4th generation coming 2015!

If EV, it means large capacity whether Li-x or NMH. If ICE, it means all kinds of trade-offs we do not want in a Prius but you may like in an Avalon.

 

OK, so it's another car I'm dreaming of.... Prius will prob always be about ultra gas conservative #1, but the cars that currently have more power are unnecessarily heavy and big...
A nice midsized car with batteries low centerbased for added stability and handling "like tesla did" then throw in a 1.5 liter Atkinson to keep things charged 'if' you pull it down.

You could then have the option for some serious performance "approaching that of a tesla" yet enough ice power to get you by till you could regen or plug in "If you choose that mode '

The best of both worlds... I'm not limited by a single charge if I need to go nonstop and it's programmed to regen and even recharge if I decide while on the move.

I would buy that car for as high as 55-60k but I bet it would sell for more with a waiting list.

You can't tell me the market is not there.

I know, now I'm dreaming toooo much... I should be in the Gen 6 or 7 thread

 

Small market, in my opinion.
I know you said big(ger) car, but the Volt would seem to be the closest car to your preferences.

 

Very limited

 

I'll share my "dream." I dream of a thread populated by enthusiast that enjoy the Prius, and are anxiously looking forward to the next generation Prius, and learning as much about it when the information is released. I am realistic enough to know that the Prius is not in the Tesla market, neither competing with a number of other very expensive performance vehicles. My only regret is that Toyota is not more forthcoming .... to satisfy it's supporters.

When I bought my 2010, I was skeptical about hybrid's. I bought the warranty, simply because this was my first hybrid, and I was uncertain what problems I would encounter. After 97,000 miles, the Prius has been faultless. A set of tires is the ONLY change I have made. One recall, that seemed more political than correctional. I have driven the car completely across the country and back 5 times. It has proven itself in comfort, efficiency, and dependability. Now, I want to purchase the next generation Prius, and I am looking for information about what to expect, what improvements have been made and what it might look like. A limited milage Volt or Leaf does not meet my driving needs; I do not have the $ for a Tesla (besides, I cannot stop every 300 miles and recharge on my X-country forays). I am not interested in Hydrogen either. Just the next generation Prius ........... a vehicle that has earned my respect and appreciation.

 

We all must admit, in the beginning we were willing to sacrifice by accepting a noisy ride, unstable handling, and limited power all in the name of saving gas.

The technology will continue to improve regardless if we ride in a glorified skateboard or comfort and power.

Why not have the latter?
Hasn't the prius sacrificed mpg for some of that already?

It's just a matter of where we want to draw the line in the sand.

Therein creates the different markets.

 

Yeah and they are offered as Lexus. They have a virtual catalogue of power & comfort vs economy.

 

Right idea. Now we need the 70 electric / 30 engine.

 

That will only happen with a large capacity battery ... and we know the trade-offs that entails: weight, space, and cost.

Engineering is a game of trade-offs, no matter how much the consumer would like it to be otherwise.

 

Please forgive me, but winstrings, you puzzle me. No matter how many times I /we have recently made an effort to direct the conversation back to the topic of this thread, you seem to want to be combative, and argumentative, and continue elsewhere. Example: "We all must admit, in the beginning we were willing to sacrifice by accepting a noisy ride, unstable handling, and limited power all in the name of saving gas."

In the beginning? When .... when the Prius was first introduced? I for one, DO NOT agree (re - "we all must admit") .... My 2010 has been none of the above (noisy, ride, unstable, limited power) but it has saved gas .... I will only agree to that. I could not have asked for more in an automobile, to the extent, that I want an updated model. You seem to want the luxury of a Lexus, the performance of a Porsche, the electric milage of a Tesla, all for a cost below the base Prius.

 

I take WS at face value: he is a Toyota fan and owner of three HSD hybrids. He wants a fourth that is not like one he has. I don't blame him, but practical engineering is getting in the way.

A future Gen Tesla might meet him half-way, say in 5 years. I say half way because he will still have to compromise on range in a 50k USD EV.

Actually, how about the BMW PHEV ??

 

In 5 years a lot may change. And it may not be limited to just hybrids, plug-in or not.

 

Model III ftw!

