4th generation coming 2015!

Vike - Well written, and very likely a very accurate assessment of the situation. Let's hear more from you on this thread.

 

Think about it like this.

An airliner uses $600,000 in fuel over its lifetime for every $30,000 it costs. That's the kind of thing where efficiency drives everything.

Even a 25mpg car costs more in ICC and insurance than it does in fuel, and the fuel is spread over the lifetime.

I bought my Prius because it's a nice car - smooth, quiet, lots of storage, lots of cargo space, easy to get in and out of, easy to drive, comfortable seats, and exceptional reliability. The savings from fuel costs is less important to me than the desire not to buy oil from people who hate us and to reduce emissions. Sure, it's nice to save a few thousand dollars in fuel over the lifetime as well.

The G3 inexplicably gave up "lots of storage". I hope they at least fix that failing in the G4.

 

Placing the battery underneath? the end result will look the same, spare tire, folding rear seat!

Can fold entirely the 60/40 rear seat of the 2016 Sonata hybrid, but don't care for hybrids that use a regular step gear transmission, city mileage lower than highway.The 2015 Camry hybrid cargo space is 13.1 with a small folding pass thru.

 

The Malibu also places the battery under the trunk floor. Full 60/40 folding rear and eCVT.

 

Yes, I'm getting tired of waiting for the next-gen Prius. I'm hoping the new Chevy Volt will be for sale locally this summer, and possibly buy one.

 

You, me and many others.

I think the gen4 had better be bloody good as the competition have seriously caught up and offer good alternatives. Or maybe Toyota have lost interest in the Prius and concentrating on the Mirai now?

 

Sometimes you'll read something in here that sounds like "an Ultimatum", or someone just threatening to go buy another car unless Toyota does ..............!

See! Being in PriusChat does not mean we own the brand. It's more about the home market imo, selling relatively well there!.

Japan March 2015
Pos Model ----- Mar-15 / 2015 YTD
1 Toyota Aqua- 30,414 / 73,170
2 Toyota Prius- 18,605 / 42,933

U.S. March 2015
Pos Model --- Mar-15 / 2015 YTD
1 Toyota Aqua- 3,564 / 8,879
2 Toyota Prius- 9,485 / 23,871

 

I bet we get some info about the g4 before the volt goes on sale. Maybe the same day.

 

maybe the day before! once peeps get a whig of the gen IV, the new volts will be rusting on the lots.

 

Spare tire! Spare tire! Spare tire!
We have the spare tire there and storage bin on top, battery and gas tank toward front.

 

no offense, but i think you forgot to take your meds today.

 

I'm not sure what that first sentence means about the spare tire, etc. Perhaps you could elaborate.

Looks like I was fooled by other NYIAS stories I read if that story is right. If the 2016 Hybrid only has 13.3 cu. ft., that's a significant reduction from the 16.3 cu. ft. of the 2015 Sonata on which it's based, suggesting that the battery does intrude significantly into the cargo area. It's great that the seats fold, but the real test for me is if the car can effectively replace our Gen2 Prius for road trip duties (our other car is a BEV, so not an option), and an uneven/stepped/irregular trunk area could be a problem. I'm not overly broken up about it, since the Sonata had other shortcomings and we'd likely still prefer a Prius. We like our Gen2's upright driving position and ease of ingress/egress, something the Sonata does not share (we rented one for a week last year).

But especially with all Toyota's talk about the need to restyle/reshape the Gen4 to be more "exciting", we're going to need to see what they've done before we can be sure they haven't compromised attributes we value. We didn't really like the Gen3 reconfig (if you like flying buttresses, more power to you, but we found the interior less functional and the back seat less comfortable, so weren't much interested in trading in), so are very much in "show me" mode regarding the Gen4. Our Gen2's still running fine, so not a lot of pressure for now, but if I needed to replace the car in September I honestly don't know what I'd do.

 

Maybe in a land of $7/$8 gas we just have more options available if you want an economical car? Sales of the Prius in the UK last year were the lowest since 2004. They came in at 2,812 and that includes the PIP. These are from a 2010 high of 10,384. Those figures are bordering on unsustainable.

By comparison the Outlander PHEV sold getting on for 6,000 units and that was for a car released only 10 months or so ago. Demand is there for BEVs/PHEVs as is competition.

Prius 2014 sales: 2,812
Outlander PHEV 2014 sales: 6,000 approx
Leaf sales 2014: 3,965
BMW i3 sales 2014: 1,374

So I'll say again, the gen4 had better be good as the competition is coming along, though still small numbers compared to the 2.4 million cars sold in the UK last year!

 

No one buys Prius in EU, because there is cheaper alternative with same drivetrain - Auris
Acording to Toyota 40% of Auris sold are hybrids.

 

But they DID until Toyota decided to increase the price of the Prius until the base model is more expensive than the Lexus CT200h!

 

Prius is still only made in Japan, that does no good to a price when you import it to EU, maybe they just adjusted the price to the same profit margin they get with EU built hybrid Auris.

It's a pity, because I like Prius way more than Auris.

 

aha!

 

I think it's exactly that, or maybe a bit of that and also trying to maximise profits on locally built hybrids.

As you say, it's a pity as the Prius is much nicer than the Auris and according to owner experience on the UK forums, the Auris hybrid doesn't get anywhere near the economy. Owners are reporting averages of 45/50 mpg UK without trying compared to about 50/55 mpg UK with the Prius. This figure can be adjusted down further for the Wagon version. The Auris is less aerodynamic and the large, low profile alloys don't help either.

A shame. The Prius actually achieves the official mpg ratings, whereas the Auris and Yaris hybrids better it on paper but nowhere near in real world. The Auris HSD is no better than many manual diesels of the same size.