Bad '10 Interior

I think that little under storage spot is genius. All the little electronics go there, out of sight and even have a charging outlet there. iPhones, cell phones, cameras, etc. all have a great place to hide now in easy reach and thus the rest of the interior is uncluttered by them.

 

Agreed. I own a G2 (2008), and have driven the 2010. I'm still scratching my head about the center console. Perhaps Toyota will do a minor redesign of the interior, and get rid of that thing before the G4s come to market.

If so, I will consider the G3 in a couple of years ..... if not, I will look at the alternatives.

... Brad

 

It's all personal taste, really. I'm short, but it doesn't bother me at all. And I'm a sales rep and basically live in this car. I use the "under storage" for all kinds of things. Easy access to my planner, cell phone, wallet (when driving long distances and I don't want to be sitting on it in my back pocket), snack storage, etc... Personally, I think it's a genius use of space!

 

The '08 will only be about 7 years old by the time Gen IV comes out, and perhaps there will not be a bridge. :clock:

 

I really love it!!!!!
I was thinking of getting an '09, but the '10 really won me over because of the interior.

 

Hi anj...,

As an early 2010 Prius front interior design detractor, I could not agree with you more. The front interior of the 2010 Prius is Looks OVER Design (Horst - good design is good function). They did not even get the HSI right. This concept is meant to be short-term emotional, and a long term waste. Unfortunatly the education level of the average Prius buyer sees through this instantly. We all know about that BS marketing that sold the SUV in the US, and lead us into $4.50 gas.

Thank You and all the other people who have started threads on this issue. I have been sitting back waiting for this to happen. You reinforce my confidence in my basic design sense.

 

Why (IMO) must so many "Interior Detractors" be so...mean.

First of all, I'm sure most of us '10 owners are thrilled that these negative threads have been started. We'd hate for you to sit back in the wait any longer.

I hope, considering our education levels, that we will at some point in time see through the BS Marketing by Toyota. And understand the Horst principle.

How dumb can we have all been? Spending our hard-earned dollars on such a horrible vehicle. I'm hoping to see the light soon. And rid myself of this terribly designed interior. What was I thinking???? :doh:

I sure hope MY confidence is reinforced very soon.

 

Oh please, what a bunch of pompous tripe. We are talking about a car interior. If you think someones opinion of the interior is based on their education level you need to take few courses yourself. You may very well have "basic design sense", however common sense seems to be lacking.

 

Maybe this is the smug I have heard so much about.

 

Yeah, I personally love the area and access it all the time while driving without any difficulty whatsoever. It is also where I occasiaonlly charge my cell phone..which I usually decide to do a few minutes after I'm driving.

 

While I still love the open air feeling of my '04 I certainly would not even consider the new interior design to be a deal breaker if you're a true Prius afficianado. I sat in the 2010 and really like it a lot. I do agree that the center console could have been done a little better, but it definitely looks nice. I do think the gear shifter design was made to appeal to the masses. My friend has a 2006 7 series and his gear shifter is just like the gen2 Prius. He loves it because it saves space in the interior. Now BMW brought back the old style shifter because people wanted it back. In the Prius it makes little sense to devote a conventional style gear shifter since you're not going to be using it during driving. I hope they change it back to the gen2 shifter. Regardless, when it is time for me to get a new Prius I will embrace it with whatever interior they have decided for it.

 

I agree, I have never been a good salesman. And above, I show that quite well. Which is why I shut up on this several months ago, and let the fires in the community burn about it. But as this topic is not going away, I feel its fair game for me to recomment on.

The reason I find the 2010 Interior so distasteful, is there is no operational reason for where things are, when on whole the 2004 Prius got alot of this stuff right. In the 2010 control placement is, because that is what people are used to, not because where the controls would be easiest to use, quickest to operate or are simplest to access. The shifter is a good illustration of this. From the steering wheel, its a quick jab to the right. And if you ever had a lousy 18 wheeler driver cut a corner on you too tight, you will quickly learn how nice it is to have the capablity to go into reverse in 300 msec instead of 800 is.

I also find it distastful that they minimized to the point of dangerous distraction some of the most useful displays of the Prius. I agree the original MFD has issues, and I even started a thread about that. A thread a researcher in the topic has thanked me for all the background info on. But to not add in what was needed, and then make it smaller, and less visible was not smart.

I think the new purchasers of the Prius , who do not know the steering wheel controls, think they need all that busy control panel, since that is what they had in previous cars. Well, no, not once you learn the steering wheel controls. Your hands should be on the steering wheel, not off to the right fiddling with finding a button, and then operating the button. This is a 2009, not a 1964 Aston Martin James Bond car (I actually made a model of one those when I was a kid). The steering wheel buttons are are the "while-driving" controls, and the other stuff is setup for the steering wheel controls. The MFD in the 2nd Gen Prius is a primarily a vehicle information display while driving. The display of the steering wheel buttons on the 2010 is a good idea.

