What I don't like about the 2016 Prius

Tint!

 

Yes, unfortunately, I think a lot are for SHOW!! And unfortunately, a lot of drivers put them on every night, along with their headlights to show their ignorance - and to annoy other drivers who they blind. Often so-called FOGLIGHTS have no focussing at all, just spray light around creating glare for other drivers. I was at the motor accessory shop a while back, and heard some "hot-head" wanting super-bright bulbs for his "fog-lights" - the salesman trying to explain that they would be totally ineffective with 100watt bulbs, but that's what the guy wanted.

RCO is right - though I think it was the design of the beam which was more critical. My experience with the VOLVOs - they had white lights, but they were lower powered, worked without headlights on and had a very flat low facing beam to prevent reflections off the fog.

 

Amber/Yellow lights are fog lights, clear/white lights are driving lights! Today everone just calls these additional lights fog lights. To cut through fog you need amber lights that are low to the ground.

 

It's the shape and spread of the light rather than the colour of the beam.

WIKIPEDIA: "Front fog lamps provide a wide, bar-shaped beam of light with a sharp cutoff at the top, and are generally aimed and mounted low.[14][15] They may produce white or selective yellow light, and were designed for use at low speed to increase the illumination directed towards the road surface and verges in conditions of poor visibility due to rain, fog, dust or snow.

"... The respective purposes of front fog lamps and driving lamps are often confused, due in part to the misconception that fog lamps are necessarily selective yellow, while any auxiliary lamp that makes white light is a driving lamp."

I haven't seen a yellow foglamp for decades, except an occasional add-on, generally on an older car. There used to be some English cars in the '50s and '60s with yellow ones, others had white ones.

 

Yellow lighting is the true fog light color, its still available in Europe where they take driving seriously. Yellow lighting cut better through the fog, and does not bounce back as much as white light against the fog. Wikipedia is not a source to take for fact.

 

I remember yellow fog lights and they were much better than white. Driving lights in the UK are what we used to call spot lights. In UK regulations, the only difference between front fog lights and driving lights nowadays is the position of the lamp. Fog lights are positioned low down, which used to mean below the front bumper on old cars with bumpers, and driving (or spot) lights are positioned higher up (above the bumper on old cars). The front fogs can only be used when visibility is down to less than 300yds (rears 100yds) and can be used with or without headlights. Driving lights can only be used in conjunction with high beam headlights and must go off when dipped beam is selected.

 

It will be interesting to hear from people in areas that get heavy fog at times. The UK? East Coast of the US? San Francisco, California?

Do the LED headlights make it worse?

I had to slow down to 20 mph yesterday in the fog. And the beam of my left headlight looked like it was pointed too high, and angled to the right.

 

after more than 700 'i don't likes', toyota may have to go back to the drawing board.

 

LED's coming at me from the opposite direction. I saw a dozen cars this morning that had their brights on, in the fog. And of course, the thugs and nuts here in California SPEED UP when the weather is bad/raining/foggy. Totally insane.

 

You are correct that so called fog lights nowadays are more for aesthetic style than an effective solution to a meteorological problem.

I like your idea, but worry about human misuse

 

The entire aesthetics as far as lighting front and back are ugly the black piece of plastic separating roof from body ruins the improved sheet metal look. The Japanese engineers just failed aesthetics 101.

 

Can't make everyone happy!

 

I doubt that's going to happen. Might have to eat my words though. Ah, probably be pushing up daisies by then anyway, lol.

 

I see you are replying to this.....Sales of Gas Cars Must End by 2035 to Meet Climate Goals, what does that mean for Prius? And by 2050 all gas cars will be off the roads!!!

 

Did I manage to reply in the wrong thread, lol.

