The Red Baron has arrived

Today I picked up my new Prius, aka the Red Baron - Hypersonic Red. I never saw the color before I bought car, but I really love it. I had a 150 km cruise home from the dealer to notice a few things about the car.

Noticeably much quieter – less road (tyre) noise and less wind noise. And a more comfortable ride – seems much smoother. You feel that you are sitting lower, but I corrected that after I pumped the seat up higher. I was surprised when I topped up the tank to find that I had 1350 km DTE – my 2010 Prius never showed more than 850 km DTE. Although I drove in ECO mode, I felt that the engine was much more responsive. Overall, I think that they have made a nice job of the upgrade from Gen 3 to Gen 4

There is only one model sold in this country, so there are no choices as far as options go. If you buy red (as I did) you can only get black interior. The car comes standard with 15” Yokohamas, cruise control, speed limiter, seat warmers, split control for climate control (driver and passenger can each set separate temperature levels), heated front seats (really necessary in our hot climate!), Toyota Touch (without navigation), reverse camera, touch lock/unlock from both front doors, HUD, automatically folding side mirrors, full-size spare, TPMS on all 5 tyres, automatic driving lights, fog lamps, LED DRL, ant-glare rear-vision mirror, courtesy light in the baggage area, lane deviation warning system, and system for warning when the car in front is less than 0.5 seconds in front of you.

I added an Android-based navigation unit (which plugs into the back of the Toyota Touch) so I have Waze as my navigation system.

Overall, a happy chappy.

 

Yes, even the dealer smiled when he highlighted the feature.

 

I am afraid you wouldn't learn much from photos!

I haven't looked (my wife would probably kill me if I started to pull out the Toyota Touch screen to dig around) but I understand that there is a unit that clips on the back of the basic Toyota Touch that adds android and GPS capability. And, of course, it has a SIM slot, which Waze needs for receiving (and sending!) real-time information about routes, congestion, etc.

From the front it is the standard Toyota Touch. Press the little button, and you get an Android home screen with a couple of applications - Waze and a local pay-for-parking app. So you just press on the Waze icon, and you have the same Waze that you can get on any mobile device. There is nothing different from Waze that I have on my phone. Works exactly the same - but no lagging.

 

Sorry, I can't help you. I have no idea what unit they installed. They are treating it as a national secret. They did it such a way that I only get a screen with the Waze icon. I have no access to Android, PlayStore, or anything like that. I will have to do some research to figure out how to break into the system - but that won't be in the next few days!

 

The name was in the context of Snoopy and the Red Baron.

"Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service during the First World War. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories."

The Royal Guardsmen – The Story of Snoopy vs. the Red Baron Lyrics | Genius Lyrics