Poll for your reaction of the Gen 4 - so far.

The shifter and related buttons look like something they forgot, and had to bolt on to the bottom at the last second. They should move all that to the dash and put a drawer there.

 

There is very little written here that has much "importance." But we all enjoy the comments, and most writers permit everyone to express their opinions.

 

Reality check: How many popular sedans (in US) have upper and lower glove boxes?

Does Camry, Accord, Altima, Corolla, Civic, Fusion, Elantra, Focus, Sonata, CR-V, Rav4, Malibu, and Cruze have an upper and lower glove box? NO
Do I need to mention every one of these cars sells in higher numbers than Prius/ PiP combined? (and maybe c and v added in) Do they need dual glove boxes to sell in high numbers? Does 4th gen Prius really need dual glove boxes to increase sales? Don't think so. 4th gen Prius needs to be a better car at a better price. We've got the better car. waiting on price.

I heard the 4th gen Prius has a pretty good sized center console storage box and I think fewer people are carrying CDs these days.

Put the stuff in the center console box? Problem solved!
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The 2nd gen and to lesser degree 3rd gen Prius needed things like dual glove boxes, push button starts in all models, smart key because after paying extra to get the high MPGs, those cars, to put it kindly, don't drive as well as other top selling sedans and crossovers.
... (or put more bluntly, underpowered, overweight, jostly ride with flex-happy, body rolling chassis and interior full of ecobox plastics. ... 2nd gen Prius with an upscale Toyota Echo interior, blech, teeny tiny seats punted up to the moon with no height adjust, hey if they fit you, you're IN THE 2nd gen Prius club, if they don't, haha, sucks to be you, sucker, hahaha (saleguy might as well have told me that))

rant over ....

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But, like Toyota says, it's not all about MPGs (or extra little bits like dual glove boxes) anymore ....

Might they have a better, more effective passenger front airbag instead of that upper glove box?

Remember, TNGA, sharing parts, chassis designs, etc .... Toyota, moving forward with 4th gen Prius!

 

Stupidly inconvenient for stuff you need to access regularly.

I have my center console full of stuff - chargers for the kids toys, granola bars and other non-perishable snacks.

My upper glove box contains a cloth for cleaning my glasses, a tire pressure gauge, extra Kleenex, and emergency hand warmers. My lower glove box contains my manual and a trash bag. My console drawer contains my badge, Kleenex, parking pass and candy. The little cubby on the left side of the trunk contains jumper cables. Under floor storage in the back contains an emergency blanket, a large towel, and an emergency tool set.

With the gen 4, I guess I can have just the chargers for the kids toys, snacks, and my manual. My trash bag, badge, parking pass, Kleenex, candy, hand warmers, glasses cleaning cloth, tire pressure gauge, jumper cables, blanket, towel and tool box have to be left at home or be left floating about under the seats, on the floor, or in the trunk.

 

bars and snacks - side door map pockets? (does 4th have those now?)
glasses cloth - in sunglasses holder?
tire gage - lower glove box?
trash bag - switch to small pop-up trash can just behind center console (on hump front of rear seat)
manual, kleenex, hand warmers - lower glove box
badge, parking pass - side door map pocket / bottle holder?

.... I'm not as familiar with rear storage on new Prius / spare tire / floor heights / battery options /

Could you pack a small gym-type bag with cables, blanket, towels, leave it in cargo area? You'll want to use tonneau cover, keep prying eyes off.

 

I keep my windshield sunshade in there.

Sunglasses go in there, so there's no room.

If there's room.

Behind me? How convenient.

If there's room.

They'd be hard to access, and be buried or lost because of the sun shade.

The cover says "I'm hiding something under here I don't want you to see". The under floor storage says "this trunk is empty". Leaving a bag full of stuff in the cargo area means less room for stuff I actually want in the cargo area (you know, like cargo), and it means damage to fragile stuff if heavy things like the tool box slide around.

I don't see why we're going backwards here. Actually, my gen 2 doesn't even have enough storage. I keep a windshield scraper/snow brush, umbrella and a set of binoculars on the floor behind the driver's seat.

If the under seat areas are clear in the version I'd want, that could help. I could probably keep the tool box, towel, blanket and jumper cables under there. I suppose I could keep my badge, parking pass, Kleenex and candy on to of the useless Qi charger, if they'd stay there. I could fasten a trash bag to the outside of the console somewhere using those Command strips (I've done that before, and I've drilled holes and mounted one before). If the version (Li-ion, I think) that has the drop floor in the back could be fitted with an accessory to level the floor and leave an under-floor storage area, that would be a big help.

