Gen 5 test drives available soon

[Paul john]

Just had a phone call from my dealer saying they would be getting a Gen 5 delivered for test drives in the next 2 weeks.

Now we can draw our own opinion rather than the skewed US “reviews”

[Cyker]

Doeeeet  

I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, although from your previous posts I get the impression it won't be your sort of car due to the shift away from practicality to more looks and driving dynamics.

 

[Paul john]

13 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Doeeeet  

I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, although from your previous posts I get the impression it won't be your sort of car due to the shift away from practicality to more looks and driving dynamics.

 

Agreed. Its not all that i need to replace my mk 4 (Roof Rack / towing / spare tyre) but through this forum i have a list of “toyota” approved parts to add a spare. So only towing and Roof Rack to sort out.
there are fundamental differences between the PHEV and HEV (Battery now located externally and bigger / Transaxel with larger capacity (2.5l rav4) and larger Battery. 
i really want to get my hands on a test drive to really see how that has changed the driving dynamics. 

[TonyHSD]

The latest Prius gen5 does really lack practicality, has the bz4x most stupid dashboard instruments design blocked by steering wheel. ⚠️😅
And the high price , otherwise not bad car.
Won’t be a hit in uk as ph drivers has shifted to Battery electric cars forced by authorities. 
Few private owners perhaps and small companies fleet maybe.
We will see. 
Phev does not get so popular and similar to bev’s a wide number of buyers shifts away from them. Those cars carry a large, heavy and expensive traction batteries are nothing but trouble when they age, they does not favour used car traders and buyers, does not hold value well for a good reason and disrupt used car market. In near future we will see more and more older cars find its way back on the roads from scrap yards and recycling centres, where phev and bev will flood the dealerships and no one will look at them because of this. ( Battery risk - more expensive than the car) - uneconomical to replace. 🪫🫢
The only electrified cars that makes sense are those with small, lightweight traction batteries like Toyota hev. Phev and bev only good for lease , company use where these are new , under warranty and not actually owned by the drivers. Enjoy while you can and do your math. 

[Paul john]

5 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

The latest Prius gen5 does really lack practicality, has the bz4x most stupid dashboard instruments design blocked by steering wheel. ⚠️😅
And the high price , otherwise not bad car.
Won’t be a hit in uk as ph drivers has shifted to battery electric cars forced by authorities. 
Few private owners perhaps and small companies fleet maybe.
We will see. 
Phev does not get so popular and similar to bev’s a wide number of buyers shifts away from them. Those cars carry a large, heavy and expensive traction batteries are nothing but trouble when they age, they does not favour used car traders and buyers, does not hold value well for a good reason and disrupt used car market. In near future we will see more and more older cars find its way back on the roads from scrap yards and recycling centres, where phev and bev will flood the dealerships and no one will look at them because of this. ( battery risk - more expensive than the car) - uneconomical to replace. 🪫🫢
The only electrified cars that makes sense are those with small, lightweight traction batteries like Toyota hev. Phev and bev only good for lease , company use where these are new , under warranty and not actually owned by the drivers. Enjoy while you can and do your math. 

I agree. Especially since the prius phev goes into hev mode after 47 miles.

does anyone remember the vauxhall ampera? Lol.

[FreddoChoc]

A house near us has two Vauxhall Ampera in the drive both 62 reg and it looks like they still go.

My friend had a Vauxhall Sintra lol, not great quality in its day. 

Autotrader is showing new Prius for sale at Toyota UK dealers for delivery pencilled in for this October, which is another positive. Makes me think will it be the 24 or 2025 model.    

Germany is bringing in or brought in better tax breaks for longer range PHEV. There was a news story this week about Mercedes Benz increasing the size of the PHEV Battery in their smaller cars.

 

[wass]

We were recently at Southampton docks and we saw a lot of new Toyota prius gen 5s lined up having arrived comparatively recently one would assume. All of them which I could see were the hybrid version and not the plug in hybrid. It was easy to tell because all of them were parked with the right hand side of the car facing in my direction and none of them had a Battery charging access flap on the rear quarter. We werent very close to them but I could tell that a lot of them appeared to be either white or silver...possibly off white/ very light grey. I am amazed that Toyota are so slow to deliver these cars. We were going on a weeks cruise and when we returned there were more of the same cars parked in the same area. It was hard to tell if these were the same cars which had seen a week earlier and they simply hadnt moved for a week or if this was a new batch of non PHEVs.

[Harters]

That seems odd as the UK is only getting the PHEV version, so why are there non PHEV's in Southampton docks I wonder.... unless they changed their mind of course 🤔

Could the colours be due to them having their transportation wraps still on the Roof/Bonnet?

[Cyker]

Maybe they're just staging for delivery to Ireland or something...?

[wass]

8 hours ago, Harters said:

That seems odd as the UK is only getting the PHEV version, so why are there non PHEV's in Southampton docks I wonder.... unless they changed their mind of course 🤔

Could the colours be due to them having their transportation wraps still on the Roof/Bonnet?

