As far as I'm concerned, they could have emulated VW's beetle days: leave the body exactly as-is, just work on electro/mechanical improvements
If you assume they are the same people, you would be incorrect. The Priuschat boards are filled with widely varying opinions.
It is not the upgrades it is the mediocre styling which puts them off. Of cause you will name anyone a Prius hater, just b/c they are not happy about rear fin tail design
Remember the ol' "where were you when you heard John Kennedy had been shot"? Or for youngsters: "when the Twin Towers were hit?"? How about when you saw the first unwrapped 4th gen pictures? Specifically, what was your first reaction? Personally, it was oh dear, oh no, Wth. Merged. Then with the alabaster white interior, and the in-your-face Darth Vader Multi-Function-Display, it was omg, nononono. And then I noticed the 17" gloss black rims, with their cute lil silver plastic inserts, started to develop a tic.
Personally, I don't generally care what cars look like, but I was glad it isn't as ugly as gen 3. The tail lights and fog lights are still bad, but I've gotten pretty used to the rest. I still see a lot of Hyundai Elantra in the new Prius, as well as other modern Toyota cars. Look at the head lights, fog light areas, side creases, wheels and overall profile:
Yeah, I've started noticing Hyundai, seems like that's where they got a lot of the cues. Sadly. Hey, you calling my car ugly...
What I want to see is tuff testing of the rear. I suspect the tail light cover makes two vorticies that further pull in the airstream behind the trunk. That would help reduce the Cd. Bob Wilson
The Elantra with all its style and lines agreeing with everything else in the design is a well put and thoroughly thought out car. I was surprised how well they were able to pull it and came with a handsome car. The lines you mention on the 4th gen are so lost in the discord I had to look closely to see them. If you look at those lines in isolation and ignore the rest of the car....yeah they might somewhat be similar to the Elantra's. But design is like music... each part/instrument/voice must agree to a targeted overall theme otherwise all you produce is offending noise.
You're saying the Elantra is handsome and the G4 is noise? I can't agree at all. If anything, I prefer the G4 to the Elantra except for the G4's tail lights.
Yup you got it right. Between the two (and I'm comparing only the two because you brought it up), the Elantra came up with the better combination of lights/lines/creases/whatever when it 1st came out. It is kind of dated by now as that style is last gen. But like I said, I was surprised how they were able to make that style work, because i normally am not a fan of that style either. It's like looking at some girls... i might not like their style, but they sure know how to put a wardrobe that still makes them desirable. The G4 has the new kid novelty for now...shiny new tech, shiny new car, shiny new design. But it isn't that well put out compared to how well the previous gen Elantra 1st came out. The sad thing is as current Prius owners, we really want to like it. But it is just too off putting for a lot of us... 46% the last time i peeked at the survey in Priuschat so this isn't just me. This is all subjective opinion so it's ok to disagree.
Have to agree there is a small step btw music and cacophony. G4 issues are not the specific design cues used, but the proportions and overall mismatch. Does saddle look good on a horse? It can. Would it look as good when you put it on cow? Similarly both pretty and ugly people have (for most part) nose, mouth and a pair of eyes and ears. Do they look the same?
I started to like it when I realized that the headlights look like Woody Woodpecker. 2016 Toyota Prius Bi-Beam LED | PriusChat
you can see a lot of Toyota clues in Hyunai cars because Hyundai for a while copied Toyota clues... as a manufacturer, Hyundai so far never made a car that had its own styling. KIA's look a lot better to me, even if they copy European designs more. In any case, neither look anything like Prius which is certainly not mediocre as someone mentioned... it could be hideous but not mediocre.
Like it's big brother, the Sonata, I think the 2016 Elantra is a step backwards. Looks like a cross between a Dodge Dart and a Jellybean.
Maybe the more aggressive styling and quest to sell the Prius to a new/younger demographic is due to current owners hanging onto their Prius longer. Just noticed this in Google news this morning. First owners of Prius tend to hang onto them a long time, only Honda CRV bests it: Toyota Prius Owners Keep Cars Longer Than Any Other Model But One
Maybe; one thing for sure we will not be trading in any of our Prii for Gen4. Maybe after mid-cycle refresh if they fix this monstrosity, or if PiP looks attractive we reconsider. But PiP doesn't really make any sense for us, in current prices it would be cheaper for us not to charge it.
I remember exactly where I was, when it was, and exactly who was in the room with me. When I first saw it, Ultimate Red with tinted windows, I hugged PriusTeam. Since that day, I've been waiting to get one in my garage.
