Prius looks like the Aztec ?

Yes, the rear hatch sections are definitely similar in design - I used to own matching Azteks. My wife and I agree - the Prius has the nice person of a Tek and the face of a Sienna. The only difference is the Tek had a fold out part of the rear hatch like a tailgate with molded plastic for your nice person and drink holders. This tailgate was a pain sometimes when you needed to reach in deep to get something, but had to climb inside instead.

I'll admit, for a GM product, those two vehicles were very well put together and we didn't have any problems with them - and yes, Malorn, after all the bad-mouthing of domestic products I've done, it's hard to admit this. If it weren't for the poor fuel consumption and painful seats, we'd probably still own them!

Habel - glad you pointed out the Picasso. We rented and drove one around France this last summer. It's a unique vehicle - and selling like crazy over there. I'm a very hugh Citroen fan!

 

Absolutey the Prius looks like a smaller Aztec. That's one reason I bought it.
The Aztec is about the only good looking US car I've noticed since the Edsel.

 

I used have an Aztek too replaced with a vibe After being in the shop more times than I can count and only 28K on it 4 years old and no warranty having it quit every other day and they couldn't find a problem with it. It was time to trade down to a vibe its ashame that a $30K suv can't even make it to 36,000 miles!!!!!. No wonder GM in sinking fast my last one for a long time if not forever!!! But the vibe does get about 10mpg more thats always a plus But anywhoo the prius really has more leg room front and rear than the Aztek just not as wide.

 

Skew - it's a shame that you had so many problems with it.

I forgot to add that the shape of the rear of the Aztek and Prius is also similar to my Insight. That's 3 vehicles I've owned with that design.

Anyone remember this particular year LeMans?...it too had that shape.

 

To me, an Aztec looks like a Prius that they stretched vertically. The Prius looks natural, and the Aztec looks a little misproportioned.

 

What do you think GM did with all of the Aztecs they couldn't sell - they ran them through the car wash and all of the lookalikes came out. Of course the Prius looks similar to the Aztec, you can't deny it, only Toyota designers did it with style.

 

That's a Picasso? But all the parts are where they should be - that doesn't look right at all.

 

Way, way back, in the Paleozoic period of 2nd Generation Priuses, I actually confused an Aztek with a Prius.

This was over 2 years ago -- back when the 04' Prius had just come out (Oct. 2003), and even in North Seattle, you had to look long and hard to spot one. I'd been thinking about replacing my car with a Prius, but hadn't seen enough of them to be able to spot one "in the wild".

Anyway, I was in Ballard, and glimpsed an Aztek pulling into a parking lot, and mistook it for a Prius.

"Oh my God!," I thought, "It's ugly -- and huge! And I had such hopes..."

Luckily, I spotted a real Prius a couple of days later, and after a while my mistake became clear.

(In those days, I would also sometimes mistake a Ford Focus hatchback for a Prius, if I only saw if from the front.)

 

I remember reading something in an article about why the Aztec was considered ugly. The theory was that the car lacked a certain subliminal human facial character that buyers look for when shopping for cars. In other words, buyers like to see a face when they look at the front of their cars and when looking at the face of the Aztec people tended to see Quasimodo. :blink:
Well, it's just a theory but lending some credence to it, I have to say that I think the front end is the least appealling side of the Aztec.

 

I can see similarities between the exterior shape of the 2, especially from the back (hatch). However, the Aztec is all boxy angles and the Prius is all sexy, aerodynamic curves.

 

So am I 2hybrids - they have had many avantgarde models over the years - sometimes far ahead of the competition, both designwise and technically.

:lol: I had the european version of this many years back,- the Opel Kadett GSi

[Broken External Image]:http://www.opelmotorsport.com/galleri/kadett/kjell/kjell2.jpg

 

Oh, yes...sexy, aerodynamic curves...what? wrong thread? Sorry, my mind is still on the priusex discussion.

 

Having thoughts of Angelina again, are we??

 

Actually, no. I think AJ's 15 minutes are up. Masha's my new distraction. (check out the pics in the other thread, which are the tamest I could find, btw)