress and automotive enthusiast.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggie-clark-62771452

Can we share LinkedIn here?

 

Enthusiatic for whomever will pay her to pitch their product.

Most of the auto shows hire in people who do this type of thing - not necessarily company employees but professional "spokesmodels".

 

Also interesting, Toyota posted a press release for their other NYIAS announcements - new Highlander.

World Premiere of All-New 2020 Highlander at New York International Auto Show | Toyota USA Newsroom


Their NYIAS summary also doesn’t give any details about Prius or their other cars
http://toyotanews.pressroom.toyota.com/releases/2020+highlander+world+debut+drives+toyota+lineup+at+the+new+york+international+auto+show.htm

“For more information on these and other news from Toyota, tune in to the Toyota Press Conference at 9:10 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 17.”
Guess we should have done that today

 

I guess that part isn’t too unusual to me. Contractors / freelancers are a common way to staff up for a trade show or conference. The weird part is that they usually agree to post only on company social media accounts, etc, not edit together their own phone videos.

 

At least 75% of my total miles will be out of town. External cargo loads will entirely defeat the increased MPG / decreased internal capacity compared to my Gen3.

External boxes and cargo tray will also violate my policy of keeping reasonably close to the vehicle's rated load capacity. That rear tray also alters the vehicle's balance and handling, in a manner I strongly wish to avoid.

The PHEV feature will be quite useful in that smaller fraction of miles close to home, especially by soaking up my small excess solar PV production that will simply become a free donation to the local utility 14 months from now. And a Prime would use enough to justify adding a few more PV modules to the existing system, already wired and racked. My mountain driving pattern would also benefit from the greatly increased regen capacity, and higher ICE-off max glide speed, compared to the Gen3.

My Gen3 has already suffered two tires destroyed by road debris, not repairable by plug kit and any air pump. Considering how much of its travel will be beyond the home zone ...

 

That looked like her promo reel that she sends out as her resume.

 

Sorry I was talking about the original video from earlier

 

I like a long road trip off the beaten path. I am going to see if our local auto recyclers have a Toyota space saver that will fit my car. I'd like to get one and haul it on just those trips. Within a few hundred miles of home, I'll just call AAA to fetch me with the 200 mile tow. But, I go lots of places with no cell service and a flat out there would be a total pain.

Plus, it will come in handy when I rotate my tires in the garage...

I hit a rock on the Angeles Crest Highway a few years back, on my way home from LA. Had to get flatbedded back to my brother's house, where we changed out a front A-arm in his garage on Thanksgiving so I could drive home. You never know what trouble you will find on the road...

 

Sure, everyone’s needs are different, and sounds like the Prime may not be a good fit for you... maybe when they add a plug to a RAV4 or Highlander it might better suit you? My point about the cargo options is that needing more space would be an exceptional situation for me, and there are some alternate options, though considering load capacity and vehicle dynamics is absolutely a reasonable consideration.

I spend most of time time in the metropolitan Toronto area (and other reasonably populated areas), so roads are generally good, as is cell service, and the reason a spare is not high important for me (but I do generally carry one when travelling long distances or in remote areas, which again is rare). Last time I had a flat was 17 years ago, and that was almost 600K KM driving distance for me. And the flat tire was noticed in my driveway in the morning, so I was able to jack it up and change it at home then take it to get patched. (Time to knock on some wood...)

Anyway, each has to weigh the factors for their personal situation and make an educated decision.