But, again, I don't see why we are going backwards here. I bought my 2004 largely because of all it can carry. My mom bought an Avalon for the same reason and when she went to look at a 2015 Avalon hybrid, she said they took out most of the reasons she bought it, including the large trunk. So she's keeping her 2005.

 

The Gen 3 interior is unusable. Especially with that stupid center console I want to take an axe to every time I see one.

Gen 4 looks to be nightmarish, too.

 

I'm ok with 3rd gen interior, but then I understand it was in some ways a back step from 2nd gen? The center console that gets folks in a lather doesn't bother me. And the look is understated, efficient.

I find the new 4th dash garish and disjointed, in comparison.

 

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My educated guess is, when (car mfr.) builds a car with a more robust, solid chassis and suspension, something (spacewise) has to go, like extra glove boxes. I would imagine Toyota would have like to keep the underfloor tray, but double wishbone suspension might have nuked that.

As for the tonneau cover, I've never had anyone break in my hatchback area with with cover deployed. Hard to imagine someone smashing a hatch window to see what might or might not be there.

Wait until the actual 4th gen Prius comes around and try hard to find places for your stuff?

 

This exact thing happened to me in the middle of the night on the corner of Gough and Pine (not exactly an out-of-the way place) about 3 months ago. Smashed in the lower rear hatch window, stuck an arm in under the closed tonneau, grabbed my climbing gym bag and a pair of trail runners. Missed some small items I had in the cargo netting.

I presume somebody shined a flashlight into the small gap between the tonneau edge and the hatch trim and saw that there was something in the there, and basically tried their luck. Fortunately all they got was some gym climbing gear, and nothing really expensive nor critical. I've been trying to figure out a way to close that gap to this day. In the meantime, I leave the tonneau cover open and the trunk seemingly empty anytime I have to park overnight in the city.

And appreciating all the other fully-concealing storage spaces that exist in the car. Not that the loss/reduction of them in the 4th-gen would be regarded as a complete deal-breaker... but just that I would not be so quick to dismiss their loss/reduction as inconsequential. That's just me.

 

About that, the urgency on my part may be misplaced. It's just that they seem to have the 2015s on clearance right now for pretty good deals, and maybe I should go look at one of those before they are all gone or the selection goes to nothing.

 

Yeah...I often put a laptop and my camera bag ($10k in gear) or two laptops under the floor. I like that the cover is open and the trunk is visibly empty when I do that. I also often do that and then pile loads of low-cost stuff like groceries on top. Again, you can't tell there's anything expensive in the car.

 

It's frustrating where design goes 2 steps forward and one step back as the Prius in my opinion did from Gen 2 to Gen 3 and appears to be doing from Gen 3 to Gen 4. It's particularly annoying where the steps back appear to be just dumb decisions rather than trade offs for more critical things.

In this case, I think the loss of the top glovebox has resulted from greatly improving the front sight lines which would be a trade off I'm happy with. The failure to provide compensating or better storage elsewhere, I'm not at all happy with as it matters to me and it appears that it would have been very easy to do.

Overall, I would wait for more complete info on the Gen 4. It looks as though it will be a safer car that is nicer to drive with a new and distinctive look so, assuming the price is reasonable, a lot of people will want it creating a very favorable market for you if you decide you want the Gen 3 due to some specific features.

 

The ONE plus I've heard so far: the 12 volt battery appears to be engine bay. If so, will likely be cheaper conventional battery.

 

Some people think Gen 4 design is too radical. It's basically nothing but some V-shaped LED highlights at the back and a few sharp lines here and there.

Imagine if Gen 4 design came before the Gen 2/3 design. It would be a transition from more or less a normal-looking car with a few sharp lines into a turtle-shaped car. Imagine how radical Gen 2/3 would feel to people then.

 

The only major plus I see so far is the flying buttress is gone. I hate that thing with a passion and was going to trade my 2014 in for the 2016 just to get rid of that thing, but now I'm not so sure. All that white on the floor console really does look like a toilet bowl. I can not unsee Darth Vader when looking at the MFD, and the back end is nasty. I guess I'll need to see it live before I pass final judgment, so I'm neutral now. But that's not good because neutral is not good enough to drive a trade-in.

I see two buttons on opposite sides of the console underneath the shifter white space area that look like they say Hi and Low, but can't make out what it's for... I'm guessing seat ventilation, does anybody know?