I def appreciate the attempts to make it more modern and interesting looking. I was worried about how insanely raked the windshield was in the teaser pic, and I’m still worried after seeing the photos above. Is the car very high (other articles imply that it’s not), or will medium and tall drivers need to push the seat back so far to clear the windshield header that there won’t be much backseat space? Does the steering wheel telescope insanely far (I say this b/c I’m tall but have relatively short arms). Does the steering wheel block much of the gauge cluster?
I also just don’t love hidden rear door handles (b/c, in most cars, it ends up shouting “cheap” a la CH-R and previous gen HR-V).
But, overall, I do think this is an improvement. And I hope the US cars have the same power ratings as the Japanese ones do!
It’s still mind-blowing that even with the slowdown in popularity over the last few years, Toyota has sold more Prius (Prii?) than all Tesla models combined. It really was the OG for mass-market efficient driving, and if they can make it look this cool - I’m all for it.
Let’s hope they actually make enough to meet demand so it’s not a 5k markup! I will sell the sh!t out of these things at msrp. At a 26k starting price this is a no brainer over the 23k corollas.
Back during the height of the car shortage… I saw numerous new Priuses here in Florida. They were one of the few cars that were not flying off the lots. They seemed overpriced and underwhelming to drive but weirdly… my race car friend loves his. He’s a hypermiler on the streets.
In comparison, one late afternoon I was looking to test drive a RAV4 and the dealer said they had sold 12 that day and had nothing on the lot not marked as sold.
What I want and probably thousand others want is a Corolla Cross PHEV
I think the plugin has the potential to really be the best of the bunch. Assuming it starts around $30k (about $1k more than the outgoing model) and is eligible for the $7,500 tax credit. Then you have a sub $25k car that should get 50mpg after using it’s 25 miles of electric range. And in that price range 1. Most of the people buying it will be under household income cap and 2. The gas savings are actually material to overall cost.
But of course this all depends on Toyota building enough of them to avoid huge mark ups. These are less profitable than a highlander or RAV4 so I understand why it’s not their priority.
The one interior picture shows a digital instrument cluster similar to the one in the 2023 Toyota bZ4X. The steering wheel seems to obstruct the view of the instrument panel, like it does in the bZ4X. The bZ4X was originally rumored to come with a yoke steering wheel, which would have alieviated the problem. I wonder if Toyota is/was considering using a yoke steering wheel in Prius.
Toyota has not been building any of its plug in hybrid models in North America. Unless that changes, they will not be eligible for any federal tax credit. This impacts the Prius, RAV4, NX, and RX plug in hybrid models.
