2016 Toyota Prius- Now even uglier then before!

[Dan]

They've got to meet an aero profile as close as possible to the perfect teardrop. Letting the roof drop any more steeply than that produces a lot of turbulence and drag where the air separates from the roof.

Couldn't they make the roofline blend into the rear of the car, below or directly at the bottom the driver's sight, or would that affect the aerodynamics too much?

How bad the visibility is depends entirely on the car. My first-gen Insight has it too, but because the car is low, you get a perfectly good view out of the top part of the screen. And the divide in the middle is perfectly placed to blank out the headlights of tailgating cars...

"I would gladly give up aerodynamics for visibility" is a bit of a mushy statement though. Arguably the visibility that matters most is out the front and side windows first, followed by over-the-shoulder (since it's much more dangerous passing than it is to be followed by something), and then out the back. Provided your rear view isn't blocked entirely (which it isn't in those cars with divided windows), there's little wrong with biasing that area of the car towards aero.

I've only driven sedans so far, so I personally wouldn't know about the rear visibility in hybrids. I guess blocking the headlights of tailgating cars is a bonus, although it was probably unintended by the designers. Can you see the turn signal with that pillar if the car isn't in your side mirror?

Unless of course your real objection is styling and you're trying to dress it up in practicality concerns... in which case, different strokes for different folks I guess.

I was more concerned about safety than styling.

 

[R5]

I think I've found the perfect description of the car:

Low emission traded for visual pollution

He really hates it

 

[homeforsummer]

I've only driven sedans so far, so I personally wouldn't know about the rear visibility in hybrids. I guess blocking the headlights of tailgating cars is a bonus, although it was probably unintended by the designers.

Oh, absolutely. But a result is a result. Like I said, some are better than others - a CR-Z is harder to see out the back of than my Insight, for instance - but in general they're not as bad as you'd expect. It depends on the size of the car, how much glass is actually present in the first place (quite a lot in the Insight, relative to the size of the car) and how low you sit in relation to the glass.

Can you see the turn signal with that pillar if the car isn't in your side mirror?

Do you mean of a car behind? Probably not if they're sitting up your chuff, though I can't think of many scenarios where that would be a safety issue. Perhaps an inconvenience for a following car, if you were sitting in traffic, couldn't see they wanted to squeeze past you and that such a thing would be facilitated by you moving forward a few inches.

The only time I really want to know about something behind me is if I'm sitting at a red light and a car is fast approaching. Generally you can see that even with a split screen, and in reality it's no greater problem than it is in something like an Impreza with a big wing on it.

 

[unit-one]

comparison
Looks very aggressive!

 

[Dan]

I hate to say this, but the older ones looked far better.

 

[homeforsummer]

comparison
Looks very aggressive!

From a distance it doesn't look too bad

Interesting seeing the progression. The first-gen was clearly an experiment more with the technology than aerodynamics. Second-gen defined the shape, third-gen refined it and fourth-gen is trying to do something new without straying too far from the formula.

I'm surprised nobody has yet gone down the modification route with the first-gen yet. The 2nd and 3rd-gen cars have both been worked upon, but I feel like the first car would respond really well to the usual drop/wheels/colour etc. It doesn't look like a hybrid, which you'd think would attract people now they're cheaper.

 

[Robin]

If I was a Toyota executive and the design team brought those images to me, I'd either burst out laughing or shout "Are you kidding me?!" Good god this car is horrendous. I'm not looking forward to seeing this on the road, but then again, I can't say I liked any of the past versions.

Goes to show that car designers are often so self absorbed that they don't have a clue. How do people have this job (a desirable one at that) and get away with stuff like this?

I had no idea the front overhung that far out in-between lights, those shots of it in the plane made the front look reasonably OK but seeing the other angles the front is pretty bad. I still think the rear is kinda cool is a futuristic way but again it is way to overdone, too many angles.

 

[YSSMAN]

Honestly.

On the one hand, I don't find the car to be anywhere near as bad as how everyone's reacting to it. On the other, man, it really seems like Toyota has given up the ghost when it comes to competent design and features people want inside a car. I've got a bad habit of liking things simply because they're different, and I feel like this Prius fits in that category... When I should like it because its good, inside and out.

My guess is that Toyota is starting to feel the heat from other Hybrid offerings, and they felt like they needed to crank it up. With them touting better handling and more MPGs, it seems like they want it to be a better car all around, not as much of a "Hey, look at this!" car it has been in the past. I'm good with that. But if I'm dropping $30k on a new Hybrid/Electric, Toyota will need to do a much better job of convincing me the Prius is the one to go for over the Chevrolet Volt, let alone the wide variety of others out there today.

Let's be honest. I'd have the Chevy anyway.

 

[niky]

Couldn't they make the roofline blend into the rear of the car, below or directly at the bottom the driver's sight, or would that affect the aerodynamics too much?

Only if the car were longer.

There's a template, one I'm sure @homeforsummer is familiar with, here:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/tool-aero-template.php

Which you can line up against a side view of any car to see how close to perfect the flow of the roof and rear glass are. You'll find that many new sedans are very close or even bang on to the template.

But hatches, not so much:

A hatch can't do that, not without the odd liftback the Prius and Volt have. A straight roof would be too tall. A coupe-like roof too low. Thus, the Prius. And it appears this new Prius is even closer to the template than the old one.

You want to get as close as possible, then you add a lip spoiler to "kick" the air up to create a "virtual" tail that more closely hits the template.

TL;DR: Hatch too high to be optimum shape. Coupe too low. Ergo, you get that tall liftback with the split window.

Trying to see the best from the worst...

It's no accident. Toyota is working with a very specific "family look" which means that certain features are inevitable.

