My wife and I have noticed two oddities on the 2010: 1) I noticed, while drying the car, that the roof is NOT flat! about a foot from the outer edges, On both sides, and running longitudinally the length of the roof, that portion of the roof is raised from the center of the roof, which IS flat. Sort of reminds me of the "bubble" they put on the roof of the old Ford GT40 so Dan Gurney could wear his helmet in the car! 2) My wife noticed that NEITHER of the glove compartments nor the console can be locked! Anything left in the car while being Valet parked, is susceptable, to prying eyes (or fingers), or MUST be taken with you. David (aka Blind Guy)
Yea toyota should have made the bottom one lockable. Just like the '09 sienna. What a disappointment... I usually lock up either my gps, radar detector, wallet, or house keys when I leave it parked outside.
The roof with the 'indentations' has been around since the debut of the GII. I think it is supposed to 'guide' the airflow better than a 'regular' flat roof. Yeah, I don't think my 2006 had locks on it either but since I absolutely hate valeting it never bothered me and I park in my garage while at home. I guess again, it's one of those things that reduces the overall cost...
The roof dents do three things 1. aerodynamics as already mentioned 2. strengthen the roof, like corrugations on barn roofing tin for example. 3. Now that it is stronger, you can use less of it making the car lighter and more efficient as well as lowering the CG. Wait that's four things isn't it?
and 4. Allow for higher doors with better clearance when you get in and out yet avoid the extra drag that would occur if the whole roof was raised
Not a lot of valets 'round here.I generally like to do my own parking, and wouldn't put anything of value in the glove box anyway, whether or not it locked.
I've noticed another oddity in the 2010 Prius. I was hoping to be the first to document it here, but when I searched, I did see that it was talked about, but for the Gen II models... The intermittent windshield wipers... The dial you use to control the wiper speed is backwards. Usually, the little triangular bar thing represents the longest pause (slowest speed) with the widest part of the triangular bar, and the smallest part to represent the shortest pause (fastest) between wipes. It seems to be backwards on the Prius. Why is that???
I think someone said it got reversed in 2008??? I can't confirm though. Mine works the way you described but mine's a 2005.
Yeah and I's still trying to get used to pushing the shift FORWARD to back up and pushing it BACK to go forward.
Have you ever driven an automatic car? Standard shift pattern is: - P = Park R = Reverse N = Neutral D = uses any forward ratios as appropriate 4 = lock out overdrive 3 = locks out 4 and overdrive 2 = locks out 3, 4 and overdrive 1 = locks in first gear. Now just pretend you are driving an automatic car with the standard shift, put the car in drive, now select reverse, which way did you move the shifter? OK now select reverse again, which way did you move the shifter to go backwards? There is nothing new in this world.
One of my other cars is a Miata. I have learned to never lock the center console. When the thieves break in, it doesn't even slow them down to bust the console and it is just something else that get's busted. Of course since it's a convertable I don't lock the car either. I have seen convertable tops slashed when the doors weren't even locked, the thieves didn't even check
I agree, while a hard core thief wil get in one way or another, a simple lock may deter nosey individuals from looking around to see if there's something they'd like to take home with them, at your expense! David (aka Blind Guy)
I really like the sculpted look. It's part of the overall elegant Prius design, thousands of little decisions that shave weight, improve aerodynamics, etc. Each of those design elements makes a tiny difference, but they add up to a lot in both appearance and efficiency. I know that people love their sunroofs, which have an elegance of their own, but you do give up the unique Prius roof shape. (Not trying to start another debate about the roof.)
In some big cities might be advisable to leave the unlocked glove box open just to let peepers know nothing valuable inside to rip-off.
