Is Gen 5 Prius really better-looking than Gen 4 Prius Prime?

The Globe and Mail (Toronto newspaper, business oriented) described the previous Prius Prime’s look as “Robot catfish”.

Your comment about ‘gills’ validates their assessment.

 

Great characterization; won't ever un-see that.

 

Please, it's Mechacatfish.

 

One of the funniest descriptions for Gen 4 Prius Prime I read (sorry, don’t recall who or where) was “Citroen meets anime + meth”.

Nonetheless, I love this car.

 

Yeah but is that a plus? Gen 2 had a perky, utilitarian, unpretentious look. It was a people and cargo mover. 3rd gen looked a bit more “upscale”, but just incrementally. And then…

 

"Whenever I’m trying to explain the new Prius to people who haven’t seen it yet, I tell them it looks like the old Prius and a Lamborghini had a baby."

 

only time will tell. they'll lose some diehards, and gain some newly mesmerized. we won't know the balance for a couple years probably.
i'm sure they are enjoying the positive press for now.
i would have purchased one with all the improvements and a little better styling, without reducing the size so dramatically

 

Gen 5 has a shape that is a closer match to the Tesla Model 3 than anything else.

 

if anything, i'd say the profile looks smoother than model 3

 

GEN I was the experiment. GEN II was the first working model. GEN III fixed the last and refined the looks. Gen 4 further fixed, but screwed up the looks. GEN 5...we don't know yet on mechanicals, but they fixed and further refined the looks.

That said...I am a die hard Toyota Hybrid fan who also has a 2017 RAV4 HV.

YMMV

 

Yet it has higher drag than the previous Prius.

 

i know. i would love to have the details

 

I mean... Prius sales were absolutely cratering. What do you expect them to do? Many folks think this drastic restyling should have been applied to an altogether new model. I for one am glad they chose to still call this "baby Lambo" the Prius. It's like cosmic revenge LOL!

 

"some previous Prius owners"

FIFY

"The overall "aerodynamics" stayed the same or improved" is a comment that has been made by several testers. I believe they based their opinion on the 2 inch drop. Like there is another force to consider besides drag?? I don't know if this makes engineering sense but... this is what has been said.

I'll try to find the actual sources so they can be critiqued.



"What are the 4 factors which affect aerodynamics?

This chapter discusses the aerodynamics of flight—how design, weight, load factors, and gravity affect an aircraft during flight maneuvers. The four forces acting on an aircraft in straight-and-level, unaccelerated flight are thrust, drag, lift, and weight."

Here's one:

2023 Toyota Prius punches it up

"The 2023 Prius’ slippery new profile displays its most striking dimensional change, a 2-inch (51-mm) lower roofline. The new car also is 1 inch (25.4 mm) wider and slightly longer, with wheelbase increased by 2 in. The windshield rake would be considered fast for nearly any vehicle but is particularly so for a Prius. Oya said the new shape’s drag coefficient — 0.27 Cd — is on paper worse than the previous Prius’ 0.24, but the sharper front end and grille create less frontal area, reducing CdA and effectively negating the detrimental overall aerodynamic effect of the new bodywork."

 

The most we have gotten is "but the car is smaller, so overall it isn't much worse than the old" from Toyota.

The quick answer is that they simply chose not to invest in aerodynamics like they did in the past. They could have had both looks and low Cd. Tesla manages it. If the other high end sports cars being compared to here have worse, it is because of down force generators to keep the car sticking to the track.

An answer Waynes Gerdes(Cleanmpg) got was that the gen5 has a smaller frontal area than the gen4, which means the overall drag(Cd x area) isn't much worse. Others probably got similar answers to the higher Cd question. I haven't seen anything on why the Cd is worse to begin with. With the gen4 Prime, Toyota told us the aero improvement of the rear window was countered by the styling of the front, thus same Cd as the Prius.

The CdA using a squared head on profile(height x width) is still noticably in the gen4's favor. The actual profile of the new can be trimmed down to get them closer. But then trimming of exterior dimensions for better frontal area is why the interior ones shrank.

 

I liked the look of the previous generation (4) except for the rear end. The gen 5 got the rear end right. The rest in my opinion looks pretty good, they could have kept the front end of the previous version and I think it would have looked good but they went with the offspring of Lambo. Oddly enough I had a random person think my 2023 was some sort of Lambo and I thought they were being ridiculous but seeing the pics above I see what they're talking about.