Toyota Prius hybrid was unrivaled. These days many hybrid automobiles are coming out such as Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid, Sonata Hybrid, and Kia Niro, but not many years ago, the choice was limited. Even in city, if people wanted fuel-efficient cars, the choice was the only one, Toyota Prius.
In Korea, the Prius means “unique”. Several years ago, I wrote a story about Prius taxi drivers who drove between Ii-San and Seoul and the story’s main theme was ‘The uniqueness of Prius’. For the same topic, Prius club members opened the lower fuel efficiency contest with the slogan, “Give the fuel cost to the dogs!”
The third-generation (3G) Prius that I am talking today is that kind of being. It came with uniqueness and now it is recognized as a high fuel efficiency car. It’s meaningless to evaluate by its driving performance, exhaust noise, and/or speaker sound system, etc. because people ride Prius only for the fuel economy.
That Prius has been transformed into the new fourth-generation (4G). It’s so-called “Complete transfiguration.” It means changed all of power-train, chassis, and the design, but the new Prius followed what I call Toyota’s “cheapskate” transfiguration. It seems something has been changed but it’s hard to tell what exactly has been changed. Yet, when I take a close look, nothing looks the same, compared to the 3G Prius. Even though 4G has been changed a lot, when the parts was put altogether, 3G and 4G Prius look very similar.
The first impression of the 4G Prius is very strong. I don’t know who on earth designed it, but the strong lines (even enough to be hideous) catch people’s eyes on the road. Of course, the beauty among them is the rear lamps. Red-light lines fall down like a long stretched question mark. Once you see from the back, you will never forget them.
Even its interior design has been changed. Instead of silver plastic materials, designers have chosen white gloss coated plastics. 4G Prius had different intention point from the luxurious leather favored cars. The moment Prius runs, it seems it will make a crush sound by hitting frames and/or surfaces each other, but unlike my imagination, it was firm and solid. Toyota’s assembling skill is the best. So did the past. From the moment of purchasing till 100,000 kilometers driving, none of interior materials has been dislocated.
Someone said the true value of Toyota is durability. To analyze the Prius Hybrid which has a rumor to change the battery, I brought the new and old generation together.
The old generation 2011 Prius is same as the model that imported to Korea in the early days. It’s been driving over 100,000 km and generally managed without any big accidents. The owner complains only the Denso DVD inserting navigation and the non-automatic headlights. Otherwise, he boasts its fuel efficiency, which average 20km per liter, cannot be comparable to any other cars.
The new generation car is the 2016 model. I borrowed the 4G model from Toyota Korea Motors. It’s been driving about 4500km and for this test driving review, I drove extra 300km.
After putting two cars next to each other, they look totally different. I thought the new car wouldn’t have many changes but it’s been changed from the very basic. The new model’s body is low. The heights of the hood and ceiling from the ground are all low. Sitting inside, the seating position is low. The siting posture is similar to the German car’s which I slightly envied. Therefore, even the sidelines have totally different shapes. If I say 3G is more like an oval shape, then here and there, the new car has many pressed points where they are necessary.
Especially, the eyes have been pushed drastically. The sharply torn headlights changed the impression of itself. If 3G was more like nice and naïve characters, the 4G looks sharp as wily. The tail lights have elongated shapes that penetrate and come down to the rear bumper, and the double rear glasses trunk, the symbol of Prius, are still remained same. Because of it, the back sight divides into top and bottom.
After I took pictures of their front shots and compounded them together, the difference came out clearly. The bottom of the front bumper has the same heights, however, the new model was lowered the location of the air intake, license plate, and emblem. So was the edge of the hood. The roof of body also seems lower slightly.
The arrangement of engine-room has been changed, too. The huge batter which located horizontally is changed vertically and the inhalation design is changed totally new. It has more front projecting shape by adding more space for preventing the hitting against pedestrians.
On the road, they have more clear differences. The new Prius was decreased its noise and vibration and the lower body became stronger. Now it can be a stable driving like a small and midsize sedan.
Closing the doors, the 3G Prius generates some weird clap sounds, however, the 4G is sturdy. The heavy doors give safe and stable feelings to the passengers.
Pressing the smart key, I get on the new Prius with Toyota’s ‘beep’ sound. When I click the start button, the ‘READY’ light comes up. The 3G Prius is applied the ECO, the basic driving mode, however the 4G Prius is applied the previous setting mode. After the half driving, I drove on the ‘Power’ mode. That mode generates a strong power to outdistance normal vehicles. Except the transmission is a CVT, everyone can feel a pretty good pleasure of speeding.
As the new navigation contained many buttons, the interior became clean and the central console, shaped the center tunnel, has been disappeared. The Prius became more similar to other common cars. In fact, the general motor vehicles also have similar sharp and uniqueness of Prius. Now the aim of cars may be merged together.