Extensive transportation wraps might explain the somewhat universal colours of these cars, transportation wraps might also explain why I was looking at the side of the cars which have the Battery charging hatch  but I couldnt see any hatch in evidence. I have measured the distance I was looking at the  cars on googlemaps it was  130 metres . I was on a ship docked at the QE2 terminal in Southampton and I was looking across the top of the terminal building to the top deck of a multistorey car park; its a pity I didnt snap a picture.

[cviclark]

My dealer has been saying a few weeks since Christmas. Still saying the same now in August.  Even worse is the dealers know nothing about what is coming. what configuration what colours will be available on what spec. We all know that what the launch brochure says and what finally gets delivered is not the same.

I have gone cold on the gen 5 after reading US blogs. Toyotas only EV appears to have mixed reviews too.

[Paul john]

46 minutes ago, cviclark said:

My dealer has been saying a few weeks since Christmas. Still saying the same now in August.  Even worse is the dealers know nothing about what is coming. what configuration what colours will be available on what spec. We all know that what the launch brochure says and what finally gets delivered is not the same.

I have gone cold on the gen 5 after reading US blogs. Toyotas only EV appears to have mixed reviews too.

Black Excel is definately available as that is what ill be test driving on saturday and the toyota website has a number of available colours from solid to premium paint. Certainly the pearlescent red you have is available on the gen5. 
it has been stated elsewhere here and on other forums that the gen5 was held at the docks due to a door locks issue i believe…

[Harters]

I was at my local dealer yesterday and there was no sign of any Prius yet even when I snooped around the back. 

Not that I am looking at it now as I bought my NX, but I will still be interested to see a UK spec one.

I saw several in the States and couldn’t get over how low it was 😆

[Paul john]

48 minutes ago, Harters said:

I was at my local dealer yesterday and there was no sign of any Prius yet even when I snooped around the back. 

Not that I am looking at it now as I bought my NX, but I will still be interested to see a UK spec one.

I saw several in the States and couldn’t get over how low it was 😆

I think the uk event starts at targeted dealers on thursday.

perhaps your dealer is not included

[Harters]

13 hours ago, Paul john said:

I think the uk event starts at targeted dealers on thursday.

perhaps your dealer is not included

Interesting maybe they have kept them offsite.  

We were at Lexus which is shared with Toyota and we commented how empty the car park was which is usually rammed.  They said they are trying to keep it as clear as possible to make it easier for customers to park by removing stock cars etc, so that could be why.

I may pop in next week and have a look....

[TonyHSD]

22 hours ago, Paul john said:

Black Excel is definately available as that is what ill be test driving on saturday and the toyota website has a number of available colours from solid to premium paint. Certainly the pearlescent red you have is available on the gen5. 
it has been stated elsewhere here and on other forums that the gen5 was held at the docks due to a door locks issue i believe…

Can’t wait for your thorough and first impressions. 👍

[MichaelM]

Whilst my Gen 4 Prius was in my local Toyota dealership this week, I spoke to someone from their sales department.

He said they expected Gen 5 deliveries and a demonstrator in October!   
Maybe some areas get preferential treatment. 😒
 

[Cyker]

Did they say if they were PHEVs, HEVs or both...?

[MichaelM]

5 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Did they say if they were PHEVs, HEVs or both...?

We didn't discuss any model details and the salesperson did not volunteer any further information.

[aitcheff]

I took a test drive on Wednesday and ordered an Excel PHEV on Friday. Tracking says its in transport from Japan to the UK. The dealer says I should take delivery by the end of September but it could be a lot earlier in September.

[Paul john]

51 minutes ago, aitcheff said:

I took a test drive on Wednesday and ordered an Excel PHEV on Friday. Tracking says its in transport from Japan to the UK. The dealer says I should take delivery by the end of September but it could be a lot earlier in September.

Excellent. What colour and grade did you choose?

[aitcheff]

On 8/5/2024 at 3:09 PM, Paul john said:

Excellent. What colour and grade did you choose?

I went for the Excel and Lunar Blue to keep  me under the £40k ceiling to avoid the luxury car tax. I would have like to choose a diffent colour but didn't think it was worth the extra tax.

[Paul john]

15 minutes ago, aitcheff said:

I went for the Excel and Lunar Blue to keep  me under the £40k ceiling to avoid the luxury car tax. I would have like to choose a diffent colour but didn't think it was worth the extra tax.

Lunar Blue looks smart. I much prefer the Excel wheels, the 17’s look a bit “solid”

[Harters]

I wonder if the person who buys this will realise they will be clobbered with the luxury car tax as it’s in an optional colour. 
 

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202407262186282

Nice to see a right hand drive one. 

[Paul john]

13 minutes ago, Harters said:

I wonder if the person who buys this will realise they will be clobbered with the luxury car tax as it’s in an optional colour. 
 

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202407262186282

Nice to see a right hand drive one. 

Under £40k so no. Not bad for “second hand” at 44 miles