Featured 2016 Prius Reveal Photos

Well, he is not just anyone, He is Wayne Gerdes!

 

^ He clarified what he meant to say in post #79.

 

So, why does one prefer a flat rear cargo floor with less space instead of an additional 3-4 inch deeper cargo space until the rear seats?

 

3-4 inches deeper is by no means a better trade off then being able to use your car as a camper/road trip car to sleep in and rarely does any one need 3-4 inch difference.... The 3 Gen was highly praised for its cargo space and versatility being able to sleep in your own car and be protected from inclement weather and wild life etc, having a flat cargo floor was an incredible feature and some people bought it for just that, i doubt any one will buy it for 3-4 inches of extra cargo space and that is only comparing to the 3 Gen, for first time buyers it does not mean anything. 3 Gen and 4 Gen have amazing cargo space but the 4 Gen not having a flat cargo floor is now not gonna appeal to the big group of people who want the versatility of having an epic 55mpg car and using it as a camper.

Unless of course the different between the cargo space and the rear seats folded down can be filled with something or evened out(customizable) with out a huge inconvenience.

 

Well, didn't think about camping, and also it is easier to slide things in and out, plus it looks better when flat. They may have had difficulty deciding how to configure this space.

 

In one car, I noticed the Cargo area had the Recessed Space, and in another, I noticed it was flat. I think it depends on whether its Li-ion on Ni-Mh Batteries in the vehicle.

 

A couple idiots are spamming this site and this section,. Saw this in news area a couple days ago.

Time to flush them out ....

 

Thank you for your question,Yes better in so many ways, even just luggage... Maybe they were just not aware of how important that feature was for the sale point of the car. Other wise their design team would have worked very hard to implement it again,from an economical perspective it is gonna loose a portion of the market.

Now if they hire a designer or some experts to figure out a way to customize it efficiently so that one can still use it as a camper, they can use that as a sales point. But for now people are more likely to go turn to other cars with flat cargo floors that don't have such a high MPG, since gas is much lower which is a trickle down effect of a hit in sales... they are already having a hard time with that.

Im a big fan of this 4 Gen though and most likely will still get it and try and customize it for camping...just a little disappointing though. All in All it is an amazing car and love all the Priuses.

 

Oh that is some hope, can you show me the pics please?

 

So, Lithium under rear seats, Nimh under cargo floor then!

(Screw the reply button: they just end up on another page and are hard to tie back)
We never actually, physically, saw the NiMh pack. After being more-than-lightly scolded for removing the back seat from the LiOn car we didn't think it would be a great idea to remove the back seats from the other cars. I'm sure they didn't appreciate seeing one of the few completed cars in the world being dismantled by a small horde. My opinion, though is this: purely speculative that both batteries are under the back seats. I think it would be a really bad idea to create two completely different manufacturing streams based on batty composition. Toyota is all about efficiencies and Kaizen. They would need different electrical wiring, ventilation systems, and structural systems in order to support two different locations. In my opinion, they wouldn't do this. So why is the cargo area two different sizes based on battery? Because the NiMh version comes with a spare and the LiOn version doesn't. I think that comes down to weight reduction in order to make the LiOn version a super-high-milage version.

 

Before my question, I'll say I don't have time to sift through all the photos and posts .....

So, Is the Nickel-Metal battery in a similar location to 3rd and 2nd gen prius while the Lithium Ion is under the rear seats, as Sergiospl seemed to confirm?

 

It would be great if we can see pics of that...( flat cargo floor vs non flat cargo floor on the 4th Gen)

 

i have never heard of any manufacturer using, 'this car can be used as a camper' as a sales point.

 

Much appreciated TonyPSchaefer, it seems that even the one with the flush cargo floor, the back seats seem to be raised a bit. I suppose one has to wait until it hits the dealers to see if (that model)can be made into a sleeper.

 

In response to the reports the 4th gen front passenger seat cannot be lowered flat (after taking headrest off) with the back seat .....I will take a more robust, larger seatback on that front seat any day over the ability to fold it flush with back seat.

It appears they boosted the front shoulder support a lot for this 4th gen. .... But, that's rather boring stuff, so back to the show. ...

 

Off topic, but I bet Toyota will have new Prius at SF auto show around T'giving time frame, but hopefully it won't be locked.