Allot of Americans drive with one hand, because that is the lore here. It started with Barney Oldfield, a famous distance driver in the 1920s. Lets remember what Barney had to deal with - flat bench seats. Those do not hold one in position around curves - dangerously so. Barney hung his left arm out the window, and squeezed quite hard to hold himself against the door. Now he could go around corners , steering one handed and not loose position to the clutch, brake and gas peddle. He also used a steering wheel knob. And so he could steer one handed safely. You see people now, driving like this all the time. But does it make any sense? No, because you have a seat belt, and a bucket seat - so the risk of hanging your arm in the window is no longer needed to help improve the safety of staying in the same relationship to the other controls. But people still do it. Why? Because a guy 80 years ago, who was a successful driver made an impression on somebodies great grand-father, who drove like that, and so on down the generations. Makes no sense with regards to the task of driivng a car. And somebody like Barney Oldfield, if he were alive today, would not be caught dead driving like that in a modern car. What he did , in a 1920s car in the 1920s makes perfect sense, but things change.

This illustrates how was once best practice, is now obsolete. And the same goes for the Prius controls. The 2010 controls are a step back to something that was being made obsolete by the elegance of the 2nd gen control layout.

 

I wish I could say NOW this all makes sense after your last post, but no.

Again, it's your opinion Toyota got it all wrong and it should have been done your way. And your hypothesis is that the '10 interior design is obsolete.

I do believe you, and the others that tend to agree with you, are in the vast minority as witnessed by the sales figures. And by the overwhelming positive mentions of the '10.

Is it perfect? Of course NO, but Toyota got A LOT of things right. I had been very dissapointed with Toyota in the 1990s. They IMO designed VERY bland vehicles as witnessed by the vanilla Corolla and Camry. They were consistently panned as that by much of the auto press. I always thought that Toyota was a very conservative auto company and staid in their approach as long as their vehicles maintained high quality and sold well.

Now look at most of their line. Distinctive, modern, and quite appealing. Especially the Prius. The early '10 spy shots caught my eye and peaked my interest up to product release. The '10 is certainly not a 'dowdy' or boring vehicle. Good going Toyota. I'm certain there was much pressure in japan Headquarters to continue very near to the G2 design. Glad you didn't as many of us (and as Doug's staff mentioned in an earlier Thread) are 1st Prius owners.

Can they do better and perhaps evolve to some of your desires? Perhaps. But please don't continually harp on us '10 owners how terrible the interior is designed. It comes across as a demeaning spoil sport and whiner.

 

Sometimes its hard to get used to things being different.

I'm coming from a car made in the 1990's with the shifter behind the wheel. On the new Prius, I really enjoy where the shifter is..find it very convenient and also easier to access quickly...hardly have to fiddle or think at all to find anything. I wouldn't really be surprised if different age groups prefer one location over another.

 

Please close this thread and merge it into one interior discussion thread.

 

Please leave this thread alone! Merging only makes the "subject" look less important than it really is. If seperate threads annoy some people, they don't have to read them! I know there's a lot of duplicate threads I don't read because I have no interest in them, yet, I have NEVER posted for those to be deleted/merged.

 

Well put donee, I quite agree with you. I think the main difference that strikes me between the two models is that the Gen2 seems to have been designed by an engineer, a geek, a technical guy. Things are put where they are logically and much of it actually makes sense. Whereas the 2010 seems to have been designed by a committee where too many people have had their say and the engineer's voice was somewhat muffled.

 

"less important".... c'mon. There is so much clutter in the '10 Forum. It's tough to sort through as so many new threads pop up.

Of course every member has a right here to open a thread or post, but the Forum should be easy to navigate. And duplicate - or close - threads SHOULD be merged. No matter the "importance" some may feel they have.

Let's allow the Moderators to make the call.

 

I think all the posts state it is a matter of personal appeal to the design. I was a bit unsure of the console first glance when shopping for the 2010-V, but since now having it only 7 days have fell in love with the way it flows when driving, and the ability to rest one's arm at that location, and the MFD is quite easy IMO to see and the steering wheel controls let you glide through the various displays without missing what's ahead of you in the road.

It's all a matter of personal opinion and taste and I am going to vote that it was a good choice in design. The really only negative comment is the heated seat buttons being located so close to the floor. But there have been many comments about that in other posts. That one does not make sense to me at all, as they should have been added to the main shifter area.

Good comments anyway by all and enjoy seeing people with varying opinions.