What are your thoughts on the Gen. 4 Prius?

Been driving the Prius now for a little over 2 months. Can get 72mpg on the way to work but the fillup verified average comes out pretty close to the gauge at around 56mpg. As someone said, the looks kinda grow on you (a little at a time) so getting used to that. Maybe it's just my foot, but the brakes seem just as touchy as my previous 2005 prius, tending to grab harder than expected at times. I've also had darth vader reboot over a dozen times, usually within the first 20sec of starting the car. Has anyone discussed the windshield? It's supposed to be IR cut and very light. On my previous car I had a number of dings on the windshield. Last night one stone from a dump truck 1/4" from the edge left a 7in long splinter in my windshield making a replacement necessary. First nick destroys windshield?! I generally am pretty happy with the new version but just wanted to ask, has anyone else had a windshield issue? Also, I had heard sounds like a rock hitting the windshield when it was cold and there were no cars around. Seemed like due to expansion and I mentioned on Toyota survey. Anyone else?

 

congrats and welcome! this is the first windshield talk i recall, will be interesting to follow. all the best!

 

Are you going to insist on Toyota replacement glass? Even though you had a bad experience with this one - I think that is what I would do...

 

If you have the HUD, make sure it's Toyota glass.

 

Yes. I told the insurance company it'll be done at the dealer because I wanted it all in original condition and because I was worried if it was replaced anywhere else it would be their first look at this model and who knows what kind of glass they would use. I can of course see the crack and it gives me the impression that glass is very thin.

 

No HUD on the Touring...

 

The one thing I requested that I didn't get. There is alot to play with in this car. Getting glass coverage thru insurance company after this as this time have to pay deductible. Not fair! Can't dump trucks have their own roads?

 

I would highly recommend that a person considering a new 2016 Prius, first go out and rent one for a week. (Especially if you've never driven or owned a hybrid before.) Be patient, wait until the rental companies have the 16's in inventory, and give it a thorough, week-long test drive over various kinds of roads, various speeds, hills, etc.

I should've taken my own advice. I'm not sure I would've bought one. Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not a hater. I'm not here to bash a hybrid car that has a nice 15+ year record of reliable performance and great gas mileage. But driving a Prius does take some getting used to. And owning a car for the long-term, is more than just getting good gas mileage.

A few observations from a newbie Prius owner/Old Guy:
For me, the Prius seems really small. I fit in the driver's seat ok, but I don't think any adult will be comfortable in the back seat (for very long.) Nobody (other than a 5 yr old) can sit behind me, with the driver's seat being all the way back. And me, being 6'-4", I can't sit back there at all! There's nowhere to put my head!

I really miss the big trunk of my Camry. And the big back seat. I hauled all kinds of large stuff in that Camry. The hatchback area of my Prius is tiny! A few bags of groceries fills it up. Being a tall man, I now realize how low the car is, and it's difficult for me to enter & exit through the door; and I just kind of fall into the seat. (And getting out is even worse.) I can't adjust the height of the driver's seat while sitting in it... I guess I'm too heavy? (That's embarrassing!) So I have to perform this dance of jumping in & out several times, to get the height right. And after all that, the darn seat slowly starts to deflate or whatever, and after a couple days I'm back to pumping it up again. Frustrating. Overall, It's just not a very supportive seat for a big guy.

Does the air conditioning get cold enough for you guys? I'm dreading our long hot upcoming summer. I have the AC set on normal (not Eco) and I have the temp set all the way down to 62 degrees... So where's the cold air?! My old Camry would shoot ice out of the vents! No so with my new PreEye.

And lastly, and I've beat this subject to death, sorry, but the tire noise/road noise/cabin noise is much louder than I expected from a brand new, completely redesigned, 2016 Prius with a state-of-the-art Global Platform. (You long-time veteran Prius owners of previous Gens, you probably don't even notice the loudness. You're accustomed to it, or something.) I can deal with it around town, running errands and such. But any longer drives on the highway/freeway, really starts to grate on my nerves. The cabin noise is very irritating. I finally got ahold of my salesman, and he said he's heard a few complaints from other customers. He checked with the service dept guys, and there's really nothing that can be done... other than just trying a different brand of tires. But even with different tires, I still feel there is inadequate cabin insulation on the '16 Prius. Just one man's opinion.

