Wish list for next generation Prius Plug-in

Nope, no rain-sensing, they went by whether the car was moving or not. My Caddy had the rain sensor in the windshield and you could adjust the sensitivity. I rarely used it, I thought it was more trouble than it was worth.

 

I miss this intermittent-to-low-speed on our Prius. It's an irritant to be on low speed, stop at a red light, switch it down to intermittent, get going again and have to switch it back to low speed. It's basically a simple action you have to do repeatedly, and therein lies the frustration.

 

i had a '65 benz with a foot pedal for the wipers right where your left toes are, very convenient for that occasional single swipe.

 

A toggle switch to change PiP to towing mode would be nice. Towing mode could use ICE only not to overload the inverter.

Here goes another one: To have the ability to backup/restore all your settings to USB drive.

Please, be patient with me. I just got my PiP. I love it a lot and explore it high and low. Of course I find many things I would have done differently if I was a Toyota engineer. It probably wouldn’t turn out better necessarily, but still…

I miss a feature to import custom navigation POIs. I would really love to import public charging stations as a separate POI category.

 

Would like to see the MPG readout on the tripometer to show down to the tenth of MPG when below 100.

Also, would like to see the cruise control be more elastic with its speed. Willing to slow down more when going up a hill and faster when you are going down to keep it in a more efficient range longer.

And would love to see a third option for the tripometer. Two is enough most of the time, but a third would be nice.

 

Mr. Fusion.
and maybe turns into an Autobot (without killing me while riding inside)...

But hm... still too new and getting accustomed to the current PiP as it is. I'm a tinkerer and love to mod/improve things I own, so anything geared toward that.

 

Way back in the old days when cars had automatic transmissions, there was a throttle "detent" that one could feel when pressing the throttle down all the way, used for downshifting. Just do that, Toyota. My foot can learn to feel the detent in non-emergency situations to avoid starting the engine. Also, I live at the top of a hill and it is VERY difficult to come down the hill without starting the engine. Is it really necessary to have the engine be this eager to run? Perhaps you could allow me to program a less-than-full charge, so I could supply the rest with the downhill run?

 

A built-in GSM device to communicate to your car remotely using text messages:
You put in a dedicated SIM card, configure which phone numbers it accepts commands from and you can control your car from whatever range you want.
My PiP is parked three blocks away on a public charging station, with end timer set to my usual departure time. Something came up and I will have to leave the office early. I would love to send a text message to my PiP: "TIMER OFF". Furthermore, about ten minutes before I leave the office next message would follow: "AC ON 22C", etc.

Plus a built in cell phone could simultaneously add many other features: emergency call (eCall), text notifications about charging progress, security related events, etc.

However, according to Toyota's latest anti-plugin Lexus marketing campaign I wonder how much new iterations of Prius Plug-In would there be, before they pull the plug anyway.

 

I would like an arm rest that slides forward over the cup holder, so that your elbow does not awkwardly sit in the cup hole. Also, if you live on a hill and fully charge your battery, the moment you head down the hill the engine will kick on. I have to charge to 85% each time to avoid this unwanted start. So, please find another way for the car to deal with excess energy other than starting up the engine.

 

For not much money a GPS can give you at least one more tripmeter. I keep a Garmin nuvi 2255T attached to my left corner window. It provides traffic updates and many other features the built-in nav doesn't. Cost me $139.

 

But your Garmin can't keep track of all the fuel/kWh stuff the car can.

I use my phone for GPS. Nothing I've found beats Google Maps for navigation.

 

Well, that makes 3 things I use for navigation. Problem is, we have a distracted driving law here, and it costs a mortgage payment if you get caught looking at your phone.

 

Although the EV ratio screen can be used on a trip by trip basis to determine number of EV miles and HV miles for just a single trip, it would be helpful to have those numbers presented after every trip on the summary screen that appears just after shutting the car off. The total mileage is presented, but not the breakdown of both modes. With this capability, we could compare our beginning EV after an overnight charge with actual EV driven at the end of the trip, assuming all EV miles are used.

 

We currently have a 2010 regular Prius and a 2014 Chevy Volt. The Volt in electric mode will stay in electric mode
up to a top speed of 100. Our current range in the Volt on electric is 40 miles with a full charge. The highest so far was 47 miles. In gas engine only mode our current mpg is 40. The highest has been 43.6 mpg.

I would buy a plug in Prius if it had a new updated design. A pure electric range of 50 miles without the gas engine kicking in. Also a more efficient gas engine like the two in the link: http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49909

 

^ To go from current 10~14 miles EV range to 50, with no engine kick-in under heavy accleration, is not an incremental improvement, it's a new vehicle. Just saying.

 

i would buy a volt if it had a 50 mile ev range, was the size of a prius and got prius fuel efficiency after ev runs out.