IV+Solar+Nav vs V vs V+ATP

Unless you're a stickler for factory 17" (like I am), you can always get aftermarket 17" with SR.

DRRC works very well and is worth the upgrade price alone for some of us, but it's not like you have it in your current car and are too comfortable with it.

So it boils down to whether you get significant enough use out of SR, whether you normally park your car indoors during the day at work. Just living in Las Vegas where you may get occasional use out of it isn't good enough.

 

In Vegas with 100+ temps, I would think the solar roof could be desirable. People who live in northern states who buy the solar roof are wasting their money. I've never used radar cruise on any car but it sounds cool. The 17" wheels definitely look better, I've seen pics of IV's with retrofitted 17" wheels that looked great.

Some people complain about the Toyota Nav system, we think it works OK. Bluetooth is a must, if the Nav system is required for Bluetooth, then you need the Nav.

Since you can get aftermarket 17" wheels for the IV, it seems to be a decision between solar and radar cruise. BTW, the handling is not that bad with the 15" wheels, this is not a sports car, don't expect it to drive like one even with the 17" wheels.

 

Don't forget the lane keep assist when using the radar cruise. Wind usually blows these babies all over the thruway. Go for the V for the radar and lane keep assist. It will also park itself.

 

You can purchase the same factory 17" through Toyota parts dept (or elsewhere) but they're extremely expensive, at $500 a pop. Yes, members with less aerodynamic aftermarket 17" seem to suffer a bigger mpg hit (even if they're lighter than stock).

If you don't care for the solar portion of the sunroof, you can always get a sunroof custom installed, and it'd probably be cheaper than the factory 17" + new tires upgrade.

 

Manya, I was in the exact position you are and decided to go with the IV and solar roof + Nav. To compensate for the shortcomings of the IV in comparison to the V + ATP, I've already taken the 15" plastic wheel covers off and gotten the center caps. Also plan to upgrade the headlights with a HID kit and add the foglights once Danny finishes up the OEM-style foglight package he's working on. There are many threads with pros and cons about the wheel issue, but I kinda like the look of the naked 15" wheels with the center caps. So it comes down to missing out on the ATP and particulary the DRCC. Is that enough to have buyer's remorse? Not in my case. The Solar Roof is working great and I use it every day.

 

I was in the same boat on chosing between the IV and V. I decided to go with the V because of the wheels, LED headlights, Adv. tech package, fog lights, etc.
I've always had a sunroof on every car I've owned, but now that I don't have one, I really don't miss it.

My vote is for the V. I love that car!!!

 

It seems like you've mostly decided for yourself, but I'll relate my experience too... I had a similar dilemma between the III with Nav and the V with the Advanced Technology package. My fiancée was against having a moonroof (not entirely sure why, she just doesn't like them), so that eliminated the solar panel from the choices. I wanted at least a III for a variety of reasons. The IV and V didn't really add anything I wanted (I'm indifferent about basically all the features, though they are nice), but the DRCC and other geek toys were interesting to me.
Eventually, it mostly came down to the fact that the toys were fun and useful, and the dealer happened to have exactly the color and interior that I wanted on hand. Plus, there were some great deals last month - they seem to have dried up around here, but still exist elsewhere.
I got the V with the AT package, and it's been great; the DRCC makes cruise control actually usable in my area, and the other things are nifty toys. Without DRCC, there's no way I could ever use cruise control, ever. It's not something I need by any stretch of the imagination, but being the huge geek that I am, I enjoy every little gadget I can get my grubby hands on.

 

The only reason I went for the V vs. V+ATP is the ATP wasn't available when I needed to pull the trigger. As you've mentioned before, OP, hot is hot. I used to live in Vegas and was debating black vs. white on a car purchase. A good friend of mine (and long-time Vegas dweller) said, "White? Black? It doesn't matter -- you run the A/C full blast all summer long either way."

 

I have the AT package and can unequivocally state that the radar cruise control was worth every penny I spent for it. Our other car has a standard cruise control. Now that I'm used to mine, I never turn it on when I'm in the other car. In fact, my partner (who regularly drives the other car) got so used to mine that he almost had an accident driving with his when it did NOT automatically slow down to track the prevailing speed of the traffic in front.

When I get on the expressway I use on my commute, I immediately engage it and set it to +/- 65. As long as traffic stays above 25 mph, I rarely, if ever, have to touch the accelerator or brake until I'm ready to exit the expressway.

The Lane Keeper portion of the AT package won't actually steer your car but it will gently help you stay in your lane, easing your way thru curves in the road by tracking the lane markers. It's very subtle but you can definitely feel it working.

The parking assist is the only part of the package that I've never used. it can only get you into a parking space if it can do so in one swoop. If, like me, you're used to rocking yourself into a tight parking space, you won't use it for anything other than impressing your friends. The "wow" factor is definitely there!

And remember that if you know you want the nav, then the cost of the AT package is only the delta over the nav package, not the total cost for the AT package.

Stu

 

The V also has headlight washers. IMO the avionics are worth it. They'll pay for themselves with one avoided collision. The parking function is a great demo. It takes me a long time to get the car set and a lot of practice to get it to work as well as it does for me. Sometimes it won't lock onto a space. I'm not ready to try perpendicular parking in 1 space between 2 cars & haven't attempted parallel parking. The parking practice has eiminated the fishtailing I used to back into a space.