[gorj]

I am a driver for a local automotive dealer. I pick up vehicles from remote locations and deliver vehicles customers have bought. Today I drove a 2019 Prius about 330 miles from an auction house to the dealer. Here are my impressions. First of all the Prius does not have as pleasing exterior lines as an Ioniq. When shutting a door it does not have as secure a thud as an Ioniq. After driving the Prius for five hours, the seat is not as comfortable as the Ioniq. The interior of the Prius is hard plastic everywhere. I feel like it is more of a toy than a car. The placement of the driver information readouts are to far away and difficult to read. The front of the dash to windshield is so deep you could have a picnic up there! Toyota continues to use a stupid stalk behind the steering wheel to activate the cruise control. I find it laborious to use. Speaking of cruise control, there is an automatic adaptive cruise, but it is not user friendly by not allowing you to control the distance it activates between you and the vehicle in front of you. Without going into a menu there is no readout of current battery charge or the engine temperature. Driving the Prius is just not as user friendly as the Ionic. Although it has a USB charge port, that port does not work with the media system like the Ioniq does. The media system has to much base boost and I was unable to easily find a control for that! The steering is overly sensitive and engine noise annoying. It also has more road noise transmitted to the passengers than the Ioniq. There is no readout for how much regeneration is happening when braking with out again going to a menu and that is not safe to do when driving. The Bluetooth connection to the media center worked both for music and phone. Before I purchased my Ioniq I test drove the Prius and decided on the Ioniq. I realize now I made the right decision. I will mention one final thing that "bugs" me about both vehicles and that is the void in your rear view because of the spoiler!

 

[kelmen]

I wonder if this is posted onto Prius forum....

 

[HandyAndy]

The rear spoiler issue also happens on Ampera, which I bought 5 years ago. Initially it annoyed me, but after a bit you get used to it & don't notice it.
There's very little wrong in the Ioniq imho, and an awful lot that's really nice & decently organised, which is why I prefer it to the minimalist ID.3. I'm hoping Hyundai haven't gone minimalist on the new cars...

 

[Xiziz]

I don't find the spoiler spoils the view. If anything it keeps the dirt off the top portion of the window which is actually usable. Bottom one is dirty within the day after washing. Picture from my eye height.

 

[HyperIoniq]

I had no idea there was a Prius BEV, just the Prime PHEV

 

[Ou Boet]

I had no idea there was a Prius BEV, just the Prime PHEV

Yeah the title is incorrect. The Prius comes in HEV or PHEV versions, there are no BEVS. In fact, Toyota doesn't make a BEV, despite being the first major auto manufacturer to produce a mass market hybrid. They somehow got it in their heads that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were the way to go (might actually still be).

 

[gorj]

I had no idea there was a Prius BEV, just the Prime PHEV

A typo on my part. It was a HEV Prius. Sorry!

 

[gorj]

Yeah the title is incorrect. The Prius comes in HEV or PHEV versions, there are no BEVS. In fact, Toyota doesn't make a BEV, despite being the first major auto manufacturer to produce a mass market hybrid. They somehow got it in their heads that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were the way to go (might actually still be).

I think Toyota is out of step with reality. For commercial vehicles that have their own fuel sources, it will be fine. But Hydrogen is expensive and difficult to find for the average driver. And you can't refuel at home in the evening!