Stupid things about a great car

For whatever it's worth, the Leaf uses the same shifter pattern. The configuration seems somewhat less confusing in the Prius-V where the dash-mounted selector (similar to Gen II) at least doesn't "feel" like moving a stickshift into first as it would if it were console-mounted like the Prius HB and Leaf. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's confusing...I have not found myself accidentally grabbing R when I wanted D. But it's still backwards to me.

I've seen the argument that it mimics the R-N-D pattern in a typical automatic. I can sort of see that skeuomorph argument, but honestly because the shifter doesn't go just up/down like a typical automatic AND because the knob is momentary/snaps back to the center AND you've got the push-button Park, you've already gone so far from the expected user experience that it doesn't seem very useful to cling to that one last vestigial bit of the "old way".

 

I take it you have never driven this once common pattern?:
R 2
1 3

 

Yes indeed, it was nearly universal on manual transmission passenger in the US from the late 1920s to the mid 1950s.

 

I agree with your observations that the Prius selector does provide the driver some hints that it is "different". But for Toyota to justify its implementation, it must be in some way an improvement over past practice -- and it simply is not.

 

They didn't leave it out. There are regulations as to how far down tint can come in a windshield based on line of site etc. There are no AS-1 marks on the windshield notating this for aftermarket tinting so that means the windshield doesn't meet the requirements for a tint strip either OEM or aftermarket Several cars I have had don't have the AS-1 markings. My Conv. Jag is one of those, while my Honda does have the markings as to how far down tint can go.

 

I gladly pay $60 for an oil change that goes 10,000 miles as opposed to $20 for one that only lasts 3,000 miles. An oil change takes about an hour of my time, so I gain 2 hours this way * hourly wage.

 

+1
I used to change my on oil because it saved me time, now that I have gotten older the garage floor is a lot lower, harder and colder so I pay to have it done. I definitely prefer the 10k interval because of the time savings compared to 3k or 5k intervals. It's also less opportunity for the shop to screw something up.

 

I also agree the pattern is backwards. Every time I see someone new try to drive my car its the same issue.

Forward should be go, back should be back.

Alan... The second mouse gets the cheese!
galaxy S3 with Tapatalk 2

 

The logical reason is they wanted D and B to be next to each other (aesthetics).

It'd potentially be a safety issue to have D and B up top, since it's far more likely you'd accidentally bump the shifter upward when reaching for something.

And obviously you want to separate D and R to eliminate potential for confusion, but not too far as to make it inconvenient.

Hence there's only 1 logical design to minimize "wrong gear" accidents: the current one.


But yeah, D up top and R down below would more closely match a Manual.

I don't think Toyo cared what cars in the past did when designing it. The above are the logical reasons for doing it this way.

 

But in an automatic you ALWAYS pull down for drive, always. BMW uses the same setup Reverse is up and Drive down on their stalk gear selectors

 

And further back for the grade retarding gear, L in most cars, B in a Prius.

This all makes me wonder if some of these people have ever driven another car with a floor or center counsel mounted shifter.

 

I switched to SSO Amsoil 0-30 on my 3 prius's for about almost 3 years now and change at 2k. Ran a sample to blackstone labs and they said I should try 30 k next. The only thing high was silicone. There are threads on PC somewhere about it with pics. PM me if you need more details.

Alan... The second mouse gets the cheese!
galaxy S3 with Tapatalk 2

 

I assume you meant 20K?

If silicon (not silicone is high on a car that is at least 20k miles past break-in, take a real careful look at your air intake tract and be sure everything is tight and you don't have any leaks and that you have a high quality air filter, not a K&N type.

 

The current setup is logical: back for D, up for R. In any flight simulation game, pulling back on joystick results in the plane ascending. In all likelihood, in a real plane, it's the same. However, we're talking about a car. When accelerating forward, inertia causes the body to go back. To me, it makes sense to pull back on the selector to drive.

 

Lol, yes I meant 25k!

Silicone is high due to the tremendous cubic feet amount of air brought in over that many miles.
Over 10k, it wouldn't show high.

Alan... The second mouse gets the cheese!
galaxy S3 with Tapatalk 2

 

It's silicon unless you are running into women with artificial boobs.

As long as the silicon is only building up proportional to the mileage and stays low enough, that's not too bad but not necessarily the way it has to be with good filtration.

This might interest you
Amsoil Test Results
He tracked silicon levels at frequent intervals over 14k miles. It's about 8 years old so oil formulations have changed, but the silicon levels are still an indication of how low they can be long term. Note that he was averaging about 20 mpg so was using 2 to 3 times as much gas and air as a Prius.

Heres' the Mobil 1 page
Mobil 1 Test Results
notice that silicon levels actually dropped s bit after 12k miles.

I found an air intake leak on a previous car that I thought had a well sealed intake system. I looked because of UOA results

 

Haha, yup.

Though the OP is somewhat correct. Silicon is a component of Silicone (along with carbon... it's a synthetic rubber). Silicone is a common, modern sealant in your engine, since it's high-temperature. Head gaskets are usually sealed with silicone.

Silicon dioxide is effectively the main component of sand/dirt. Silicon dioxide is harder than steel(!) and will wear your engine very fast.

They're measuring how much sand/dust has gotten into your engine (they say silicon because they probably fed it into a spectrometer, which will indicate individual elements), or how much silicone has broken down into your oil.


Spectrometer can't distinguish between silicon dioxide and silicone. So you don't know if it's coming from dirt, or your engine oil eating some sort of sealant in your engine.

The common way to tell between silicon dioxide and silicone is see if your aluminum is increasing.... aluminum indicates engine wear.

 

Here is a copy of my report... Silicone levels are fine.


Alan... The second mouse gets the cheese!
galaxy S3 with Tapatalk 2

 

Blackstone and I agree that your silicon levels may be high. I see you are in Central Texas, has the drought you have been cursed with resulted in a lot of extra dust?

It's still worth a careful check of your intake tract and to be sure you have good filter, not a K&N or some other miracle lifetime filer.

The tests that I linked to were on a crude old GM LS1 engine and it was showing less iron and aluminum along with lower silicon levels than yours.

 

I think they mean that after you open the door of the car (after shutting it off), they turn off within 30 seconds. At least, that's what mine does, and I do not have Auto headlights.