2016 Toyota Prius Long-Term Road Test - Introduction

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,316
edited April 2016 in Toyota
image2016 Toyota Prius Long-Term Road Test - Introduction

Edmunds.com has purchased a 2016 Toyota Prius Four Touring to test over the course of 12 months and at least 20,000 miles. We will be testing its fuel economy, interior, comfort, performance, cargo capacity, audio and technology, along with cataloguing any maintenance or repairs that are needed.

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  • zoomzoomnzoomzoomn Member Posts: 143
    I just don't understand why Toyota went so out of their way to build the ugliest car that I've seen in quite some time. Smh.
  • brauchbrauch Member Posts: 19
    zoomzoomn said:

    I just don't understand why Toyota went so out of their way to build the ugliest car that I've seen in quite some time. Smh.

    .... and the plug-in version is even uglier!
  • alsasalsas Member Posts: 7
    This Prius makes the Aztek look beautiful!
  • kirkhilles1kirkhilles1 Member Posts: 863
    Interesting. I'm not really excited about it, but it'll be interesting to see how it holds up for its initial year. Good choice.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    Only took a 10-15 minute test drive in a 2016, but didn't like the interior as much as the 2014 we had as a rental for ~10 days a few months back.
  • aspadeaspade Member Posts: 42
    edited April 2016
    I originally clicked on this to leave a comment about how ugly it is, and it is, but then I saw that Toyota is charging upwards of 30,000 dollars with no incentives in the midst of an oil glut. Are they kidding?

    There's one born every minute.


  • ctpaulctpaul Member Posts: 46
    would there be a federal tax incentive to offset some of that price for an individual buyer?
  • longtimelurkerlongtimelurker Member Posts: 455
    edited April 2016
    "And it's the Prius and the Civic, here today vying for the Edmunds Ugly-Off Overstyling Championship..."

    Styling theme here appears to be the boomerang. One aspect of fun-to-drive is being attractive enough that drivers want to be seen driving it.
  • diondidiondi Member Posts: 71
    aspade said:

    I originally clicked on this to leave a comment about how ugly it is, and it is, but then I saw that Toyota is charging upwards of 30,000 dollars with no incentives in the midst of an oil glut. Are they kidding?

    There's one born every minute.


    Toyota has rarely had incentives for its vehicles - even the Tundra's incentives pale in comparison to the other trucks, and Tundra sales are lagging badly.
  • actualsizeactualsize Member Posts: 451
    longtimelurker said:

    "And it's the Prius and the Civic, here today vying for the Edmunds Ugly-Off Overstyling Championship..."

    Just you wait...

    Twitter: @Edmunds_Test

  • banhughbanhugh Member Posts: 315
    edited April 2016
    brauch said:

    zoomzoomn said:

    I just don't understand why Toyota went so out of their way to build the ugliest car that I've seen in quite some time. Smh.

    .... and the plug-in version is even uglier!
    I find the plug-in version to be better looking, more mainstream and a little agressive. Unlike the new hybrid, it doesn't have the Salvador Dali whiskers for starters!
    Compare this: https://wbfontenot.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/936full-salvador-dali.jpg with this: http://autocontentexp.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/2016-Toyota-Prius-2.jpg
  • misterfusionmisterfusion Member Posts: 471
    edited April 2016
    Obviously I think the 2016 Prius styling is "questionable" at best, and "horrific" at worst, but...my biggest complaint about Toyota for the last 20 years has been their all-encompassing dullness. When it comes to styling (and therefore any attendant emotion or passion), they quite literally stopped trying.

    But then, suddenly, they released this Prius. I do not like the styling personally, but I am so glad that Toyota tried...something. I can respect an interesting failure so much more than yet another unimaginative clone.

    So, simply complaining about the styling -- after 20 years of complaining about the lack of styling -- would make me a hypocrite, I think.
  • cjasiscjasis Member Posts: 274
    I'm curious to see if you find some overwhelming desire to drive like a moron when you're behind the wheel of that god awful ugly contraption like seemingly 80%+ of hybrid/electric car drivers do in S. CA.
  • longtimelurkerlongtimelurker Member Posts: 455
    misterfusion said:

    Obviously I think the 2016 Prius styling is "questionable" at best, and "horrific" at worst, but...my biggest complaint about Toyota for the last 20 years has been their all-encompassing dullness. When it comes to styling (and therefore any attendant emotion or passion), they quite literally stopped trying.

    But then, suddenly, they released this Prius. I do not like the styling personally, but I am so glad that Toyota tried...something. I can respect an interesting failure so much more than yet another unimaginative clone.

    So, simply complaining about the styling -- after 20 years of complaining about the lack of styling -- would make me a hypocrite, I think.

    I agree with you. I don't like the styling, but I think it will be very good at what Prius models do, and I applaud the effort to make it more rewarding to drive.
  • craigo7craigo7 Member Posts: 51
    longtimelurker said:

    misterfusion said:

    Obviously I think the 2016 Prius styling is "questionable" at best, and "horrific" at worst, but...my biggest complaint about Toyota for the last 20 years has been their all-encompassing dullness. When it comes to styling (and therefore any attendant emotion or passion), they quite literally stopped trying.

    But then, suddenly, they released this Prius. I do not like the styling personally, but I am so glad that Toyota tried...something. I can respect an interesting failure so much more than yet another unimaginative clone.

    So, simply complaining about the styling -- after 20 years of complaining about the lack of styling -- would make me a hypocrite, I think.

    I agree with you. I don't like the styling, but I think it will be very good at what Prius models do, and I applaud the effort to make it more rewarding to drive.
    I agree on this too. We test drove one last year and I found it a bit like piloting a shuttle pod. I don't care for the styling but at least it wasn't typical Toyota. The turn off was the cheap materials, blah handling and relatively steep price.
  • nissmazlovernissmazlover Member Posts: 162
    I just can't believe how U-G-L-Y this thing is! And, it's even WORSE in person! Wow. @ZoomZoomN: It DOES seem like they went out of their way to make it hideous. @alsas: HA! So true!

    But, like a previous poster said, at least, Toyota is TRYING. That's more than what could be said about everything they've styled in the last 20 years. And, that's great that they've tried to make it more rewarding to drive, since that's my - and everyone else's - other complaint: Toyotas tend to be very dull to drive.

    @longtimelurker: I'm glad you mentioned the Civic, too! At first, in pics and commercials, I thought it was really good-looking. But, then, in person, it didn't work as much. And, like you said, it's definitely over-styled. But, the Prius, still, is MUCH uglier.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited April 2016
    Oh, I don't know that it's much worse that a lot of other new cars out there. Certainly better than most late 50s cars too. :)

    The interior bugs me more than the exterior.
  • throwbackthrowback Member Posts: 445
    The naming convention for the different trim levels makes no sense. Then again it IS a Prius so it's fans understand i guess. As for the styling, someone at Toyota must of thought it looked good.
  • 5vzfe5vzfe Member Posts: 161
    Ive seen a few in person and right as soon as I start to think I can get used to the front, I see the rear end and quarter panels and they lose me again. it made a pretty big splash when it was announced, so maybe that's what the goal was
  • csubowtiecsubowtie Member Posts: 143
    It's like Toyota is trying to make it look fast and aggressively sporty, at least at the front, but it's a Prius. So now instead of just ugly like the previous versions, it's really ugly and a poser.
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