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Most Obscure Gen 4 Facts (way out there)

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Main Forum' started by That_Prius_Car, Nov 5, 2015.

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  1. That_Prius_Car

    That_Prius_Car Austin Kinser

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    Stolen from the Gen.II & Gen.III forums. I know it's a bit early to know everything, but I figured we could get started. Go!

    I'll kick it off by saying that one of the things I find cool is the steering wheel material is made to keep a consistant temperature with your hand. They made it to where it warms up quicker to your hands in the winter, and cools off quicker in the summer.

    I also think it's neat that the lithium-ion ECO model has 4 more inches of cargo height in the back hatch compared to the core model. Toyota said they thought long and hard about it, and thought customers would enjoy the extra space, however, there will be a loading lip in that car.
     
    #1 That_Prius_Car, Nov 5, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 7, 2015
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  2. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    I don't think that's what the press release means. I think it means that the steering wheel isn't as cold or as hot as a normal leather-wrapped steering wheel
     
    #2 Tideland Prius, Nov 7, 2015
  3. civicdriver06

    civicdriver06 Active Member

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    They should have left it as it was .
    The Battery has been placed under the rear seats,so the under floor compartment would have become bigger .
    That way we would have had both,a bigger boot when needed and a flat cargo area with back seats folded down !
    Hard to believe no one came up with that idea at Toyota !
    I will miss the under floor storage I really like very much in my gen. 3 .
    You can put things like a blanket there without having it in the way on regular cargo floor .
     
    #3 civicdriver06, Nov 7, 2015
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2015
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  4. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    Steering wheel is now a circle. They were not in previous generations.
     
    #4 usbseawolf2000, Nov 7, 2015
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  5. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    Good move by Toyota I think.
    I ended up buying a Wheelskins cover. Which is fine.

    But NOT being an elliptical shape, would open up a whole lot more steering wheel cover options.
     
    #5 The Electric Me, Nov 10, 2015
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  6. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Now that we have the cars, I guess it's time to start contributing to this thread. Here's what I've noticed

    • There's a cut out in the B-pillar that forms part of the front door design. It is positioned right at elbow height to give a couple of cm of room so that your elbow won't bang against the B-pillar. Thanks Toyota!
    • The parking brake has been moved inwards so it's no longer hovering above the driver's side footrest
    • The distance between the rear console and the rear seat is smaller. (We had a centre-seat-position floor mat that no longer fits). Bonus fact: The distance is greatest on the Gen 3, 1cm or so narrower on the Gen 2 and at least an inch narrower still on the Gen 4)
    • Coming from the Gen 3, the foam inserts on the interior door close grip have been removed. It's now bare plastic like the Gen 2 (but without the exposed screw heads)
    • Speaking of the interior door close grip, they're contoured to your hand for a more comfortable grip.
    • The rear overhead assist grips are mirror image of each other. On the Gen 3, there is only one rear overhead assist grip design so the coat hook is near the B-pillar on one side and near the C-pillar on the other side).
    • Not really obscure if you read the manual but the grocery hooks are used to hold up the cargo floor when you need to access the spare tire or tire repair kit.
    • Replacing the rear indicator or reverse lights now require removing the taillight unit.
    • Non-Touring models (Canada + US) use the front indicators as forward-facing parking lights (so they're amber). Touring models use the LED clearance lights as the forward-facing parking light, resulting in a slightly different head-on look at night.
    • Base models have exposed interior door frames (like the Gen 3). Higher models have a black plastic cover (like the Gen 2)
     
    #6 Tideland Prius, Mar 8, 2016
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  7. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    I can't see any comments on ground clearance. With my current car (2010 Fiesta), I have to go reallllly slowly entering or exiting home driveways, and I've seen comments that the Gen 3 was similar.

    Is the Gen 4 any better or worse in this regard?
     
    #7 alanclarkeau, Mar 8, 2016
  8. ATHiker

    ATHiker Senior Member

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    I swear the car told me to put my hands back on the steering wheel, but I can't reproduce the message...
     
