Blogs out of boredom #2: Toyota Prius (Heheheheh)

Introduction

The Toyota Prius. A car enthusiast’s worst nightmare. The disgrace to the petrolhead. The scrounge to the JDM Market. The boring, economical hybrid hatchback. The opposite of diesel. The ultimate automobile to the hippie, and the car only a tree hugger would love. This car is often described as boring, stale, and ugly once in a while. But hey, I’m going to need a second part of the Blogs out of Boredom series, and as I am starting the new year in my school, holidays are over and I will have to deal with another year full of boredom at school, so here you go, a blog about the most hated car on Car Throttle, despite 90% of users hating it without a valid reason or just following the trend to be popular on this site.

First Generation Prius

Back in 1995, Toyota unveiled a concept that would preview a future Toyota hybrid car called the Prius at the Tokyo Motor Show. On that day, a blessing and a curse was born. A blessing to the families looking for a efficient hybrid car, and a car that would be endlessly supported by Greenpeace, but a curse to petrolheads and car enthusiasts for the boring hybrid system that had the word stale all over its styling, combined with owners claiming that they are doing a favor for the earth and talking trash about car enthusiasts when they are actually still using fossil fuels, not stopping emissions, just adding to them less than normal rate.

The first generation Prius became the world’s first mass-produced gasoline-electric hybrid car. At its introduction in 1997, it won the Car of the Year Japan Award, and in 1998, it won the Automotive Researchers’ and Journalists’ Conference Car of the Year award in Japan, despite all the other cars that came out on that year such as the NSX, R34 or RX-8 which are way more exciting than the Prius. The vehicle was the second mass-produced hybrid on the American market, after the two-seat Honda Insight.

Second Generation

The second generation Toyota Prius was unveiled at the 2003 New York International Auto Show, and as you can tell, it was completely transformed and redesigned as a 5-door liftback. But it still retained its boring looks, and the second generation car was the most stale and boring looking Prius in its history. It was placed between the compact Corolla and the midsize Camry. It was more efficient than its predecessor, as it had a more advanced and up-to-date hybrid system combined with a more aerodynamic body.

But some madman in the US decided to swap the Prius’s stale 4-cylinder hybrid engine with a LS V81 engine. Now that is a sleeper. He swapped the car with a LS1 V8 engine from a 2002 Chevy Camaro SS, combined to an automatic transmission and a Ford 9” rear end. This means the four cylinder stock engine along with the transmission, battery and other auxiliary hybrid components had to get ripped off, engine mounts for the V8 had to be welded as well as a drive shaft tunnel had to be created to send power to the rear wheels. Now that hybrid badge is very deceiving.

3rd Generation

The Toyota Prius got another redesign and was unveiled at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. It had a sportier look with sharper angles and a more aggressive face, but still retained the same shape from the second generation, a liftback style body with a curved roof. It came in several variants, the ordinary Prius Hybrid, the Prius C, a 5-door version of the Prius, the Prius V, a wagon version of the Prius, and the Prius PHEV, sharing the same body of the normal Prius only with a plug in hybrid powertrain,

There is a JDM only version of the Prius called the Prius G’s. G’s or G Sports is the bodykit division of Toyota which makes current cars they produce and add sporty bodykits onto them usually with red accents, wide grilles, bigger rims, and removing the Toyota Badge. Apparently, the Prius is one of the cars given the G’s treatment, with the Prius C called the Aqua G’s there, but sadly, it is sold only in the JDM market.

Fourth Generation

The fourth generation Prius was first shown during September 2015 in Las Vegas, and was released for retail customers in Japan in December 2015. It got another redesign, this time ditching the boring and simple look for a over-the-done, bloated and very ugly look. Its face looks like some sort of angry fish, its sides with weird proportions, and a rear with headlights extending from the top to the half section of the boot. In my opinion, it is the most overdone, ugly and bloated car you can buy today.

The second generation Prius plug-in, called Toyota Prius Prime in the U.S. and Prius PHV in Japan,was developed in parallel with the standard fourth generation Prius model released in December 2015. The model was released to retail customers in the U.S. in November 2016, followed by Japan in February 2017. In the American market, unlike the first generation model, the Prius Prime will be available in all 50 states. And it still looks ugly, especially with an uglier rear.

Well, speaking of the Toyota Prius, a project is going on as I speak, as a few people with their screws loose have decided to swap a Prius. This has not been done for the first time, as someone had swapped a LS1 from the Camaro onto a Prius, but they are using a tuned 1,000HP Dodge Hellcat engine, the first time anyone had swapped an engine that powerful into a commuter car. That hybrid badge is very misleading, again.

P.S. If this becomes editors pick it will probably become the biggest joke on Car Throttle.