Need help deciding between the IV and V?

My opinion may also be subjective as I also have a V Silver.

I can't remember the last time I had a car without a sunroof. I'm in So Calif after all. It was a difficult decission but decided that the Solar portion of the roof would only be used what, 30% of the year! The Dynamic Cruise is used every day on So Calif freeways. I love it.

To comp for the Solar I had the Remote Start installed for those HOT days. Seems you (zyx345) could use the Remote Start more than I could with the weather in NJ.

 

I'd vote for the V, the wheels, the ATP, all make the difference. As far as color I have a black my wife has a blizzard pearl. Both great. Both require cleaning. As far as heat, the black V without a sunroof no big deal on a hot summer day. The A/C works just fine, as I live in Las Vegas and driven it in 112 degree heat.

 

We've had sunroofs in a bunch of cars over the years and almost never use them. But some people are sunroof people and use them a lot, sounds like it's important to you. The advantage of the Prius sunroof is that it's a solar roof and powers the fan to circulate air through the car when parked outside on hot days. The farther north of the Mason-Dixon line you are, the less you need the solar roof. With the V you can get the ATP which could be handy if you do a fair amount of highway driving. The 17" wheels on the V definitely do look better.

 

Don't forget the PCS, that's what sealed the deal for me. The radar cruise is the bomb, lane keeping is excellent as well. Best highway car ever.

 

Bought my spouse's Blizzard Pearl V certified from a dealer in Chicago. Was a loaner car for the dealer with 11,400 miles on it loaded with ATP. Had it shipped to Las Vegas. Not a scratch on it. I added window tint, lit door sills, USB, some chrome. Great Car. My Black V with ATP I ordered new from a dealer in Vegas with all that on it. Cost a lot more. The black one has been great too now with 15,000 miles on it. The black one developed the dreaded rattle in the dash. Dealer fixed it. Now there are more certified cars out there I would recommend that route to save some serious cash and still have a great car.

 

If you're a sunroof person, you should get the IV with SR and upgrade the rims. I had no choice when I bought my V with ATP (as Vs with no ATP weren't allocated to Southern California at the time) and don't use the advanced tech package all that much.

Nice! A couple of fully loaded, top-of-the-line Prius in two of the best colors.

 

My Prius is a Certified Pre-Owned by someone at the dealer. It came with 5,500 miles; has 20,000 miles now. My dealer must have fixed up any issues as mine has been perfect since I got it last May. I'm a fan of the Toyota Certified Pre-Owned program. Give it some consideration.

 

You need to see the blizzard pearl in person, if you haven't already. Very elegant and 1 of the favorite colors. Put it next to a silver and you'll know pretty quickly which you prefer (due to shading and the pearl finish, there's not really that much of a difference). Black seems like a big mistake to me personally, since the lines of the car don't show up as well, and takes more upkeep to really look good.

People who haven't driven the V are underestimating how much better it makes the steering feel, due to that better steering assembly and tighter steering ratio (with the tradeoff of a slightly larger turning circle, due to the larger tires). The low profile tires also make handling feel better, since the tires don't roll over the rims (if properly inflated - add at least 3 PSI to factory specs). Of course, they also give more road feel, which has its good and bad points. There are days I don't really want to feel those potholes so much!

If you really really love sunroofs, I guess you have no choice. I personally didn't like the particular positioning and design of it on this car, and was not impressed by the solar panel gimmick. Doesn't seem like it would be very useful in NJ. I think the radar cruise is a far more useful feature, and the PCS is a huge safety feature. The first time you experience either of these features, you'll want them on all your future cars.

Very few people use the self parking feature (too slow and hit and miss). The lane keep assist works as advertised but makes the steering a bit touchy, since you have to give enough input to make it happy, but at the same time not oversteer. The steering is so good and tight on the V at highway speeds, it just seems easier not to use the LKA.

 

You're definitely right about the lines of the car not showing up on black. I'm often surprised by lines that I see on lighter color cars. If you're big on those subtle lines and won't wash the car too often, don't get black.

I've been experimenting with self-parking without the pre-support system. I just pull up next to the front car as normal, throw it in reverse, hit one additional button and let it do its work. It's green 90% of the time and the only thing slowing me down is the "speed is too fast" signal. Now I use it just as often as the other features, which isn't too often lol!

 

I have owned a number of hotrods in my lifetime. Allways had to have wide wheels and tires even on family cars. I bought my 1V for gas milage. Why would I want to give some of it away just for looks? I put different mags on and kept the origional goodyears. Car handles well for what it represents. I want to get the best reasonable gas milage I can get and not on purpose give some of it away. One question how do you maintain a cruise speed when the radar kicks you off unless you swing out to pass long before you come up on a car? To each his own but the 1V does it for me. JWB

 

I don't have radar cruise, but assumed you have distance option settings. With that said, you'll always come up on someone going slower with or without cruise. I suppose you can turn off cruise, slow down, pass or use the cruise stalk and click/tap dance around traffic. As far as my tastes, the III does it for me, but only because that was the model for the deal I ended up with.

 

The radar cruise control can be set with a steering wheel button for 1, 2, or 3 second following distances. If you want to be closer than 1 second just apply a little pressure on the throttle and that overrides set speed or distance. When you want to slow down let off the throttle and it will resume the preset speed and/or distance. As mentioned by Twittel you could also cancel it by flicking the CC lever up or touching the brake pedal same as the normal CC, but that isn't usually necessary.

Also if you change lanes and get closer to the car ahead than the selected following time it won't slow you down immediately if the car you are following is going as fast or faster than you are, it gradually backs off until the proper distance is reached.

The system is very well thought out and operates exactly as it should. In 37K miles I have never had it do anything unexpected or weird. Only a couple of times has it started to slow me down for a large truck in the other lane and then only when we were in a corner and the truck was actually in front of me.

 

I too am a big proponent of DRCC. It works exactly as Tumbleweed mentioned and after just completing a MA/FL/MA 3200 mile trip I found it indespensible. I look at its braking capability as a terrific safety advantage as it virtually eliminates rear ending the guy in front of you if you are distracted. Braking occurrs way in advance giving you plenty of time to refocus and react to whatever is going on in front of you. I also like having that 200 foot buffer between me and the car in front of me as it gives faster drivers room to maneuver and eliminates the passing move where the other driver squeezes in between you and the car in front of you. I also like using DRCC around town in areas where there is lots of traffic going over 40 MPH or so as braking occurrs when the car in front of you slows down for a traffic light. It's really cool to have the car beep and hand over braking to me at about 30 MPH.
As for LKA, it has a lot of trouble with asphalt road surfaces as it really needs the contrast between blacktop and white lines to function correctly. But when it works together with DRCC it's like operating in your own safety bubble, slowing you or even braking heavily depending on whats going on in front of you and keeping you in your lane.
My wife and I are considering buying another Prius and are trying to decide which trim to purchase. The real issue for her is whether she are willing to take the lower cost, softer ride and better gas mileage of the IV in place of DRCC and LKA in the ATP of the V. Tough decision, I know, but we will survive.

I'm sure you will enjoy whatever you decide.