Ending on a positive note, those WHITE BRIGHT LED headlights and daytime driving lights are wonderful.
And of course, the 58 to 61 mpg is fantastic. (I only got 17 in my Camry.) So, I just consider my new Prius to be a good economy car... a good little runabout, so to speak. It's gets me from A to B just fine. Over time, we'll see how it all holds up. I'll change the oil every 10K or once a year; maybe rotate the tires once a year, throw in a new air filter when it's dirty, keep the tires properly inflated... and I'm good to go!
Keep life simple.

~The White knight

(A good selling point: As I said to the salesman, "Tell all your customers, that if a big tall guy weighing 250 lbs, can easily fit in the Prius driver's seat... ANYBODY can fit!")

 

I know I've already stated it but I didn't own a Prius (or a car with loud road noise) and we've done at least one day drive which was 2 hours each way and I found it lovely. I'm sorry to hear you have a different experience.

I wish I could say it got hot enough to use the AC but honestly, I rarely use the AC unless it is blistering. I rather open the windows if possible. Also for me, I had a much larger trunk (but tiny backseat) and at first the hatch felt tiny but it seems pretty good for my purposes. I almost wish the car was smaller but not sure how that'd be achieved other than a smaller backseat. Not that anyone other than my dogs uses the backseat.

That sucks. For my first car, I had a similar thing happen (it was a ford). Since then, I try to stay far far away from those dump trucks.

 

Coastcruiser I see from some of your posts that you and Penelope have a love/hate relationship.

You bring up some really good points that I want to comment on too. I'm comparing things with my Gen 3 2010 Prius.

• Rear seat room - this is something that almost turned me away from the car during my first test drive at another Toyota dealership (not the one I bought from). I'm only 5'7" and when I sat behind myself my knees almost touch the front seat. If you look at the specs, rear legroom went from 36" to 33.4" ! My old Prius has an almost Camry-like rear seat.
  
• Trunk - to me the real trunk of the Prius is when you fold down the rear seats. Then what you have is almost a minivan or SUV! But if concealing your cargo from prying eyes is a concern, then yes the trunk of the Camry wins for covered cargo area.
• A/C - Our weather hasn't really gotten hot yet, but the other day I turned on the A/C and it seemed to take longer to get cold. This is compared to my Gen 3. Now I think the system is fully capable of cooling the car, but Toyota has just tweaked it to be more efficient and that means 'stingier' with cold air. There are a couple of things we can experiment with in this regard. First try changing that setting for 'driver priority' in the MID menu for A/C. Secondly, there is a setting in the service menu to change the calibration of the HVAC temperature control. Either have your dealer do it, or get one of those Caristas. (I just ordered it from amazon.)
• Noise at highway speed - As an owner of a Gen 3 who is intimately familiar with all the sounds of my Prius after 5 years of driving, I would bet that most of your complaint about noise is due to the tires. I can identify the tire noise and filter it out, and I will say that Toyota has definitely tamed a lot of the body noise (resonance), wind and drivetrain sounds compared to Gen 3. Even though these tires may be noisy, they would be even louder on a Gen 3 Prius. That is something I learned from 3 sets of tires on her. The current set is the best -- Michelin Energy Saver all season. They have also not gotten that noisy over time either. I originally bought them for the fuel savings (which they are great for) but they really impressed me with their overall traction and lower noise level than the Continentals I had before. If I get my Gen 3 back from repair, I'm tempted to swap the Michelins onto my new car and see what it does to the noise. My gut feeling is that the 2016 Prius with noisy tires is still quieter than the 2010 with good tires. We shall see.
• LED headlights - I agree that they're nice looking and really help me to see well. When I see how bright they are I wonder if it is blinding some other drivers. But fortunately nobody has blinked their lights at me yet. Anyone flash their lights at you yet?

 

Thanks Jim for the good comments and helpful information. Especially the Michelin tire info. It seems that Michelin is leading the list for alternative replacement tires. What brand of tire came on your Silver Lining, Jim? Mine are the Toyo Nanoenergy A29.

No, I haven't had anyone flash their lights at me. But there is another conversation here, about that very subject. The owner said he has adjusted the headlight aim down a bit. Thanks again.

~The White Knight

 

I've owned garages for so long I keep forgetting this point. Yeah, a BEV owner without a garage can best be described as "a bit slow on the uptake." I've read truly bizarre accounts of how people finagle and scrape along with "opportunity charging" or workplace chargers, etc., and they just make no sense. A car is a long term capital outlay, and making that kind of investment in a BEV based on the presumption of access to a contingent web of charging opportunities is the act of a fool or a green/BEV ideologue.