 

I didn't sacrifice in the beginning. I test drove one of those early Prius models and decided the road noise was too much to put up with. I didn't get a Prius until the 2006 model year Gen II. I've purchased 2 more Gen IIIs and a PiP since then. I'd like to get an improved version of the PiP today, but that would be a waste of money as my 2010 is doing just fine and even if I cut my fuel bill down in half or even 1/3, that is not much money to offset the cost of a new car. Perhaps by 2016, I can convince myself that the 2010 is getting old enough for trade in. At that point, the Gen II PiP might not be the best option available. I might have to make the 2010 last 10yrs before something compelling comes along.

The PiP, Volt, Leaf, and Model S are all very different cars with different optimizations and trade-offs, but none of them have hit the sweet spot for me yet. The batteries are the limiting factor, in my opinion, and thus the cause of the need to make tradeoffs . I'm glad there are a variety of solutions to the optimization problem because more car buyers will find an option that they can live with and more electric/hybrid cars will be sold.

 

Thx SageBrush.. Actually it's 4, 2 Gen 2's, 1 gen 3, and 1 = 2013 hybrid Avalon.

So it's not like I'm not a fan.
If you look at my history I'm not a hell raiser but I do like to think out of the box and that provokes controversy by those who hate change.

Like SageBrush says.... My Gen 3 2010 already has 160k...will my next be a Gen 4?...i don't know.

But yes we can be argumentative and "not" admit it the progress so far , but the prius of today has the power and luxury of the Lexus yesterday....

People demand nice stuff and nice performance of they are going to pay premium dollar (30+ k)

It's not all about gas savings or we would sacrifice and ride a moped or maybe splurge with wasteful spending and polluting the eco by buying a tiny economy car.

Are we willing to pay extra to be clean? To a degree most are. At least the enthusiast.

My Gen 3 is so noisy my Google voice barely writes voice to text on my phone correctly at high speeds... Not so in my Avalon.

It's all relative to what your used to as far as whether you consider the prius a nice ride.

Once upon a time I was totally happy with my gen2, until I got my gen3 and so with the Avalon my wife drives.

I love driving my gen3 because I'm used to it, it's an extension of my body when driving.
But Just last week my wife had to drive my gen3 as we switched cars so I could get hers serviced and she forgot how terrible the ride and sluggish it was as she is never in the gen3 anymore. I told her that why it's I'm sport mode all the time when I drive it!

I have the same experience if I drive my gen2's which my son and niece drive.

I'm not sure what my next purchase will be. I really hope it's a Prius... But not if they don't raise the bar considerably.. No more of the same.

We have plenty of versions floating around now... Let's do something groundbreaking and attention getting!

Otherwise... There truly is some considerable competition.

A few years ago I couldn't say that, but they gave caught up as Toyota' motto has historically been "moving forward"... Really?

Have they dropped the ball?
Now they are trying to change it to " let's go places ".. Seriously.. What's that?

They don't want to lead anymore?

 

It looks like their Fuel Cell Car diverted engineering resources, or maybe not? They may have asked the battery team for a better battery and they said, "come back and ask again in 3 yrs." So in those 3 yrs, they decided to try their hand at fuel cells. But yes, the Gen IV PiP better have a wow factor on both specs and build quality or else sales may remain tepid.

 

Ah you mean the BMW i8. It's truly a no compromise kind of PHEV. AWD with 2 motors and a turbo ICE along with a back seat to put the groceries. Of course there's the price.........

 

Pardon my barnyard humor, but those sales slogans "moving forward" & let's go places" tend to remind me of Ex-Lax jingles.

Similarly, GM Chevy's current slogan of "find new roads" seems better suited for Garmin and GPS sales marketing to me.

 

WS did say he is willing to spend up to $60k USD. It would be great if we had an i8 owner in the forum

To all you critics, all I can say is you should be more polite if you ever hope to get a ride in an i8
I've been looking at the i3, but it will probably never happen. I'm too cheap, BMW reliability is not, and my wife is probably not capable of buying German product.

 

Yeah I've been looking at the i3 BEV not REX. I'll never probably pull the trigger either. Just can't seem to get over that price point but then again Volts were selling for that price previously. And then there is the reliability issue friends and co-workers have had with their "beemers". Horror tales really...