Mea Culpa: I've always been wrong about the base model Prius

The bar continues to be raised with all vehicles.
What was a luxury, becomes an expected baseline.

But when I bought my 2013 Prius Two, I felt it was a great value.
Especially when compared to other vehicles, outside of Prius itself. I can tell you now, that to get Push Button Start, and Smart Key technology on a Honda Fit..you have to go up the ladder of trim levels and cost.
The great thing about The Prius...is those things come default on the lowest trim level.

And yes, I was...and still am...perfectly happy with my Garmin. Lifetime Maps...and perfectly descent interface? What's not to like.

I even bought a full sized seat cushion, that you could plug in and it gave me "Heated Seats" in the winter.

I never felt I really missed anything that I REALLY REALLY wanted or needed. Well...I do like a Sunroof.

If you can live without some of the "niceties" that a higher trim level provides, I felt it was really easy to enjoy a Prius Two.

 

Yes - that's been the game all along:

In 1956 that it had 4 wheel hydraulic brakes;

In 1966 it was just GREAT because our new car had a heater. And windscreen washers. And seatbelts on 2 seats;

In 1976, it had a radio and cassette, front disk brakes - and 5 seatbelts;

In 1986, it had Air Conditioning and 4 wheel disk brakes;

In 1996, it had ABS Brakes and Power Steering;

In 2006, it had 4 Airbags and power windows;

In 2016 - I bought my first PRIUS;

In 2026 - ???????????????

 

RIP = rest in Prius

 

Tho, by 2026, I suspect more of a new iteration altogether, autonomous? full EV? or long EV range at least. Totally new ICE?

 

Ever the optimist, I'd like the anti gravity feature better.

 

U going to the Space Station - or the moon?

 

Just the floating, frictionless hover board ride!

 

One feature that seems very prevelant in aftermarket yet slow to make into standard feature: dash cams, front and rear.

 

I'm not sure, at least in my part of the world - I've never seen one, nobody I know has one, though undoubtedly they're around because they get posted on YouTube..

 

The name Prius is Latin 'to go before'. I feel one reason we buy this vehicle is to experience and enjoy the best and latest technical innovations. I love this car.

 

Or do we "go before" so they can work all the bugs out?

 

The 2016 Prius 2 does not have the Dynamic Range Cruise Control option. That was a deal breaker for us when we were shopping and we settled for the Prius 3 with ATP to get the option. DRCC became standard in the 2017 lineup. Imho the 2017+ Prius 2 is a really fantastic car.

 

This is part of the reason why I did not buy a 2016. When the 2017 came out with TSS-P on the Two, the choice became much easier. I wish seat comfort for long trips were better, especially after Toyota boasted about seat comfort at the reveal. Perhaps the Softex seats are better.

 

It does mean that you're not bound to the app providers that Toyota selects for the Entune platform, instead being able to bring your own choice of apps (at least that Apple approves for CarPlay use, in the Apple case).

And, for navigation, it means you get always up to date maps, rather than having to rely on Toyota's maps, and paying several hundred dollars for a new map SD card.

And, finally, wireless CarPlay is a thing, as is wireless Android Auto.

 

So, you are bound to the providers Apple selects instead. Along with added Apple tracking, I expect.

 

True, although tracking ends up happening if you've got the phone in your pocket.

And, in the Android Auto case, you're not bound to providers at all - an app just has to expose an Auto UI.

 

The point is that with CarPlay, you don't have to mount your phone to use it for navigation. It instead takes over the head unit's display, and also sends directions to the instrument cluster as the Toyota navigation does.