    #8 ATHiker, Mar 8, 2016
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  9. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    The Gen 4 is lower. The ground clearance is 129.5mm. The Gen 3 is a little over 134.6mm

    If you have LDA on and it detects that you don't have your hands on the steering wheel, it will tell you to place your hands on the wheel.
     
    #9 Tideland Prius, Mar 8, 2016
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  10. rcsting

    rcsting Toyota Fanatic

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    When I was testing the Lane Departure Alert on my 400 mile trip home from the dealer the car showed a message " would you like to take a break?" I was allowing the car to wander several times and it must have thought I was tired. Talk about high tech :). Prius 4.
     
    #10 rcsting, Mar 8, 2016
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  11. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    upload_2016-3-8_18-2-31.png

    I can see a prank involving setting this to "High" lol.
     
    #11 Tideland Prius, Mar 8, 2016
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  12. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    Thanks - re "The Gen 4 is lower. The ground clearance is 129.5mm. The Gen 3 is a little over 134.6mm" - how does that affect the approach angles - has anyone had any "encounters" with driveways etc that wouldn't have been a problem with Gen 3?
     
    #12 alanclarkeau, Mar 8, 2016
  13. krmcg

    krmcg Lowered Blizzard Pearl Beauty

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    I saw the same message!
     
    #13 krmcg, Mar 8, 2016
  14. ucla107

    ucla107 Member

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    I'd love to know too.. my Gen 3 was already scratching left and right
     
    #14 ucla107, Mar 9, 2016
  15. Zojja

    Zojja Active Member

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    My last car had a ground clearance of 128mm and I never had much issue, I haven't encountered any issues here yet.
     
    #15 Zojja, Mar 9, 2016
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  16. JohnF

    JohnF Active Member

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    I guess I'll just have to train my dog to put her paws on the wheel while I'm busy texting.
     
    #16 JohnF, Mar 9, 2016
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  17. That_Prius_Car

    That_Prius_Car Austin Kinser

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    I'm glad I started this thread. Already learning a lot
     
    #17 That_Prius_Car, Mar 11, 2016
  18. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Going back to your statement on the steering wheel. It is noticeably warmer (temps in the single digit celsius overnight) than my leather-wrapped steering wheel on the Gen 3. The Gen 4's SofTex steering wheel feels like holding two fuzzy cats (ok a bit of an exaggeration but those owners with Gen 4 SofTex wheels know what I mean).
     
    #18 Tideland Prius, Mar 11, 2016
  19. pakitt

    pakitt Senior Member

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    • In the EU versions, the rear head rests are not full size, but are smaller and do not affect rear view visibility. I can post a pic when I will get my Gen4.
    • The EU version is offered only with black interiors and the 3 much debated white plastic inserts (steering wheel, under A/C controls and the infamous toilet bowl/wash basin).
    • The speed signals recognition (RSA) is camera based (there was a discussion in another thread talking about a database based one for the USA) - essentially it performs image recognition and if you speed, it will show it in the dashboard/HUD.
    • DAB+ (Digital Radio) is standard in the EU/German version on all trims as well as backup camera.
    • The Executive trim in Germany is offered with a Wifi hotspot. Too bad it is only 3G and not LTE capable (why?????) - so essentially already obsolete and not worth buying (about 400€ if I remember correctly - it can be added to the Gen3 as an option as after-sales).
    If I remember anything else from my test-drive last week that I don't see mentioned here, I will post again :)
     
    #19 pakitt, Mar 11, 2016
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2016
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  20. ATHiker

    ATHiker Senior Member

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    This may be common knowledge for most, but it took me over a month to realize that there is very faint footwell lighting on both the driver and passenger side that never goes off.

    i would have figured that it would come on and go off with the dome light when you enter the car, but it stays on.

    Another thing is that it looks like you replace the rubber only in your windshield wipers-- not the whole assembly like on most cars.

    Finally, the front wipers are nice and quiet like on most modern cars, but the back wiper make the classical back and forth sound of wipers from decades ago.
     
    #20 ATHiker, Mar 11, 2016
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