butt nice person ugly

Then again, the complaints of Toyota not taking risks are now dead. There is also the possibility of Toyota being ahead of everyone else... setting the trend to break us away from drab sedans, pickups, and SUVs... most of which basically look the same now.

 

pipedream. did GM have it too when they released Aztek?

You can read the story:
The Pontiac Aztek Debacle - An Insider's Take On How Bad Cars Happen

when reading try to spot 10 similarities with Gen4 process

 

inca.

 

wrong continent

 

I think Toyota is opting to stop taking risks with the 4th gen. Look at the second gen: it definitely broke the mould, marched to a different drummer. It was a sensible shape, purpose-built for it's mission. And that's risky.

The 4th gen stylers remind me of a nervous investor, chasing what's worked for others, embellishing and tarting it up in a deluded attempt to make it "theirs".

 

second gen was similar to honda insight I, good airstream. now you have to find ways to improve it. beauty is in the eye of the beholder, we'll see how it goes. it couldn't get any worse with the automotive press and the general public, that's for sure. i've been hear egg/jellybean for over 10 years.

 

What color are you going to get Bisco?

 

What gets me is how some of the same mistakes were repeated for Volt, despite the lessons learned from Aztek.

The market is clearly different now than it was in 2001. GM tried introducing a crossover vehicle in a time when SUV interest was on a dramatic rise. That doomed Aztek.

Now, the expectation from vehicles like Prius is that they are ushering change. Leadership is finding a way for ordinary consumers to embrace it. Toyota is seeking that balance to achieve that.

Do people really want a vehicle that doesn't stand out? Wasn't the claim for the past 15 years that Prius drew interest from not being just like all the other passenger cars?

 

So you'd say Gen2 didn't stand out??

IMHO Bob put it in right prospective:

It is boiling down to if you believe the "cowbell" design add-ons (fintail, front edges, white plastics, etc) go with or against Prius image?

The whole mantra "Leadership is finding a way for ordinary consumers to embrace it. Toyota is seeking that balance to achieve that." is really flawed. They think if you repeat it often enough people will believe it. This is not entirely true: only the people who're repeating it will believe it. Others will take 5 sec look, say "wow that is ugly" and move on.

We should really leave this discussion as is and pick it up in 6 mo, when we have the sales data to prove or disprove it. Probably more b/c there are still Gen3s on the lots, and some of them will be sold well into 2016.

 

What do you think leadership is?

The goal is change.

 

i'll be waiting for the next pip, but i thought the black looked sharp. i'll check them out in person though. this pip didn't have all the lift back colors. red for instance.

 

I have seen several Gen 4 Prius 'in the wild' and the beauty (or lack thereof) very much depends on the color and the way lights hitting and reflecting off of the origami-like creases and folds. To me the red and darker hues (but not black) look the best.

I plan to buy a used one in 2-3 years.

 

agreed. something about 2 diminutional photography doesn't do it justice.

 

Overall I like the design. It has the nicest profile of any Prius to date. If I could, I would only mess with three details. I would delete the angular upward swoosh in front of the rear tires. I would somehow redesign the headlights so they would not be front facing forks-that is I would make the parking light separate from the headlight. At the backend I would blend the horizontal element of the taillight with the lower window, and make the lower portion of the taillight a separate entity.
I really like the origami front end with all the interesting complementary angles, lines, and facets. As much as I don't care for the polished black fake windows in the back I have to admit that they facilitate the belt line sweeping around the back over the spoiler that I am finding to be very attractive.
Overall the styling of the 2016 is growing on me.
With the exception of my 1990 Plymouth Laser turbo, I've never much liked the styling of any car I have owned. A car is an appliance first and foremost. The little brat in me takes a little delight in that fact so many people think my car is butt ugly. I have considered making my own bumper sticker that says " my car is uglier than your truck" !
I am most grateful that Toyota chose not to go with the Prius c , Camry, and Yaris whale shark gaping mouth look.
Honestly Honda, and Nissan are turning out some not so attractive designs as well lately. This might be a Japanese thing.

Now, anyone care to debate the Prius Prime? It is pretty, shall we say distinctive too.

 

I hated the design of 4G when it was revealed on photos. I was uncertain about my feelings when I saw the car at the Frankfurt auto show IAA in September 2015. The back was too high, too much baroque. The front had an irritating, moronic smile on it.

That all changed. It took a few weeks and a lot of videos and photos of the Prius to change my feelings from "I have to choke" to "Kind of special". You know what? After seeing the car at the dealer in real life that changed to "I begin to like it". Now that I have the Prius for two weeks I often stand at the door of my house, looking at the car and thinking: "Yeah, you did the right thing, Toyota, making the new Prius futuristic as it is". I really love the design now. Strange, huh?

IMG_20160420_160208-01 by Jorin posted Apr 20, 2016 at 6:48 PM

 

Agree completely on all of that. I don't think I would buy a car I thought was REALLY ugly, but anything above "not-ugly" will do.

My take is that Toyota designed the Gen 4 to have a rough family resemblance to the Gen 3 but to be distinctive (both from other cars and from other Prius generations) and excite comment. And this thread shows that Toyota succeeded in the latter part. Toyota definitely didn't want a "ho hum" design.

Subarus: does anybody even notice most of their models? Unremarkable at best. The styling of my 2003 Outback Wagon was a mishmash, but I didn't care. With the exception of the Veloster, Hyundai has produced a lot of yawn designs. And so on.

I've owned only two cars whose styling I loved at the time: a 1974 Alfa Spyder 2000 (which looks small and dated now) and a 2006 Honda Insight-I (still like its simple styling).

Another thing to keep in mind is that virtually no car design looks great from ALL angles and in ALL lighting and colors. Perhaps the Jaguar XKE succeeds. The Gen 3, for example, looked sleek from some angles, porky from others, and angular/awkward from others. This is why photographers (I was one) search for flattering angles and lighting when they shoot cars and motorcycles.

 

The one thing that bothers me is stylings that confound function. The pic above illustrates one of them: the sharply up-sloping front-to-rear belt line, and what it's doing for rear visibility. Another is the "sculpture dash" and the ensuing glove box deletion/diminishing.

 

First we had mirrors. Then we had backup cameras. Now we have 360° cameras. Soon cars will drive for themselves.

 

Have you driven one yet? My strong impression is that rear quarter visibility is better than in my 2011 Gen 3.
I agree with you about the dash, though. I was thinking more about the exterior since that's what '''butt ugly" seemed to refer to.