-

The problem here is, the designers have chosen to almost completely work around the basic body shape than with it.

Those cheater panels that bleed the rear glass into the roof and pillars, for example, are an example of truly lazy auto design. This is the same thing that afflicts the Chevy Spark. Where the design was penned without thought as to the practicality of the shapes, then the car was re-skinned to meet the design, rather than the design re-worked to fit the car.

 

[Dan]

Only if the car were longer.

There's a template, one I'm sure @homeforsummer is familiar with, here:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/tool-aero-template.php

Which you can line up against a side view of any car to see how close to perfect the flow of the roof and rear glass are. You'll find that many new sedans are very close or even bang on to the template.

But hatches, not so much:

A hatch can't do that, not without the odd liftback the Prius and Volt have. A straight roof would be too tall. A coupe-like roof too low. Thus, the Prius. And it appears this new Prius is even closer to the template than the old one.

You want to get as close as possible, then you add a lip spoiler to "kick" the air up to create a "virtual" tail that more closely hits the template.

TL;DR: Hatch too high to be optimum shape. Coupe too low. Ergo, you get that tall liftback with the split window.



It's no accident. Toyota is working with a very specific "family look" which means that certain features are inevitable.

-

The problem here is, the designers have chosen to almost completely work around the basic body shape than with it.

Those cheater panels that bleed the rear glass into the roof and pillars, for example, are an example of truly lazy auto design. This is the same thing that afflicts the Chevy Spark. Where the design was penned without thought as to the practicality of the shapes, then the car was re-skinned to meet the design, rather than the design re-worked to fit the car.

Wow. Thanks for clearing that up. 👍

 

[RVDNuT374]

While the last gen Prius was at least passable, the 2016 Prius gets this rating from me:

 

[mustafur]

What about the Panamera Shape, resembles some kind of middle ground between the coupe and liftback style but allows plenty of head room.

 

[MoLiEG]

I don't know how they are expecting to sell that... thing (because I refuse to call it car) here in México. Just looking at it is painful .

 

[homeforsummer]

What about the Panamera Shape, resembles some kind of middle ground between the coupe and liftback style but allows plenty of head room.

I suspect that was done more to make the Panamera look like a 911-alike than it was for aero.

 

[JohnBM01]

On Automobile Magazine's Facebook fan page, I said that even the Nissan Juke looks better than this new Prius. The most brutal view of this car is from the rear. The Prius will still probably be sold and loved for its practicality. However, who would want to get next to such a horrid-looking machine? Toyota did a great job with designing the latest Camry and the latest Corolla- two great-selling Toyotas; why screw up the Prius? Back to the drawing board, Toyota...

 

[niky]

I suspect that was done more to make the Panamera look like a 911-alike than it was for aero.

Indeed. The rear doesn't seem the optimum shape. I'd wager the 5GT is closer to it.

Of course, they both look hideous from the rear.

 

[mustafur]

On Automobile Magazine's Facebook fan page, I said that even the Nissan Juke looks better than this new Prius. The most brutal view of this car is from the rear. The Prius will still probably be sold and loved for its practicality. However, who would want to get next to such a horrid-looking machine? Toyota did a great job with designing the latest Camry and the latest Corolla- two great-selling Toyotas; why screw up the Prius? Back to the drawing board, Toyota...

Nissan Juke looks good imo, however its a love or hate design style.

This however is very much a style most can say they dislike.

 

[chzsln485]

I, erm, rather like that.

And I like the Mirai even more.

 

[OldDriverDan]

seen a Prius stomp 6 Lotuses in the newer 350pp races at Autumn Ring!

 

[R5]

seen a Prius stomp 6 Lotuses in the newer 350pp races at Autumn Ring!

Great. Was it a 2016 model?

 

[Keef]

Only if [it] were longer.

Ah, story of my life.

Oddly enough, the airfoil shape that old car used was miserable. See how the curve of the top side continues pretty consistently all the way to the trailing edge? That's bad. The center of pressure on that airfoil would be relatively far rearward and would lead to hideous instability at high speed. It's much better to get most of the curvage done sooner and let the curve flatten out precipitously toward the trailing edge. This is why most modern sedans fit "closely", as you said, but are actually better because the center of pressure is further forward, meaning that even a body creating lift wouldn't suffer too badly from instability. For example, the A7's and Panamera's shapes are all looks and they actually need those retractable spoilers to be sketchy at 150 mph.

 

[unit-one]

Doesnät look too bad from this angle and in this color...

 

[FoRiZon]

Doesnät look too bad from this angle and in this color...

Looks like a Prius Stingray.

Felt way off. Mirai is better.

(Aygo XPlay is the best looking Toyota though)

 

[catamount39]

...(Aygo XPlay is the best looking Toyota though)

I agree with this....this isn't that bad.

 

[Robin]

The Aygo looks like a baby LFA (especially in White).

The Prius looks pretty cool from the rear. Very futuristic.

 

[Dan]

Dear Toyota and Lexus, please stop designing your cars after this:

Sincerely, everyone who has eyes.

 

[CTznOfTime]

I agree with this....this isn't that bad.

I see Predator mixed with the BMW i3 together with the previous Yaris...

Easier on the eyes, despite the color, than the Prius.

I know i will eventually get use to mentally block put the Prius, but for now i am still having a hard time...

I really want to like to Prius, if only Toyota didnt just scribble their design... Its a mess... Itsl like the 7 Bangle design all over...

 

[OldDriverDan]

dont know what year the Prius that beat all the Lotuses.

 

[Dan]

dont know what year the Prius that beat all the Lotuses.

What are you talking about?

 

[Doodle]

What are you talking about?

Something related to GT6. In which case, this is the wrong place to be saying that