Ok, something was puzzling me about that, so I searched the statement, and I see it's the result of a study. In other words, at least at present there's not a concensus of countries, committed to this:

Sales of Gas Cars Must End by 2035 to Meet Climate Goals, Study Says - Motor Trend

While I doubt this will happen, especially in the time-line, I'm for it. I suspect the ultimate solution will be "hybrid", ie: there will be many more ultra-low emission hybrid vehicles, a lot of pure electric vehicles (especially in urban centres), and big pushes for ubiquitous mass transit.

And we couldn't go wrong, just having a look at the need for all these trips. A lot of people here are doing long daily commutes, how much of this could be reduced with a few concensions, say telecommuting, reduced work week, satellite offices, whatever.

Oh, and go on the hunt for those occasional pollution spewing dinosaurs...

(We're trying to do our bit, under 8000 km's yearly on our Prius now. If it was just me, it'd have to go to someone else in the family, to keep it from rusting up.)

 

....we might see it happen, in the year 8383.

Until then, the big oil company lobbyists are too strong.

 

Its happing under our noses with the current administration and no one seems to realize this impact it will have on the world economy. By 2035 they want all car sales to be autonomouse and by 2050 stop the sale of gas. What does that mean to car collectors, will vintage cars be allowed?!

 

I suspect that in 2050, a vintage 2016 Prius' could be in the same category as trying to drive a horse and cart on a Motorway/Freeway today.

The IMMENSE improvement between say a Model T FORD and a 2000+ car is very obvious, less so the very large improvement since the '50/'60s cars which I stated driving - but to drive one today is an effort and you are instantly aware that the car is 50-70 yrs old. Driving in a 2016 car, it is hard to envision as much improvement between a 2016 car and a 2050 car, but the innovation with say DRCC, Lane Assist etc is just the start of the vast improvements on the horizon, some of which are on high-end Rolls/Mercs/Teslas already.

Over the 2020 horizon will be improved batteries or other forms of storage, improved solar cells (20% now, 50% target), computing power will be unimaginable when (/if) quantum computers actually arrive. Manufacturers are still working on more efficient petrol motors, but, as was mentioned above, they're likely to be more used for longer haul hybrid cars, with EVs being the norm for city cars.

Safety systems will be integrated with autonomous functions, forcing change in the appearance of cars. Look at a 1960s car, compare it with a 2016 car - in appearance, the newer car has bulkier dashboards to incorporate airbags, wider pillars, smaller windows, often higher sills - hence cameras needed for rear vision.

Exciting - but a bit scary - I'll be 97 in 2050, so probably won't see it. But if I'm still around, I won't need to worry - I won't need a licence, just be able to tell my car (or my UBER or share care or whatever) where/when I want to go. And I'll be able to text as much as I like during the journey.

 

Yes I am aware of the differences of a car that was built in the 70's and a current 2016. But for collectors and the aftermarket industry what will this mean for them. Will the government ban all gas and diesel vehicles in 30 years, with CARB states make it impossible to pass smog....like they are trying to doing now. I am all for the environment, but there has to be fairness and logic in place as to what happens to older vehicles in the next 50 years. I am assume SEMA and the aftermarket industry will be fighting this cause for us car collectors. If you are a car Guy or Women you better start thinking about this and get envolved before its too late!

 

I'd certainly hope there are exceptions for this - only about a month ago, an Austin 7 (80-95 yr old) was pottering along the 100km/hr Motorway near here at about 50-55km/hr which I suspect was as fast as it could go. It was actually causing a traffic impediment, but it was good to see it, and the smile on the face of the driver and passenger - but personally, I'd have taken the side road. If there were more than the extremely occasional one on the roads, I'm sure they'd be legislated off the Motorways.

The exceptions could include a limit to driving distances, and to where they can go. I'd suspect that within my lifetime, there will be roads dedicated to "ONLY AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES", like today the Motorways say "No bicycles, Farm Equipment, animals".

In 2050, I wonder what will be considered as a desirable collector car? I can still imagine a '60s Mustang, '50s Finned Caddilac - but wonder if any of the '90s/2000's cars will ever be collectable? I'd hope none of the trucks and SUVs which seem to proliferate on today's roads.