Unless this car has incredible electric car performance, I don't see the big deal and I don't see the reason for buying this over a standard I4 car like the Camry

 

Why can't this car be looked at like a Volt rather than a Porsche 918?

 

I like the look.

The rear peek-a-boo window in the hatch reminds me of the Honda Crosstour which went the way of the Dodo bird.

Will it have a Chinese engine like the Rav4 Hybrid?

 

Here is my big problem with the Prius. For such a high premium, you are not getting much more car for the money aside for the better fuel economy compared to a Camry or a Corolla. And you are not getting much better performance when it comes to driving. If the Prius had sub 7-8 seconds acceleration times to 60MPH along with fuel economy benefits, then I could see the value.

 

High premium? The Camry starts at $23k and the Prius starts at $24k. Not a huge difference.

MPG? Camry is 29 mpg combined for the 4-banger and the Prius is 52mpg combined. HUGE difference.


And although you care about performance, the Prius could care less. You surely are not its target market.

 

but you owned a CT200h because you saw value in that????? 9.8 0-60 42mpg combined and a huge premium over Camry

 

when i see the name i keep thinking optimus prime.

 

And performance of the Hybrid Camry is 7.6 seconds 0-60mph and still it gets decent fuel economy. The Prius just seems to be such a high cost for such a slow car.

 

Transformers special edition stay tuned!

 

Geez, this is what the standard Prius should have looked like. What's the thinking Toyota??

Front and rear styling so much better.

 

Same body, different front fascia, rear hatchback (carbon fibre + double bubble rear glass) and rear fascia to better distinguish the plug-in version from the regular version. Currently, it's just some extra silver trim, clear taillights and different alloys. To the casual observer, it's easy to miss (or just assume someone modified their Prius).

Toyota wanted to maintain the 52mpg combined on the new Prime. In order to do that, it decided to save weight by removing the 5th passenger capacity. By doing so, they can avoid adding structural reinforcements required if the car was to be certified as a 5-passenger.

Adaptive LED high beam won't be available in the U.S.

 

No, not likely. The Prius V is actually the largest Prius...a sort of small station wagon.

 

so i'm still trying to understand this model... it's basically a regular prius with a nice makeover in and out, is that right?

certainly looks a billion times better than regular prius, here:
http://www.toyota.com/upcoming-vehicles/prius-prime/

 

...a Prius with a much larger, plug-in battery to give much greater (but still shorter than Volt) EV range.

 

that's over 3" higher, and reg prius isn't roomy for cargo to begin with. hard to know why they bother.

because it isn't like a volt, which is ONLY driven by the electric motor, with the ice only there as a generator.

thanks. looks like it may have 2 batteries? one charged by hybrid and other charged by a plug?

regardless, there's just so much complexity with so little utility (2+2, cargo good for a couple of pizzas only), and so little benefit vs cost it's just hard to fathom the value.

a rav4 hybrid seems a hugely better value.