As a kid, along with others, I avidly learned names, years, styles of passing autos. Could discern Hudson's from DeSoto's...that sort of thing. Now, a Prius Gen 3 owner, I confess that I lost the kid in me...a bit...but it is coming back. Prior to buying the Prius, I was vaguely aware of them on the road. Now I see them everywhere...lots of them. And in the rear view mirror I see telling differences in the tail lights...but I don't know what's what in terms of tail light design and year of make. I need an older/wiser kid to clue me in. How do you tell, by tail lights or other features, a Prius' year of make?
I know what you mean. The generations are obvious, but within each generation, it's pretty subtle. I'm not aware of a compendium that lists the changes aside from looking at each model year's brochures and comparing them. If there is one, I'd be interested, too.
The gen3 had minor differences mostly in the amount of Grill - & then there was different lighting up front - fog lights, or not. Plus, small nuances with the PIP. It takes a real crazy person to keep up with all of that. Tideland - he's the man! .
Unlike when you were a kid, there are not the year to year changes. With Toyota, a generation seems to last 6 years. What I have noticed is that there is a minor change two years into a generation. There always seems to be a very visible change in the tail lights. For example, looking at Hill's picture above, the second generation Prius is either a 2004 or 2005. In 2006, the top portion of the taillights went from smoked to clear. In the third generation the block of red went to "skies" on the outside edge in 2012.
Here are a few differences I noticed between gen 2 and 3 : Gen 2 had a squared off fuel filler cover as well as a moderately long wire wrapped radio antenna, the 3rd gen has a round filler cover and a stubby antenna. The side mirror shapes are slightly different, 2nd gen is more boxy (like the fuel filler cover), the second gen mirrors are more oval on the outboard end and the 3rd gen has the "split tail" on the headlights whereas the 2nd gen does not.