So yes, on that score alone, a BEV is not a practical option for even more people. I love 'em, but they're not for everybody or every use case.

Coming straight from a Gen2, yes, the Gen4 is less roomy with less useful storage. I've no idea what motivated Toyota to take it in such an impractical direction. The car in its current form is perfectly useful (far more so than a Volt, even the new one), and more than adequate for our purposes, but the loss of so much utility seems a tacit admission on Toyota's part that the car's mission is more economy and style than effective transportation of people/cargo. I know it's not meant to be a van, but the Gen2 was really more car, and for some Gen2 owners this won't be enough - perhaps time to consider a v.

This was what really put me on the fence. We finally decided it was acceptable, but not by a lot, and definitely the toughest car I've had to enter/exit since my 1983 Nissan Pulsar (but hey, I wasn't even 25 back then!). Any car I've had since then that sat nearly as low lacked aggressive side bolsters on the front seats, which clearly add to the Gen4's problem.

We bought this car intending to keep it a long time. We do really enjoy it, and there really isn't anything else on the market that appeals all that much for now, but time and circumstance may motivate us to trade this one well before we drive it into the ground. To those Gen2/3 owners concerned about CC's comments above and with plenty of good miles ahead, my advice would be to wait for the Gen2 Prius v - it might be a better compromise.

 

2 years ago, came out to my 2011 Prius after work to find an 18" crack in my windshield. No recollection of a rock hit to cause that. Here's where it gets interesting.

I chose a local glass shop to replace it. They recommended the brand Pilkington (which is found on many new cars). I had been looking over my original windshield ahead of time. I looked at the Pilkington windshield brought in for my car and found ....
the rear view mirror mount tab (on the windshield) was NOT in the place it is on the original Toyota glass, it was at least an inch or so lower down the windshield (on the Pilkington). I am tall, I don't want the friggen rearview mirror hanging lower. I said, nope, don't want that glass, they looked at my original windshield and saw how it is different. They said, doesn't matter, I said, sure as heck does to me. Parted ways.

Bit shaken up, but found my way to the massive Safelite depot nearby. They brought out a Prius windshield (and to be sure, it was the one without electrochromatic mirror which is correct for my car). Same damn thing: Mirror mount lower. I had noticed the electrochromatic mirror does mount lower down the windshield (slightly below the dotted area), but I know how mine is. I fingured the aftermarket makers cut corners and put the mirror tab in same location for electrochrome or non windshield.
I didn't get involved with Safelite.

I found another vendor, All Star Glass, larger than the first place, but smaller than the massive Safelite behemoth. I had All Star bring in a PGW (Pittsburgh Glass Works) windshield. Again, it had mirror mount lower. Flabergasted, I caved and let them install it.....

Tell you what. It sucked. The glass just seemed distorted. I looked up the DOT number to find out it was manufactured in China. I hated that windshield and I complained and made a case back to my AAA rep. Finally, they caved and said, alright, we've got you approved for 'dealer glass' (code for Toyota OEM windshield)

You see, cheapo windshields like (some PGW's) cost about $250.

Windshields from the Toyota dealer are more like $1,000. No wonder insurance companies really don't want to pay for that. They will if car is less than 2 years old, as AAA told me. Anyhow, we got the Toyota glass, put it in and that was that. But what a pain in the nice person 2 week ordeal. I'd be PO'd getting hit by someone else cause to me that instantly spells battle to get car fixed decently. I'm aware the auto repair industry has knock-off, copy, non original spec parts at different prices. Many are made to 'look like' or be 'just as good' as the original, but in some cases they aren't nearly as good as original parts. Don't mean to be negative, but I had very close experience with a radiator company that sold made in China, cheapo radiators (Silla Automotive) that look like originals, but problem is the materials and construction are not as good as original parts and hence those cheapo radiators sometimes leak after short periods of time.... to be expected for, i.e., Camry radiator sold to repair shop for meager $60.

For above reason, I prefer to get a nice car repaired at dealer (if I can afford it) because independent shops, I think, usually use aftermarket parts, some get better parts. Others get the cheapest crap-nice person parts they can get to repair your car.

btw, Toyota glass is (I think almost always) made by Asahi Glass Company (or Inc.) in Japan, not China.

