Post-reveal thoughts

You haven't actually seen the shifter have you?
You will be embarrassed to find the shifter is actually a little smaller than the current shifter. It also has a small LED to illuminate it at night which shines down from the roof console.

 

Looking through the 2010 photos I have these thoughts:

I like the exterior a lot. It's better in almost everyway and looks more like a "normal" car instead of a slightly experimental vehicle.

The interior is not so good:

steering wheel=weird
shift knob=weird
center mounted instruments=weird, still

The rest of the inside seems great.

I hope by the time I can buy one there will be a nice aftermarket shift knob.

 

I like the telescopic adjustable steering wheel.

Ken@Japan

 

I like having controls on the wheel where I can reach them easily. I think the wheel looks great, if you think it looks weird you best hope it grows on you because I bet more manufacturers will follow with "weird" steering wheels.

I think the shift knob looks great, much less like part of a heritage washing machine than the shifter in the iconic Prius.
The instruments are not centre mounted, if you say that you haven't seen an actual Prius. What is great about where the speedo and fuel gauge are? It appears to be about a metre from your eyes and right under the glass of the windscreen so there is less need to adjust your focus allowing a much quicker read time, less time with your eyes off the road.

 

I'm pretty sure the electric coolant pumps are able to run for a minute or so after shutdown to prevent local hot-spots. Once the engine is off, piece of cake.

Of course this begs another thought ... Rankin cycle. A little larger heat exchanger or two in series to keep the back flow modest, a small turbine, and a condenser and suddenly you're talking about an extra 5-10 hp (3-7 kW) for free.

One problem with more powerful motors is there is more heat to remove but as the surface area goes smaller, it becomes harder to get the heat out from normal convection. Plus, they've done a great job of blocking the 'air leaks.'

My expectation is the area on the right will have a 'manifold' cover to vent air through to help removed MG2 heat. The two nipple are probably for coolant for MG1 or transaxle oil.

The Chief Engineer reported they are using forced lubrication versus having a pool. With a smaller volume of oil in direct contact with MG1 and MG2 stators, it makes sense to use the oil as a primary coolant and send it to a radiator.

I haven't found a fill port for the transaxle oil but I can wait for the maintenance manual. But there is one 'wild card' design approach.

That are in front of MG2 could be an oil reservoir so the drain and fill ports are on the cover. Oil passes from the reservoir through a radiator and into the one of the MG1 cover ports. From there, it goes where needed and returns back to the reservoir. But this is pure speculation.

Bob Wilson

 

You are correct. And I'm old enough to have been embarrassed more than once However from all the pictures I've seen posted, it looks to be quite a bit more 'bulbous', in fact similar in shape to a golf club 'wood'. And while the current one appears about the same diameter (looking at the end) as the Power button, this one is clearly larger. But then YOU have seen it in person and I have not.

Seems a bit unnecessary to me. Hopefully it can be turned off, don't need any extra light in the car at night. No street lights on the Interstate here except around cities, exits and rest areas.

 

Wonder if the raised flanges on the middle of steering wheel will be annoying?

 

I don't think the LED is all that bright, it isn't a 3 watt unit or anything, just a thin beam of light to allow the shifter to glow a little. Have you noticed the current Prius has an iluminated shifter?
Hey I agree, I hate a lot of light in my car, I can never work out the people who want the steering wheel mounted controls to be brighter. I'm guessing if you don't want light on your knob you could stick a black patch over it.

 

I've seen the shifter and I have a question. This may sound like I'm trying to be comically sarcastic like I usually am , but this is a true question I have. Since the shifter automatically returns to "center" and it is electronically controlled instead of mechanically controlled, why do you push it forward for reverse, and pull it backward for drive? I'm serious...lol. It would make much more sense to me to push it forward to go forward, and back to go back...kinda like a boat throttle...lol. Has anyone else ever had this thought or am I as goofy as my wife thinks I am? Maybe I should just be content with the fact that my zero turn mower goes forward when I push forward!

 

If you go back to post 49 of this thread, there was a back and forth on this same question. I agree with you by the way, despite those answers.

 

Thanks ggood! You caught me skipping parts of the thread...lol. Obviously it won't be a big issue, but like another person said, the whole shifter arrangement is different, so why not have it operate in a manner that is consistent with the direction one wants to drive? I also agree that we are now "stuck" with it forever. The time to have made that change was with the very first model in which it was used. To do so now would likely result in Toyota being sued by someone who inadvertently put it in forward and then "backed" through the front wall of his/her garage...lol.

 

The ones most likely to be in this position are those who've turned off the reverse "beep" in their cars. It is a bit weird - and annoying, at times - to have the beep going inside the car. If I don't hear it though, I have received the first clue something is not right!

 

That's where the reverse beeper comes in. You disabled it? that was silly wasn't it?
edit: a priori beat me to it.

 

Yep, too late now. Someone will find a way to bang things up one way or the other. My wife just managed to bang up the garage door when a 2nd remote she had in her pocket went off as she was backing out. We're calling the new door a "home improvement" lol!

 

No way. I don't even have a Prius yet! And I would never disconnect any safety devices, even if it is a bit annoying as some have said. I've heard them talking about a reverse beep, but always thought it warned people outside the car, not inside...lol.

 

Hi hnter467,

One reason might be to avoid oscillating back to reverse when the car accellerates, if your hand is still on the shifter, you would pull it back. If that is the forward position of the shifter - no change in the command to the car. If its reverse, then being pulled back in the seat would put the shifter into reverse, just as you are moving forward, and told the car to go into forward gear.

In a boat the reason is the same, but the intent is to prevent the boat from getting out of control - as the lever is a throttle not a shifter. Accelleration pulls back on the throttle. One has to really really want to push forward, to get the boat to go really really fast forward.

 

After looking at the pictures (but not at all the posts in this thread, sorry), one thing that would have been nice would have been the addition of a handle/opening in the tonneau cover. The current design winds up getting dirty quite quickly since you have to grab it directly. Our Audi wagon has a handle in the center of the cover...also makes it easier to hold and prevent retracting back uncontrolled...

 

You're not the first one to make this (incorrect) assumption. Many of us then thought the sound would be in both places: Why inside and NOT outside?

One thing you'll find is that shifting between forward and reverse does not produce and physical manifestations within the car. In most cars you'll feel a bit of a "jump" or at least some pressure as the car "leans" one direction or another. This doesn't happen in the Prius. The beep is a not-so-subtle hint that something is different. Of course, having the rear-view camera turn on and pop up an image on the MFD also gives you a clue!