2019 Prius Midcycle Refresh Details

For both cases, you might take a look at the soon-to-be-released, and greatly improved next gen RAV-4 Hybrid. The current edition is pretty lackluster in terms of its efficiency, especially since its appearance justified, in part, the nixing of the Prius-v (wagon-ish Prius). The new RAV boasts "estimated mpg of 41/38/40 city/highway/combined." The quote is from the "Upcoming Vehicles" section of Toyota.com. To my eye, it's better looking than the current RAV, and those mileage ratings are pretty good for an SUV.

 

And the new Rav4 has TSS 2.0 and Appleplay...

 

When your car frequently becomes your "office" for hours- and you constantly need to get from Point A to Point B- you appreciate extras such as a large display.

A fuel efficient and quiet car are also important. They're not niceties. They make your job easier.

 

Yes fair enough, good for the navigation. I have an ancient, postage stamp size garmin.

 

I live in Minneapolis. The cold weather would prevent that.

 

I would’ve considered the RAV4 hybrid but really dislike the screen they used in each model. I find it tacky and will be dated so quickly.

 

I'd probably be more lazy, bicycling it instead.

That should be far easier than the 34 round trip commute I tried to pedal twice a week, weather permitting.

 

I tried walking 6 km to work one time; one of my knees was protesting when I got out of my chair later to get coffee.

 

I've seen better -- I've seen worse. Either way, that "dash sprouts tablet" look is getting pretty common, and probably not going away. Dated in the future? Maybe, but that's a "flaw" that just about every motorized device with four wheels will suffer after about two years. It's pretty liberating when you get to where you can enjoy your car for what it is, and how well it fits and serves you, not whether or not it "looks dated."

 

That may be true. The rear cabin is also smaller and more confined than my 2016 Honda CR-V. The rear doors also don’t open terribly wide. In my humble opinion, it’s a rather flawed vehicle, despite the hybrid achieving remarkable fuel economy numbers (potentially).

 

If you don't have a good feeling about it, by all means, don't buy one. From your initial description, it sounded like it might fit -- a bit up from the older Prius, and a tad down from a "Cherokee class" SUV (size wise). If the best car ever built won't fit what you want to put into it, then it's not a good car (for you).

 

the gen 4 is the best car ever built?

 

I really don't like the looks. If I had to sum it up in one word: pretentious.

I'm not too enamoured of the dash either.

 

agreed. I prefer the gen 3.

 

Seriously?!? Re-read my post, a bit more carefully. If explanation is required, the point is that if the best car in the world, whatever that might be hypothetically, won't fit your stuff, then it's hardly the best car in the world for you. I mean really, as if anyone could actually identify a specific car as "the best in the world." Or define what "best" means in the context.

 

@ekpolk sorry you are so upset. certainly didn't mean to agitate.

 

No upset here -- just total surprise that my statement could have been taken so unduly literally. I really like my Gen-4. It doesn't have quite as much passenger/cargo volume as my old Gen-2 did, but it performs the mission I have for it nicely, and it burns a lot less fuel. Thus far, I've only got about 4500 miles on it, and it looks like a pretty good set of compromises, for me. Pretty close to "best for me" so far -- but I won't really know for another ~150k or so miles.

 

Same here......I absolutely LOVE mine! (so far).......25000 mi.