Look up DOT numbers for windshields and it will tell you where manufactured and there are MANY mfrg locations.

The front seatback(s) are very nice, but the bottom cushion is eco-box to me: Kinda small, narrow, short. Good if you got the shorter legs, but not so much for long legs (which doesn't make so much sense because there is quite a fricken bit of driver legroom in the gen4 Prius). But, let's remember, these things are designed and manufactured in Japan, and I don't think there are many Japanese men that wear 34+ inch inseam pants.

Toyota was looking to save weight wherever they could in gen4 Prius, so they were motivated to make smaller front seat cushions.
Some people like to throw around the notion that 'seat fit is personal' and it can be, but who the heck would prefer to sit in a smaller seat anywhere, in a living room, car, wherever? Unless their legs are so short they can't fit over edge of the seat. There are adjustable headrests. Might take til year 2050 for automakers to wake up and put a simple (manually) adjustable driver legrest in lower priced cars.

Oh geez, seriously? Gen2 was 'more car'??

The gen2 should have had a Neon sign on steering wheel saying, you, the driver should be 5 ft 9 in or less to safely drive this car. There is no friggen head room in that POS unless you get weird and lean the seat halfway down.

And all this stuff about, oh, gen4 is so hard to get into. Seriously? Just raise the stinkin' driver's seat, problem solved. The roof on gen4 is not lower than a gen2. They just finally POSITIONED the driver's seat so that it can lower far down if you want. But, it still raises up high, hint.

And someone else was saying the gen4 has less rear legroom. Well, duh, because the driver's seat can go lower and slide back farther than previous gens. What to do? Slide it forward and raise it up, problem solved.

WTH is wrong with people these days? Toyota puts in more adjustability to the driver's seat and some are all thrown off by it.

Let's see, the gen4 is missing an underfloor cargo tray. ok. How many sedans have that? None. And can't get as much cargo room in a trunk sedan.

 

I had a very similar and frustrating experience with a Lexus I had a few years back. Small pit from a stone. My wife did not want the windshield repaired - wanted it replaced. Becasue of the rain-sensing capability, I wanted Lexus glass. They made me repair it first and then tell them that it wasn't good enough and then they relented and let the dealership change it out with Lexus glass. $1,200.00 dollars.

 

My wife pays for the car insurance and got full glass coverage. I have replaced three windshields over the years. Two on the same vehicle within the same year. I have used Safelite happy so far.

 

I'm 5'7 and the seat comes almost all the way to my knees. Considering the average height of women is 5'7 (and I know many in the 4'11 range), I'd say the seat seems to be good for the average person and could potentially be too big for someone with short legs. I also think the seat is pretty good, comfortable and pretty on par with every other car I've driven. I actually really like the seat.

 

Yes, seriously, it was, especially the back seat. The Gen2 certainly wasn't a better car - I much prefer driving the Gen4, which is why I didn't give it a pass and lease a v. We've had the Gen2&4 side by side for a couple of weeks. The config w/spare tire (we have a Three) seems to have no more trunk space, perhaps a bit less in terms of what's usable for us, and the back seat is quite a bit tighter with the front seats positioned exactly the same for us on both cars, so "adjustability" has nothing to do with it.

No hint needed, Mr. Condescension - you really must be surrounded by simpletons where you live to assume such dimwittedness on the part of others. My wife jacked the seat all the way up on day one, still no comparison with ingress/egress of the Gen2 (haven't taken a ruler to it, so perhaps the bolsters are a big factor). I know - I've done it many times, back to back (though for driving position, I do prefer it a bit lower than she does). I can't imagine how you could not have perceived this for yourself. Perhaps you're just too busy hurling invective at others, to wit . . .

As noted, that's not the problem, but believe what you like. I'm the buyer living with the car after owning its Gen2 predecessor for over a decade, you're the critic that's loudly declared you'll never buy it, so I've no idea where this vigorous defense came from. As for WTH is wrong with everyone who isn't you, that's very hard for lesser mortals to judge, so I guess you'll have to figure that out for yourself. I've grown used to your frequently snide tone, so take no personal offense at the above (that's not a challenge - I'm sure you could manage to offend with minimal effort, so no need to prove it, thanks).

 

Finally saw my first 2016 Prius on the road in Massachusetts. It was on the Mass Pike near Auburn. Only saw the back end and some of the side. It was Sea Glass Pearl and a non touring model. Had 15" wheels. Nice!

 

you're one up on me.