2020 Prime Tidbits (North America)

A first gen Honda insight is almost the perfect commuter car. The Prime is so big. I think it's only 6 inches shorter in length than my Toyota 4runner!

If you have the space, it seems to make sense to own an old SUV plus an efficient car. Or at least it does for me. With prime plus a used SUV I use less gas than a hybrid or phev SUV, and the combination is more versatile and not much more expensive.

And with the prime I expect I'll use less gas than if I had an EV plus SUV, since I can take the prime on longer trips.

 

You misspelled pickup truck.
In addition to my Prius I have a 2000 Tundra. Just used it today to stand in the tailgate to put a flat roof up on poles. The tailgate was much more stable than any ladder.
We also have a 2008 Corolla for my wife's more efficient vehicle.

 

You're totally on the money!
I lived that solution that you describe, with a van and several extremely efficient small cars while I was married with kids. Now, widowed, I only need the small plugin hatchback 2-seater, high performance RELIABLE (hopefully Prime derivative) for all my needs. Sadly, that vehicle doesn't yet exist.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
AChoiredTaste.com

 

Toyota Canada now has the 2020 posted.

2020 Prius Prime - Toyota Canada

Base model pricing is identical to 2019 ($32,990), and the loaded model is actually about $500 *less*. Nice.

Finance rates are not great of course for a new release (3.99 for 60 months), but that will get better later. However, interest on a Prime in Canada has been >5% in the past though, so not as bad as it could be.

I will wait for better rates for now.

 

Interesting how it's marketed slightly differently in Canada. Instead of the Plus, Premium and Advanced we had through 2019, in Canada they offer two packages (equivalent to Plus and Premium, then the Advanced Technology package essentially turns your Upgrade into the US Advanced.

Heated steering wheel standard on all models - nice. Only on Advanced here in US.

Plus, no mention of the spare tire/fix-a-flat kit - in the US this is listed as "Spare: temporary repair kit"

 

Nice find. We got some better pictures of how CarPlay works. The layout is actually pretty reasonable, but man having apple stuff up there is gonna make the rest of the UI look soooo dated.

Meanwhile on the US website, the 2020 Prime hasn't even made it to the Upcoming Vehicles section...

 

Indeed. Good to know for sure that Canada will also get CarPlay, since right up to 2019 no Prius has had Entune of any version, which seems to be linked to CarPlay, so I was afraid we would be shortchanged once again...

On my 14 PiP Technology (= Advanced in US), when I press the Info button I only have two button options, for Energy Monitor and Traffic (which I don’t subscribe to), and a bunch of empty tiles. Such as waste, despite the criticisms of Entune...

 

Yeah, I was looking at the black last night, looks sharp (especially if you tint the windows). I still like the unique blue magnetism as my #1 choice, but then either red or black (since it is new for 2020) would be #2.

I generally have a preference for real colours, not shades like grey / silver, and white or black, to a lesser degree. I just think we need more colourful cars on the road.

 

This has long been a complaint of mine. You get a choice of like 2 colors, and then 50 shades of white/gray/black. Ivory and silver are part of the white/black continuum.

Why can't we get a Prius in a nice burnt orange metallic? Forest green? or a lime green racing color?

Here's a thought - how about releasing the heat-reflective paint in the US???

 

A dark maroon would look great.

 

I'd love to have a tiny commuter as a choice. I'm hoping the Sondors and Solo make it to market here. I was also hoping for the Elio. While these cars should work for many, the problem is few are willing to buy them.

Adding a fourth wheel increases the price because of the increase regulations. Adding a full hybrid system is a major cost increase. The Corolla hybrid is $3000 more. Add that to the price tag of a Spark or Mirage, and people in the US will start looking at a bigger car.

Toyota is a conservative company, and they think bright colors will scare their customers. They're alright for sports cars, but the rest of their line up gets shades of grey/beige, a blue, and maybe a red. Occasionally, there will be an odd choice, like titanium blonde and tideland pearl, which could be a great color, but are hard to photograph, making them hard to sell. Really, wished I had gotten tideland for my 2005.

 

I don't really care how bright the color choices are, i just want more choices. We get a shade of red or blue, and 50 shades of white to black. silver, pearl, titanium, gray etc are all part of the boring scale of white to black. Give us a green, a red, a blue, a brown/tan and maybe an experimental color to choose from. safe colors are okay.

I just looked online at the ford fusion hybrid configurator. they have 5 shades of white to black, a gold, two blues, a red and a copper. That's 5 colors, we get two.

 

It is an L.

 

I’m in Minneapolis. It is a 2020. It’s an LE. It arrived in Seattle on June 15 and continues to be there. I was told by my dealer that it needs to clear the Toyota inspection facility before it can be shipped by rail. I was also told that all the RAV4’s need to be processed first.