Toyota teases next-gen Prius styling CES 2012 Week Toyota has offered a glimpse of its next-generation Prius at the North American International Motor Show in the form of the NS4 plug-in hybrid concept. Toyota Prius 2015 concept Altogether more bold - not to mention larger - than the current Prius, the NS4 is only intended to offer a taste of the design …
Have you ever actually driven car with touch screen control?
It really isn't much different to having physical controls, and is a hell of a lot easier to use than the controllers that Audi, BMW and Mercedes are using. A touch screen is always illuminated so in some ways it can be safer as it is faster to locate the feature that you want, and once you are used to the location of it then there isn't any difference to having a physical button to press.
So that's a "No, I've not actually tried it" then.
FYI, touch panels in cars usually dim when it gets to night time, and the ones I've used are actually less bright than the speedo is at night, but are still very clear and intuitive. If that reduces your ability to see in the dark enough to affect your driving then you sir shouldn't be driving at night....at all....
I've had a couple cars with touch screen stereos now, and I can say that they're tricky to use while driving. Thankfully, they just played music (SatNav is for people who are lost,) and the important interfaces (power, volume, seek) were on physical knobs, plus replicated on steering wheel buttons. If I was insane enough to try and adjust the fader while moving, though, things would go horribly wrong.
But no, it's not really bright enough to affect my night vision, plus, if it was, I could (while parked...) dim it to the point that it's nearly off.
If I had to use the touch screen to adjust A/C, or switch on a defroster, well, I wouldn't drive that car. That said, I'm a weirdo, as I still insist on cars with the right number of pedals (3, for the tragically uninformed,) and what's more, I have a tendency to pay attention to things going on outside of my vehicle while I'm on the road.
I guess that beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder.
I'm not overly taken with the second, but I rather like the first one and would happily have one on my drive. Shades of the Alfa 159 at the front, which I consider to be the best looking mass-produced car available right now. Can't see "bloated" in either of 'em. Unfortunately my fleet Prius is up for replacement next year, so I guess I'm going to get stuck with the current god-awful "how many corners can we get on one car" design.....
Well, they look a lot better than the old Prius (although it would be hard not to) but what's with the huge gaping grills? Surely a 'leccie car should have a smooth rounded front for good aerodynamics?
Doesn't the new Ford Focus petrol even mechanically close it's grill when it doesn't need the extra air under the bonnet...?
'so don't expect the end product to look remotely like this when it arrives in 2015'
There fixed. I quite like it actually but I'm an avid hater of small euroboxes. I also hate with a passion the Sync system so with any luck they will pull MS from the mix. Still not giving up my 2.2 i5 Turbo for an electric motor though.
It looks a lot like the Toyota bosses held a styling competition at the local special school...
Notwithstanding the fact that the Prii and their ilk are little more than a cynical marketing ploy anyway.. at least the 'training shoe' shape was bearable...
This thing looks like a Aston Martin Lagonda mated with a stately home and then ran into Wayne Szalinski - via every concept car since that spavined 1981 Austin Metro saloon (yes seriously, they actually bothered to make one).
Seriously, that thing is worse than someone having a chavgasm all over an Austin Allegro (aka £500 rims and the exhaust from a retired B25). It should be put down, if it were an animal PETA would be in favour of animal testing on the basis that nothing could make its life worse!
In the annals of mid life facelift face-plant moments this almost pips the Morris Ital to the crown in the Lady Camilla Eyesore Cup knocking the Austin Ambassador out of second place by dint of its utter pointlessness and eye-gouging ugliness.
Please please please no, Toyota; if you dont want to make a total loss on them, you could sell the entire production fun to Top Gear, although where you would find that many cranes and grand pianos (Icelandic volcanoes might be your friend here)... On the upside it would stop the Marina Owners Club from whingeing...
*Free zen hug if you get whose quote I half inched.
...as he tried to scratch his eyes out on seeing the TR7...
I recall hearing some of the union shop stewards at BL taking the factory out on strike because the TR7 notchback was due to someone reading the plans and getting the 15-degree angle the wrong way around. All IIRC on the details, but any excuse for a walkout back then...
wide mouth (grill) and gills (air dam vents below the headlights) with almost closed eyes typical of most angry squints.
It amuses me how some designers think styling cues from low slung sports cars will actually translate well to a bubble car. If that front fascia was half as tall, it might look decent. Right now, it just looks to me like a large mouth bass from some fishing show.
The Prius concept is going to NEED the panoramic reversing camera....there is going to be slim to no view out the back 180 degrees of that car.
Having said that, it takes some of its rear styling cues from the Ampera and the Jaguar marques, its about time Toyota tried their hand in a bit of style. God knows their designs have been boring as hell since the late 90's.
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